A Story of Evil
Chapter 22: The Maze II

"Why do we need to go to the area they said again?" Ethan asked.

"Uhh because there's a new training regime they cooked up BECAAAUUUZE WE ARE AWEEESUUUUM right?" Jake said in reply.

"Yeah that's probably it! I bet the Culling is going to change because of us!"

As always Jake and Ethan were loud. They already forgot the fact that in a matter of days, they would be sent to the Culling. To a place where death was the largest assurance for any Void Titan.

Meanwhile, Peter was forcing himself into the small circle that seemed to have been formed between Sol and Alice. They haven't told it to each other yet and, they were still waiting for the results of the final day to come. But, they were planning to work together until they were the last ones who remained in the Culling. That is, ideally of course.

"So my best buddies." Peter said, putting his arm around both Sol and Alice.

"Best buddies?" Alice thought to herself, shivering in cringe from the mere thought of it.

"What are your thoughts? I'm sure you're both viewing this from a different perspective, right?" Peter furthered.

"Actually I've got nothing. They're sending us there because they think that it's the right move to make." Was Sol's disinterested answer.

"Same here." Alice said in reply.

"Really? I thought you guys were going to say something cool."

"Why don't you give it a rest Peter?" Sol said, removing the boy's hand from his shoulder and Alice did likewise.

They continued walking through the long corridors of Pandora. As Sol continued thinking about it, something was weird about the place. They were only walking in circles yet, the distance of the areas from one another didn't make any sense.

The same distance was covered when he walked from the bedroom up to the cafeteria. The same area was also covered when he walked from the entry of Pandora's box up to King Jubilee's room. It took him a hundred steps on both occasions. Without any stairs going up nor any going down. Just a flat area where they continued walking on and, this same number of steps was also covered when they finally reached Onyx and Colonel.

"What took you maggots so long?"

"On the slums we're told to always finish our meals so we did just that."

"Sol you orphan are you talking back to me again?"

"Crap I spoke my mind." Sol thought as he responded:

"Sir, no sir."

"Good! I don't wanna hear any wisecracks from any of you." Colonel said, taking off his glove and showing a green gem embedded on his hand.

"There are no instructions once you enter the maze. You need to figure things out. Whether this would be done as a group or individually is entirely up to you." Onyx furthered, taking out his own and, with that, they both touched the wall in front of them; opening a pathway which was supposed to be the entrance of the maze.

"In you go then." As they proceeded, there was another question that came up on Sol's mind.

"Sir Onyx." The boy said as soon as all five of the titans were through the door.

"Yes Sol?"

"How long will this training last?" The smile on Onyx faced disappeared at that moment and, with a cold voice he responded.

"That depends on your skills." The door closed in front of them and a voice abruptly said.

[Commencing the initial stage of the maze.]

The ground began shaking. Cracks appeared all over the area. Some of the tiles began falling and, there was no sound of these ever reaching a bottom. All of these combined caused the three boys to panic – running as fast as they could to the door which was directly on the opposite side of the room.

Sol and Alice also began running but, not in a panicked state. Both of them were looking for a way out of the situation because they knew that, with the method they were using, all the flooring would be gone even before they reached the exit.

The three idiots were also able to notice this but, only in a state of fear. They thought of how the door seemed so far away and how they weren't even halfway through.

"I DON'T WANT TO DIE!" Ethan shouted, finally tripping over a crack in his carelessness. Yet he gripped on the two who ran with him. Making them all fall on the ground and, in that moment, the shaking finally stopped.

"The three of you don't move!" Sol immediately tried to take control of the situation.

"What are you – "

"DON'T MOVE!" He repeated in an angry voice. Surprising Alice who thought that he was devoid of emotions.

"If you don't want to die then stay right there!" He furthered, getting the full attention of the three.

Sol was thinking about everything. The place where the three idiots were currently at. How all of them weren't moving at that time. The crack which Ethan's foot stepped on. And every other variable that came across his mind.

"We're gonna try something out! Just stay there until I've got this whole thing figured out." The three simply nodded because the adrenaline has died down and, frankly speaking, their legs didn't feel like they could be used to run anymore.

"Alice?"

"I'll follow mister big brain." She said, knowing that Sol's skills would be able to get them out of there.

In such a crucial moment, their minds were wired to perform a natural selection. What came out as the result was Sol being chosen as their leader through the entirety of the maze. This was with the thought that, if the initial part had them staking their lives, then they needed someone level headed to guide them through the rest of it.

"Alice try moving to a black tile then stop. Move to a white tile then stop. Then try moving to a new crack, then stop."

"Okay. Got it." Alice said, stretching her legs for a bit and making a few hops.

"Let's do this." Alice sprinted, moving to the first location. As soon as she did, the room began shaking, with some parts getting removed once again. The three began screaming like crazy but both Sol and Alice remained calm.

"Next." Alice moved to the nearest black tile, producing the same results., The ground was shaking like crazy and, this was enough to make Ethan begin squirming.

"AHHH WE'RE GONNA DIE!"

"Hold him down!" Sol commanded, with the two boys doing just this – all weak gripped because of fear. And so, tragedy finally struck. Ethan was able to get away from the two and began crawling for his life.

"I DON'T WANT TO DIEEE!" The shaking only became more intense and even Sol was force to run from where he was because, the ground was close to zero on his area. And in all this chaos, there was one person whom Sol relied on.

"Fucking idiot." Alice sprinted, avoiding every crack and hole that appeared. Leaping over one that came out just before her and, in not less than ten seconds, she was able to catch Ethan and hold him down. She then stepped on the nearest cracks she could replace and, brought out a needle hidden on her hair clip – pointing it at Ethan as she demanded.

"Move your feet on the crack before I slit your throat."

"Y-YES!"

"Everyone step on a crack!" Sol ordered and, as soon as he and the other two found their feet on some cracks, the shaking finally stopped.

The three boys were beginning to get calm. Sol, who had complete trust on Alice's abilities was just the same. In fact he wasn't even a bit nervous.

"I've figured it out! You can keep on walking slowly now!" Sol shouted, doing just as he said.

"Just make sure that your feet will only step on the cracks!"

"You heard him. Get moving." Alice said, taking her hold off of Ethan as she began walking.

The demonstration of both Sol and Alice was enough to prove this theory. The three followed; carefully watching their steps and making sure that there would always be some cracks where their feet landed.

With this, the five were able to get to the other side of the room. The stage rumbled once again and all the remaining foothold finally fell into the deep abyss below.

"You think we would've died if we fell from here?" Peter asked in rugged breaths.

"I'm not sure." Sol remembered the warning given by onyx before they entered.

"But I'm not that interested in replaceing out."

With this the five successfully cleared the first trial. All of them survived thanks to the skills of both Alice and Sol. Yet, little did they know that it was only the beginning of a long and hellish experience that would push even Sol's wit to the bitter limits.