Each piece of art will be paired with a short story of 200-1000 words. The art will be at the bottom of the chapter.
The prompt list I'm using can be found here: https://www.instagram.com/p/CUSzT18LbFp/?utm_medium=share_sheet
The woman sits across from me, twirling what looks almost like a rubix cube in her hand. I know she's looking at me, but I keep my eyes on the grain of the worn library table. I'm here for a reason, and looking at her face would just drive me insane.
She finally stops moving the cube, simply letting go of it. Instead of clattering to the table, however, it simply hangs in the air. I shouldn't be watching it, but every so often, an image will appear on one of the sides. A dark forest. A corridor. A labyrinth.
She clears her throat. "What is it that you wanted? I'm really quite busy." I can't help but laugh, still resisting the temptation to glare at her.
They told me it was crazy. To invite the attention of the Master of the Maze is practically suicide. Her command over space is immense, and she wields it flippantly. I know she could look human if she wanted to, but she chooses to distort her face like an Escher painting. Even catching it in your peripheral vision can make one violently ill, or so I hear.
I respond quickly, directing my glare at the table. "I want my son back." Her laugh is perfectly human, which makes it even more disturbing. She picks up the cube again.
"Is that all? Well then, tell me where he is."
The spatial disturbance had been in our basement for a few weeks. I was hard to describe, reality twisted around a specific area in the floor. Or maybe a better word would be that reality was split open. Through the disturbance, a long stone corridor could be seen, stretching out and above until it reached the sky.
Foolishly, I'd chosen to ignore it. Years of working against these things had taught me that they were easily bored. I assumed whatever was creating the portal would get rid of it once I showed no interest in it. I hadn't known that I wasn't the target.
My teenage son... he surprised me with a visit that very week. And before I knew it, just when I wasn't looking, he was gone. As was the portal.
My blood feels like it's going to boil, but I don't shout. I spit out the words in a venomous whisper. "The Labyrinth." The Master of the Maze's magnum opus, I'd heard far too late.
The sides of the cube flash, and an image appears on all of its sides. I can't help but gasp. It was him! He was sleeping on the stone ground, using his shirt as a pillow. For a second, in the background, I swore I could see a flash of red, but then the cube went dark.
The woman's voice knocks me out of my shock. "Now now, let's not be hasty. I've found your boy's traversal very... entertaining. It wouldn't be fun to just let him out."
Before I can object, her hand is clasping my wrist.
"But perhaps, I could allow him a guide."
The world around me twists, and my legs give out from under me. I close my eyes for just a second.
When I fall, my hands hit cold stone.
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