Chapter 18: Manipulation, lies and deception!

Selena froze as she stepped into the maze, all her prior bravado being quickly replaced by fear. She found herself faced with a dilemma. The trick she had used to get out from the maze the last time was to keep her eyes firmly shut, no matter what the maze enticed you to do.

But this time, she couldn’t afford to keep her eyes shut at all. How could she possibly locate Demetri if she had her eyes firmly closed?

But on the other hand, she didn’t quite want to go through the maze’s deadly illusions again.

Selena took in a deep breath in a bid to clam herself down, and kept her stance in a defensive position, her ears and eyes alert.
Remember Selena, this is all in your mind. The truth was that the maze was controlled by the spirit realm. Thousands of angry, malicious spirits roamed the Labyrinth of death.

They sucked on your happiness and hence the person who was the most broken inside stood the most chance at surviving this place.

Selena frowned as she saw the familiar cobras circling the stone walls of the maze. She wasn’t too fond of snakes and it was already starting to irk her out and she was only barely inside the maze.

“Demetri”, she yelled out at the top of her lungs, but her voice came out all coarse and jittery.
She was more of a wreck than she was quite letting on.

“De…me..tri”, she tried again and frowned as her own voice echoed back to her.
There was an eerie silence throughout the maze like the silence before the storm.

She slowly stepped forward bit by bit, keeping a keen eye on the surroundings. The maze changed every few seconds but it had a pattern, which she had already figured out when she was here the last time.

Everyone believed that only the strongest vampire could survive this maze, but that was not the case. Only the strong willed and quick witted vampire could survive this place since this place kept wanting you to just give up all hope and resign yourself to your fate.
That’s how this maze is filled with the bones of the optimist challengers throughout the years. There was no monster in here….All you have to do is fight yourself.

Selena clenched her fists tightly as she went in further and further into the maze, reminding herself constantly that everything was just in her head and nothing was real here.
She flinched as she accidently stepped on a skeleton. She felt completely grossed out as she realized that her right foot was stuck in a rib cage. She hastily took it off and let out a shudder.

A wisp of smoke appeared right before her eyes and she flinched, bracing herself for what was about to come as she knew that the mist was starting its work.
An eerie looking figure appeared which closely resembled her mother and she found herself frowned. Oh! This isn’t going to be good.

“You are a disappointment to the crown…….. to the royal family. To think I had placed such high hopes on a loser like you. I had thought that you would be the greatest warrior that this world had ever seen and you would successfully rule over the nine kingdoms, sitting on the throne of Valyria but I was mistaken. You are nothing but a failed wannabe. Thank god, I had the good sense to abandon you when you were just born. You are a useless nobody and will remain that way. Nobody really wants you…That’s why everyone abandoned you….because you are worthless…”
Selena let out a gasp and tumbled backwards.
“Not real…not real”, Selena kept mumbling to herself but to no avail as the maze’s hallucinations were already taking place.

The smoke simmered slightly and the Queen was replaced by her foster father, the General himself.
Selena grimaced as she found her foster father looking at with her disapproval.

“I trained you since birth for what? You have wasted both my time and money. You thought I have raised you so affectionately and doted on you because I genuinely thought of you as my daughter? That’s not the case. I raised an arrogant child like you only because I had no other choice and was forced to do so by the order of the Queen. I never really saw you as my daughter and I never would have taken you into my home if it weren’t for the Queen.”

Selena sucked in a sharp breath, then started slapping herself in a bid to make her conscious come back.
“Not real…not real”, she continued murmuring to herself desperately, her voice already breaking.

The smoke changed shape again and now it was her half sister, Vanessa who was standing in front of her, glaring and looking down at her.

She laughed out loud and said snidely, “You think you are something huh? Well, no one really wants you….not your mother….not your father…..not even your foster family. All you are is a mere pawn in their hands and that’s all you are ever going to be”

Selena not able to take it anymore, took in a deep breath then went through the smoke- Vanessa firmly and the smoke disappeared.
She froze as she realized that she had reached the very middle of the maze and a gigantic black dragon was circling a glass dial. She squinted her eyes and realized that the glass dial that the dragon was protecting held the Blood sword.

The Blood sword received its name because of the bloody history of its owners and it had nothing to do with its appearance. Not one of its previous owners really did have a good ending.

Selena found herself staring at awe at the sword, completely ignoring the dragon swishing around it.
The sword was a sight to behold. How could a weapon look so beautiful and forlorn at the same time? The handle was made of pure gold and studded with precious jewels, while the blade was said to be able to draw the power of lightning into it because of the ancient savatavas metal from which the sword had been forged.
The last time she was here, she too young to know the importance of the blood sword and the only thought in her mind at that time had been to get the hell out of there.

Selena concentrated her attention back to the dragon circling it and realized that it was a Falak, a dragon which also had the features of a gigantic serpent.
That was one ferocious creature and though vampires were immortal per say, it only took one pinch of venom from its teeth for the vampire to have a nasty death. It could breathe fire as well. Selena let out a sigh in annoyance. Wasn’t her mother overestimating her abilities?

Falak was a mythical creature of the legends and yet here it was standing guard right in front of her eyes. Though a part of her was scared, another part of her couldn’t help but admire the beautiful black scales of the dragon.

She hesitated for a split of second before taking a step out of the shadow she was hiding in and placed herself right in front of the dragon’s line of vision.