A MIX OF TWO WORLDS

They stepped closer to the mural. Torches guttered and threw light over the carved Minotaur.

The thing on the wall was small in the comparison to the real thing. The mural depicted carving, the beast trapped under chains.

Alex moved towards Kira and Sara.

"How's it been for you so far?" he asked Sara.

She pulled her jacket tight, played it cool. "Challenging," she said. "But nothing I can't handle."

Alex snorted. "I've got the short straw on this one, I've encountered the Minotaur. The mural doesn't do it justice."

Sara's face changed a fraction "It's much scarier?" she asked.

"Indeed it is," Alex said. "And it reeks of rotting flesh."

Kira glanced around the room, eyes on the mural, then back at the three of them. "Looks like we're supposed to free it to get out," she said. "That's what this is pointing to."

"You think that's the solution?" Alex asked.

"Either we find a way to change it back," Kira said, "legend says it was once a man cursed by the gods, or we free it from its life."

"Meaning what exactly?" Alex asked.

"We kill it," Sara answered bluntly.

Alex looked at them both, breathing shallow. "Look, I know you probably haven't run into it yet but trust me, we are not capable of killing it."

Sara rolled her shoulders. "Don't be so scared, we can take it."

"No we can't," Kira said. "Most of us can't even harness all our abilities yet and those of us who can being the seniors, won't be of much help. The maze is too narrow for combat. If we confront it in the tunnels we won't have room to move, dodge, or escape."

"We'll just be lining up for the slaughter," Alex said flatly.

"Exactly," Kira said.

"Then we ambush it in one of the enormous chambers," Sara said.

"And how do you plan on killing it?" Alex cut in. "Its hide, it's thick enough to shrug off bullets. Its strength is insane, none of the wolves can shift on command and even if by some chance it was the full moon and we could feel it's effects down here, they might turn on us the moment they change and won't distinguish us from friend or foe"

Sara looked to the witches and vampires who lingered near the mural, trading quiet looks. "Then we do it ourselves," she said. "Vampires and witches if need be. We've been working together so far. It hasn't been smooth, but it's been useful."

Alex ran a hand along the carved chain and looked up at the Minotaur's hollow eyes. "I really hope we find another way besides killing it," he said. "That thing is ancient, it shouldn't be taken lightly. Confronting it isn't the best option"

Tanaka had been listening from a short distance. He stepped over, his figure cutting a line between them and the mural. He leaned his palm on the stone, as if feeling its age.

"The Minotaur is ancient indeed," he said. "And not a beast to be underestimated. It has hunted and killed countless people within this twisting maze. If we are to defeat it, we would need to be more cunning and more brutal than it is which to be honest is no easy feat when it's been alive for millenia."

Sara pushed a strand of hair from her face. "But you managed to escape it each time you encountered it," she said. "Surely it can't be as cunning as you claim."

"It is," Tanaka replied. "Like a cat, it plays with its food, it prolongs the hunt. Remember it has been locked in here for millennia and who knows the last time it had prey to hunt. It's savoring this and once it starts actually hunting us I believe It will start to pick us off one by one. It is a psychological game as much as a physical one."

"So we have to leave this maze," Kira said.

"We do," Tanaka said "But like a game, we only advance to the next level after beating the boss."

A beat passed then torches flared. The chamber felt smaller, heavier, as if listening.

Sara looked from face to face. "If we are serious about not dying, we need options, ambush is one. Lure it into open space in one of the large chambers is another. Find some way to disrupt it, magic that severs the curse, traps that can hold it, or weapons it can't shrug off."

Kira shook her head. "Traps in a maze are risky. The maze constantly whifts at random intervals and the minotaur definitely knows the maze more than we do. Instead of us trapping it we could end up the ones trapped"

"And we have no such resources to trap it, the only thing would be to lure it to a certain area of our choosing by having some of us have it chase them amd that's if we have people brave enough to do so"

Alex stared at the chains in the carving. "If it was once a man, the curse is the key. If we can find how the gods cursed it, maybe we reverse it. If not, killing it should he a last resort but neither is simple. The mural is telling us something. Whoever built this put that here for a reason I believe it is a clue on how we defeat it."

Sara breathed out. "So first we need to find more clues. Second we need figure out if the curse can be undone. Third we prepare an ambush only if undoing fails." She looked at Kira and Alex, steady. "Agreed?"

Kira met her gaze and nodded. "Agreed but we should prepare for both. No tunnel ambushes unless we have an open chamber, traps ready, and the witches and vampires locked into a plan and no heroics."

Alex thought of the bridge, how they had to step as one. He thought of Orin chanting to steady the slab. He thought of the way the Minotaur had roared, and how the whole maze seemed to lean toward it.

"We need a scout network," he said. "Small teams, quiet and no big signals. Look for old carvings, fragments of the past, anything that hints at how the curse was wrought"

Tanaka nodded. "Two teams. One hunts for lore, one probes the beast without full engagement. Witches should probe the mural with magic. Vampires can scout ahead given their abilities. Cats and wolves take the lead on traps and bait, but only as a last resort"

Sara gave a small, grim smile. "So we set traps to lure the Minotaur into study, not slaughter. I can tolerate that."

Kira's face hardened in determination. "If the curse of the old gods is the key, we dig. We find the source of the curse and either break it or bind it. No one wants to be the one to die because they rushed in."

Alex felt the weight settle on his shoulders. This was the plan they needed: patient, careful, prepared. The maze had forced them into cooperation once. Now it asked for strategy.

"Fine," he said. "Tanaka you'll have to discuss this plan with the other heads of factions for the greenlight "

Tanaka gave him a short nod, then stepped back. "I'll brief the others and hopefully we can come to an agreement to work together but keep it contained for now"

They stood there a moment longer, the mural staring back. The carved Minotaur seemed to watch them, chains and hollow eyes frozen in stone. It felt like both promise and threat. They had a direction now, but the path was no less dangerous.

Kira glanced at Alex, a flash of something close to respect in her eyes. "If we find a way to free it without killing, do that first," she said. "If not, we end it."

Sara cracked her knuckles, ready. "Then let us find the clue that saves or kills us."

Alex let out a short laugh, brittle. "Either way, we do it together"

They moved away from the mural and into the shifting light of the chamber. The maze waited, and whatever came next would demand more than courage.

It would demand the one thing that was hard to come by among their respective groups, the one thing that could lead them to beating the minotaur and finally escaping the maze.

Trust in each other.