Go back to the blue torch

The first thing you try to do is remove the torch from the wall. You pull on it as hard as you can, you bat at it with your buckler, and you even strike it several times with your {if@ sword = true}sword{elseif mace = true}mace{elseif spear = true}spear{endif}: nothing seems to affect it at all. Tracing your steps through the maze so far doesn’t reveal any more clues: no writing on the walls, no odd bricklaying patterns on the floor, nothing at all that points to how you might be expected to interact with this blue torch.

Except that you were given one yourself. And that yours was also placed in a sconce on the wall. Maybe I need to put it back, you think, then get back here to the blue torch in the dark? That wouldn’t even be hard, though; it was a straight walk from there to here with one left turn at the very end. You have your doubts about it, but the easy solutions are the ones most often overlooked. This might just be the right answer. Besides, even if your “walking in the dark” theory doesn’t pan out, you’ll at least be able to say you tried it.

The trip back to where you met the cloaked figure feels much quicker than the first time you traversed the long hallway. The black iron sconce is right on the wall where you remember it, and it only takes a moment for you to drop the torch back into place. You stand in silence for several seconds, but nothing seems any different: no sounds could be heard of mechanisms activating nearby, nor could you feel any movement in the structure around you. Back to the blue, you think.

Or not. You set off into the darkness in the direction of the blue torch, but you don’t get more than a few steps through the pitch black corridor before you start to see the light of the yellow torch ahead of you. Another thirty seconds of walking, and you’re beside the yellow torch once again. I’m sure I didn’t turn around, you think. I set out going towards the blue torch, but somehow I ended up behind the yellow one. Is this a loop designed to make sure I take the torch with me? It occurs to you that the answer might be to put something else in the sconce and take the torch with you, but you rule that out. Just because I have my bag and belongings with me doesn’t mean I’m expected to have them. Challengers could show up totally nude for all this Hesperos guy knows. The answer to this puzzle can’t be anything I brought in, it has to be something that was here already.

Having tested and disproven your theory, you grab the torch off the wall once again and return to the blue torch. The only pieces in this puzzle are these two torches, and maybe the sconce the yellow one was in. I can’t remove the blue torch from this sconce, no matter how hard I try. I can’t even put a scratch on it with my rusty {if@ sword = true}sword{elseif mace = true}mace{elseif spear = true}spear{endif}. The yellow torch is portable. What else is different? You hold your hand up to the flames of each torch, but you can’t tell a difference in the level of heat coming off them. You look around and judge that the radius of space illuminated by each is roughly the same. You hold them side by side and see that both torches are the same length. What could it be? Then, as you’re pulling the yellow torch away, the blue and yellow flames brush against each other. In that moment, both flames shift to a pure white color.

So that was it? Combine the flames? Glad I lucked into that one, but now what? You hold still for the same observational period as you did back at the other sconce, and yet again you hear, feel, and see nothing change. A brief search of your surroundings reveals nothing as well. Back to the start?

Back to the start you go. You arrive at the empty sconce and nothing has changed since you were here a few minutes ago. A search of the walls nearby doesn’t reveal any clues, so you move forward with the only plan you have: you place the now white torch in the empty sconce.

A low rumble rocks the ground beneath you. Suddenly, a cracking sound calls your attention to the wall behind you, which is now in the process of lowering into the floor. Once it finishes and you hear it lock in, it leaves a new, unexplored corridor in its place.

“Finally, some progress,” you say to yourself. You take a step towards the new path before realizing that your source of light is still on the wall. Turning back, you grab the torch and pull. It doesn’t budge.

Shit.

With a deep breath, you resign yourself to the task at hand. You about face and cross the threshold into unexplored territory. Much to your surprise, the wall doesn’t close back up behind you. I was expecting to get locked in. Is there a reason to go back? You wonder for a time, but decide not to linger on it. Just because it's a trope to have doors like this shut behind you doesn't mean it has to happen here. Placing your left hand on the wall to keep you oriented, and your right out in front to ensure you don’t walk into any walls, you press forward into the darkness.

{if BKnowsUrDL = 1}As you walk along the pitch black corridors, you recall the small light crystal Blythe gave you. Pulling your rucksack around, you fish through it until you feel the thumb-sized gem in your hand. Lifting it out of the bag, you try to turn it on, but nothing happens. Why isn’t it working? Just in case, you recite the incantation, but the crystal still doesn’t react. Is this broken? No, it’s probably this labyrinth that’s causing this. As a test, you recite the incantation for your fireball spell and nothing happens. It’s not even using my mana. I guess it’s an antimagic area? Probably put here so you can’t cheat your way through the dark. You return the crystal to your rucksack and start walking again.{else}As you’re walking, you think about what it is you’re supposed to be doing. I need to find the girls and get to the center of the maze. How am I even supposed to recognize the center, though? I can’t see shit. Then, the idea of using your fireball spell comes to you. It would be impossible for you to keep it up for more than a quick burst of vision, and even those bursts would be limited to maybe two or three before you would end up falling over from exhaustion. Despite knowing this, your curiosity gets the better of you and you recite the incantation for the spell. Nothing happens. No mana leaves your body at all. Weird. Is the labyrinth in some kind of antimagic area or something? Is that a thing in this world? Either way, it feels like this Hesperos guy really doesn’t want me to be able to see anything. With more grumbling thoughts like those, you continue your walk through the dark.{endif}

After what feels like hours of winding through the twisting labyrinth in total darkness, you finally spot some light leaking out from a passage up ahead.