The Corn Maze (October Challenge)

[SeeMeInTheShadows]

Uh Oh. In the distance, there is a wolf howling. A cool breeze rustles the leaves and makes way for silence. And that's when you realize how very alone you are. The wolf's cry echoes again, closer this time. The only escape is forward, but exactly which way is forward?

(Okay, now you're wondering 'what's this all about and what does it have to do with writing. Well that's because we're going to do something different for October. Instead of one big fic, you're either going to make a lot of smaller fics, or a lot of drabbles, or even a lot of big fics. Maybe even one big fic with a bunch of sectors.)

So I'll explain everything. Sitting on my computer, I have created a maze. Within this maze, is twenty numbers at points where you have to make descisions. Each point corresponds with a specific, dark, halloween-centered prompt. For instance, your first descision (1) has three choices.

(4)
(6)
(14)

You write the prompt for (1), choose where you want to go, and I provide the prompt. Each prompt needs a minimum of 100 words (though more than 500 adds a bit more of a challenge). Your goal is to make your way through. The first prompt will be revealed on October First.

Please do not post directly here. Please follow all rules.

(Most prompts for this are dark. There will be antoher, happier challenge for lighter prompts and fluff).

Any questions?

1.
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[aelitaxwilliam]

I'M SO EXCITED.

That is all.

[Snickie]

YESYESYES.
Too bad I have so many competitions in March.
BUTSTILLYESYESYES.

[Adventurer411]

Sounds fun.

[cya6]

SOUNDS EPIC SHADOWS!!!

[Stella Luce 333]

I probably shouldn’t sign up for this, considering I have school stuff that takes up a lot of my time…but this is such a cool idea & I think I want to attempt this…I’m in!

[Atlas]

Looks like it'll be interesting.

[SeeMeInTheShadows]

Challenge One: Lost.

Remember, at least 100 words, but as many as you like, when you finish, choose (4), (6), or (14).

[Adventurer411]

Okay, if we're not supposed to post here, then where do we post the drabbles?

[SeeMeInTheShadows]

Oooh, good question. Anything 500 words or less can be posted here.

[cya6]

So we post our drabbles here?

[Snickie]

I'm going to wait to post my drabbles anywhere until I'm sure of what I'm going to do with them (i.e. cohesive story or unrelated).

Until then, I choose 14 next.

[Dr. J]

Wooooooooohhh Corn Maze! Give me 4!

1. Lost

Aelita Schaeffer walked the campus of Kadic Academy. While only around seven o' clock, an unseasonable fog had descended upon the grounds. Her footsteps echoed, but sounded strangely muted. Aelita shivered, wishing she had brought a coat. Her colors, while normally bright and cheery, seemed drab and lifeless.

Aelita shivered again, a feeling of deep unease building in the pit of her stomach. She should have reached the cafeteria by now, and been able to follow it back to the dorms. Instead, the sky darkened further, and Aelita began to hear sounds, cold, angry, sounds echoing through the choking fog. Deep, guttural growls rumbled, but she could see nothing.

Aelita stopped walking, by virtue of the tall, moss covered tree in front of her. Within seconds, she realized what she had done. She had walked past the cafeteria, and into the woods. With a sharp, defeated cry, she fell to her knees, curling into the hollow formed by the roots.

She was lost, and all she could do was cry for help. So she did, in the only way she knew how.


"Jeremie, help me."

[cya6]

“Follow me, princess.”

Aelita blinked through the gloom. “Ulrich, I’m not sure if we’re going the right way.”

He glanced back at her. She was nervous, he could tell. She wanted to be home (or at least at Kadic). She wanted to be safe with Jeremie and the others. She didn’t want to be on this mountain side. She was wishing she hadn’t decided to go on Odd’s ‘shortcut’.

Odd competitive. “A race then, Ulrich. Why don’t you take the shortcut, and I’ll take the normal way!”

Ulrich reluctant. “Nuh uh. We don’t know if it’s safe. We don’t even know where it leads.”

“Take Jeremie with you. He’s smart, he’ll know directions and survival and stuff.”

Jeremie unwilling. “No way. I’m sticking to the safe path, thank you.”

Aelita willing to take a risk. “I’ll go with you. Besides, anything is better than listening to you two bicker on the way down.”

Smiling. Happy. Joking around…

Ulrich glanced back at her. “Don’t worry Aelita. I’ll get you off of here.”

He sounded sure of himself. He wasn’t going to let her know that they were lost. He’d find a way down.



“Ulrich?”

“Yes?”

“Are you sure we’re going the right way? It feels like we’ve been out here forever.”

“It’s only been a few hours. Don’t worry.”

But she did worry. And she had reason to. It had been ten hours, the sun was going down.

And one guy, somewhat lacking in the knowledge of survival skills, and one girl who had been on Earth less than a year, were hardly equipped to know how to make it on their own…



“Ulrich, it’s really getting dark. Shouldn’t we have made it down by now?”

“I know what I’m doing. Stop pestering me.”



The next morning, the sun rose, and the two set off, getting themselves hopelessly lost in the mountain range…



“Ulrich?”

“Ulrich, how long have we been here?”

“Ulrich, do you know where we’re going?”

“Ulrich where are we?”

“Ulrich, where are we going?!”

“ULRICH?!”



Days run together. And you lose your way. And you lose sight of what’s real. And you lose sight of what’s not.

Days without food or sleep can do that.

Weeks with only a few sips of water from the occasional stream.

And even when you find something to eat. Something to drink. Even when you pass out from exhaustion. The weeks go on.

Hallucinations. Deliriums.

Silence.

What is real?

Her questions stopped long after his answers.

And long before they were found.

Had weeks passed?

Months?

But the two wouldn’t say what had happened. Their eyes were still haunted. Their minds were haunted. They wouldn’t talk. And when they were left alone, they would pace.

In circles.

Back and forth.

Anywhere.

Just to keep moving. To keep searching.

Because to them, they hadn’t found safety.

In their minds, they’re still on the mountain.

Still searching.

Still lost.



gimme 6!

[SeeMeInTheShadows]

Okay!

Snickie:
Prompt: 14

Spoiler:

Choices: (15, 17)

Cya
Prompt: 6

Spoiler:

Choices: (10, 22)

Dr. J
Prompt: 4

Spoiler:

Choices: (15, 17)

[cya6]

Blood



Blood is a powerful thing.

It overrides the strongest of emotions, of feelings.

Love and friendship…

Hate and desire for revenge…

These can be overridden by the instinct to save those that share our blood.

Call it familial loyalty.

Call it what you will, it comes down to one thing.

Blood.

Because that is the one thing you cannot deny.

That is the one bond that no amount of time or stress can erode.

That is what causes sometimes irrational actions.


And that is what caused Aelita to betray her friends to X.A.N.A. for the promise of saving her father.






Gimme 10 please

[Snickie]

17 please.

[Adventurer411]

I choose 4 too. (btw I LOVED your Lost, Cya. Awesome.)

It only takes a week for Odd to go. (It's inevitable, really—he's the
most careless of them. But that doesn't mean he deserves to die.)

Another two weeks later, it's Yumi. (How were they supposed to know that the spector had a gun?)

Then there's just Ulrich left to fight. (The only thing driving him is grief.)

All the while, Jeremy pushes on until he's haggard and weary. He pushes
pass the losses, convinces himself that it's okay, because she'll be
back soon to help. Soon. Maybe even tomorrow—no, tonight. (It's not like
she drowned in the sewers. That's only a nightmare.)

Xana hadn't actually killed her. (She was just missing, and that was all.)

Saying it, thinking it, sobbing it enough times will make it true. He's sure of it. (And he does convince himself.)

Jeremy believes it enough to ignore Ulrich when the brunette tells him it's
time to move on and find a new way to deactivate the towers, when he
sensibly points out that they'll both be lost if they can't find a way
to stop Xana without Aelita. (Aelita's not dead. She'll come back tonight, this time for sure.)

Ulrich didn't die either. He didn't leave Jeremy to fight alone. He's just missing too—yeah. (Just like Yumi, Odd, and Aelita.)

They will all come back soon. He knows it. Believes it. Has to. (It's all that's left for him.)

They're just lost.

(Only temporarily, not forever.)

[Rei]

1. Lost

The first thing he's aware of is the yellow sky.

He knows he should panic because the sky is blue, or gray, or orange or purple, and the sickly color reminds him of tornadoes and deserts of which neither is reassuring--he's not nervous though.

His head is pounding and his stomach is growling pitifully at him, second thing he notices, but in general he feels absolutely all right under the ugly mottled sky. So he sits up.

There is a girl with a botched Geisha costume running towards him. Behind her follows a guy with a samurai costume that is rather showy for a warrior. He thinks they're pretty good and then wonders if the wearers are nice because the Samurai kid has an unsheathed sword that looks entirely too real.

"Odd?" The boy asks, lowering the weapon as the dead Geisha approaches him.

"What? The sky?" He looks up, then around him. "I guess."

He glances at them both with critical eyes before shrugging nonchalantly. They don’t look like they’re about to hurt him at least. He misses the confused glances between the new strangers.

"Odd, that's your name. You okay?"

"Oh."He answers, frowning at one of the floating rocks. They're floating. Then realizes he's wearing a purple suit and looks like a cat and there is something horrifying and amusing about it. Horrifying because he has no idea why he would wear the ridiculous get up but he's sure that it entails little good. He's not sure why, but he understands trouble follows them, and it’s amusing .

"Jeremy?" The Geisha suddenly asks the sky. Odd--his name is awkward on his mind, like it doesn't fit in there anymore, like he's forcing a puzzle piece in the wrong slots, all the edges catching where they should not--finds her discomfiting.

"Working on it," a disembodied voice says startling him enough he points his arm at nothing in particular.

"What was that?" Belatedly, he lowers his arm. He wonders what he was hoping to accomplish waving his arm around, and why it was his first instinct.

"Aelita is in the tower, I will devirtualize you and figure out what is wrong with Odd."

"Great," sighs the Geisha.

"It will be okay, good buddy." Says the Samurai giving him a pat on the back. “We’ll have you back to your old self in no time.”

"Alright." Odd agrees because there’s little else he can do anyway. Then adds, "Who's Aelita?"

--
Requesting prompt: 6 (I am trying not to cheat and look at the other posts yet)

[cya6]

(rei, you might wanna consider creating an introduction topic here: http://www.xanaslair.com/f2-hello-my-name-is )

[Soul Jelly]

Shadows, any chance you could put the prompts under a spoiler cut? I don't want to go into this knowing what prompts I'll get when I choose certain numbers (if that's how it works). Thanks~

[SeeMeInTheShadows]

Great idea, Soul!

Also: I will update this tomorrow. I just need to fix one or two things on my maze (which also includes more fun prompts).

[Adventurer411]

#22 please!

He should've said something.

But they had been doing so well. They handled it just fine, and trying to butt in would have just annoyed them. They had made it perfectly clear that they didn't want anything to do with him.

He should've done something. Said something, helped them fight at the least. Jeremy and Aelita would've been sensible enough to accept the help, and Yumi might have aside her pride and dislike. But Ulrich would have definitely refused.

Now their faces haunted him.

There was grim determination and strain in their eyes; their faces bordered on terror and threatened to break. It was all too clear, etched into his mind as if the school had been overrun with Xana's robots only a minute ago.

He should have been used to that. William had lost his father, his old friends, Yumi... No. He didn't want to think about that.

But that was different. He couldn't have stopped it that time, but this... he would've if he—he would have...

Would've...

Could've...

Should've...

None of that mattered now. They had saved the school, but they were dead. William couldn't change it or justify that he had just let them die, no matter how many could've's or would've's he used.

Their faces were in his dreams—nightmares, more accurately—staring at him with either an expression of wild terror or hate. William had seen the latter before—the numerous practical jokes and pranks he'd played at his old school ensured that.

But watching someone get scared to death just wasn't the same as watching someone die.

[Snickie]

ZOMG VENA MY FEELS. ;A;

[Dr. J]

Give me 17!

4. Haunted


Jeremie Belpois tossed and turned on his cot. It was if a voice was calling out to him, calling for help. Whoever it was, they were lost and scared. Finally, the cries began to fade, and with their fading, came the sun. Jeremie was cheered by the orb, but still troubled. The cries were becoming progressively weaker, and more distant. Ever an empathetic soul, Jeremie hoped the mysterious voice was okay, and unharmed.

It was nearing Halloween, and Jeremie could not help but attach significance to the voice. Though against his nature, Jeremie began dabbling in the more esoteric side of life, using his vast database to scour the Internet for reasons behind the voices. Most sources were crazy, but a few taught him quite a bit.

It was likely that he was being haunted. Chosen, for some reason, to assist a wayward spirit in reaching the next life. As he researched and plotted, he became aware of three things.

The spirit was likely female, and she seemed scared and weak.

Kadic Academy sat on one of the largest networks of Ley Line in France.

Halloween was approaching, and those of supernatural origin would be much more active in the coming month.

Jeremie Belpois readied himself for that night.

He had a wayward spirit to rescue, and by the sound of things, it was almost too late.

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