The Search For Mana

[Vosur Aekira]

Vosur quickly turned towards the group just in time to see the maze separate himself from the others. "Crap!" he exclaimed before he smacked his own fist against the wall that separated them. "Everyone else alright over there? If you all can hear me, listen up. The old man should already know this, but there exists the possibility of finding clues to get to the end, mostly from the legends about how the survivors made it through. Observe your surroundings with all of your senses." he spoke out before anyone could reply, not sure if they heard him or not, but he tried to make sure that he was loud enough to be heard through the walls before he moved his right hand to feel along the wall carefully, taking in deep breaths to try to make sure his sense of smell would catch any clues he could find.

[Shinzuu Katame: Her Tolfy]

Lazaryos heard Vosur yelling over the wall and yelled back over, "There was nothing in the old scripts about the labyrinth coming alive! I guess it's the plant's way of testing to see if you're worthy of the Mana that it yields! This might explain why only one person comes out each time! Everyone just make your way through and we'll meet when we meet!" He continued on, since there was apparently only one path. The echoes of his footsteps made him extra cautious, and there were faint winds running along above them, sounding exactly like the breath of monsters and voracious creatures. The path was dark, and he was barely able to see the walls and the floor.

[Vee Katame: His Wolfy]

Ember had heard Vosur before she had began down the path. She didn't respond though and just kept walking through the dark as she heard Lazaryos responding. Placing her free hand on the wall on the left side, she felt along the wall as she walked. She would have used her majicka to make fire to be able to see better, but she didn't want to waste her majicka on something that wasn't important and necessary. Hearing some sound above her, she looked up but saw nothing above her and scowled before looking forward again.

[Chrono Blackwyng]

Chrono had gone out of earshot as he briskly walked through the path laid before him. He stopped as he could hear a second pair of footsteps, which were silenced the moment he did. He did a few test steps, and noticed that there was a slight delay between each step. He then stood perfectly still, even stopping his own breath to keep himself as quiet as possible. Then, he broke the silence around him by going into a full sprint through the hall.

[Srgntcuddles]

Dante continued to walk carefully through the darkness. He felt the ground in front of him with his foot almost every other step to ensure there was actually ground or he wouldn't activate a trap of some sort. The thought had crossed his mind to use his magic to create some light but felt it should be used for a more serious situation. He heard distant echoes of things he couldn't put his finger on, he cursed his inability to feel things. If a big monster was sneaking up behind him, drooling on him he would be none the wiser. He took a glance to see if there was something behind him. There wasn't which let him breathe a sigh of relief.

[Vosur Aekira]

Vosur calmed down his own breathing and took off his tinted glasses since he no longer needed them in this dark maze. His left hand ran along the wall, his eyes angled downward in front of himself to make sure he did not trigger anything. He nearly bumped his head into a low-hanging branch if he didn't reach up to wipe some sweat off of his forehead. "Wait a minute... I thought most of this maze was inside of a cave... not out in the open." he muttered to himself, stepping back once to look at what he almost hit into. When he stepped back, he could feel a bit of extra warmth, as if someone was really close to himself, which made him spin around with a closed-fist back-hand to try to knock them out of the way, but he only caught air. His expression turned into a scowl as he blinked, carefully turning back around to go back to the only direction given to himself.

[Shinzuu Katame: Her Tolfy]

Lazaryos' pace grew as did his breathing. He felt as if he was being stalked at every turn. Finally, Lazaryos couldn't stand the dust anymore and sneezed. Not too long after that, it sounded like a horde started gathering around him. He ran harder and harder, the sounds of their claws and growling growing louder. Finally, he cracked and collected a bit of his majicka and fired bolts in all directions around him. Lazaryos grunted as he fell to his knees from the majicka expenditure. The bolts lit up everywhere around him for a few seconds, there was nothing there, and the bolts just dissipated into the wall, not so much as scratching the surface. I get it, now. The weak of mind die from the delirium. Son of a bitch. So those are the "Monsters".

[Vee Katame: His Wolfy]

Ember continued on down her path. She didn't move any faster though she did feel like she was being followed by something as she moved along. After a while of listening to whatever it was moving behind her, she finally snarled and turned, letting out a stream of fire into the path behind her. With the light she could see that there was nothing there though and it made her angry as her legs shook a little from the majicka usage. "Ugh...stupid labyrinth..." She muttered and turned forward again, continuing down her path.

[Chrono Blackwyng]

Chrono stopped running as he could still not find anyone or anything encountering him or even getting close to him. As he stopped, his sword scrapped against the floor, and Chrono could hear the sound repeated twice as well. In a moment of curiosity he stomped his foot, only to hear the exact sound repeated a split second later. He then went over to a nearby wall and hit his head against it three times before staggering away and continuing down the path. Stupid echoes...

[Srgntcuddles]

Dante continued walking through the labyrinth pushing the feeling of being followed or watched out of his mind. Out of a bit of fear he had begun walking at a hastened pace somewhat throwing caution to the wind. If he had the capability to feel he would have felt a chill running down his spine and his hair standing on end. He gave in to turning around and saw a figure in the dark, a rather large one. Red glowing eyes and long claws. He felt an attack coming and held his arms out in defense but nothing happened. Lowering his arms there was nothing there. "Head games, huh...? Just...Head games...Yes...That's it. Head games." he tried to convince himself as he turned back around to continue on his path.

[Vosur Aekira]

Vosur slowly started off again, right-hand out in front of himself and his left hand at the hilt of his sheath just in case if he were attacked. He didn't even take ten steps before his hand hit another 'branch', which he backed up and felt the warmth again, unsheathing and turning around to strike in one sudden motion. His sword hit nothing behind himself, but the inertia of his swing made him strike the wall to send out a few sparks that lit up a few feet in front of his view to allow him to see nothing there. It took him a moment to recuperate from the strike against the wall before he sheathed his sword and reached his hand out in front of himself to feel a dying rush of warm air coming from a coin-sized hole in the floor. "Okay, that explains the 'breath'... but what triggers it?" he muttered as his other hand reached over to prop against the 'branch', feeling it give way a little and also feeling the rush of warm air again. "Quite clever, make those who aren't observant enough to waste their energy fighting unknown beings. I'll have to keep a note of that."

[Shinzuu Katame: Her Tolfy]

Lazaryos continued his trek along the path at a steady pace, no longer worried about an attack. His breathing was still uneasy, though, having spent a good portion of what was left of his majicka. Lazaryos traveled quietly for the rest of the way, ending up in a large, brightly lit chamber after about an hour. He saw several other openings in the walls around him, while the one he walked out of closed up behind him.

[Vee Katame: His Wolfy]

"I can't believe I fell for that..." Was the phrase that kept running through Ember's mind as she continued down her path. Every time she heard some sort of sound, she snarled, getting irritated with the tricky noises since she had figured out what was going on. After a while of walking, she noticed a light at the end of the tunnel and exited her path into a brightly lit chamber, the opening of her path closing behind her. She glanced back at it then looked around the chamber, spotting Lazaryos there as well. "Well, that's two out of five..." She said as she looked toward the other openings.

[Chrono Blackwyng]

Chrono casually walked until he reached a dome-like room where the other two mages were, which was where he stopped. "Huh, so I'm in third place. I guess that would be better than being last..." He sheathed his swords, then leaned against a wall while waiting for the other two to show up. "Did anyone in here bother to find out why this is the only area that's lit up?"

[Srgntcuddles]

Dante continued walking along, navigating through the maze. The feeling he was being watched and followed was getting more and more vicious. It eventually made him start running. "JUST HEAD GAMES! JUST HEAD GAMES!!!" he tried to convince himself. At this point he was running blindly now. When he rounded a corner he saw light and made a dash for it hopeful. "I hope this is real!" he thought nearing an exit. He ran out of his hole into the room with the others. He came to a stop to catch his breath and looked around. "Oh, hi guys." he said casually as if he didn't just run from the tunnel like a sissy.