"So, do you think they'll do it?" Judy asks as she sits in a giant boxed-off area in the maze with Ziya and Gerald. "Do you think the boys will pull through?".
"No use worrying about it" Ziya says. "Either they do, and we get out... or they don't, and we die".
"That sounds like a reason to worry, if you ask me" Gerald says, with his head resting on his hands.
"Look" Ziya says, "worrying won't help here. Even if we tried to scream, I doubt any of them could hear us from here. All we can do... is wait".
"Right..." Judy says as she presses her back against the wall, slowly sliding downward into a sitting position. "As bad as it seems... you're right. Nothing we can do about it now".
"Even if you used your sledgehammer to break through the walls?" Gerald asks.
"It's been tried before" Ziya says. "The walls are reinforced with rows of rebar. Even if we can hammer away all of the concrete, we still won't be able to fit through the bars".
"You could still create holes in each wall" Gerald says. "That way, we could at least hear what's going on beyond these walls... maybe communicate".
"That'd be one thing to do..." Ziya says. "But more than likely to no fruition. It's not like we can help from in here. We can't give them directions. All we would accomplish is wasting our energy".
"Well, at least do that later" Gerald says, "if they take too long. We only have so much air in this small space... I get the feeling we're going to be stuck here for a while".
"Quick question" Chris says as he, Drake and the rest of the team walk through a few corridors, "how long have you and Ziya known each other?".
"I dunno" Drake says. "Don't remember...".
"Oh... that's right" Chris says. "Sorry".
"All I know is" Drake continues, "is in damn sure not leaving her behind".
"Where do you think a switch would be?" Chris asks.
"I think the point of a maze is to not know the definite direction of any said objective" Drake says. "So if we were to use that logic, we'd likely just keep running in circles".
"That's fair..." Chris says, "but counterpoint: if we tried to honestly think about which way the exit was... don't you think, that with your logic, we'd be playing right into a trap?".
"Right into a trap?..." Drake asks.
"That's what we're here for, right?" Chris asks. "So try to change up your mentality real quick. Try focusing on the exit, and maybe you'll find the trap you're looking for. Like... finding what you need when you've stopped looking for it".
"I feel like your time in Pyramid has made you completely lose a grip on your sanity, Chris" Drake says.
Chris shrugs, then says "Sanity never really lasts long in Pyramid... I'm actually kind of surprised you've found something to keep your mind in tact... even if just a little bit".
"In tact..." Drake repeats with an unsure tone, as he recalls the voices he hears on occasion. "If that's what you want to call it. How about you? You're insane, no doubt, but you don't seem... completely off of your rocker".
"Me?" Chris asks. "I'm afraid I'm a lost cause. I've already lost what kept my mind in one place... the closest thing I have to that now is... well, probably Ziya".
"Ziya?" Drake asks. "Why?".
"Well, not that I'm a personal fan of hers..." Chris says, "but her and my sister were awfully close. At this point, Ziya is kind of like... the last piece... the last... representation of when life were... better?".
"Was that a question?" Drake asks with a laugh.
"I told ya, didn't I?" Chris asks. "I'm a lost cause!".
Suddenly, as they were talking, the group heard a loud banging sounding behind them. When they turn around, they see the wall behind them, far done the corridor had closed. Then, another part of the corridor closed behind them. Then another one, slowly getting faster as the walls start closing in on the group. The corridor was trying to crush them. "Run!" Drake yells. Everyone begins to run as fast as they can. Loud banging of the walls now rapidly closing behind them, nearly swallowing up the whole team, being heard over and over. As the walls start closing in faster and faster, the walls nearly managed to crush the team as they ran. Just as the walls got too close, they barely made it out to the next corridor. They quickly turned the corner towards their left, and the intersection of the two corridors closed also. "That was a close one" Drake says as he pants and tries to catch his breath.
"Keep moving!" Chris yells as they start running down the corridor. As Drake looks up, there was another turret at the end of this corridor, and it had already began firing at them. Chris tried to shove Drake out of the way of the turret as it began to fire. Immediately pulling out his sniper rifle, he tries to line up his shot. However, the turret killed them all before Chris could fire a single bullet. As they all began to revive, Chris takes cover behind Tyler, and uses him as a shield as he aims his sniper rifle. He takes a quick second to aim, then shoots the turret right in the camera just before it had the chance to kill him or Drake a second time.
"On the bright side..." Drake says, still trying to catch his breath, "the path with the most resistance is often the correct path in these sort of games".
"Yeah... something like that" Chris says. "Come on, let's go save the rest of the team".
Shortly after moving, partway down this corridor, the team hears a click as they feel the ground beneath themselves sink. The walls started to rumble and move again. "Quickly, we've gotta move out of here, in case it's another trap!" Chris yells.
"We can't go backwards though!" Drake yells. "The last corridor is still closed off!".
"Then we move forward!" Chris says as he shoves Drake down the corridor. The walls behind them closed, and the corridor shifted around. They kept moving, as the maze once again rearranged itself. The wall next intersection closed off, and the wall behind them once again closed. However, a wall ahead of them opened up. They quickly ran through the newly opened pathway, and came out to a wide open area in the middle of the maze. Chris looks around as everyone in the team was once again trying to catch their breath. "So..." Chris says as he sits down, "break time anyone?".
"Y-... Yeah" Gregory replies. "I think I've had enough running for now".
"Yeah, we need to wait for the others to catch up now" Drake says as he sits down. "Do you think that they got out finally?".
"Let's hope so" Chris says.
The walls around Ziya, Judy and Gerald began to shake as the maze once again rearranged itself. The wall behind Gerald opened up, exposing a corridor. "I'll be damned" Gerald says as he gets up off of the ground, falling over from the wall he was sitting against suddenly moving. "They actually did it".
"And we didn't have to do anything unnecessary in the process" Ziya says as she looks at Gerald.
"... I still think it was a good idea" Gerald says.
The three of them began moving through the corridors. There didn't seem to be any turrets around for a while, as the arrangement of the maze seems to have blocked some of the turret's paths. They move vigilantly throughout the maze, until eventually, they came across an open area. There, in the open area, they found the rest of the team resting. "Zizi!" Drake shouts as they approach. "You guys got out after all!".
"Nice work, kid" Gerald says.
"I'm not a kid" Drake replies.
"Whatever you say, kid" Gerald says.
"Look, are we going to move, or are you two going to flirt all day?" Judy asks.
Chris sighs and says "I'm going to miss the lack of arguing we had when they weren't here".
"What was that!?" Judy asks.
"I don't need to repeat myself" Chris scoffs. "But still... glad to see you guys made it out alright".
Chris pats Judy on the shoulder, and Judy immediately moves away from Chris's hand. "Don't you touch me! Gross!".
"Pfft- hahahahaha!" Chris laughs.
"Can you guys just chill for a minute?" Ziya asks. "Geez... come on. Now that we have the whole team back together, let's get moving".
"Yes, dear" Chris says sarcastically.
Ziya spins around with a pistol in her hand, and shoves the gun in Chris's mouth. "Don't test me" she says with a glare. "Don't you fucking do it...".
Chris lets out a muffled "Mhm..." before Ziya takes the pistol out of his mouth.
After a while of moving throughout the maze, the team encounters another pressure plate switch. Immediately as the plate was pressed, the team began quickly moving through the maze. Running through openings in the maze before they closed, and other openings that were made by the walls moving around, they managed to run through a lot of the maze quickly without running into more turrets. Not long after, they had finally reached the stairs. After reaching the top of the stairs, upon arriving at Floor 2, the team agrees to take another rest to sleep. "That was a lot harder than that last mazes" Drake says.
"And it's not quite over yet" Gerald says as he looks down yet another corridor. "We have yet another maze to run through".
"Yeah..." Drake says, "I noticed".
"Don't get too down just yet" Judy says. "We're finally on Floor 2! We're so close to the end!".
"I wonder if this maze will be worse than the last one..." Drake says.
"I wonder what kind of monstrosity awaits us on Floor 1..." Chris adds.
"Dude... what the hell?" Judy asks. "Literally immediately after I tell you two to chill... you get all depressed".
"Take your time to get some sleep" Ziya says. "We'll worry about the maze in the morning".
"Wait... is it going to be morning?" Chris asks. "Is it even night time? Wait... what day is it!?".
"Who knows? Who cares?" Ziya asks. "Just go to damn sleep!".
"Sheesh... okay" Chris replies.
The team starts going to sleep. As Drake falls asleep, he appears in an endless white void. There, in front of him, were floating shards of reflective glass. The glass appeared like mirrors, each showing Drake's reflection once again. The mirrors, floating all around him, showing his reflection moving of its own free will. "We finally have time to speak again" the reflection says.
"These dreams keep getting crazier and crazier..." Drake says to himself.
"Hm..." the reflection says. "I'm curious... what is a dream to you?".
"Excuse me?" Drake asks.
"What is a dream, in your eyes, what do you think dreams are?" The reflection asks.
"A... fantasy" Drake says. "Something that's not real. Something...".
"Something fake?" The reflection asks. "Tell me, in what way can you prove that this is indeed... fake".
"Well..." Drake says. "Other than the fact that I know none of this is real, there's no possible way any of what's going on now could happen in real life".
"In real life?" The reflection asks. "You have no idea what real life is! What you mean is the term reality! And you'd be correct! None of this can happen in reality! At least, not your reality".
"What are you going on about?" Drake asks.
"This!" The reflection shouts, it's arms raising throughout all the many shattered mirror pieces. "This is not your reality, nor is it your fantasy! This, Drake Goldermann, is a place known as Valhalla!".
"Valhalla?" Drake asks.
"It is the reality, the... alternate realm of which the gods reside" the reflection says. "For simplicity, you may call me Chronos!".
"You're Chronos?" Drake asks.
"Well, yes... and no" Chronos replies. "I'm but a mere shard of him. A piece of time's existence that resides within you. That is the reasoning behind my familiar appearance".
"And what is a piece of a so called God of Time doing inside of me?" Drake asks.
"Oh, I'm kind of... well, everywhere" Chronos says. "Both literally and metaphorically speaking. My existence means time itself. So wherever can exist, tile exist with it. Wherever time is, I exist. However, my sister and I haven't exactly been... the role model of many other gods. Well... any of them, actually. You see, Gaia and I were once torn apart".
"Gaia?" Drake asks.
"That is my sister, yes" Chronos asks. Drake continues staring at the reflection with a confused look on his face. "Right! You haven't heard about the... gods in this universe. Well, Gaia is the goddess of nature and life. Now, if introductions are out of the way, let's continue. The two of us were torn apart. Literally... we were broken into pieces. Me more so than Gaia. Gaia has regained her form, but as for me...".
"You're still trying to find all of your pieces?" Drake asks.
"Trying?" Chronos asks. "No, I don't believe that is the right word. You see, I have no need to retain a full form. My power maintains its influence throughout every reality, even in my current state. However, there have been some... undesired effects. The Respawn ability is one of them".
"We're not supposed to use this ability, are we?" Drake asks.
"Look, human" Chronos says. "We don't choose who gets those abilities, and neither do you. If I were as offended by you having an ability that was randomly given to you, as you probably think I am, then I would've killed you myself. However, as undesired as the effect was, that is not the primary issue".
"Then what is?" Drake asks.
"There's another war coming... I can feel it" Chronos says.