"Here we are." He and Shiloh were standing within the Sanctum, a large structure composed of crystals of many colors. The goddesses of Life and Death had announced their wager to the world, and they among the others would be participating to show the two the strength of mortal hearts. After the devastation of what the Reaper and the god of Chaos had wrought, again the world was thrust into another challenge given by the deities. The trip was short, with Shiloh accelerating their flight on the Clephsydra with a tailwind. They received a boisterous send-off as the staff from Antikythera were waiting for them to pass through the trials the sister goddesses had in store for them, and proceeded to the place in which they now stood.

There were four spheres, corresponding with four pedestals named: Life, Love, Death, and Desire. He was already feeling butterflies in his stomach, and surely Shiloh was the same way. But knowing they would be going together made him feel like he could pull through, that even the impossible was possible. "By the way, why did you want to take the challenge? I know the goddesses wanted to test the hearts of mortals, but I'm curious about your reasons for coming. Well…because you're…" No matter how much time had passed since the day she told him, he still couldn't get used to knowing that the friend he knew had been chosen as a deity. 

"Yeah, I know. I'm just doing this out of personal interest. Since I'm technically part of this world's ruling body of deities, I should probably make sure I'm up-to-date with whatever happens on this side of the Nyella." Hearing her response, he was glad she wasn't upset that he brought the topic up. "Oh, I see. So which combination should we start with? There are four in total, and their difficulties vary as do their hazards." Shiloh crossed her arms and closed her eyes, thinking in silence for a moment. "…How about we start from the easiest, and then work our way up? Who knows what we'll run into, so it'd be best to start slow to warm up." Nodding, he agreed. "Then Life and Love it is." Taking an orb in each hand, he brought them over and placed them to create the first of the four combinations. Once they were in place, a bright light enveloped them both and they found themselves inside the maze.

The maze's walls were tall hedges with roses of crimson red and the deepest black. Thinking of trying to get an aerial view was soon out of the question when she found the hedges were enchanted to rise as high as someone went, so they were just tall enough to obscure her view. "Should've expected they'd think of that…" She muttered. Looks like they would have to go through it the old-fashioned way. They were at a crossroads, with a path leading right and another leading left. Both looked identical even to her discerning eyes. "Which way should we go?" Cymbel asked her. "I think either way is fine. They look the same." She said. It probably didn't matter which side they started on. This was just an extended metaphor of life.

They took the right path, with her taking the lead. They were searching the walls for any surprises and hidden passages, like how you'd normally go about in a maze challenge. It was just her natural instinct to search for paths that might be overlooked. They then decided to search side-by-side to cover more ground. Although it was not a race, Shiloh's mind was in high gear. She wanted to find the end, setting her own internal goal with a timer. Using this method they had made it down a few rows but soon came to a wide open area with four directions branching off. The plaza had a rose-shaped fountain with colorful mosaics reminding her of Elysia when she first visited after the shifting of the elder goddess's spheres. Cymbel made an offhand remark on how this felt nostalgic, just like when he had first visited Arri's capital. "Isn't this like the maze around Kirika Lake? They had the hedges made of roses too, but not just these colors." The fey said, taking a seat on the fountain's wide base. "Oh, Shiloh have you been to Sularia's rose gardens?"

"No, I haven't. I've been to the city, but most of the time I just go in and out of the bazaar before heading back." She had heard of the city's famous attractions, but with work always cropping up she never really thought about visiting. "Maybe after this we could go see it sometime?" Cymbel asked, looking hopeful. "Sure. Since you've been there before, I'll be counting on you to give me the grand tour." She said, cracking a smile. He smiled after, and it was clear that he was happy. "I saw the gardens the first time I visited Sularia. I was travelling with an acquaintance I had met in Endapano earlier, and together we made the trek across the desert before it was rejuvenated. It was one of the places I wanted to see ever since I was a child. I had a list of things I wanted to do and places I wished to visit before my life came to a close."

"So like a bucket list, right?" The rogue replied, leaning against one of the carved statues of ivory that occasionally appeared in clearings like these. "Yes, I suppose so." He looked down, folding his hands together. His body language was saying he had something else he wanted to say, but held back at the last moment. Maybe he felt it wasn't the right time to say it, so she didn't press him on it. "Was it fun? Seeing all those places you'd been dreaming of since you were a kid?" "It was exciting, and at times surprising. Almost as if I had achieved something that I didn't think would ever happen. There were times when it was tiring after, but in the end I was always glad I had taken the opportunity." She was hesitant to ask more after. If she continued this line of questioning, eventually it would lead back to talking about his past. From what he had mentioned to her back when they were training under the swordsmanship school in Nisshoki, he didn't like recalling his childhood experiences. Basically up until he had went to live on his own, his life had been a nightmare. He had a family, but he wasn't loved. He had a home, but had been oppressed. He lived in comfort, but the people around him were morally bankrupt. 

It was a cold, gilded cage. And judging from what she had learned about him and his personality, if he had stayed there he would have either died of loneliness or suffered a complete mental breakdown. So even if he wasn't the most brave, or the most confident–she didn't think less of him. The fact he had made a conscious choice to run away and break free from a place that was strangling him from the inside out was more courageous than successfully slaying a basilisk. Not everyone in his same situation would have had the resolve to throw it all aside for an existence of uncertainty. Sometimes continuing to endure wasn't the best course of action. Sometimes you had to run away from things that were hurting you. It didn't make a person weaker if they were acting out of the base instinct of self-preservation without harming anyone else in the process.

He had taken a brief rest to stop and smell the roses, in both meanings of the phrase. Ever since they had met in Ataiyo, he was beginning to learn more about her little by little. She was a person of few words and often said things bluntly, but she always knew when he was feeling down even when he did his best to keep a smile on his face. Even when she didn't say anything, just knowing she understood was enough. It was…comforting. He had been alone for a long, long time. As they opened up to each other, he came to learn that though on the surface they were as different as night and day–below that initial superficial layer they were more alike than expected. They both knew the emptiness of loneliness, of feeling like they didn't belong. Shiloh once described it aptly as an 'invisible wall' that was always between them and where they wanted to be. They both lost people they loved at a young age, and they had found new friends who cared for them outside of where they began. It truly proved that you shouldn't judge a person by their appearance, like a book and its cover.

At times when she let him speak his mind freely, he felt guilty knowing that she suffered far worse in her life than he had. He felt that he had no place to complain, to say he had experienced suffering when she had been fighting against being falsely accused from a young age. When he thought what he had been through was like the end of the world, hers made it all feel so insignificant. She eventually admitted that she had almost died at least five times, based off of what she could remember off the top of her head. She had always been paranoid of people, second-guessing their intentions and scrutinizing their every word. At times she had wished her parents hadn't been taken from her so suddenly, and that maybe if that accident had never occurred things would be different. Deep down, she might have felt responsible even though she knew it wasn't her fault. "I hated myself." She said to him once. "I always was nearby when the worst happened. They called me a jinx, a hex, an ill omen. And after a while, I started to believe it too." But what the most painful part of it wasn't being blamed–it was feeling unable to prevent terrible things from happening. It was feeling powerless, knowing there was nothing you could do to change things or make it better.

Most people saw her as someone who was strong, but that wasn't how she felt at all. That was why she had done everything she could to improve herself, to make herself more capable, more knowledgeable, more experienced–to ensure she could handle anything life could throw at her. "Do you want us to split up? We can cover more ground that way and find which paths work quicker." Her voice interrupted his thoughts, bringing him back to the present. "That's fine with me. How about I take this path, and if it's a dead end I'll come back to where you are?" She gave him a nod of approval. "Alright then. But before we go, here." She took out a red string edged with gold, and carefully tied the end of it to his hand. The other end seemed to disappear, then reappear at the other end tied to hers. "It's a heartstring." She explained to him. "That way we'll always be able to find each other, even if we're separated by a long distance. Those two might have thrown a few spatial distortions in here for kicks." The deity muttered, looking up at the sky. 

"In that case, then we should get going. I was worried that we'd lose our way whilst separated, but with this I feel much more at ease. If I find anything, or nothing at all, I'll come back to you." Holding his end of the heartstring between his fingers, he held onto it tightly. "Stay safe, Cymbel. And the same goes for me too; I'll let you know what I've found on my end." With a wave, they parted. The path he chose to explore was straightforward. No obvious alcoves or turns in the hedging. As he walked, suddenly the ground gave way and he let out a panicked yell as the ground crumbled. Grasping at the edge of what was left of the ground, he found himself dangling precariously above a deep pitfall. He didn't want to know what was at the bottom, and now that he was alone the anxiety was making his body lock up. Desperate to pull himself out, he tried to get himself up over the edge. He didn't know how close Shiloh was to his position. She would come and find him, he told himself. But what if she wasn't able to make it in time? 

She had a sort of 'danger sense' that told her when something terrible was about to happen. Some might it call it a hunch, instinct, or even something pretentious like 'prognostication'. But it wasn't anything nearly as complicated as that. It was paranoia. Before she felt the slight tension in the heartstring, as soon as her acute hearing picked up the sound of his scream she immediately was on edge. Maybe she was overreacting. He could've just tripped or was startled by something. No, that wasn't right. He'd only scream if he felt threatened, that was the natural reaction of all things when faced with perceived danger. Shiloh was fighting her internal instincts, trying to unsuccessfully convince herself that she was wrong. She ended up running back in the direction where she last saw him go, adrenaline pumping through her veins. 

Where was he? He was close, she knew he was. He should be here, he was supposed to be around here. Furtive eyes scanned the walls, the sides, the ground for any signs of where he had been. Then she found him. He hadn't noticed her yet, but she could see him clearly. Her eyes were staring wide as he was struggling to pull himself out of a pitfall that she didn't remember seeing. Lunging forward, she thrust out her arms and clamped down on his lower forearm with a vise grip just as his hands were slipping. Cymbel gave out a yell, only to stop midway when he looked up at her. "Shiloh! I-I'm alright!" Now lying down on her stomach pressed up against the maze's path, he was dangling above a pit hanging from her arms. Her breathing rate had quickened, and she was very close to hyperventilating. For a while she thought everything was ok, and was preparing to pull him back up. Then, a few corners of the edge began to crumble. Both of them froze as they watched the small chunks of packed dirt tumble down the hole. Neither of them dared to move for those few seconds, holding their breath.

"Shiloh…I think I can climb back up on my own now. I panicked a little and wasn't thinking, but I feel my grip should hold if I'm careful about it." He said slowly, lifting his face towards her again. "…No, I'll pull you up. It'll be easier for me to bring you to where I am here." Her answer came immediately without giving it a second thought. "But I'll only keep pulling you down, otherwise you'll also be–" He protested, trying to convince her to reconsider. She looked back at him adamantly, her eyes still wide and intensely focused as before. "–No. I'm not letting go." Silence followed as they both looked at each other. She could see his eyes were pleading, that he was worried. Eventually he turned away, his gaze downcast. "I don't want to lose you." He said quietly. A hard lump forming in the back of her throat, Shiloh could feel the insides of her nose start to sting as she pulled hard, yanking him back onto solid ground. Pushing that lump of emotions back down, she wasn't able to look at him in the eyes directly. 'I don't want to lose you either.' 

One of the things that he admired in her so much was that indomitable resilience and tenacity. For someone who could have easily chosen to lie down and be resigned with their lot, she chose to take her life's direction in her own hands. She wasn't satisfied with being less than what she could be, and paid no heed to what the world thought of her. She was truly herself. It was that resolve in the face of adversity that inspired him to try to reach higher as well. Very few people knew or understood this side of Shiloh, and she almost never exposed it for others to see. As he reached solid ground once again, they both took some time to recover from the ordeal. Even though he didn't call her name, she truly did come for his sake. If he said, 'You really came for me'–he knew she would in turn reply: 'Of course I would. Why wouldn't I?' She always worked to keep her promises, no matter how insignificant and small they were.

After a long pause, she cleared her throat. As they looked to each other, she held out her hand to him. "I've changed my mind; let's not split up when we search. If we're going through this maze, then let's go together." Taking her hand in his, he smiled. "Yes, let's finish this." Hearing her say this made him happy. After all, it was difficult going alone. As long as they were together, he knew that everything was possible. There was no challenge they couldn't overcome, no obstacle that couldn't be cleared. Because if one of them stumbled, the other would be there to lift them up again. That was what friends were for.

They spent what could have been hours or days in the winding passages, backtracking and searching. Sometimes the easiest paths did not always keep going, other times they allowed them to progress forward. They went through traps, had several close calls, and even had to stop and rest at times. Something notable was the presence of enchanted fountains in small clearings. These were sporadically placed throughout the maze, and whenever their spirits felt low they would feel energizing renewal flow into them upon entry. Inspecting the fonts' designs, Shiloh mentioned that these were likely the goddess Angela's work. "The aesthetics are awfully similar." She pointed out. "When I went to see her realm after the change, there were these patterns present in the architecture and decorations too." She then went on to explain that every artist and craftsman left their own mark upon each piece they made. At times this would be figurative, other times it would be a signature or a seal identifying the work as theirs. In a way it was akin to parents and their children. When you saw the children you would see their parents in them, and vice versa.

He had always wondered about the future, even more so since he had met her. With each new face he met he was sure his life had been affected, but Shiloh was the biggest change in his life since he had left Feeorin for the outside world. Each new experience had broadened his view, taught him just how wide the world was, and how little he really understood. To him, Shiloh was like removing the lid of a glass container and the walls at once. She had been the living example of possibility, and how one could take an active role in living life. While in turn, he taught her the quiet joys of a peaceful life and that sometimes the softest answer could be the most effective. They complemented each other, and were stronger in unity. 

As they helped each other through the maze, they both lost track of time. Eventually they came upon the end, and found themselves back in the Sanctum again. This time the orbs were back in their previous places, and one of the combinations was blotted out from the list on the wall. "We've completed the first maze!" He cheered. "Now only four more left to go." "It's only going to get harder from here, but we might as well try. It'd be a crying shame if we didn't make an attempt compared to not finishing it at all." Shiloh commented, looking at which combinations were left. "I'll admit I'm pretty nervous as to what the fifth one has in it…" Her voice trailed off as she looked aside. "You've met both of them before, haven't you?" Cymbel asked, turning to her. "Yes…I have." The deity muttered, looking less than excited at the prospect of facing the worst both the Reaper and the Weaver of Life and Love had in store for ambitious challengers. "Anyway…let's pick a new combination. The next one in ascending difficulty is Life and Desire."