Labyrinth of Lust

"No, seriously, Jerry," Sean the bartender tells you, smiling sadly, "Go after some other girl."

You've been studying at the Caoimhe University in Ireland for a couple of months now, having flown over from your native America on an exchange program to spend a year here studying folk lore. The place is amazing, a huge, ancient rambling network of buildings, gardens and lawns, and you've found it a wonderful and fascinating experience.

What's grabbed your fascination most of all though, is a girl you keep seeing around campus. A tiny, slight little sylph, less than five foot tall, pale and freckled, with masses of curly, carrot red hair, milk pale skin, and amazing violet eyes - the sort of eyes you read about but never see in real life.

She carries herself with incredible grace and confidence, seeming almost haughty or arrogant, but she's always laughing, seeming to almost skip or dance through the grounds and corridors of the university. You've never seen her in any lectures, though when you've asked around, people smile or laugh, and tell you that her name is Maebh, that she's been at the university for a long time, and that you should keep away from her. Whenever you've seen her, she smiles at you knowingly, almost smirking in a way that send shivers down your spine. You can't get her out of your mind, and ignoring all the warnings, you've set out to track her down.

"No way," you say, "She's amazing. She's the only one for me."

The barmans eyes widen.

"You probably shouldn't have said that." he says.

"Whatever," you sneer, and head off to the bathroom.

You finish your business, wash your hands and go to leave.. but the door back to the bar isn't there any more.

"What the hell?"

You hear a musical laugh behind you and turn to see Maebh sitting casually on the high windowsill, dressed in her weird, old fashioned looking clothing, boots, a long skirt, some sort of armless leather top that shows off an amazing amount of milky white cleavage, and leather gloves that go up to her elbows. She looks as beautiful and as almost unnervingly sexual as ever as she sits there, smiling playfully down at you and kicking her boots gently against the wall.

"So," she says, "I'm the only one for you, am I?"

You're too startled to speak. She hops lightly down to the floor, seeming to float, and land without a sound in front of you.

"I'm not an ordinary girl, Jerry," she tells you, smiling sweetly, her red hair seeming to float around her under its own power, "I'm a Queen, and if you want me, you have to prove yourself worthy."

"What?" you stammer.

"Turn around." she tells you, and you do.

You find yourself overlooking, not the blank white tiles of the bathroom wall, but a huge, expansive vista of crumbling stone passageways and over grown hedge mazes, of tight tangled woods in courtyards and other, less identifiable regions. In the middle of it, near the far horizon, is an ancient red brick castle.

The door back to the bar is nowhere to be seen.

You feel Maebh press herself against your back as she wraps her arms around you and whispers into your ear.

"You said I'm the only one for you. That's sweet, but you're not the first mortal to say that...To prove yourself worthy of me, you must make your way to my castle."

She cups your crotch in one small hand and squeezes gently.

"If you can make it there, I'll know you're.. strong enough to be a worthy distraction for me. The passions of someone like myself are a little too intense for most mortals. So I must make sure you have enough endurance to make you worth my while. It will not be an easy journey."

"How do you mean?" you stammer, feeling her hot body rub against your back.

"My.. minions, of which there are many, have a.. healthy interest in human males. They'll all want a taste of you. And if you lose your seed in my kingdom thirteen times.. you'll be theirs to play with forever."

"What!?" you gasp, as she squeezes again, and she laughs...

..but when you turn around to her, there's no one there. Just empty, rolling moorland.

"Save your seed for me," says her voice, floating over the wilderness.

Turning back, you look towards the castle, and with a gulp, set off to the outer wall of the maze.