Prologue
Linkcat looked up from the flyer. "Are you participating?"
Submachine tried not to laugh. "Why would you want to? It's a death trap. The flyer even admits it."
"Magical artifacts, Sub. My uncle went in there once and came out with a laser gun."
"And my father went in there and came out with no legs. I think I'll pass."
Link deliberated for a moment. "I'd protect you."
"Really?"
"No."
The city of Etheria was unusually active for a Saturday, but the only things to punctuate the silence were the city's infamous lightning strikes. Etheria's lightning seemed to disregard the actual properties of lightning. Any attempts to study it resulted in rapid electrocution. Lightningrods were ineffective, as were any kind of protective wear. If a lightning bolt hit you, you were dead, whether or not you were dressed entirely in rubber. Link had lived here for all of his life, and as with many of its citizens, was apathetic about the victims of these thunderbolts. It was like being killed in a car crash. He'd never been terrified to cross the street. Why should the lightning bolts be any different?
But today, for the first time in his life, the thought perturbed him. The last time a group of people entered the Relic Maze, only four returned. The rest had all succumbed to lightning, and then each other, and then more lightning. At least, that's what he'd been told. Perhaps it was stupid to come here. Sub was right. A few little trinkets weren't worth risking his life over.
He looked in his backpack for the third time in the past ten minutes. Would these supplies last long enough? What if they ran out? Was there food inside the maze? The traumatized survivors of the previous competition certainly were in no state to tell him.
There was a sharp creaking noise. The walls receded deeper into the blackness of the maze. A strange sound, like a pin being dropped, echoed from within.
If this was going to be how he died, Link thought to himself, he might as well grab something shiny in the process.
Submachine wasn't feeling very well. It was the middle of winter, and his job was to clean the streets. Despite investing in a large quantity of warm clothing, the northern climate of the city was simply not good for a southerner like him.
The lightning worried him too. He had tried setting up a lightningrod, and not ten minutes after, a thunderbolt blew a hole in his roof. The laws of physics were just as ineffective as the laws of Etheria when it came to saving lives.
To make things worse, Link had shown an interest in the event that was being held at the Maze, one similar to the traumatic event that had happened many years ago. Link wouldn't actually go in, though. After all, even the advertisement said the risk of death was high. There was no way Link would do something so stupid. That just wasn't how Link functioned. He always thought things through, unless...
Oh.
Sub dropped his cleaning supplies and ran for the Maze.
