The labyrinth's suffocating depths, where a virulent fog, emerald green and pulsating, clawed at Rosemary's throat and filled her lungs with a burning poison. Fear had morphed into despair, her spirit sinking with each shallow breath. She clutched the fading embers of her torch, its weak glow swallowed by the swirling mist.
"Violeta... lost her..." she rasped, her voice raspy and weak. The image of Violeta, swallowed by the emerald haze, brought fresh tears to her eyes. Here, lost and alone, the Omega Vampire Server position, the fight, her life, her escape, they all seemed meaningless.
The fog tightened its grip, its tendrils whispering insidious promises of surrender, of sweet oblivion. Rosemary stumbled, her legs heavy with leaden resignation. "What's the point...?" she choked out, her voice barely a whisper.
A sudden gust of wind tore through the haze, momentarily parting the emerald curtain. In the brief glimpse, Rosemary saw a chilling sight: the once vibrant flora and fauna of the maze were dying, withering under the fog's touch. This wasn't just darkness, it was poison, a slow, agonizing death sentence.
Panic surged through her, replacing her lethargy with a desperate will to live. But the fog, sensing her renewed fear, tightened its grip, stealing her air, robbing her of strength. Just as her vision began to blur, a deep, resonant voice echoed through the mist.
"Rosemary."
The Alpha Vampire materialized from the fog, his figure a towering silhouette outlined against the green glow. His gaze, piercing green eyes, cut through the haze, finding her amidst the swirling tendrils.
Vernon then held her by her waist, preventing her from collapsing.
"Seems like yesterday's lesson did not teach you much. Or you were enjoying it so much that you forgot how to get through the fog?" he spoke, his voice a low rumble, "You are not allowed to die here."
His words, though cold, were a lifeline. Rosemary clung to them, a spark of hope flickering in her dimming eyes. The Alpha Vampire, her adversary, her judge, was offering her salvation.
With a gesture, he summoned a gust of wind stronger than the last, parting the emerald veil and revealing a narrow passage untouched by the toxic mist.
"Go," he commanded, his voice devoid of emotion. "Follow this path, it will lead you out of the fog."
Rosemary stared at him, disbelief and gratitude warring within her. She didn't understand his motives, but she wasn't about to question a reprieve from death.
Rosemary scrambled to her feet, muscles burning, heart hammering against her ribs. Gratitude warred with apprehension, the memory of his chilling presence in the fog a bitter aftertaste on her tongue.
"I..." she rasped, voice hoarse from her ordeal, "I don't understand. Why did you help me?"
"Why wouldn't I?" Vernon tilted his head, the fog clinging to him like a spectral shroud.
With a final look at the Alpha Vampire, she stumbled towards the path, her lungs begging for clean air, her body yearning for escape.
As she entered the clearing, she looked back, but the Alpha Vampire was gone, vanished like a phantom amidst the swirling fog. Leaving behind the suffocating green, she inhaled deeply, the clean air filling her lungs, a sweet nectar of life. She had stared into the abyss, and the abyss, for some unknown reason, had blinked.
Sunlight, golden and unexpected, stabbed Rosemary in the eyes. She'd stumbled out of the maze, limbs leaden with exhaustion, lungs screaming for clean air. The emerald fog, oppressive and poisonous, was behind her, a swirling ghost in the distance.
She collapsed onto the manicured lawn, grass tickling her sweat-slicked skin.
Then, a presence. She looked up, squinting in the sudden brightness, to see the Alpha Vampire looking at her from his throne. His obsidian robes shimmered, catching the light like spilled ink. His face, an ageless mask of power, was inscrutable.
But in his emerald eyes, there was a flicker. Approval, maybe. Something akin to... pride?
"Ms. Ventayan," the unknown sound rumbled, as loud as it spread through the whole maze. "You are the winner."
Rosemary scrambled to her feet, chest heaving. "Thank you,"
The Alpha Vampire tilted his head, studying her like a curious specimen. "The fog," he said, his gaze cutting through her like a blade. "It twists minds, bends wills. Yet you emerged. Unscathed."
Rosemary swallowed, the memory of the suffocating mist, the whispers promising oblivion, still raw. She would not have made it if the Alpha Vampire did not appear to save her. She was puzzled about why he would do things he had not done in last life.
In last life, Vernon did not show her the maze model before the test night, nor saved her from the toxic fog in the maze. He did not even care about her life at all. But this life, something had changed. It almost felt like he wanted her to win. He wanted her as his Omega Vampire Server.
Her mind faltered, a tear glinting on her cheek. Fear was what she felt when she thought about what the Alpha Vampire's intention was.
The Alpha remained silent, letting the grief hang heavy in the air. Then, he extended a hand, a gesture both unexpected and unsettling.
"Rise, Ms. Ventayan," he commanded. "You have earned it."
With a shaky grip, Rosemary took his hand. He pulled her effortlessly to her feet, his touch surprisingly warm beneath the black silk.
"You are the first," the Alpha declared, his voice echoing across the lawn. "The first to conquer the Labyrinth Maze within the allotted time. You have proven your resilience, your resourcefulness. You are worthy."
She saw Violeta. Violeta stumbled out of the maze, coughing and hacking. Violeta. But something was different. Gone was her cocky swagger, replaced by a grimy smudge across her cheek and a tremor in her hands.
"You..." Violeta rasped, eyes narrowing. "You actually made it."
Rosemary pushed herself up, offering Violeta a hand. "You did too. We both did."
Violeta hesitated, then grudgingly grasped Rosemary's hand. As Rosemary pulled Violeta up, a flicker of jealousy, green and venomous, crossed Violeta's eyes. This shouldn't have been possible. Rosemary, the naive outsider, shouldn't have outlasted her, the cunning survivor.
But the moment was fleeting. Violeta, quick to mask her emotions, straightened and offered a tight smile. "Well, well, looks like the little lamb managed to outrun the wolf."
Rosemary chuckled, feeling the sting of the barb but choosing to ignore it. Her focus was on the others now. As more figures emerged from the maze, bruised and battered but alive, a wave of relief washed over her.
A ripple of murmurs went through the assembled figures around her. Some, Rosemary recognized, were the candidates she'd encountered within the maze – pale and defeated, their eyes filled with envy.
"They all made it out alive." Rosemary remembered in last life, Violeta was the winner, and Amarius did not make it. She was relieved that in this life at least everyone was safe.
But she being the winner, she had never thought this would happen.
"Everything is so wrong in this life." Rosemary murmured to herself, feeling her life was out of her control again.
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The sun sank below the horizon, casting long shadows across the manicured lawn. Inside the Institute's opulent bathroom, steam swirled around five weary figures. Rosemary, Violeta, Renita, Silvana, and Amarius, the survivors of the Labyrinth, soaked in a marble tub, the soothing warmth an antidote to the maze's lingering chill.
Violeta, ever the instigator, broke the tense silence. "So, Rosemary," she drawled, leaning back in the tub, "Spill it. How did you waltz out of that emerald hell looking like you just strolled through a park?"
Rosemary flinched, the memory of the Alpha Vampire's touch still tingling on her skin. "Just… luck, I guess," she mumbled, avoiding their curious gazes.
Renita raised an eyebrow. "Luck doesn't leave you unscathed, Rosemary. You're spotless. Not a scratch, not a tear."
Silvana, typically stoic, chimed in, "Amarius almost died in there." Her voice cracked, and Amarius reached out to hug her, a silent comfort.
Rosemary's guilt prickled. She felt terrible about Amarius, but revealing the Alpha's intervention felt... dangerous. "Look," she said, gathering her courage, "there were tricks, shortcuts. Maybe I just figured them out."
Violeta snorted. "Tricks? Please. That maze was pure torture, designed to break even the strongest minds. I doubt even the Alpha knows every twist and turn."
Rosemary clenched her jaw. "He definitely knows every twist and corner, he even has a maze model." She thought to herself.
But how could she explain a powerful vampire offering her a helping hand, without sounding delusional or drawing unwanted attention?
An idea, risky but enticing, flickered in her mind. "Maybe," she began, her voice low, "maybe I made a... deal."
The room went silent. Eyes widened, breaths hitched. Renita leaned forward, curiosity battling suspicion. "A deal? With who?"
Rosemary swallowed, meeting their gazes with a feigned bravado. "Someone you wouldn't believe. Someone… powerful."
A shiver danced down Silvana's spine. "Is this wise, Rosemary?"
"Maybe not," Rosemary admitted, "but… I'm alive, aren't I? And you guys are too. Maybe sometimes, you gotta take a gamble, bend the rules."
The bathroom fell into a thick silence, each candidate lost in their own thoughts. Violeta, surprisingly, was the first to break it.
"A gamble," she mused, a dangerous glint in her eyes. "I like the sound of that. Makes things… interesting."
A nervous laugh bubbled up from Renita. "Gods, Rosemary, you're something else. But if you found a way to cheat that damn maze, then more power to you."
Amarius smiled gently. "Regardless of your… methods, you are worthy. Welcome to the Institute."
Silvana offered a hesitant nod. "Welcome."
Rosemary, her heart pounding with a mix of relief and apprehension, met their gazes. She had spun a web of half-truths, a gamble that could come crashing down at any moment. But for now, she was in. Part of a team, albeit a fragile one, bound by shared scars and the unspoken thrill of having cheated death. The real tests, she knew, were yet to come. But for now, she let the steamy warmth wash over her, a brief respite before the storm.
In the dim lighting, five pairs of eyes locked, each holding a secret, a question, a silent pact forged in the shared trauma of the Labyrinth. As the water swirled around them, their fates, intertwined by a gamble and a lie, drifted towards the unknown.
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