Chapter Text
The good byes you shared with friends and family were solemn, the pit in your stomach threatening to swallow you whole with each tear they shed. You were unsure if you’d rather die from the fall into the pit or drown from their sorrow. You didn’t want to leave them. It was unfair and cruel. Unjust. But it was also the will of the gods. It could not be ignored or disobeyed. You were faithful.
You remembered the stories of the minotaur when you were young, how Shinsou would recount the ancient tales in different voices. The god of thunder’s voice boomed while the sea god’s roared, the monsters’ frightening and low while every goddess’s voice was light and airy. The creature was evil, and despite all of its kills, its voice was still raspy as if blood wasn’t enough.
The stories scared you then and they scared you now. Gods and monsters didn’t bow down to the law and order of man. They followed their whims, forcing man into submission for whatever fate they decided upon.
Shivering, you pulled away from your mother, the breeze settling so that the orchard you were in stilled, well wishes being carried off to the sea. The leaves only rustled to bid you farewell. If you listened closely, past the murmur of city life and the calls of nature, you could hear the beast’s bellows, cacophonous and demonic.
You mouthed the name of the creature silently as the priests from the temple took you away, their faces hidden by their hoods. They were silent aside from their commands. Walk faster. Do not look back. This was your life now.
The minotaur shouldn’t have been born but was the result of an unholy union between an easily seduced queen and an offering. The sea god, expecting that noble white bull upon his shores, was angered by her lust. The queen would be punished for her sacrilegion, her swollen belly was her own doing.
The babe was a monstrosity when birthed, so much so that the king had it hidden away in an extensive maze beneath the city. Solid layers of rock separate it from the citizens. But every seven years, they were reminded of its existence. Through divination, the temple chose a citizen to be offered to the monster, lest it break free from its prison and destroy all that come across it.
They said it was a being of pure rage, instilled with such emotion to embody the sea god’s disgust. It was neither fully man or beast, its appetite proving as such. When you were a child, they said that the sacrifices were offerings of food. The flesh of man was the only way to sate it.
That feeling in your stomach made itself known again and you gave it a name- bitterness. It was the taste of bitterness as the grass turned to rock and sand, waves violently crashing against the cliffs, forcing a deep blue onto bleached white cliffs. You could taste the salt in the air and the faint smell of wildflowers from the trail behind you. The sun was setting in golden waves. It was cruel of them not to blindfold you. The last thing you’d see before walking into the darkness would be the beautiful sight of your home.
The priests came to a sudden stop, making you nearly run into the head. He walked a few paces before placing his hand on an innocuous rock. You weren’t sure if it was the shift in the sun’s light but you could have sworn it glowed when he touched it.
He turned to you, his voice booming to be heard against the sea, “Come forth and accept your fate.”
You weren’t chained. The priests beside you didn’t move. You could have made a run for it if you really wanted to, but there would be nowhere to go other than the sea. You didn’t think the sirens would save you from the wrath of the gods. Destiny was impossible to escape. You’d wash ashore on the same island. Your feet moved against your will.
The head priest handed you a basket of food, a jug of water and a lamp. “When the lamp’s light fades, seven days will have passed,” was all he told you before you were beckoned forth into the mouth of the cave. You moved forward as if possessed by magic, each step going against your instincts to live.
It was wet and damp in the cave, the sand crunching beneath you. The lamp made frightening figures out of rock formations, the animals inside seeming larger than they were and the cave’s echoes made their calls seem more threatening and frequent. You had to pause for a moment to juggle the items in your hands as you drew your cloak closer to your body. It was getting cold and the lamp did little to warm you too.
The babbling of a stream was the only thing that comforted you, following it as the cave grew small and dark. It would serve you well to stay close to fresh water. Perhaps you could use it as a landmark as well so you knew where you were going. Though you doubted you ventured far into the labyrinth, the rock walls were becoming indiscernible as you followed its twisted path.
“Hi!”
You swung wildly around you, the flame of your lamp flickering with your movement. Surely you would have heard if someone was stalking you. If anything, you would have felt their presence. It was far too early for you to have gone mad, but perhaps that was what fear would do to you. You’d been wandering in near-darkness for hours.
“Hi! Turn around! Oh, not over there. Over here!”
It was coming from the water, the voice nearly blending in with it.
“I forget that humans have poor eyesight in the dark,” it giggled, its voice high-pitched and feminine.
You didn’t dare to stand too close, but you stood two arms-lengths away, holding the light in their direction.
It was a sea nymph or what you had imagined one to be. Her skin was like the softest shade of coral or perhaps the color of a shell, pink with a nearly pearlescent luster to it, her hair cropped short and equally as bright. Her eyes were black with golden irises that looked akin to crescent moons, half-hidden by the smile that took up her whole face.
“Has it been seven years already? Time goes by so quickly for you lot.”
You agreed with caution. She seemed friendly enough. “I wish it would go faster so that I could meet my fate, but the gods have been cruel.”
“Not all gods are cruel,” she told you before tossing something wet from the water. You dodged the thing, your face grimacing as you heard it squish onto the ground. When you decided that it wasn’t something living, you picked it up. It was a wet ball of string.
“One of the gods gave it to me,” she explained. “I suppose they thought it was a toy. I don’t find it amusing though. You should have it instead!”
It would have been rude to refuse the sea nymph. They were considered demi-gods after all. What could you do with it though? It was about the side of your fist, meaning there wasn’t enough to make a blanket and you didn’t have a loom.
“Maybe you could use it as a marker,” the creature suggested, “to keep track of your path! I heard that the further you go, the more confusing it gets. That was what the old lady told me.”
“The old lady?”
There were only a few goddesses described in such a way, one of them being the Fates. The three sisters would weave the strings of human life, assessing its length and cutting it when it was their time to pass. You looked at the ball again. Whose fate was in your hands?
“Oh, don’t make that face! She’s actually quite sweet. You humans have a story about those things,” a claw pointed towards your hands, “don’t you? You have a story for everything! Is that why you’re scared?”
“Is it that obvious?”
“Nothing to worry about! She said it belonged to a human named… Oh, that wasn’t it! Maybe it was…?”
She went through three names before remembering its true owner.
You blanched. That was your name and you told her so. “Surely it must be a strange coincidence?” You asked more for your peace of mind instead of hoping for an actual answer.
The sea nymph paused before her face spread into that wide grin again, a bit too wide with jagged ends, reminding you that she wasn’t human. “Or perhaps it’s fate!”
You touched the ball again. Did that mean that your life was over?
“Consider what I told you and find your way back to me! Follow the water! It weaves in and out of this place! I love making friends! Oh! And I’m Mina!”
You waved goodbye to the sea nymph. She probably only saw a human whenever it was time for the next sacrifice.
“May the gods smile upon you!”
Despite wrapping your cloak around you as tightly as you could, you still felt the chill of the labyrinth. At times you could hear the ferocious wails of the beast, louder than any crash of ocean waves. Your skin prickled. You were alone with it.
Taking Mina’s advice, you used the string to keep track of where you went. It wouldn’t hurt. It’s not as if you had anything to lose by doing so. Sea nymphs weren’t known for being tricksters.
With fatigue washing over you, you stopped in front of a small indent in the wall, deciding it would be best to stay there for the night. It would break the wind in the maze.
After setting the lamp down, you rummaged through the basket: two loaves of bread, smoked fish, olives and grapes. Of course there wouldn’t be any wine. This was punishment. Picking at the bread, you divided it into rations. You had to save it if you wanted to live. The grapes and olives would be eaten first.
You found yourself talking out loud, finding comfort in the sound of your voice after talking to Mina. It would have felt insane but you missed the company of another human. You didn’t mind listening to your words repeat back to you.
“Perhaps if I close my eyes and sleep, I can wake up from this horrible nightmare.”
Your echoes reached the furthest depths of the labyrinth. The beast that dwelled in its center stirred. Seven years have passed again.
When you awoke, you weren’t certain of how much time had passed. It seemed as if the light from your lamp had dwindled noticeably.
“Or maybe my eyesight is getting worse?”
The string seemed endless. Were you given immortality? Would eternal life even be a blessing if it meant that you were stuck here in this place so close to hell? Would you spend eternity enslaved to the master of this place?
He could smell something different in the labyrinth. He could hear it too.
It was fresh.
It was human.
It was alive.
Something stirred inside of him, his chest tight with an odd feeling. He restrained himself from running. He would find you when the gods decided upon it.
The labyrinth was maddening. The dead ends and circles seemed more frequent. You would be utterly lost if you couldn’t retrace your steps. Your light faded two sleeps ago. You were stumbling in the dark step after step, unsure of how many minutes or hours had passed..
It wasn’t total darkness though. Some parts of the labyrinth reminded you that this was a place touched by magic and godhead. It reminded you of the stories of the underworld. There were strange flora that would suddenly burst forth from the earth at sudden intervals, its glow an eerie blue and purple. It almost hurt to look at them but their beauty made it difficult to draw your eyes away. Their petals and shapes resembled hyacinth and yarrow.
You could hear water too, its pace making you guess that it was a slow moving river, but you were too afraid to touch it in the dark. You didn’t know what might be hiding inside of it. With Mina’s friendliness, she would have called out to you by now. Maybe the water was cursed.
When you ran into a third bunch of these otherworldly blooms, you decided to settle down near them.
Almost daring to touch them, you admitted, “Normally I would have loved to stop and smell the roses, but I’m afraid of what will happen to me.”
You wouldn’t mind it though if they were the last things you saw before you died.
You were ambling through the halls, the minotaur knew it. Usually every seven years was marked by a stampede, feet furiously pounding the ground as humans stumbled in the dark trying to escape this place. It only made them more lost.
But you? It was as if you were charting each track, sometimes going across it thrice before deciding on a different path.
The beast grew impatient.
You ran out of water and food three sleeps ago. Or was it five? Time passed in a confusing manner and the darkness didn’t help. Delirium wracked through your body as you felt your muscles cramp. You couldn’t bear to look at the light from those lovely plants either. They hurt your eyes and made you feel dizzy. It was like looking at the light at the end of a tunnel. You could hardly shield your eyes and had to look at them indirectly.
“A little rest never hurt anyone, did it?”
You tried to convince yourself that you were closing your eyes intentionally, that this was what you wanted. You weren’t exhausted. You weren’t trying to escape fate either, no, for even your dreams were filled with this haunting place, the growls of the beast heard in the distance as if warning you not to come any closer to its den, the darkness ever present in the fringes of your mind.
It was dark too as you closed your eyes. The ground was cool against your skin.
Something had fallen in the labyrinth, its impact felt in small waves. The minotaur could feel it from his hooves to his spine, his legs unconsciously pulling him towards that direction.
He stooped before your crumpled form, conjuring the spark of a flame from his hand. Your breathing was slow, the earth that you were pressed against hardly stirring from your breath. One large hand pressed itself against your skin, its chill more noticeable after the flame.
He rose from his haunches, mumbling to himself, “Hardly been over a week.” You lasted longer than some of the other ones at least.
Nudging your ribs with his hoof, you barely moved aside from a deeper breath, your eyes not even fluttering. He frowned.
The beast bent over once more, sweeping you in his arms and unceremoniously laying you across his broad shoulders like a trophy kill.
There was a small room a short ways away from where you collapsed with a bed and water from one of the offshoots of the underground river. If he really wanted to, he could wade into its depths to catch fish, but you would probably need to eat more than that. He grimaced, knowing he would have to contact that annoying sea witch to get you medicine.
As he laid you on one of the maze’s beds, straw crunching beneath the blanket laid over it, he couldn’t help but be reminded of how fussy humans were. They had to constantly eat, drink and sleep in order to function. They were resilient little things when they wanted to be though. Not many survived this long in the labyrinth.
“What a pain in the ass,” he mumbled to you before making his way to the entrance of the labyrinth. He didn’t want to hear her teasing.
You woke up to the smell of stewing mutton, savory thyme and marjoram filling your nose. The occasional crackle from the fire ensured that you didn’t fall back to sleep. You kept your eyes closed, taking in the scents and the warmth, your face burrowing into the pillow, not caring that straw was sticking out of the cloth sack to poke you.
You were certain that if you didn’t get up soon to help your mother, the sweet melody of birds singing outside your window would cease, frightened away by her threats. You were grateful that she didn’t have half the mind to draw the curtains. For once, you enjoyed the darkness of your home.
Stretching, one arm followed the other above your head, your toes flexing as you let out a groan, your bones stiff as if you’ve slept for weeks. You dared to open your eyes.
There were no birds chattering outside of your window. The curtain wasn’t drawn. Your mother wasn’t outside washing the laundry. The fire wasn’t from your hearth. This wasn’t your home.
You were alive and still in the labyrinth. You never left it. This was your home now.
This was what you got for trying to defy fate, even as some whimsical half-dream, you thought but didn’t dare to speak out loud, lest the gods decided to punish you further. You didn’t even dare to cry. This was all a part of being human.
“Who…?” You started to ask but didn’t bother to finish. Surely it couldn’t have been the beast. It hated humans. It ate humans. Why would it bother to help you?
You looked at the stew, smelling the aromatics before gingerly dipping in a ladle to pour yourself a bowl. It was delicious. There was no way a monster made this.
Faintly you heard the sound of water. Perhaps Mina found you and took pity on you.
You stayed in that small room for longer than you should have. The bed you slept in was decent enough. There were jugs of water and baskets of bread that were replenished every few sleeps. The hearth’s fire seemed magical as you didn’t need to stoke its flames or hopelessly try to find more firewood. You were comfortable.
There were times where you tried to stay up to see your mysterious savior but it seemed as if they knew when you slept. You even dared to walk to the water’s edge, calling out the sea nymph’s name. You didn’t receive an answer.
Soon you regained your strength and it was then that you came to your senses.
What was your ultimate fate? Surely the temple didn’t send maidens here once every seven years to live a life of humble comfort. It would be too good to be true.
You sifted through blankets, pottery and baskets to find that accursed thread. It was long and bundled up into a thick ball. You couldn’t miss it. Was it where you left it? How far were you from there? Was it stolen? If it was gone, were you dead?
“No, no, no,” you shook your head. This couldn’t be the blessed land. There was no light or people or trees. It was far too idyllic to be some sort of underworld.
Your hands dug into a ceramic pot, digging in the darkness for anything other than air.
“Aha!”
You pulled something out then frowned. It was a comb, larger than one you’ve ever used, but beautifully made from bone. You tucked it into your cloak.
Going into the vase beside it, you readied yourself for disappointment as you dumped its contents into your lap. Something gently fell into your lap. Your thread! Your fate!
It felt lighter than you recalled. “It’s because it’s dry now,” you convinced yourself.
Taking hold of that eternal flame from your hearth, you took it with you, deciding to find out what the gods had decided for you.
Following the line of the red cord, you walked through hallways that looked no different from the rest, this time aided by the light in your possession. It felt taut as you gathered more of it in your free hand as if there was something on the other side fighting against your ministrations.
You saw it standing alone in darkness, the light of your flame casting it in a golden orange hue. Its back was turned to you, all rippling muscles, and it was grunting, fiddling with something that you couldn’t see. You dared to step closer, your footfalls silent as your line grew slack then taut again.
The beast was trapped in your twine, its color looking more akin to blood from the fire, making it look as if it was cut all over from its struggle. You had seen wounded animals before, caught in the traps of hunters. They were frightened and weak to the strength of man. The minotaur didn’t look like a wounded animal though, frustrated growls emitting from its throat as it thrashed against the fiber cage, only getting itself more entangled and enraged. It could have very well killed you with one look from its eyes, a burning scarlet that made your flesh feel hot. It didn’t want your pity.
This would be your death, and despite knowing that, you couldn’t bring your legs to run, fear keeping them grounded to the cold earth beneath you, the gods above reminding you that you couldn’t escape destiny. No matter what, all paths would lead back to it, even in this maddening labyrinth.
“Monster!” You called out to it, your voice shaking with each syllable.
When it didn’t answer, you called it again, this time by its name. “Minotaur, monster of Musutafu!”
Still, it was silent, using a sharp nail to get a hold of the string wrapped around his great horns. It was able to get a few loops off but one twist of its thick arm tightened the thread. The minotaur was tangled once again.
“That’s. Not. My. Name.”
It spoke with a voice akin to gravel, as if it hadn’t spoken in years, the chords in its throat straining with each word. It sounded as if it spent more time growling like a beast than speaking like a man.
You were taken aback, having only heard its snarls from afar and in echoes. You didn’t think it was capable of speech. No one mentioned that in the stories.
“What… What shall I call you then?” You asked, still uncertain if it would kill you. So far the monster seemed reasonable compared to the stories of old. You would have thought by now that it would have mauled you in blind rage. Ever cautious, you didn’t venture any closer to it, still several paces away in the event that it changed its mind about you. You weren’t sure if you could run but at least it wouldn’t gore you.
“Katsuki.”
You repeated its name slowly and it huffed in annoyance. It was odd to you that the beast would have a name. Who would call for it, other than to cry out in fear?
“What do you want, offering?”
Offering. Of course. That was what you were. The minotaur was the ruler of this land. He might as well have been your god now but despite fear running through every fiber of your being, you could never show submission to this beast.
Nonetheless you spoke to it as if you were equals, feigning confidence that you hoped it could see, “Do you need help?”
It paused, mulling over your offer. In its stillness, you looked at its form, comparing it to the picture in your head. The beast was large, at least two heads taller than you with shoulders as broad as the animal that it half was. The shadow it cast was proof of that, nearly taking the entire space of the flat wall behind it. Aside from its horns, ears and hooves, you wouldn’t have thought it to be taurean at all though. It looked more like a very large and powerful man because of its height and muscles.
“Well? Help me then,” the minotaur commanded.
Ensuring that your own side of the string wasn’t tangled, you followed it up his form, dancing circles around him, gathering its length. Soon there was more of it knit around your arms than across his body. All that was left was to untangle it from his horns.
“What? You expect me to bow down before a mere mortal?”
“How else will I untangle you?” You asked hotly, your arms aching from the continuous weaving. By then you decided that the beast was safe enough. It could have easily overpowered you with its strength.
The minotaur pointed towards a mess of tangles at the base of one horn, pressing into his ear. “Start there.”
“How do you suppose I’ll do that? Should I climb you? Should I grasp you by the horns and ride you?”
“You wouldn’t be the first mortal to try the latter,” the minotaur salaciously grinned. Again you felt hot when his scarlet gaze was upon you. This time though, it was for a different reason.
There were people, your people, who dared to lay with this beast? The madness of the labyrinth must have taken their minds at that point.
Then the beast took one knee, realizing that your task would be nearly impossible if he didn’t help you. If you stood on your toes, you could undo the knot.
“I’m not bowing before you, offering,” he spoke as you worked silently. “So it would do you well to mind your place.”
You nodded uninterestedly, almost done with your work, “Which is?”
“Beneath me,” you nearly fumbled and knotted the thread all over again but one thick arm shot out to steady your balance against his body, “Though if you forget, I can think of other ways to remind you.”
“It’s done,” you scoffed, peeling yourself out of the monster’s clutches, the slight press of his sharp nails against your side a reminder that he was dangerous.
You tugged at the string, “Is this the end?”
You weren’t asking the beast so much as you were asking yourself, the thought of finally reaching the end of your rope, the end of your life, giving you a sense of dread. The reality of your situation, that you would die here, crept with you through every nook and cranny of the labyrinth, reminding you every time you reached a dead end. You forgot about it while you were in that alcove by the river, but now you were reminded harshly, as if reality dragged you into the depths of the water and darkness.
The beast plucked the last bit of thread off his bare shoulder, examining it before giving it a yank towards him. You jerked forward, stumbling to your feet from the force, afraid that it would have snapped from the force.
Fingers snapped and a familiar flame burst forth from his hand, the light held closely to the twine but not close enough where it would burn. You saw it clearly then as it dangled between you. Your life wouldn’t be exceptionally long. You misunderstood. Mina's gift was two strings knotted together as one. Your fates were entwined.
“It’s just begun.”