Our Hearts Beat As One

Posts : 40 Join date : 2009-01-26

No matter how many turns he took or illusions he saw through, Holloweiss felt as if he was making no progress at all. It had been days, and he still had yet to find a way out of the maze. If anything, he was travelling deeper, into the heart of the labyrinth itself...

That's right... Keep coming this way... the voices whispered, urging him onward. You're almost to the end.

Sure enough, he came to a rounded building made of rotting stones and wood, statues of odd, grotesque creatures guarding its entrance. The door was of an iron grating, rusted and old, and with a broken lock. Gently, he pushed it open with his paw and poked his head inside. Here, the voices were stronger, and they began to sound more like one, sentient being.

Do not be frightened.

There was nothing to see but inky blackness within at first, but as Holloweiss' eyes began to adjust, he realized just what the building was for.

It was a mortuary, and inside was a stone casket.

Regardless of what the voice told him, Hollow was afraid. All of his senses told him to back out of the building and beat a hasty retreat, but something held him fast to the ground. He could not bring himself to move, and a small part of him didn't want to leave; it wanted to know what the voice had in store for him, what it wanted from him.

Posts : 40 Join date : 2009-01-26

"Come closer," the voice continued. "I have something to ask of you."

It was at this time that Holloweiss realized that the voice was not in his head, but without, as if there was another person speaking to him. This freaked him out even more than if it had truly been in his head, and he balked. "Can you not just tell me while I am over here?" he growled. He felt stupid, talking to someone he could not see and might not even exist.

"Are you frightened?" the voice returned, though the question seemed genuine and not asked out of malice.

"Yes. But that is not what you wish to ask me, is it." It was a statement, not a question.

There was a small pause. "You want out of this maze, yes? I can help you, but you must help me first."

"And what exactly does that entail?" Hollow retorted. "I may not look it, but I do try to avoid making shady deals. Especially with someone I can hear but cannot see."

"That cannot be helped, I am afraid; I do not live a tangible existance, and thus cannot be seen by those who are not connect with the spirit realm."

"So you are a ghost." Again, it was a statement, an observation of fact.

"Of a sort, yes."

"I am afraid there is nothing that I can do to help the dead."

The ghost chuckled. "Ah, but you see, I am not dead at all. I am simply separated from my body.... It is a very long story."

"Well," Hollow sighed, walking into the mortuary and sitting on his hunches. "I've got time."

Posts : 40 Join date : 2009-01-26

"I was once a man-- a king. This labyrinth was a small part of my kingdom. It was a simple maze back then; it did not move, nor did it work to trap individuals within its walls. That is the work of the demons who have taken residence here in my... 'absense'." The voice paused a short moment, as if choosing its words carefully. "Not only was I a king, but a warlord, and though I was good to my people, I made many enemies. One night, they invaded my country with the help of the demons, tore my soul from my body, and locked both halves of me away in separate places across the land. That race died out long ago, but the demons still remain, and they will not release me."

"I'm sorry, but I fail to see how I fit into all of this," Holloweiss replied, his lips pulling back into a scowl along his muzzle.

"Do you truly wish to help me?"

"Well, sure, I guess. But what must I do?"

"Come closer to the casket and I will show you."