The entire world went away and Garinor knew that he had died. He floated in a dark abyss, unable to see or hear anything. He wondered idly about who he was and what he was doing. Flashes of the labyrinth crossed his mind’s eye and he realized that he had taken a fatal misstep.
But, like the labyrinth, clinging onto the parts of himself was not easy. Bits of consciousness burst into being and then flowed smoothly away. He reached out for them, at first without conviction for he thought it all to be a dream. Yet as the moments lingered by, he came to realize that if he let those pieces go, they would be lost forever.
Garinor extended his mental arms out and swam in the inky blackness, reaching for all the drops of his essence and pulling them back into himself. It wasn’t an easy task and each time he went in one direction, he felt as if another part of him drifted the other way. It was hard not getting discouraged in the turmoil of finding himself, but he kept at it, pushing himself until he had claimed all the pieces.
As his inner being became whole again, he was aware of a burning sensation in his pocket. He reached in and withdrew the bloodstone, which had ultimately led him to this maze and now to his demise. He wondered at its significance, for it seemed to him to be just a strange token of his journey.
He stared at the stone while his surroundings resolved around him. Before him sat a young woman on an earthen throne that looked like a mass of trees grown together solely to support her. She stood up and held her hand out to him.
“Welcome to his place,” she said with a melodic voice. “In order to pass beyond here, you must forfeit the stone to me. I will then guide you from the labyrinth and you will be on your way.”
Garinor looked around the odd room but he couldn’t see any exits. The only way he would be able to leave the room and therefore the labyrinth was to hand over the stone and to seek her assistance. He didn’t have any other choice.