Harvey (Team Crafted)

Belly of the Beast

When Ross first heard his voice, he swore he had heard it before, somewhere in a distant memory. He had never been so good at remembering things, so it was no surprise that he couldn't remember whoever this guy's voice was - but for some reason, he had a gut feeling that he definitely wasn't supposed to be hearing his voice at all, and the scary thought put the hairs on the back of his neck and arms on end. He knew he was the only one alarmed by this, because Harvey seemed unaffected as ever by the voice; unless he was just being his usual unobservant self.

Harvey himself was only initially startled by the sound of the voice on what seemed like some sort of intercom, like in a school building - only there didn't seem to be a speaker anywhere. For the life of him, he couldn't figure out where the voice was even coming from, and he was so distracted trying to find it, he didn't listen to half the things the voice was actually saying. Luckily, Ross had been too distracted to listen to what the voice was saying too, so they were both in the dark. Then Harvey realized that wasn't a good thing.

As soon as they had entered the huge, dimly lit room, Sky had begun observing carefully, stashing every little bit of detail he could see or hear or smell into his memory. Deadlox and True behind him were looking around as well, but still less astutely than the survivalist before them. The walls were high and made of a stone, and there was an opening like a doorway directly ahead. Inside, Sky could make out a few twists and turns winding off into the distance; this was a maze. He was about to turn around to go back, when he saw that the way they had come was now blocked off by stone that certainly had not been there before. He cursed under his breath and Deadlox and True exchanged nervous glances, as they so often did.

"Well, I guess we're going through the maze..." Sky muttered.

"Right you are," said a voice suddenly from somewhere above, which the three recognized as their captor. The sound of his voice was quite unforgettable. "Your next challenge is this maze; make it to the middle, and you'll be allowed a reward and a rest before your next challenge. It sounds simple enough, but throughout this maze, I have laid out a few... obstacles for you to overcome. When you make it to the middle, I will let you know."

"How many 'challenges' are we going to have?!" True demanded, but he got no reply.

"As for the new contestants in our course..." The voice continued, though Harvey and Ross weren't really listening, and Sky and Deadlox and True were only confused. "...Good luck."

And there was no other notification from Bodil for awhile.

"Okay... Obstacles." Sky looked at his friends.

"It's just like the hay maze at the harvest moon festival back home." Deadlox mumbled. "Only dark... and full of dangerous monsters..."

Sky drew a slow sigh, before he began walking towards the entrance to the maze. "Let's get this over with - stay close to me. The last thing we want is to get separated."

Meanwhile, on the opposite side of the maze, Ross and Harvey looked at each other. "Were you listening to-?"

"Not at all."

Harvey looked at the doorway facing them. "...Looks like a maze..."

"Yep..."

Harvey looked at Ross again, before he pulled out his wand in a slow yet fluid motion and began to creep into the maze. Ross said nothing, but walked along beside him, his hands in fists at his sides.

Harvey instantly noticed a dark aura all around the maze as soon as he entered it - not only was it shadowy and poorly lit by only the occasional torch, but he could feel a coldness all around, a deepness of the maze that loomed all around him. It didn't help either that he had always been a little claustrophobic.