Return to the Labyrinth

Minestus' lair wound through the mountain peak in an intricate and mystifying maze of twisting corridors, branching hallways, cold lifeless rooms, and dark forbidding chambers. There were still magical wards set in place throughout the stronghold, guarding and protecting Minestus' secrets. Synizn had to be careful. He had to go slowly. He had to be patient. But his patience was wearing thin.

How long it was that Synizn wandered through Minestus' lair before he stumbled upon the Labyrinth Chamber he could not really say. Days perhaps, maybe even weeks. Time was lost when one was embraced within the dark hollow heart of a mountain. But when he looked about within that immense, stygian hall Synizn knew that he was fnally close to what he sought.

He must have been very deep within the mountain, for the walls of the Labyrinth, made of red-veined marble, seemed to rise up into infinity and vanish far above his head. As his eyes stared upward the perspective made him dizzy and he stumbled and had to cling to a cold, stone sculpture that was near at hand. Massive indeed was the Labyrinth Chamber, built to a scale far beyond that of puny Humanity. And yet the room was also crafted with finer details and smaller forms much more fitting to lesser creatures such as Man.

While gargantuan figures roamed the far reaches of the chamber, striving one against the other in titanic friezes that stretched across the mammoth walls, smaller figures crowded about the room as well, frozen in stone and metal, alabaster and gold. Hideous some were, beautiful were others. Cherubs and sprites, hobgoblins and demons. Strange creatures never before seen by human eyes and marvelous monsters that had vanished into the myths of time long, long ago. These figures stood and fought and grappled with each other on pedestals of black magma, leered and snickered mockingly from out of fiery frescoes sculpted upon luminous blocks of chrysoberyl, and warred unceasingly with their beastial limbs and hell-filled hearts in horrific tableaux that spiraled along the engraved skins of thick, squatting, bone-white pillars.

Synizn was no stranger to the architecture of the arcane, the blending of the geometry of magick with the sublime muse of the inner-soul. But this place was beyond anything he had ever seen before and he could not help but feel awe as he gazed about the chamber. He felt its power. And he felt its danger. This place had been born of Minestus' dark knowledge and even darker ambition. It was more than just a gallery of spectacles and wonders, of ancient wars and never-ending battles, of living truths trapped in unyielding forms and frozen substance. This place was a doorway into something else, into something beyond.

And at the very center of the Labyrinth Chamber, Synizn found a wide, raised dais made of sparkling gemstone and crushed black earth. There were four arches built upon that dais and upon its floor was etched an intricate and marvelous design.

The first arch was carved with angels and cherubs and winged guardians. Engraved into its stone was the word Qao~Sul, which in the dragon tongue means Creation.

The second arch was carved with demons and devils and pit fiends. Engraved into its stone was the word Qei~Waru, which in the dragon tongue means Destruction.

The third arch was carved with water and wind and tumbling grains of sand. Engraved into its stone was the word Vu~Jie, which in the dragon tongue means Time.

The fourth arch was carved with wolves and with men. At its top was the print of a man's hand. At its bottom was the claw'd track of a wolf. And engraved into its stone was the word Zhu~Iyyat, which in the dragon tongue means Beast.

Synizn stared at the arches with wonder. These were not ordinary arches. From below the dais, if one looked through an arch one would see through it as expected, and gaze upon whatever stood across the way. But when one stood upon the dais itself and gazed into the arch, it was not the rest of the chamber that was framed through the stone doorway. An inky blackness permeated the space enclosed within the carven arches, a blackness that seemed alive.

Portals? Synizn wondered.

Whatever they were, he dared not enter them, even though he was hard pressed to hold back his impatience at discovering the secrets of this place. And so he turned his attention instead to the floor. The design etched there was made up of arcane symbols and magical formulae. Synizn had knowledge of such things but he found it difficult to understand what it was he was looking at. And just when he thought he grasped its meaning, his sudden insight would vanish like smoke.

Was it a spell? Was it a map? Was it a warning? Was it a key?

How long Synizn stood there, studying the magical etching, he could not say. Days perhaps, maybe even weeks. Time was lost when one was deep in the study of magic. But finally his patience reached its end and Synizn could wait no longer. Finding what he thought was an answer to the question of the runic puzzle he acted. He touched a symbol and then another, and more after, each in quick succession. He mouthed an ancient word known only to Dragonkind. And then he simply vanished.

A hole had opened up. Invisible. And had swallowed him.

1. When Synizn returns, he isn't the same
2. When Synizn returns, the world isn't the same

Add New Option

Go Back

View Forward Story Tree
View Back Story Tree