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She awoke in the corner, her knees pulled up to her chest and her head resting on folded arms. The walls of the room were tiled in a bright yellow. Light flooded the small room from somewhere above her, making her eyes water. She jumped to her feet snatching the black wooden bow from the floor as she rose. There were no windows and only one exit from the room. It took her only moments to remember where she was. Her eyes followed the grout lines around the walls and to the door less exit. She closed her eyes tight against the light, keeping the image of the room in her mind. She strung her bow without looking. The hallway beyond was dark as a moonless night, and crawling with ... well she wasn't sure. Human in shape and voice, but with speed and ruthlessness that was all too foreign, the maze was a test. A game entered into freely but rarely finished.

One year when she was very young, her best friend had gone missing. He was only eight years old, and she knew immediately where he'd gone. She ran to the park, barefoot, in her dressing gown. She stopped at the tunnel peering into the dark, she swallowed hard. "Mathew?" Her young voice called down the dark vast hall. "Don't worry, I'm coming Mathew." She stepped into the tunnel, her bare feet cold against the stone floor. She closed her eyes as she walked. She'd heard the stories and knew the legend. The strongest, fastest, smartest fighters and warriors went into the tunnels and only a very select few ever returned. On the rare occasion someone would get the nerve to go into the tunnel, they didn't always make it far before turning and running out followed by a black tipped arrow. The arrow always found it's home in the fleeing individual, and it could never be removed unless cut from the body.
Her eyes still shut tight she'd walked for what had seemed miles. She'd held her arms out, finger tips barely brushing the walls on either side of her. When she'd found a turn she took it remembering what her teacher had told her about mazes, "Keep the right hand against the wall and you will find your way out no matter what." Though both hands were out she followed her right. "I'll get you Matty." She whispered to reassure herself from time to time. After a while she'd come to a room. She could tell there was something different from the red glow that penetrated her eyelids. It was different from the rest of the maze as it was filled with light. A bright light from somewhere in the ceiling, but it was too bright and she couldn't see where the source was. Tired and cold she sat in the corner, shivering in her thin dressing gown. She'd pulled her knees up tight against her chest and rested her head upon her folded arms. It was said that anywhere there was light was a safe place. The hunters, as they were known outside the tunnels, would not fight you if you were in the light. The projectile arrows were an obvious exception, but were only shot when one had already been in the darkness. She decided then that she would rest before carrying on to find her friend.
When she awoke she was laying on the grass just outside of the tunnel. A woman pushing a pram had startled her awake. "What in heaven's name are you doing so near the tunnel child?!" She sat up, confused, there was a note pinned to her dressing gown. It read: It is not your time
This day was different. This day the tunnel was calling her. She had been standing by the pond, watching the fish swim around and around as if each time they passed the waterfall it was for the first time. That was when she heard it. The maze had many entrances but only one way out. One of those entrances was in the park. Near an old tree there was a tunnel, square and out of place it seemed to be an old subway tunnel. Diving into the ground at a steep slope. Many people passed the tunnel everyday, and many more avoided looking at it, or even thinking of it. There were a few, whom the tunnel seemed to call. Once the maze had a hold of you, once it wanted you, it was only a matter of time.
She had been training, practicing over and over. Any and every battle and confrontation of will and strength that she could think of. She knew it was her time now. She went to the park, but spent most of the morning staring into the darkness. She couldn't make her feet move, she knew she must, but why? Surely Mathew had not survived, he had been but a child. A small forgotten orphan, just like she was. She went to the pond to watch the brightly colored fish swim their habitual paths and it eased her mind. Then she heard a voice. Small and innocent, calling from the tunnel. She couldn't make out what it said, but she recognized it well.
"Matty?" She whirled around expecting to see the dark haired boy running to greet her, still eight years old. Instead she only saw the tunnel. She could feel it pulling her in, tugging at her feet. This was it, once her foot crossed from grass to tile there would be no turning back. "I went in once and came out alive" she thought to herself. She closed her eyes and held her breath, she would need to see in there and the noonday sun had ruined any chance of that. She put one foot out and took her first step into the tunnel. Unlike those eleven years ago, this time she felt no chill under her feet. She only heard the soft pat pat of her boots on the floor. She had chosen her clothing carefully, soft soled shoes that were nearly silent when she stepped. Close fitting thick leggings and tunic that would help keep her warm in the chill underground without hindering her movement. She had with her for weaponry a long knife sheathed against her back under the quiver which held her arrows and the long black wood bow that had been her new friend over the past decade. This she left for the time being as it would do her no good in the six foot tall tunnel. It was not very wide and hardly tall enough for her to shoot well in. Instead she drew the blade. Long and shining when it was in the sun, now she could barely see it's outline in the darkness that now crushed down upon her. She was tense for the first hour, but after what had seemed like centuries and only two turns later, she felt herself slacken. Surely she had found that room sooner than this when she was a child. She had followed the same hand and the same turns, yet she had still not found a room. Many minutes later she found a room, though, she could not be sure if it was the same room from eleven years ago, yet she decided to rest as she had before.

Her kept her eyes closed for a count of 75, then she stepped back into the hallway and resumed her journey. She had been walking for six hundred paces when she noticed the floor felt different. It was now wooden instead of stone, and the walls had changed somehow as well. The tile felt rough under her hands as if it had carvings upon it, tiny and rowed. As she was inspecting the tile with her fingers she heard the shuffling of feet ahead of her. She ceased the study of the wall and held her blade out before her, she crouched slightly ready for some one to charge her. Nothing happened. For a moment she though perhaps she had imagined the feet, then she heard them again. This time they where moving fast, running.She braced herself for a moment before she realized they were running away from her. She took off after the sound. Sprinting through the hall.
She took turn after turn, barely thinking, following an instinct as if she knew this place. Her brow was wet with sweat but she didn't stop she could hear the footsteps ahead of her, she was gaining. What would she do when she caught up? What if it was just some other fighter, pulled into the tunnel as she was? What if they all were? While she was thinking she came upon a hall that opened into a lit room. She stopped, doubled over with her hands upon her knees her chest heaved. Before her the hall continued on but now she could not hear the steps of the other feet. Perhaps after a time she had only heard the echo of her own steps. She looked to her left at the light that poured from the door way. "I suppose I should rest." She didn't turn her back on the darkness, but instead kept her knife drawn and ready as she backed into the light.
She breathed a quiet sigh as she stepped fully out of the darkness. As she heard her own breath pass her lips she heard the sound of steel upon scabbard. She whirled around to find the point of a blade against her jugular. She held her hands out and dropped her own blade. As she did she noticed it did not clang against the floor but landed with a soft thud. She was standing in grass. The man before her had a square of cloth drawn over his nose and mouth. His eyes, however, were exposed, sharp and cunning. Those sharp eyes glanced up and down, looking her over. He lowered his blade and took a step back, bowing his head. "My apologies. I thought you were one of them." He jerked his head to the doorway behind here where the darkness hung like an opaque curtain.
She stooped to pick up her blade from the ground. Sheathing it she replied,"I thought they didn't venture into the light."
At this remark he made a sound that resembled a short laugh. "Oh they will come in, but they won't bare arms against you, and you will not stay awake long enough to start a fight with them." Her curious look bade him to continue. "They are human enough, or so they seem, I think they enjoy the light as much as you or I, but they also long for the dark. It is a game to them, and the light is an out of bounds, if you will. They will not fight here, but many a warrior may take advantage of that and so within moments of seeing one, you will find yourself fast asleep. Or rather you will find yourself waking, sometime later. These lighted rooms, are a refuge for us all." He turned and started away from her across the grass to a large rock that sat near a pond.
"What is this?" She looked around her confused as to how grass could be coxed into growing under the earth. "Why is it that this seems to be a park? Is that a vegetable patch?!" She pointed to the far corner of the room. "This room is so much larger that the other. "
"You mean others. There are many other rooms, and this is one is among the largest, but there are larger yet. So I have heard."
She walked nearer to where the strange ranger looking man was sitting. "You've heard? From whom?" The grass felt warm under her hand, as if the sun had been shining on it for the better part of a day. "Have you met others in here? Others like you and I?"
"Of course I've met others. I am currently waiting for someone to return. Though I fear she may not. She has a while yet before I shall set off without her though. My name is Nathaniel." He placed a broad hand on his chest. "The woman I am waiting for goes by the name Leigh. She is proficient in the art of healing and swordsmanship. I believe she also carries a number of throwing knives with her." His hair was shaggy and unkempt, hanging across his brow, partially obscuring his eyes. "And who, might I ask, are you? You seem a bit ... what makes you think you've enough to make it out of here alive?"
She swallowed hard. She knew his opinion of her. She looked sturdy enough, not some waife of a girl, but he obviously didn't think she had what it would take. "My name is Ellana, I am more than proficient with both bow and blade. If you'd like I'll show you." With that she had her boot knife drawn and pointed at the man's throat, quicker than he could flinch.
Instead of recoiling, however, he started to laugh. A low chuckle rumbling from his closed, grinning lips. "Alright," he looked up and she could see his eyes were the lightest blue she'd ever seen. Not vibrant or anything to write poetry for, but so very light they almost seemed white. "so maybe you are skilled enough, and fast enough. But, do you have the drive?"
Ellana still held the knife to the man's throat, though the muscles in her arm had loosened. In the few brief moments that she pondered the question she heard the sound of running feet behind here. She whirled around to see a young woman standing just inside the doorway. The woman was no older than 25, just a bit older than Ellana.
Ellana lowered her knife and slipped it back into her boot. "Oh, sorry." She straightened back up and took a step toward the woman. "I guess I'm a little jumpy. You must be Leigh." She put a hand out toward the tall woman, who simply glared from Ellana to Nathaniel.
"Who is she?" She asked rather flippantly, as she brushed past Ellana and stood nearer to Nathaniel. She certainly looked strong, but despite her height and obvious muscle tone, she was somehow graceful and willowy.
Nathaniel answered her question before Ellana had a chance. "This is Ellana. She is new to the Maze, but I think she could be of some use."
"Bigger groups mean more shadows following us. Do you really want that? Because I know I don't." With that she turned her focus back to Ellana. "Do you even know what you're getting in to? You can't just turn around and go home. No one is given parden from this place. You have to fight your way out. So maybe when you've proven yourself for more than just a day or two, then if we see you again, I'll consider it."
Ellana was more than irritated at this point. This woman just walked in and assumed that she knew it all. She knew nothing. And that man, sitting on his rock, pretending to be some wise old guru of the maze. They were stuck in here too, yet they acted so high and mighty. "Fine, you two go about your merry life in this God-forsaken place. You can spend as much time in here as you like. But I'm getting out! And I don't intend to spend any longer in here than I have to." She whipped around and headed for the dark doorway. She stopped, just inches from the darkness. "And by the way, you're wrong." She pointed at Leigh.
"Oh really? About what?" Leigh's smug expression didn't shift on bit. But Nathaniel seemed a bit more curious.
"About being pardoned. I walked in here when I was a child, and I didn't fight my way out. I simply woke up on the grass. I was pardoned. So explain that one, madam know-it-all." Ellana folded her arms across her chest. Her heart was racing and her face was hot.
"You what?" Leigh's face had dropped. She seemed awe-struck.
"I walked in, fell asleep and someone carried me out. They left me with this." She reached into her vest and pulled out a tired looking piece of paper with four simple words scralled across it. She handed the paper to Leigh. "That was pinned to my shirt when I woke up."
Leigh frowned at the paper before handing it to Nathaniel, who's middle-aged face never seemed to show much expression."Interesting. And it seems 'they' knew you would come back again." He looked up at Ellana with those white/blue eyes. "Now how would they know that, I wonder." He held the note out to Ellana and motioned for her to sit. "There is more to your story, isn't there? I apologize for Leigh's hasty judgement. We have met others in here who have lied about their courage, and skill. Such companionship lost us a very dear friend. Foolish children. Though, perhaps we all are."
Leigh broke in then. "As much as I like you phylisophical ponderings Nathaniel, I would like to hear what this Ellana has to say."

Ellana told the two about how she'd walked into a small room where she'd fallen asleep, and how she'd simply awoken on the grass. She told them every detail, except why she'd ventured into the maze to start with.
She hoped neither would ask her why, as a seven year old girl, she'd decided to brave the maze.
She should have guessed that Leigh was more clever than that. "But why? Why did you even go in? You were just a child."
Ellana swallowed. For some reason she couldn't place, she didn't want to tell these two about Mathew. Before she had to though, Nathaniel broke in.
"Perhaps this means that the shadows have some sort of conscience. Perhaps they could not bare to let you, a child, take on the maze."