Alex squinted through the twisting branches of the Whisperwood maze. The melody within them, a once hopeful orchestral piece, had curdled into a frantic string quartet. The test of the maze wasn't solitude, as they initially thought. No, this was a twisted version of their hopes, crawling with the very demons they sought to cure.
A low growl echoed from behind them. Turning, they saw a twisted version of themselves – a snarling creature with their own face but clawed hands and eyes burning with an infernal red glow. This monstrous doppelganger, spawned from the Whisperwood's perception of their inner demons, lunged.
Echo, ever the stoic warrior, moved with lightning speed. His energy blade sang a blue song of defiance as it parried the doppelganger's attack. Alex, adrenaline surging, fumbled for a grenade Anya had provided.
