Enchantment 1

You wake up on cobblestone pavement, your vision slightly blurred and head spinning. You look down, slightly sitting up. You reach to look at your ragged clothes, only to feel stinging on your hands. They've somehow been scraped up. *How'd that happen* you think to yourself. You push yourself up off the ground, wincing as your hands touch the pavement. You look around and there's nothing but more stone behind you and a large archway ahead of you with massive wooden doors. [[Walk back]] or [[go towards the doors]]

You brush yourself off and head back towards the emptiness. You look around hoping for some sign of how you got there. You keep hobbling down the path, there's a building in the distance. The building resembling a pub. *[[Why does that sound familiar?]]* Feeling defeated, you turn back around and [[go towards the doors]].

You approach the doors, your heartbeat pounding in your ears. You place your hands on the door and begin pushing. The door budges but barely. You place your shoulder on the door and put your whole body weight into trying to open these doors. The old wood slowly creaks open with a groan. You push your way through, groaning and still sore. You squeeze through the door as the mass slams behind you, echoing through the open garden area ahead of you. There's a lot to take in as you look around. An old fountain slowly being cloaked in moss, surrounded by flowers and [[statues]] that seem out of place. Everything seems out of place here. The green hedges are what stand out to you the most. There's separate paths you could choose to take. The right path is warmer than the left one, and the left path looks more peaceful. There's even a little bit of glistening peeking through the leaves. You debate on your choices, [[go right]] or [[go left]]?

The statues are odd. Frozen in various poses, different clothes, different faces and bodies. The only similarity is the terror on their faces and the material they're made out of. Some look older and some look newer. Seems like the sculptor comes frequently here. You look back between the paths on either side of you. You think about your choices, [[go right]] or [[go left]].

You go down the path to your right. You take in the scenery as you walk down this lengthy path. The vines along the stone walls, the high hedges that you're unable to see over. You reach another set of paths going in opposite directions. There's a garden gnome between the signs. [[Path R]] [[Path Q]]

You turn towards the left and will yourself to go forward. The hedges are high, the walls encpasulating you here were even taller. You wander through the straight path and the curve that waited for you at the end, another left. You wrap you arms around yourself, feeling a sudden chill. There was something on the ground waiting for you as you approached. It was a simple garden gnome. Weird. Another things that seemed out of place in this fever dream of a garden. You found yourself given two more options. [[Path A]] and [[Path B]].

You head down the A path and look back at the gnome behind you. He's still out of place, but something familiar to you. You wander down the path some more. [[You see a slight twinkle of light in the bushes.]]

You head down the B path. You turn around to look at the gnome one last time. He's now facing you. His eyes following you as you round the corner ahead. (link:"You see a slight twinkle of light in the bushes")[You want to get closer to it but just as quickly as you saw it, it vanishes]. The temperature drops even more. [[A dark cloud drifts towards you]].

You move the branches peeking in. There's a small fairy huddled in there. She looks up at you from her place in the branches and you lay your hand down in front of her. She carefully crawls onto your scratched up palms, you wince but try not to scare her off as she touches the scrapes. You pull your hand out of the hedge slowly and she stands up before taking flight. She flies around you, similar to the way butterflies do, but then she floats back in front of your face. You raise an eyebrow at her, "What's your name?" She doesn't open her mouth but her response infiltrates your mind. (text-color: "plum")[*Aria*] You smile at her, letting her know that you hear her. She twirls in response and flies forward. [[You follow]].

You shiver, a sudden feeling of dread coming over you. This ominous cloud mass is pure black, contrasting the fog already cast over the maze. You back up as the cloud drifts closer to you. **(text-style: "shudder")+(text-color: "maroon")[You can't escape.]** You begin to hyperventilate backing into the hedges. **(text-style: "shudder")+(text-color: "maroon")[You're stuck here..]** [[You begin to feel dizzy as it closes in...]]

You follow behind your new winged friend down more turns and curves. You hear the sound of flowing water. Your heart skips a beat thinking Aria led you back to where you started. *(text-color: "plum")[Please trust me.]* It's like she can sense your hesitation. Aria flies above an arch made in the hedges. [[You push the dense layer of vines aside]]

Your head spins as you attempt to bolt through the cloud. You're freezing, and attempt to cry out in pain and desperation. No, you're literally frozen. You watch as your hand stretched out in front of you turns grey and heavy. [[Your vision spirals...]]

You come to, trying to move your eyes side to side. You're back at the beginning of your journey in this labyrinth, surrounded by the other (link: "statues")[people who came before you]. You want to scream out, the sudden realization setting in. Nothing comes out. **(text-style: "fidget")+(text-color: "MediumAquaMarine")[The heavy door begins to groan open...]**

You gasp at the sight in front of you. There's a waterfall, and a river flowing right through this hell hole of a place. Just like everything else, it's very out of place, but also oddly... peaceful. It also explains all the greenery around you. *(text-color: "plum")[Go on.]* Aria's gentle voice urges you. You walk towards the waterfall. The closer you get to it, the louder the roaring water is making it harder to hear anything. [[Explore around the waterfall]] [[Dive into the water and swim under]]

You walk around the body of water, exploring your options and why Aria led you here. You walk towards the wall behind it, barely noticing the slight echo due to the rushing water. [[You go behind the waterfall]]

You dive into the cool water, feeling a bit of relief from being on your feet. You take a deep breath and plunge back under the water, attempting to swim under it. The force of the water pelts your back, pushing you down slightly. It's too much given your current weakened state. As you're being pushed down, there's a slight glimmer at the bottom of the body of water. [[Choose to investigate]] [[Swim back up to the surface]]

With your back pressed against the wall, you ease your way behind the waterfall, careful not to get dragged under. You discover a large opening, the sound from the water echoing throughout the open space. [[There's a sliver of light at the end of the tunnel]]

You walk towards the doors at the end of this tunnel, the light bringing you hope. You push through these doors with ease, a bright scene ahead of you. You take a deep breath in, as if it was your first one in a while, and smell all sorts of baked goods. The door slams behind you, causing the townspeople to look at you, gentle smiles on their faces. An older woman approaches you, reaching out to take your hand. There's a sadness in her eyes. "You were on this side of the maze the whole time..?" You ask softly. Anger starts to flood your body *Why didn't they come to get me?* She pats your hand as if she understands your thought process and goes to answer your unspoken question. But she's cut off by a loud echoing door slam from the other side of the maze. You look around at the other townspeople, all with their heads down now, a silence falling over them. You turn quickly to go open the door and help the poor soul who just entered. You had pushed through that door to get here. But on this side, there's no handles or doorknobs. **You're stuck with the other survivors, (text-color: "MediumVioletRed")[hoping this one makes it through...]**

You dive down deeper into the water, heading towards this gleaming light. You wrap your hand around it, a handle of some sort. You pull on it, willing your body to swim up so you can open the hatch. It lets loose, and water begins to pour in, dragging you down with it. Aria's voice echoes in your head *(text-color: "plum")[I'm so sorry. It wasn't meant to end this way...]* The water made you feel at peace, but the last thing you felt was **(text-color: "CornflowerBlue") [panic...]**

You swim back up to the surface, breathing in deeply once you're at the top. You climb out onto the bank and catch your breath. You push yourself up onto your feet and notice a dark looming cloud heading your way. You look around for Aria, but she's no where to be seen. [[Explore around the waterfall]] [[A dark cloud drifts towards you]]

You walk down the R path, turning around to look at the odd little gnome. When you look at him, he's facing you. His eyes watch you as you round the corner. The temperature drops significantly. [[A dark cloud drifts towards you]]

You make your way down the Q path. You turn to look at the gnome one last time, he's still staring ahead. What an odd place to be. You continue to walk down the path, following all of the twists and turns that are ahead of you. [[You come across a hedge archway]]

You push through the thick layer of vines that are separating the path and what's on the other side. The vines swing behind you, covering the path. You hear a deep, bone-chilling growl come from the other side, and a dark mist disappates above the archway. Whatever may have been following you is gone. You look around at your surroundings on this side of the hedge. [[There's a cave]]

You walk towards the cave, a deafening silence more present than ever. It stinks. [[Continue on]] [[Turn back]]

You hold your breath turning to leave, and try not to make a noise. You don't want to wake the beast. A sudden gust of hot air hits your back and you tense up in fear. Too late. You feel the fire before you see it encase and surround you. **(text-color: "red")[At least you're finally warm..]**

You continue on despite your disgust. There's a light at the very end. Relief floods over you and your legs are moving faster than they have since you woke up. You reach the source of the brightness. Only to find that the only other exit, the source of the light, is above you. The light you were seeing was reflecting off [[the sleeping dragon laying before you]].

--- *You were drinking in the pub, people watching. Drunk patrons surrounded you and made you smile to yourself as their slurred words filled the air around you, a garbled mess that made no sense. The bartender brought you a drink, you'd never seen him here before. He must be new. You hadn't paid for this drink and as you went to tell him this he held up his hand and smiled. "This one's on the house, consider it my welcome gift to you." You decided not to question it, it's a free drink. You raised your cup to him and drank the ale. He watched eagerly, sneering at you as the world span faster...* --- The memory snaps into place, with a new found rush of anger, you [[go towards the doors]]