A Story of Evil

Chapter 26: The Maze VI

Sol slowly adjusted his vision and, the first thing he saw was Peter sitting right beside him. His memory was still a big blur and nothing was making sense at that moment. But as soon as Peter offered the flask, Sol took it and drank a liter in one go.

"You acted all tough about not being able to drink water and look where that brought you." It was Alice's voice. From the corner of his eye, Sol could see the figure of the girl and their two other companions.

"This is nothing." Sol said, beginning to analyze the situation and their current location.

"Nothing my ass, you think these idiots could get us through the maze?" Alice reprimanded, getting a sharp glare from Ethan which she returned in kind. Making Ethan look away in cold sweat.

"Well were just glad that you're okay now. Just rest there for a while. This place doesn't' seem to have any more opponents for us." Peter calmly said, but Sol's worried expression told otherwise.

"Peter, where are we exactly?"

"Oh, were inside the forest now. Not too deep though, just on the edge of it as you can see." He mentioned, with Sol turning his head and seeing the shore that was just nearby.

Everyone was expecting Sol to praise them. They did all they could and acted swiftly which Sol himself would've done. They got water, took a few giant leaves and used them to make air for Sol and, Alice even scouted the area for any nearby enemy. Yet, the response given by the boy was entirely different.

"This isn't good." Sol tried standing up but his legs were still weak, causing him to almost fall if not for Peter who caught him.

"Woah. Easy there buddy. What's the problem?"

"This whole place is the problem Peter. It's infested with goblins."

"G-goblins? Didn't we just kill every last one of them?" Ethan asked.

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"No, those are only the guards. They are the lookouts who were probably taking care of the two large ships on the sea. You could see the same flag on both vehicles and, they probably stopped here because of the ship that got stuck in between the large stone pillars."

"So you mean"

"We need to go fast. I don't know how long their crewmates would be gone for but, I'm not that eager to find out."

With this the group began packing up. All while Sol thought up of how they could get out of the situation. Ethan in particular was quick on his feet once again, running quicker than Alice towards the shore which Sol instructed.

"Are you sure that the exit isn't on the island?" Peter asked, running with Sol on his back.

"Definitely."

"How are you so certain?"

"For one thing, although the maze never tells us what the objective is on the get go, it always starts us up with clues to follow. The first level had the cracked tile floor and the straight road. The second had a brick pathway with a signage. This one has ships on the ocean."

"But didn't you say that those were owned by the goblins?"

"Exactly and that is what would lead a person to think that the goal is somewhere within the forest. But that's just a trap. I'm guessing those goblin pirates know a lot when it comes to things like those. That just leaves us with the boats and, between the two, our goal is to go there." Sol pointed, making Peter laugh in excitement.

"Ahhh I knew that life would be more fun with you around."

Sol was pointing not at the ship that was perfectly fine and sitting near the shore. He was pointing at the one trapped between two large rock formations. The wrecked looking ship.

"We're going to take that ship and take it out of its predicament. That is how we'll finish this level."

As soon as they reached the shore, Sol could at least stand on his own and his senses were almost back to full gear. He began giving the orders, with the ropes finally getting taken out and tied together. Alice's dagger was on the tip of it and, this already gave the group an idea of what was about to go down.

Peter was given the job of throwing the rope towards the anchor that dangled out of the ship. It was left that way because the pirates needed to use it in order to decrease the height of their fall when they got off the ship. They had no idea how deep the water would be so this was needed.

Peter did just as he was told. With great accuracy, it only took him five tries to finally get the dagger through one of the chains of the anchor. He then continued releasing his grip until the dagger was back down and half of the rope with it.

The next part was Alice's job. As a thief Alice had been trained to all sorts of climbing and, with her weight, it was easier for her to do this. In fact the group watched in amazement as Alice got to the top of the ship in not less than five minutes.

"What is she a squirrel or something?" Jake commented.

"More like a rat." Ethan argued.

Alice's next task was to look for the mechanism on the ship. As Sol said, the ship was a bit modern in design meaning, there were probably crystals powering some parts of it and, that included the anchors. Alice found this and waved her hand to the group. Signaling both Sol and Peter to tie themselves to the two ends of the rope as the anchor was pulled up.

They came before Jake and Ethan because, Sol just didn't have any trust left for the two. If they somehow magically cut the rope in the process, then Sol and Peter would be left to fend for themselves. The boy who just woke up from dehydration didn't like that idea very much.

They followed though with this plan, moving exactly at the pacing told by Sol and, soon enough, they were all safely aboard the ship.

"What the hell it's really here?" Was the first comment given by Jake seeing the exit door just on the main deck. It seemed to be the entrance to the captains room but, it was locked. With the words [Access Denied] popping up on a [Notification Window].

[Congratulations on boarding the pirate ship. Your quest is to now take it out of its predicament. Good luck.]

"What did I tell you?" Sol looked at Peter who couldn't help but laugh again.

"Man, your brain's really is wired differently huh?" So what do we do now?" Sol responded to this immediately; giving out orders in order to clear the level.

"Ethan and Jake go and look for things to tie the ropes to. Make sure that they won't budge and place them near the stone pillars." The two followed right away, looking for things on the ship as Alice, Sol and Peter took a rest; eating the crackers and recovering their strength.

"What'll we do with that boy genius?" Alice asked, already getting used to calling Sol with that title.

"We're gonna place the mines at the end of the ropes. That'll ensure that they'll deal some damage to the pillars. Before putting them down we'll also put some of the rune barrier on the mines."

"Care to explain?" Alice asked regarding the use of the rune barrier.

"Nah, that'll spoil all the fun." Sol said, smiling as he took a bite from the food.

He didn't notice it himself but, he was starting to open up to Alice and somehow also to Peter. Solomon only showed his real childlike side with Cain and Eve while, he treated mis Olivia like his own mother. But at that moment, he was starting to show emotions and, he couldn't be blamed. He was still a child after all.

"It's rare to see you smile you know." Peter said, making Sol notice his won facial expression and trying to make it stoic.

"That's the same as the smile you showed in the cafeteria." Alice furthered, smiling as genuinely as Sol.

"Let's cut these things we still have work to do." Sol said and, with that, the three also joined in on the preparation.

Everything went according to how Sol wanted it. In fact, they just hid on top of the ship without doing much after the land mines were set. Nobody still had any idea why Sol needed the mines to be covered by barriers and, the boy simply said that they needed to wait for the night in order for his plan to proceed.

For this, he gave the orders to Ethan, Alice, and Jake to keep watch on the remainder of the sun's course because, Sol would be able to handle everything at nightfall. This first part of the plan finished without any problems and as soon as it began getting dark, Alice woke Sol and Peter up, saying that it was their turn.

"So, how will this plan work again?" Peter asked, standing on the captain's deck together with Sol.

"You'll see soon enough." Sol said in reply.

After two hours of waiting the goblins finally came back. But this wasn't all that happened. Peter was shocked that the waters have risen from its height in the morning and, was already reaching the bottom of the ship.

"Sol?"

"It's the moon. I read on one book how the moon's positioning causes low and high tides."

"Uhmin English please?"

"The moon makes the waters bulge somehow. I don't have all the details but, with the positioning of this ship, I thought that was the case. They probably sailed in the evening and, were probably caught by a mist of some sort. That's why it was too late when they saw the stone pillars which caught one of their ships in the middle." Peter was once again amazed at the level of Sol's perception and understanding.

None of them could've ever thought of the things that he did. And considering the fact that he was lightheaded when all of this came to his mind made him even more amazing. And, for a moment, Peter even saw someone in Sol. His younger brother.

"Let's get out of this level then." Sol said, snapping his fingers and detonating the mines.