The Madness

Note: Contains references to death and swearing.

The parchment was becoming badly crinkled but Yolanda couldn’t stop looking at it. Every few minutes she would reach into her pocket, uncrumple the paper and stare in a light panic at the words.

“It still says twelve hours, relax, will you?” Torman called after her with a burning urge to rip the paper to shreds.

“I want to make sure we still have enough time,” She admitted, in a worried tone.

“Time is going to carry on with or without you checking the parchment, just keep moving” Torman grumbled, pushing past her.

A sinking feeling in Yolanda’s gut stopped her in her tracks. Melody would have walked straight into her had she not been paying attention to the discourse.

“You alright, Yol?” she asked, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. Words of frustration and fury boiled inside her, but she managed a nod and carried on walking. It was important not to become too angry in the Scryer’s Labyrinth, less madness took over. Several of their friends had become maddened to no end and the consequences had been dire.

“This is killing me…” Yolanda admitted, with a heavy heart, “We should never have set foot in here.”

Melody nodded knowingly. Her own sister was a victim to a maddened friend.

“We can’t turn back now; we don’t know the way.”

The dirt beneath their feet seemed to have no end as they navigated the labyrinth. Stone walls encapsulated them, provoking madness and hopelessness at every turn with no sure route or indication of success.

“We don’t know the way forward either. I think the Scryer wanted us all to die,” Yolanda said blatantly.

Uncharacteristically, Torman threw a violent punch at the wall. Melody and Yolanda froze in their tracks. Torman took deep, rough breaths as though he was about to fight his last battle for life.

“Torman?” Yolanda squeaked.

He closed his eyes and took a few more deep breaths. No one dared to move.

“It’s fine. Just stop talking,” he reassured, trying to shake the looming madness.

Melody and Yolanda exchanged worried glances. Their group had gone from seven to three in only two days. If they were going to make it, they needed to do so soon. The girls couldn’t fend off a maddened Torman.

They walked in silence for a long while. The sun was dropping down towards the earth causing shadows to grow elongated and twisted. It seemed that Torman was keeping it together until he slowed down to a complete stop.

“Are you okay?” Melody called from a safe distance behind. Torman appeared to be crippled, his arms wrapped tight around his torso.

“Shit. Shit. Shit,” Yolanda whispered, watching intently.

Melody took a delicate step forward and managed to break a twig with a loud snap. A chill of icy death travelled up the girl’s spines as Torman’s head twitched towards the source of the sound.

He stood upright like some possessed being ready to rip the girl’s souls from their bodies. His head turned to face them further revealing eyes that flickered between a monstrous void of black and human.

“Oh gods, run – he’s turning mad!” Melody yelped, fleeing from the scene. With wide eyes, Yolanda pleaded for Torman to regain control but it only provoked him further. He lurched with a snarl and then paused right before hitting her. His eyes appeared human for a moment but his voice was broken and dull, “I can’t fight it anymore,” his lip trembled as he thought of what would happen next, “...run.”

For a split second, the world was silent. Time itself had frozen and Yolanda’s soul was preparing to leave her body. She turned and sprinted in terror as the vision of Torman’s eyes swirling into an abyss stained her mind. In the distance, she could hear his cries of struggle against the madness. Streams of tears fell down Yolanda’s face as she imagined the suffering. Screams and cries turned monstrous as the madness took over Torman. He was no longer human. An encounter with him now would mean certain death for either of the girls.

Yolanda had run until the colours of the sun turned deep red. Shadows had enveloped the maze and a terribly dark night was approaching. She could sense that there was an eery quietness throughout the labyrinth, Torman was surely hunting them. Visions of his dark monstrous eyes flashed into her mind repeatedly, keeping her alert as she scouted for a place to rest for the night.

Eventually, she found a well-hidden position beneath a shrubby bush in a small clearing of the maze. As night fell, her breathing became shallow and shaky and the adrenaline of survival coursed through her veins. The world was so dark that she gained no extra vision from having her eyes open. She hoped Melody had found somewhere safe to hide for the night, if she hadn’t, Yolanda would have heard it by now. There was a glimmer of hope that they would reunite somewhere along the way, but with Torman taken by madness, that hope was small and fleeting.

Habitually, Yolanda reached into her pocket and felt the parchment. She wondered how much longer she had to solve the labyrinth and whether Melody or herself would make it in time.

Silent tears danced in the night as Yolanda lamented the moment they made a deal with the Scryer.

“All you ever wanted at your fingertips. The world at your command. Magic coursing through your veins, controllable and almighty,” the Scryer’s enchanting voice whispered in Yolanda’s memories.

‘This was not the price I was expecting to pay,’ Yolanda thought to herself.

She wished so badly that they had never set foot in the labyrinth. No reward would be worth the lives lost and the trauma suffered now. Yet, they couldn’t go back. There was no way back just as there was no real way forward.

Yolanda desperately tried to make out any shapes she could in the night as she waited for the first light of day, but it was hopeless. A strange sickening feeling swirled in her stomach. She felt a peculiar violence growing inside her and a strong desire to turn wild. Madness began to take over.