Penthesila, Margaret and Marry formed light balls with Aura. Princess Elle was too tired to even muster the strength to do that. The moment she saw and felt that the Shadow Assassins were no longer hunting them, she let herself fall to the ground.
"I've troubled you again princess" Penthesila said in a sad tone. She knelt beside Princess Elle and took out her water bottle. It was the only one they had left and was almost empty. They had more than ample supply of water and food when they entered the labyrinth but they lost almost all of their supplies early on. Some they lost while fighting against the monsters of the labyrinth, but that was just a small portion of it. They were used to fighting monsters and knew how to ensure that their food and water supplies were not compromised during a battle. They were aware that this is just as crucial to their survival and to the success of their mission as getting out of a fight alive. However, the monsters that the labyrinth produced were unlike any monster that they had ever faced, rendering them unable to manage this. The majority of their supplies though, they lost to traps. There were doors they passed that made their water bottles disappear and mists that stole their food. The Magatama Ring that Penthesila wore only made it harder for monsters to detect them and gave them a bit of protection from physical and Aura attacks. It didn't help if they walked straight into a monster and the little bit of protection didn't mean much when their enemies were so strong. As for traps, it presumably reduced their contact with them, and lowered the effects of the ones that the ring couldn't avoid. A Magatama Ring does not, and cannot protect its owner from all the challenges of the labyrinth. It only ameliorates them.
Princess Elle tried to push the water away but Penthesila was insistent. "You will not be fulfilling your duty if you die here and we would not be doing our duty if we allowed you to die princess".
Although they have met with one adversity after another since they entered the Labyrinth of Daedalus, it was their good fortune that the one water bottle that they managed to keep was a bottle of Bethel. The special water from the Crystal Island can restore vitality and lift the spirit. It cannot restore Aura or heal wounds but by lifting a person's spirits and healing their health, it helps the process of Aura restoration and the healing of wounds. A mouthful of Bethel can also fill a person's stomach and provide energy enough to last about half a day. The Bethel is what has kept Princess Elle and the others going.
Princess Elle felt rejuvenated almost immediately. Her tiredness was mostly from wear and from concentrating on using Curare so the Bethel was her best cure. It couldn't help Penthesila with her injury by poison and magic though.
Penthesila drank a mouthful and gave the bottle to Margaret. "Drink up. This is the last of it. The last of all our supplies. We must find a way out today" she said grimly.
Margaret gave the last mouthful to Marry who finished it with some hesitation. They all knew that Penthesila was right. This in no way means that they were not serious before. Even when they didn't really need to worry about food because they had the special water, they still fought with all their ability; but their minds were at least at peace about dying from starvation. Now they had this to worry about as well other than surviving the labyrinth and the Shadow Assassins.
They were in what appeared to be a massive cavern. The black marble path they were on was about five meters wide. There was no railing or wall on the sides. Marry sent her light ball down the edge. It was a long way down but she did reach the bottom except that when her Aura ball hit whatever was at the bottom of the cavern, it went out without a trace.
"I think we should try to keep ourselves up here" Marry commented as she made another Aura ball.
Princess Elle, now feeling much better after the Bethel made her own Aura ball. She sent it upwards. The ceiling of the cavern was almost as high up as the bottom was far down. It was hard to ascertain distances in the pitch black but she thought that it should be at least a hundred meters in each direction.
The path went about thirty meters in one direction before it met the wall of the cavern. The girls went to examine.
They didn't expect to find anything and that is what they found – nothing. There was no door, no portal, not even a scratch on the wall to indicate that it was anything but a solid, black wall of rock.
The path just suddenly started from there.
"Weird" Margaret commented which was the correct description of the path that started from an empty wall of rock and appeared to have no purpose.
Penthesila sent her Aura ball to the right, parallel with the wall. It hit another wall about a hundred meters away. Seeing what she was doing, Princess Elle sent her Aura ball in the opposite direction. It also hit another wall about a hundred meters away.
This way, they mapped out the shape of the cavern that they were in. They came to the conclusion that it was roughly cuboidal in shape and that they were at one end of the cavern. The black marble path went through the length of the cavern and presumably into another one. The girls sent their Aura balls in front of them along the path. After about three hundred meters the ceiling came down in an arc.
They heard running water beyond the arc. Not just below them, but all around them. And they all knew that it was not normal water.
Princess Elle felt her energy leave her the moment she stepped through the arc. It was not just her physical energy, but everything: her vitality, her Aura; even her mental strength was being sapped away.
Margaret voiced out the question that all of them were thinking of at that moment.
"What's happening?" she shook her head vigorously.
Princess Elle also mirrored her action to try shake away the heaviness in her mind. A feeling that the other girls appeared to be feeling as well along with the sudden massive drop in energy.
Margaret heaved a heavy sigh. "It's hard just to stay on my knees here. I think it's a really terrible idea to go this way"
"Where is it not a terrible idea to go in this place?" Marry commented. "It's a dead end back there and this path only goes forward. And we know staying put is not an option"
By not being an option, Marry meant the fact that if they just stayed in the place where they were when the labyrinth last changed, when in changed again, they could end up returning to the previous place. In the current situation it could mean going straight back to the Shadow Assassins which to them – even now – is worse than facing whatever else the labyrinth had to throw at them.
Not long after they entered the labyrinth, they found themselves in a chamber full of mountain trolls and orcs. After clearing the chamber, they had been too tired to move so they rested in the meadow where the labyrinth had sent them next. It was a lucky thing that they drank some Bethel before resting because five minutes later when the labyrinth decided to change, they returned to the same chamber again. The heaps of mountain trolls that they had defeated in the previous 'round' were gone and the labyrinth sent them a fresh new wave of the monsters.
Since then they concluded that it was never a good idea to stay in one place in the labyrinth.
"We keep moving" Penthesila said.
The sound of water grew louder the further they went as did the sapping of their energy.
After half an hour of walking the path diverged – into five. Each path was the same. Black marble that went on for as far as their Aura light balls could let them see.
"So who would like to choose which way to go next? Would you like to do us the honours princess?" Penthesila tried and failed miserably at sounding jovial.
Princess Elle knew that Penthesila was just trying to make some noise and raise their spirits up. The silence and darkness was weakening them as much as whatever it was that is sucking away at their strength.
"The middle one I guess" Princess Elle tried to sound confident although she knew that it was just a blind guess, and that the others also knew this. They had no idea where they were going and they have no means whatsoever to determine whether they were going the right way or not or whether they were heading into a trap or into a den of monsters. They were just keeping on moving to escape the Shadow Assassins and hope they somehow stumble upon the exit – their chances of which is roughly 3 in 10000 Penthesila had said – or wait for the Heroes of Atlantis Academy to find them and lead them out of the labyrinth.
They were putting their trust on the second choice, even if the Academies have been somewhat reluctant to help them so far. Something to do with their denial of the possibility of facing another Demon invasion. Princess Elle thought this was very silly. Denying the truth will not make a truth any less true. But Penthesila had seemed very confident that the headmaster of Atlantis Academy was different. She certainly hope that her friend was right because otherwise they will die here. How long has it been already since they entered the labyrinth? Princess Elle didn't know. It feels like they have been trudging through it for weeks.
She had no idea whether she was leading her friends, her guardians, her subjects to salvation or to their doom. All Princess Elle could do was make a choice and pray to God that it was the right one.
Not the middle one
"What?" Princess Elle said surprised.
She looked at Penthesila, Margaret and Marry in the dim light of their Aura balls.
None of them heard her. They were all concentrating on scanning their environment for signs of danger. Each looking as wary as the other but none appeared to have said anything to her nor do they look like they heard the voice that had spoken to her just now.
Danger!
The voice came again. This time Princess Elle also felt the urgency in the voice. Actually it wasn't even a voice and she wasn't really 'hearing' it. She thought that she was hearing it because of a lack of any other experience to explain what it was. Actually the 'voice' was coming from her head – no – that wasn't quite right. She was 'experiencing' the thoughts and feelings of the person who was 'transmitting' his thoughts and feelings to her.
"Are you alright princess?" Penthesila asked because Princess Elle had suddenly stopped.
Princess Elle waited but the 'voice' didn't come again. However what he had conveyed to her was strong enough that she could still 'feel' it as if the thoughts and the feelings were her own. She knew two things: that the person who had 'shared' his thought and his feeling with her was a man, and that taking the middle path was very, very dangerous. There had been a very strong urgency in his warning against them from taking the middle path.
"I don't think that taking the middle path is such a good idea after all" Princess Elle said.