The Wizards of Myst

Chapter 14

Winter's POV

A... maze?! Who in their right mind thought "oh, a maze! What a perfect challenge for some teenagers competing against each other!"?!

But even if this maze is a bad idea, I still can't let us lose!

I grabbed August's hand, pulling him with me as I stepped into the doorway and entered the maze. "Come on! We've gotta make it through!"

I could hear the others scrambling behind us, but we were still in the lead. Soon, we arrived at our first decision. Right ahead of us, there were 4 sets of doorways, each marked with a number in roman numerals.

We didn't have the time to figure out what they meant, so I led August and I through the first doorway. As soon as we stepped through, a glowing golden barrier closed off the path from the others.

We hurried along the dark corridor, never stopping for a second until we came across our second problem. I halted to a stop, and August slammed into my back.

"Sorry." I apologized, turning around to face him.

"It's okay. Why'd we stop?"

I looked back at the ground, stepping away from the cavernous hole in the floor. About a foot from where I had stopped, the ground dropped off to reveal a large cavity so deep that you couldn't even see the bottom.

"Oh..." August's voice trailed off as he followed my gaze. "That's... a big drop."

"Yeah..."

I picked up a pebble from the ground and tossed it into the cavern, and listened for the sound of it hitting the ground.

About 30 seconds later, the faint sound of water splashing echoed back up, and I smiled.

I walked over to August and instructed him to get on my back, which he blatantly responded to with, "But I'm, like, 6 inches taller than you."

I placed my hand over my heart in mock pain, and said in an obviously joking tone, "You don't have to rub it in."

I then laughed, turning around and signaling to my back. "Just hop on."

Reluctantly, August climbed on, and after making sure he was well secure, I started running towards the hole in the ground.

"What are you- AHHHHH!"

I jumped off the cliff, plummeting to the ground below. August tightened his grip around me as the air whipped around us.

We could now see the ground, coming closer, closer, closer....

Splash!

I gasped as my feet hit the cold water, submerging August and I before I found my footing and stood up. The water rushed by my shoulders, but luckily it wasn't deep or fast enough to drown us.

I let August off my back, and we walked over to the rocky shore just 10 feet away. As soon as I stepped foot on the shore, I... well, I shrieked.

Just in front of me sat the largest, most ferocious, terrifying-

"Aww, look at that cute little snake! It's so adorable and tiny!"

August carefully picked up the snake, bringing it over to yet another beast on the other side of the water. "You must have gotten separated from your momma, huh little buddy? Well no worries, because you're safe now!"

After setting the snake down, August crossed back over the small creek, and I shuddered. How could anyone handle such a creature?

August pointed over to the wall in front of us, where a door was slowly starting to appear.

The two of us walked over to it, looking at each other. August raised an eyebrow. "Well? What are we going to do?"

I grabbed the handle, turning the knob and opening the door to an entirely white staircase.

Light flooded through the stairway, and I took August's hand before rushing up the stairs.

"I say we get out of here!"

Yayyy! I finally updated!!! It's a little short, but at least it exists!

I am so sorry I took so long getting this chapter out. After Christmas, I had a lot of stuff going on. I had competition cheer (which takes up most of my time), and mid-term exams, and a lot of homework. Then comp cheer ended in March, but then track season started. Then I was busy with track, and then we started prepping for final exams, and yeah... there was just a lot of stuff.

But now it's summer! I do still have a lot of stuff going on in summer as well (I have sideline cheer, and about 5 vacations, not to mention limited screen time and summer homework), but it's still more time than I had before. Unfortunately, I don't think I'll be able to have weekly updates like I used to, especially since I started another applyfic, but The Wizards of Myst is still my main writing focus.

Anyway, I hope you liked the chapter!