Daphne whirled back in panic. This wasn’t good.
"Atticus! The maze!" she scread. She had to reach Atticus!
"Shit." The expletive smoothly left his lips, mixed in with the cacophony of screams that were let loose by Alistair and Drusilla.
"What’s happening?!" Drusilla cried out, dodging and ducking as debris began to rain from the sky.
Her eyes widened with surprise when a wall erected itself from the ground right next to her. Before she could properly react, the ground directly beneath her trembled. Drusilla instinctively stepped to her right, jumping right out of the way. However, it was a huge mistake.
"Drusilla!"
"Brother!"
The wall soared to the skies, imdiately separating Alistair and Drusilla before they could jump to either side to prevent separation. Just like that, the siblings who were standing right next to one another just monts prior were now apart, separated by solid stone.
Having witnessed all of this, Atticus’s panic grew. He turned back and called out for his wife, but she had her attention on sothing else entirely.
"Atticus, the baby griffin!" Daphne gestured to the creature that was shivering in fear in its little corner. It was letting out desperate cries, calling for help. It didn’t know where to run now that the walls of its cage were shifting. Atticus admired his wife’s kindness and good nature, but now he just wanted to curse.
"Forget it, Daphne, leave it!" He yelled, half-pleading with her. "Co on, we have no ti!"
Alas, Atticus’s words fell on deaf ears. Daphne briefly considered — just for a fraction of a second — if the griffin was worth saving. However, her body moved before her mind could make a rational decision, controlled solely by impulse and her instinct to protect.
She didn’t waste any ti, diving straight for the griffin to pull it out of the way right as a huge chunk of the wall crashed down onto the ground. It landed where the baby griffin would’ve been if Daphne hadn’t caught it in ti.
Once that was secured, she turned to look in the direction of where Atticus was. A relieved smile broke through both their faces, and Daphne started to run towards him.
But it was too late. They celebrated too soon. The ground beneath them trembled and a bad feeling rose within Daphne’s gut. She imdiately jumped up, ready to sprint over to where Atticus was.
Atticus, too, instantly reached to grab Daphne, but he was a little too late. His hand barely brushed against the tips of her fingers before a wall of rock and stone flew up between them, separating them for good.
"Wait, no! No!"
Atticus howled, watching the gray stone wall with despair.
"Daphne!"
The dust settled soon after the chaos, leaving everything even more blurry than before. Sohow, barely any sunlight was allowed into the maze, leaving everything dark and gloomy as if it were perpetually dusk.
"Damn it!" Atticus’s fist collided with the wall, his skin scratching against the rough surface. "Daphne, can you hear ? Answer !"
Silence was all that was replied to him.
They had co across multiple cross sections when exploring the maze earlier and that allowed Atticus to briefly estimate the breadth of the structure. It wasn’t that thick and logically, sound should be able to travel through. Yet, everything was pitch silent.
There should be so form of magic that had been placed to prevent the participants from hearing what was going on behind each wall. However, why was it that they could so easily catch Alistair and Drusilla fighting the griffins previously?
Atticus could only scratch his head in frustrated confusion. In his head, he cursed Prince Nathaniel and his slimy designs for the hundredth ti since they entered the maze.
"King Atticus...?" a ek voice called out from behind him, drawing his attention.
When he whirled back, he was t with Drusilla’s puffy red eyes and blushed cheeks. She looked as though she had just spent the entire last night crying. No matter how much Atticus disliked Drusilla, he had to admit that she was, in all rights, an objectively beautiful woman. He could understand why there were n falling for this wicked witch left, right, and center.
However, it was difficult for Drusilla not to be beautiful. Yet in Atticus’s eyes, she looked like the inferior version of her half-sister, his beloved wife, Daphne. They had the sa blonde hair and nearly the sa facial structure. However, while Daphne’s eyes were like sirens, sharp and fox-like, Drusilla’s were doe-like.
She had none of the innocence that she appeared to have, though.
"Right." He sighed. "You. I forgot about you."
Drusilla looked like she was about to cry yet again at Atticus’s words. Her lips were pouty as she scrambled near where Atticus was, afraid that if she stood too far, another wall would burst forth from the ground and separate them. At that rate, she would truly be left alone!
"What do we do now?" she asked, biting onto her bottom lip.
For every step that Drusilla took forward to close the distance between Atticus and herself, Atticus took another back. This continued until Atticus’s back collided against the wall― the very sa that dared separate him and his wife.
"I think you’re a little mistaken here, Princess Drusilla," he curtly said, glaring at her. The very sight of Drusilla only inspired anger and irritation in him.
"There is no ’we’ in this equation. The only ’we’ that would fit in this situation is that we part ways. You can go look for your beloved brother while I can look for my wife. Goodbye."
Tossing those words, Atticus marched off, his shoulder knocking against Drusilla’s as he prepared himself to set out. He needed to find a way to track down Daphne before she got herself hurt.
Or worse― lest she razed this entire place to the ground. She was still wearing her earrings, last he checked.
"You can’t leave here alone!" Drusilla cried out, pouncing forward to cling onto Atticus’s shirt. "I don’t even have my weapons with . I’ll die!"
"Then quit," Atticus suggested, his patience wearing thin.
He gestured to the piece of clear quartz that Drusilla had previously dropped. It had miraculously ended up right where its owner was and not on the wrong side of the wall. It would’ve been troubleso too, if it disappeared. Atticus didn’t have one to spare, and even if he did, he wouldn’t bother wasting it on her.
"I can’t," Drusilla said. Tears began to well in her eyes. "I have to look for Brother Alistair. He’s at a disadvantage without with him."
"I don’t think you’re as much of a help as you think you are." Atticus snorted. "Why would I help him when he’s my competitor?"
"Please help find him!" Drusilla insisted. "I’ll leave you alone once I do!"
Sothing snapped within Atticus. He reached forward and plucked the clear quartz off from the ground, playing with it in his hand.
"Look for him yourself," he said through gritted teeth.
"But... But this maze it too dangerous―"
"Then you have no more business here." His words were cold as he smashed the quartz against the wall, causing it to splinter into many different smaller fragnts.
Drusilla’s face paled.
"See you later, Princess."
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