"The third trial shall commence."
I opened my eyes to a series of walls infront of me, a few gaps here and there leading god knows where.
I raised my head up and saw the walls that stretched as high up as the skies. They reached the heavens, no way I could get over them.
The walls looked old with green moss on its surface and a few slight cracks here and there.
"Your objective is to leave the maze. The walls and their structures will shift as hours pass." The monotonous voice echoed in my mind.
What?! That's it?! No clues? No nothing?
I gnashed my teeth. A maze? I could be lost here for years and years. the chances of getting out here without any sort of lead was impossible.
It would be absurd.
No, there must be some clues or something lying around. If not, then this special mechanism is a dud.
I looked up at the high walls and considered climbing but it looked impossible, I looked at Neph and had her try to fly to the top of the walls, I knew it would be in vain as it was too high, I doubt she would be able to fly that altitude, still, I wanted to atleast try.
Neph also agreed and did as what I told gladly.
As expected, not even halfway through the tall wall, she went down back and explained that she felt some heavy pressure that hindered her flight.
This trial was gonna prove very difficult.
I looked around at the countless walls in front of me and the few gaps — entrances to who knows where.
It was clear that I was in the core of the maze with all these converging pathways, I don't even know how large this maze is, for all I know it could be as big as an arena.
If it was truly the case, then I'm fucked, leaving a maze without any lead is just saying for me to let luck decide my fate for me.
I sighed, my eyes burned with determination. What else could I do? I picked randomly in one of the opened pathways and went through it.
Even though I was basically going around aimlessly, it was better than just standing there. Also, in about an hour this whole place will start to transform, staying in that spot won't be any safer than just trying to find the way out, even if it looks impossible.
I walked and walked, all I see was walls and more walls. I ended up encountering a few dead-ends already, which was frustrating.
Time passed, I don't know how much I walked but surprisingly, I didn't feel tired nor even have the slightest fatigue, it was no doubt the result of eating the lesser nirvana fruit.
I punched the wall infront of me, it was another dead end. The maze branched out everywhere, some lead me to a dead end, some lead me even further into the maze, only to ultimately hit a dead end again.
I really couldn't tell whether this path would lead me to the outside, or would lead me to a dead end. They didn't look all that different, my sixth sense also seemed useless now, it was like it was being blocked away by something, it felt uncomfortable but nothing I could do about.
Neph looked as clueless as I was.
Suddenly, the world shook. My body swayed, and the walls started trembling.
Before I knew it, all hell broke lose.
The walls started to shift, they moved everywhere. I knew it was about to turn bad, I wasn't planning on getting crushed by walls.
"Neph, grab on me tight!" I screamed, she quickly did as I told and grabbed the helm of my clothes. I ran without second thoughts.
I ran and ran with Neph, I almost made a mistake and almost got us flattenedd by a wall after I entered the wrong path that led to a dead end.
New paths opened, the old paths got closed, and some remained.
My mind was racing fast, I avoided the best I could.
Finally, after everything settled down, so did the walls.
I sighed in relief, my heart settled down.
I couldn't continue like this — aimlessly going about the paths without a lead. It was like I was being played.
I gritted my teeth. This time, I aimed to find clues instead of the exit. There was no way I could find the exit the way it was right not, this whole maze was so intricately made that I wouldn't be surprised to see that I was actually just circling around without making any sort of progress.
I did as I planned, I looked at the walls, feeling their every surface, trying to determine something that I dont even know if it exist or not.
I tried to sense the vibration in the ground, to see if I could sense anything that would help me get out of this maze.