While walking deeper into the maze, it felt like the path stretched on forever.
Every turn led to another turn. Every straight path opened into another endless corridor of towering hedge walls and shattered glass scattered across the ground like frost. There were no shadows. No enemies. No monsters crawling out of the dark.
Nothing.
And honestly… that somehow made it worse.
The only sound was the slow rhythm of my footsteps and the sharp crackling crunch of grass and broken glass beneath my feet. Each step pressed shards into the soles of my sandals. Sometimes one would slip just right and jab into my foot, sending a dull pulse of pain up my leg.
The shinobi gi Shu had given me was comfortable—light, flexible, easy to move in—but even that couldn't stop the aching in my legs. Hours of walking through the maze had turned every muscle stiff. My calves burned. My knees felt heavy.
Still… I couldn't stop.
I had to find Jordan. Maya. Cameron.
Nothing else mattered.
Every second I spent walking was another second they might be fighting alone… or worse.
So breaks weren't an option.
I kept moving.
While walking, I started noticing things.
The first thing I learned about the maze was simple.
It was endless.
There were thousands of paths. Thousands of turns. Some curved, some twisted, some stretched so far forward they disappeared into shadow. No matter where I went, the maze never seemed to repeat the same pattern.
It almost felt like it was shifting.
Alive.
Watching.
Waiting.
And then there was the sky.
When I first entered the maze, the sky above had been bright—almost a glowing pale blue. But as time passed, it slowly changed.
Now it was darker.
A deep, heavy blue that hung above the maze like an approaching storm.
Every time I looked up, it seemed a little darker than before.
That meant one thing.
We were on a time limit.
The darker the sky became… the closer we were to running out of time.
A cold thought crept into my mind.
What if the shadows are still going through the portal?
They probably were.
That meant the town outside—Redwood City—was slowly getting overrun.
If I didn't find the others soon…
If we didn't close the portal…
Redwood City would disappear.
And Drakna would win.
Shu had explained it before we entered the maze.
The more souls Drakna collected, the weaker the barrier between worlds became.
The world of shadows—Shadowville—would start bleeding into ours.
The connection between the two realms would fuse together until the seal holding him back shattered completely.
And once that happened…
There would be no closing it again.
At least… that's what Shu said.
But he never explained the most important part.
What sealed Drakna in the first place?
What exactly was the seal?
And why were we the ones meant to stop it?
As I kept walking, those thoughts circled endlessly in my head.
Drakna.
The portal.
Redwood City.
Jordan.
Maya.
Cameron.
Then there was Kurahana.
That strange woman.
And the boy who stood beside her.
The one with the hood covering his face.
He never spoke. Never moved much. Just stood there in silence like a shadow beside her.
Something about him felt… wrong.
I turned another corner.
Then another.
Then another.
And suddenly—
The ground beneath my feet gave way.
The earth collapsed like it had been hollow the whole time.
I dropped.
"AH—!"
I screamed as the ground swallowed me whole.
But just like before—
No sound came out.
My voice disappeared into silence.
The world around me turned black as I fell.
Then—
THUD.
I hit the ground hard.
Pain shot through my back as the air rushed from my lungs.
But this time…
It wasn't darkness.
When I looked up, I wasn't in the maze anymore.
I was standing in front of a house.
A small, brown house with faded wooden siding and a creaky front porch. The paint had chipped away in places, revealing old wood beneath it. Two dim windows stared out like tired eyes.
It was two stories tall.
The porch boards groaned as the wind moved through them.
"…Where am I?" I muttered.
I slowly walked toward the porch.
Each step made the wooden planks creak loudly under my weight.
Creak.
Creak.
Creak.
I reached the front door and knocked.
Knock. Knock.
No answer.
The silence inside the house felt heavy.
After a moment, I pushed the door open.
It swung inward slowly with a long groan of rusted hinges.
Inside, the house smelled old.
Dust hung in the air.
The living room was cluttered with old furniture and picture frames covering the walls.
I stepped forward carefully, expecting something to jump out at me.
Honestly…
After everything I'd seen in this place, I wasn't sure how many more jump scares my heart could take.
My eyes landed on one of the picture frames.
I picked it up.
Inside was a photo of a young boy with long curly blonde hair standing next to an older man.
The man was bald.
Pale skin.
A rough face.
He wore a white wife-beater tank top and worn-out jeans.
"Maybe that's his father…" I muttered.
I set the frame down and picked up another one.
In this one, the same kid was smiling while holding up a trophy. Behind him were bulletin boards and what looked like a school gym.
The name on the bottom of the frame read:
Cameron.
My eyes widened slightly.
"This is… Cameron?"
The kid in the picture looked completely different from the Cameron I knew now.
Same blonde curls.
But younger.
Happier.
Before everything changed.
As I kept walking through the house, I heard something.
A television.
It was loud.
Too loud.
When I stepped into the living room, I saw the TV playing some random show.
A man on the screen was kneeling down, proposing to a woman while dramatic music blasted from the speakers.
The volume echoed through the house.
It felt… wrong.
Like someone turned it up to drown out something else.
Then I heard it.
Crying.
Soft at first.
But clear.
It was coming from upstairs.
I slowly walked past the kitchen and climbed the staircase.
Each step creaked beneath my weight.
Creak.
Creak.
Creak.
At the top of the stairs were two doors.
The crying was coming from the door on the right.
Then—
THUD.
Another sound.
Like something hitting flesh.
My stomach tightened.
I slowly pushed the door open.
Inside the room, I saw him.
The bald man from the photo.
Standing in the middle of the room.
And in his hand—
A belt.
In the corner of the room, curled up on the floor, was a small boy.
Blonde curly hair.
Blue hoodie.
Blue jeans.
Brown shoes.
Cameron.
The man swung the belt again.
CRACK.
Cameron screamed.
Bruises already covered his arms.
Blood was starting to appear along his shoulder.
"Didn't I tell you to take out the trash?!" the man yelled.
The belt came down again.
CRACK.
"I'm sorry!" Cameron cried.
Tears streamed down his face as he curled tighter into himself.
"I made a mistake! I didn't mean to! It won't happen again!"
The belt came down again.
Harder.
And harder.
And harder.
My chest tightened.
"Stop."
The word came out before I even thought about it.
The man turned his head slowly and looked at me.
His eyes narrowed.
"Who the hell are you?"
I rushed forward and tackled him.
But the guy was huge.
He grabbed me and threw me across the room like I weighed nothing.
I slammed into the floor.
Before I could react, he was on top of me.
His hands wrapped around my throat.
And he squeezed.
My vision blurred instantly.
I clawed at his arms, trying to pull them away, but his grip was like iron.
In this place…
I felt weaker.
My body still hurt from the fall earlier.
My legs were exhausted.
My back screamed with pain.
Air wouldn't come into my lungs.
"C… Cameron…" I choked.
My voice barely came out.
"You… have to fight back…"
Cameron sat in the corner.
Crying.
Frozen.
His eyes looked empty.
Like there was nothing behind them.
Just darkness.
Like he had already given up.
"Cameron…" I gasped.
My vision started fading.
Black spots filled the edges of my sight.
"Please…"
Nothing.
He didn't move.
"CAMERON!" I shouted.
This time my voice cracked through the room.
Still nothing.
Something inside me snapped.
With the last bit of strength I had, I balled my fist and swung upward.
CRACK.
My punch connected with the man's jaw.
He flew sideways and slammed into the wall.
Hard.
The impact shook the entire room.
He groaned and tried to push himself up.
Before he could stand, I ran forward and kicked him in the chest.
He crashed back to the floor.
I didn't wait.
I ran straight to Cameron.
I dropped beside him and grabbed his shoulders.
"Cameron!"
His body shook as he cried.
"Cameron, please… wake up."
I shook him gently.
"I'm here."
Slowly…
His head lifted.
Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.
And his eyes met mine.
While walking deeper into the maze, it felt like the path stretched on forever.
Every turn led to another turn. Every straight path opened into another endless corridor of towering hedge walls and shattered glass scattered across the ground like frost. There were no shadows. No enemies. No monsters crawling out of the dark.
Nothing.
And honestly… that somehow made it worse.
The only sound was the slow rhythm of my footsteps and the sharp crackling crunch of grass and broken glass beneath my feet. Each step pressed shards into the soles of my sandals. Sometimes one would slip just right and jab into my foot, sending a dull pulse of pain up my leg.
The shinobi gi Shu had given me was comfortable—light, flexible, easy to move in—but even that couldn't stop the aching in my legs. Hours of walking through the maze had turned every muscle stiff. My calves burned. My knees felt heavy.
Still… I couldn't stop.
I had to find Jordan. Maya. Cameron.
Nothing else mattered.
Every second I spent walking was another second they might be fighting alone… or worse.
So breaks weren't an option.
I kept moving.
While walking, I started noticing things.
The first thing I learned about the maze was simple.
It was endless.
There were thousands of paths. Thousands of turns. Some curved, some twisted, some stretched so far forward they disappeared into shadow. No matter where I went, the maze never seemed to repeat the same pattern.
It almost felt like it was shifting.
Alive.
Watching.
Waiting.
And then there was the sky.
When I first entered the maze, the sky above had been bright—almost a glowing pale blue. But as time passed, it slowly changed.
Now it was darker.
A deep, heavy blue that hung above the maze like an approaching storm.
Every time I looked up, it seemed a little darker than before.
That meant one thing.
We were on a time limit.
The darker the sky became… the closer we were to running out of time.
A cold thought crept into my mind.
What if the shadows are still going through the portal?
They probably were.
That meant the town outside—Redwood City—was slowly getting overrun.
If I didn't find the others soon…
If we didn't close the portal…
Redwood City would disappear.
And Drakna would win.
Shu had explained it before we entered the maze.
The more souls Drakna collected, the weaker the barrier between worlds became.
The world of shadows—Shadowville—would start bleeding into ours.
The connection between the two realms would fuse together until the seal holding him back shattered completely.
And once that happened…
There would be no closing it again.
At least… that's what Shu said.
But he never explained the most important part.
What sealed Drakna in the first place?
What exactly was the seal?
And why were we the ones meant to stop it?
As I kept walking, those thoughts circled endlessly in my head.
Drakna.
The portal.
Redwood City.
Jordan.
Maya.
Cameron.
Then there was Kurahana.
That strange woman.
And the boy who stood beside her.
The one with the hood covering his face.
He never spoke. Never moved much. Just stood there in silence like a shadow beside her.
Something about him felt… wrong.
I turned another corner.
Then another.
Then another.
And suddenly—
The ground beneath my feet gave way.
The earth collapsed like it had been hollow the whole time.
I dropped.
"AH—!"
I screamed as the ground swallowed me whole.
But just like before—
No sound came out.
My voice disappeared into silence.
The world around me turned black as I fell.
Then—
THUD.
I hit the ground hard.
Pain shot through my back as the air rushed from my lungs.
But this time…
It wasn't darkness.
When I looked up, I wasn't in the maze anymore.
I was standing in front of a house.
A small, brown house with faded wooden siding and a creaky front porch. The paint had chipped away in places, revealing old wood beneath it. Two dim windows stared out like tired eyes.
It was two stories tall.
The porch boards groaned as the wind moved through them.
"…Where am I?" I muttered.
I slowly walked toward the porch.
Each step made the wooden planks creak loudly under my weight.
Creak.
Creak.
Creak.
I reached the front door and knocked.
Knock. Knock.
No answer.
The silence inside the house felt heavy.
After a moment, I pushed the door open.
It swung inward slowly with a long groan of rusted hinges.
Inside, the house smelled old.
Dust hung in the air.
The living room was cluttered with old furniture and picture frames covering the walls.
I stepped forward carefully, expecting something to jump out at me.
Honestly…
After everything I'd seen in this place, I wasn't sure how many more jump scares my heart could take.
My eyes landed on one of the picture frames.
I picked it up.
Inside was a photo of a young boy with long curly blonde hair standing next to an older man.
The man was bald.
Pale skin.
A rough face.
He wore a white wife-beater tank top and worn-out jeans.
"Maybe that's his father…" I muttered.
I set the frame down and picked up another one.
In this one, the same kid was smiling while holding up a trophy. Behind him were bulletin boards and what looked like a school gym.
The name on the bottom of the frame read:
Cameron.
My eyes widened slightly.
"This is… Cameron?"
The kid in the picture looked completely different from the Cameron I knew now.
Same blonde curls.
But younger.
Happier.
Before everything changed.
As I kept walking through the house, I heard something.
A television.
It was loud.
Too loud.
When I stepped into the living room, I saw the TV playing some random show.
A man on the screen was kneeling down, proposing to a woman while dramatic music blasted from the speakers.
The volume echoed through the house.
It felt… wrong.
Like someone turned it up to drown out something else.
Then I heard it.
Crying.
Soft at first.
But clear.
It was coming from upstairs.
I slowly walked past the kitchen and climbed the staircase.
Each step creaked beneath my weight.
Creak.
Creak.
Creak.
At the top of the stairs were two doors.
The crying was coming from the door on the right.
Then
THUD.
Another sound.
Like something hitting flesh.
My stomach tightened.
I slowly pushed the door open.
Inside the room, I saw him.
The bald man from the photo.
Standing in the middle of the room.
And in his hand
A belt.
In the corner of the room, curled up on the floor, was a small boy.
Blonde curly hair.
Blue hoodie.
Blue jeans.
Brown shoes.
Cameron.
The man swung the belt again.
CRACK.
Cameron screamed.
Bruises already covered his arms.
Blood was starting to appear along his shoulder.
"Didn't I tell you to take out the trash?!" the man yelled.
The belt came down again.
CRACK.
"I'm sorry!" Cameron cried.
Tears streamed down his face as he curled tighter into himself.
"I made a mistake! I didn't mean to! It won't happen again!"
The belt came down again.
Harder.
And harder.
And harder.
My chest tightened.
"Stop."
The word came out before I even thought about it.
The man turned his head slowly and looked at me.
His eyes narrowed.
"Who the hell are you?"
I rushed forward and tackled him.
But the guy was huge.
He grabbed me and threw me across the room like I weighed nothing.
I slammed into the floor.
Before I could react, he was on top of me.
His hands wrapped around my throat.
And he squeezed.
My vision blurred instantly.
I clawed at his arms, trying to pull them away, but his grip was like iron.
In this place…
I felt weaker.
My body still hurt from the fall earlier.
My legs were exhausted.
My back screamed with pain.
Air wouldn't come into my lungs.
"C… Cameron…" I choked.
My voice barely came out.
"You… have to fight back…"
Cameron sat in the corner.
Crying.
Frozen.
His eyes looked empty.
Like there was nothing behind them.
Just darkness.
Like he had already given up.
"Cameron…" I gasped.
My vision started fading.
Black spots filled the edges of my sight.
"Please…"
Nothing.
He didn't move.
"CAMERON!" I shouted.
This time my voice cracked through the room.
Still nothing.
Something inside me snapped.
With the last bit of strength I had, I balled my fist and swung upward.
CRACK.
My punch connected with the man's jaw.
He flew sideways and slammed into the wall.
Hard.
The impact shook the entire room.
He groaned and tried to push himself up.
Before he could stand, I ran forward and kicked him in the chest.
He crashed back to the floor.
I didn't wait.
I ran straight to Cameron.
I dropped beside him and grabbed his shoulders.
"Cameron!"
His body shook as he cried.
"Cameron, please… wake up."
I shook him gently.
"I'm here."
Slowly…
His head lifted.
And his eyes met mine.
