But then, through the suffocating darkness, he heard something—a voice, distant but clear.
"Ryen! Snap out of it!"
Jorel's voice cut through the fog, a lifeline that Ryen latched onto with every ounce of strength he had left. He blinked, the darkness beginning to recede as Jorel's voice pulled him back to reality.
Ryen staggered, his legs weak and unsteady, but he forced himself to move, to push past the crippling fear that had taken hold of him. He focused on Jorel's voice, on the urgency in his tone, and slowly, the fog in his mind began to clear.
He turned to Jorel, his face pale but filled with a newfound determination. "Jorel… I'm sorry… I—"
But Jorel cut him off, his grip on Ryen's arm firm. "No time for apologies. We need to keep moving, or this maze is going to tear us apart."
Ryen nodded, swallowing hard as he tried to steady his breathing. The memories and the voices still lingered in the back of his mind, but he shoved them aside, focusing on the task at hand. He couldn't afford to falter now—not when they were so close.
Jain, her own struggles momentarily subdued, reached out and squeezed Ryen's shoulder, offering silent support. The three of them stood together, a small island of resolve in the sea of despair that surrounded them.
They continued through the maze, their pace slower, more cautious. The fog seemed to pulse with a malevolent energy, the path ahead winding and twisting in impossible ways. The shadows in the mist grew darker, more defined, taking on shapes that moved and shifted as they passed.
Suddenly, the fog parted, revealing a clearing in the center of the maze. It was as if as soon as they had strengthened their mind enough, the way was clear... or the maze was never really a maze to begin with?
Amidst the dizzying thoughts, they were brought back to reality as the sight that greeted them made their blood run cold. Thirty towering trees stood in a rough circle, their branches twisted and gnarled, their bark cracked and blackened. Their trunks were a mess of twists and curves, and they looked wretched. Each tree seemed to pulse with a dark, foreboding energy, the air around them thick with cries of despair.
Jorel felt a chill run down his spine as he stepped into the clearing. He could see other teams scattered among the trees, their faces twisted in agony as they tried to bring down the trees that were in front of them. Some had already collapsed to the ground, their bodies writhing in pain as the trees seemed to feed on their suffering.
On closer inspection, each team was fighting only one tree... no one was banding together. As Jorel looked more at the tree before them he was struck with an odd sense of terror.
He turned and looked back at Jain and Ryen, "Um... the trees have faces." Each tree's trunk was laden with three faces that resembled students they had seen before around the campus.
"We need to find our tree," Jain said, his voice barely above a whisper. "It's the only way out of here."
Jorel and Ryen nodded, their faces set with grim determination. They moved forward, scanning the trees for their faces, their hearts pounding in their chests. The closer they got to the trees, the more intense the emotional pressure became. It was as if the trees were pulling out their deepest fears and insecurities, twisting them into a living nightmare.
Jain's breath hitched as she saw a tree that looked all too familiar, its bark etched with their faces... but there was more than just the trio's faces- it was as if someone was putting on a grotesque art show. Her heart dropped as she began to recognized them—her family members, each one carved deep into the wood as if it were a brand.
"You're nothing, Jain… just a waste of potential…"
"You'll never live up to them… they were right to abandon you…"
The whispers began again, more vicious, more relentless. The faces seemed to leap out of the wood as if alive. They echoed the words that had haunted her all her life, the words that had shaped her into who she was today. The tree seemed to pulse with a life of its own, feeding on her pain, drawing out every insecurity, every failure, every fear.
She couldn't move. The weight of the words pressed down on her, pinning her to the spot. It was like being trapped in a nightmare, unable to wake up, unable to escape.
But then, she heard Jorel's voice again, cutting through the darkness like a beacon.
"Jain! Over here!"
She turned, her eyes wide with fear, and saw Jorel and Ryen standing by the tree, their expressions urgent. She forced herself to move, but the weight of the emotional pain that clung to her like a shroud shoved her down. When she looked over at what they were pointing to, she saw the names carved into the bark—Jorel Drecan, Jain Chen, Ryen Farlane.
"This is it," Jorel said, his voice shaking. "We need to bring it down, and we need to do it now."
Ryen nodded, but even as they discussed taking it down, the tree lashed out. A wave of raw existential dread surged from the tree, hitting them like a physical blow. The force of it drove them to their knees, their bodies convulsing as the pain overwhelmed their senses.
As they crumpled to the ground, the whispers grew louder, the tree's energy pressing down on them with an almost unbearable force.