Underestimating the Boogeyman

John tried to calm his breathing, but it continued to come and go in short, **** bursts. Not since high school had John felt this level of anxiety, and the threat of a pummeling from football players seemed laughable here, with this monster nearby-

John, focus! His breaths slowed. It hurts... but you’re not done yet. It’s a maze? Then it’s got an exit... and even if it doesn’t... “You plan to chase me all day?”

“I have all day,” came an answer from nearby. John jumped to the opposite end of his starting hallway, landing nearly a thousand feet from his first position, and spun to take in the crossroads. Each way ended in tight corners leading elsewhere, and everywhere he looked those damnable braziers burned bright. Her voice traveled, despite interceding walls, despite distance, but it was faint now. “The Maze is hopeless for you; a labyrinth without exit save through its one true Goddess.”

John’s eyes darted between his four treacherous selves on the ground, each barely existing, each a trap for her to reach him again. I just need to catch her doing it, and I need to keep her talking. “Goddess?”

“Well... me, of course! Hoo hoo hoo!” Her words drew closer.

“Why are you doing this? You’ve got enough soul to be mostly charged up by now, right? Why not take a break... talk this out?”

She remained silent in response. She’s getting ready to attack... if I can just catch her in the act... John continued to stare holes into his shadows... so much so that the back of his head remained facing one of the walls. From its smooth surface she appeared, her grin toothy and wide as she strong-armed his spine.

Juniluny’s soul sip restores 30 of her soul points, and steals 30 of your maximum mana!

He spun around, looking up from his shadows just as she landed upon one. It turned solid black, and her body sank halfway through it by the time the Eye realized the spell.

Juniluny used path of the Ifrit at level 4!

Path of the Ifrit: allows the user to transform either flames or shadows into the ends of a single portal, so long as (a) the fire used is large enough to allow passage or (b) the shadow used is cast by a flame. Traveling by fire does not grant immunity to fire. The portals may be created up to a maximum of [skill lvl x 1] meters from one another.

Her extended right hand vanished into his shadow before his Eye could stop her, leaving him to curse at the ground as the new surge of shocking pain cut through him. Even while braced for it this time, John erratically blinked back to the other end of the hall, spending mana with abandon. He thought his vision blurred until he realized it was his interface. The characters were momentarily insubstantial and glitching, patches of the screen flickered, and the entire affair lasted a full three seconds.

Her laugh filled his gut with anger. He looked at her skill description as he breathed the pain away through clenched teeth.

“How do you know about... that, my little mana buffet? The arena of souls should be high art, even for a prodigy-“

“Why are you doing this?!” he screamed.

“Oh you big, delicious thing,” echoed her moan as she audibly smacked her lips, “the truth is... I thought you might be something special. You left no corpse of my pet... you put down the Amalgamation, suicidal as he probably was... and you’re just so big and strong! But mostly... you owe me a new ****.” The mirthless tone was ruined by her cheery giggle. “What more does a good worker need? I figure you’d be worth something as a replacement, as a new servant... but I could not... have... dreamed that you’d be this succulent.”

Something inhuman howled in the distance, echoing down the hall to John’s right. He spun to face it before looking up at the braziers that once again cast a multitude of shadows beneath his feet. If I turn them off, she can’t teleport, but... I can’t see in pure darkness! Think, John...

“Looks like one of my bigger pets is coming... and you’ve given me such a good charge already, I-“ Her voice cut off with a small gasp. John looked around, trying to place her as she fell to silence. “How...?”

Heavy footsteps grew rapid as something began to charge towards John’s position in the maze. He readied himself for a fight, but his curiosity at the horrible halfling’s shock kept his attention.

“How the Hell did they find me?!”

A massive, horned shadow loomed against the corner wall before John as it rapidly grew. Despite the oncoming monster and John’s peril, his fears multiplied as he realized his mistake.

Moira! She must have entered the barrier; who else could it be? Worse, she had no idea what she was facing... and he was responsible for it for removing the Cloak spell from his enemy and luring the Warden here. John had to finish Juniluny now, somehow, before she got distracted.

Except she already was. “Go ahead and play with my ****, boy... while I go handle an unwelcome guest.”

“No!”

“GREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!”

Layla was no Fateweaver. The barrier's nature was beyond her knowledge, and she knew what she was going into would be unpleasant, even possibly deadly... but she also knew her man had been brought here.

That last fact was all the mattered. She stood at the top of a flight of stairs that led to a blank wall instead of another floor. Before her were three stone paths, unmarked and twisting enough to hide their eventual destinations. The energy of this place was frightening and dark... but that only made him glow like a will-o-wisp in the night. Layla looked up and took measure of his aura: a raging inferno of shimmering blue a mere twenty feet up and thirty feet before her. But without another staircase going up, he may as well have been in another world.

That won’t stop me... if that Cabalist wants me to solve a maze to win my love, then so be it! Layla, still clad in sweats, tossed away her cheap sunglasses and threw back her hood. With the spirit of love, she charged into the middle path, followed its four twisting corners... until she was greeted by wall of muscle and sinew.

There, in a small clearing that opened into five tunnels, the creature was somewhere between lizard and cat, furless save for its whiskers and with a mouth filled with dragon’s teeth. Layla had not seen any image of it in the bestiaries of the Academy; a custom-made or rare creature, then, and with the faint aura of a simple beast. She hadn’t noticed it, what with how close it was to her future husband’s radiance!

The creature’s cat-lizard head extended from its body, revealing an accordion-like neck of scales that shimmered yellow. It reared its head back, ready to shoot forth and take its prey in a bite-

Obelovo, smith of the scald, divider of flesh, smelter of coal: lend me thy tortured flesh, squeeze from it the fiery pus, and let its fetid song sing. Layla’s thoughts finished her 88th song in the space of a heartbeat, and her hand swiped through the air before her as she finished the incantation with a single word. “Ember.”

A pillar of orange light, wide as half a man, burned from ceiling to floor to dash into and through the massive beast. Its body fell into two halves, and its wound neck unfurling pitifully as blue blood burst from its mouth. The rest of it offered no viscera or any of its cooling blood; each part of it had been cauterized where the pillar had bisected it.

Layla sighed as she took in the five paths, including the one she had just arrived through. The smell of charred meat, slowly rising from the alien beast's lethal wound, made her consider...

What should I cook him for our first meal together? On that pleasant thought, she chose the second path.

"Stop right there, Missy."

Vanessa froze and, with an angry sigh, took her hand off of the gym exit door. Could she have pretended to not hear him over the fire alarms? Probably not, given the cheap, tiny speakers the Academy put in the internal hallway of the indoor gym, but she wished she had tried. Slowly the metal door closed with a thud that was deafening by comparison, and only then did Vanessa turn to see the janitor--the only janitor whose name she would ever learn--quickly marching towards her.

"Late for school? But lucky us for this fire alarm... we'll have pleeeenty of private time, you and I. You have my money, right?" Gerald spoke openly and loudly, causing Vanessa to panic. The gym was empty at this time, of course; everyone who had physical classes in the morning went out to the field first and, with the fire alarm blaring, would now stay there until it settled down. He looked unkempt and unbathed, with a five-o-clock shadow grown out from when they had their last unfortunate meeting, and soon she could smell the stink of degreaser that came off of his form.

Quietly, Vanessa unslung her bag to get her wallet... only for him to get close and grab her by the shoulder. "What the fuc-" He shoved her sideways until she was nearly falling over and **** to rapidly step with his bullying, keeping up with him until they were almost twenty feet down the hall... right next to a supply closet door. No-

"Let's take care of business somewhere more intimate."

"T-There's a fire!"

"Bullshit. Just another unseasonal fire drill... and besides, this way you won't have to worry about anyone listening in..." The older man started to unbutton Vanessa's shirt as he brought his hideous face near hers. Her cleavage had become her bared bra, and he licked her cheek from the bottom of her chin to her eye as if to forecast her tears. Vanessa remained stoic; she had promised herself, this time, she wouldn't cry. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction. Her cheeks and head burned, and her eyes threatened to burn with them. "... when I have you screaming like a-"

The steel door Vanessa had just closed suddenly slammed open, and the janitor leaped from his indecently exposed victim. Vanessa stared at her savior, expecting John or the principal, or her father after changing his mind... and instead saw a blue-haired student running down the hall, his jacket fluttering off of one shoulder as he began his dash. Wait, that's not a-

"Hey! Get the fuck out of here! You should be at the field with-!" Gerald started to bark as he stepped in the student's path and palmed him hard against the chest... only to find that the chest was oddly soft under the shirt.

Vanessa wiped her eyes once the janitor was distracted and stared at the halted female student. She was a tall one, with either a humble chest or a sports bra that hid it well. She wore the boy's uniform and, as if that violation of school policy wasn't enough, her hair was in a shocking blue pixie mohawk. Combined with her strong chin and well-toned frame, the girl could easily pass for a senior male at the Academy. One who would often be sent home.

Gerald took his hand off of the offended breast. He didn't even recognize the student, nevermind have anything to keep her mouth shut, to justify holding onto that! But the shock of his accidental grope faded as he realized the intruder was now looking at Vanessa. The giant girl sniffed the air... and her nose wrinkled as hazel eyes fell on Gerald. She suddenly spoke in a deep, bassy voice that only added to her androgyny. "Good grief... I've got enough on my plate without this."

The added lip put Gerald into administrator mode. "Uniform violation--and decency violation!--means you better watch your mouth, young lady! Besides, there’s a fire-" Gerald raised his hand to poke her in her upper-chest-

Galley sniffed again, and wore her disgust plainly. "I know what kind of trash you are. Get out of the Academy and get out of my face." Gerald froze, bug-eyed, at her declaration.

Vanessa, equally in shock, stared... and squinted as something changed about the woman. What... what was that...? It flickered into being again, and Vanessa caught better sight of it: a violet outline to the girl. It grew larger as she continued to silently stare down the janitor... and seemed to quiver around her fists when Gerald's rage finally boiled over.

"That's it, you giant bitch," he yelled as he reached for her right wrist, "I'm taking you-!"

BOOM.

Vanessa wasn't sure she even saw the stranger move. Gerald's feet left the ground as his fat body rose into the air and folded around Galley's extended right arm. His eyes nearly popped out of his head, his tongue lolled, and the girl's fist vanished into his torso. From his back, the janitor jumper exploded outward and revealed his unharmed, sweat-slick back to the air while nearly the entire back of his uniform rained back down like confetti. Vanessa watched, slack-jawed, as Gerald’s body, with foam oozing from its mouth, crashed into the ground in an **** heap.

“He’ll be out for while. Get out of here.” Vanessa stared up at the woman; the glow was gone, but the Hawthorne heiress remained stupefied as she looked at her temporary savior. “Go!” Galley didn’t bother to wait for a response; she continued to run deeper into the school, shaking her head as she left the ugly situation behind. Her nose twitched as she busted through the doors on the other end, and she stopped once she realized something else.