Kaelen, scared: W-what's happening?!

  And then with a sudden click, fires appear, burning bright. Light covered the room, stage lights orbiting around and around Kaelen as the darkness subsided and he saw where he was.

  "Are we in a mirror maze?"

  A what?

  "A common attraction found in carnivals. You don't have them? Kinda weird considering your main religion is based around clowns."

  Clowns. Not the circus. Though they are often put together. Mirror mazes are weird...

  "Yeah, I never liked them."

  Reflection after reflection onto infinity.

  Kaelen, annoyed: I'm not here to play games.

  Kaelen summons a hammer and shatters the mirror in front of him, continuing down through the maze by breaking every pane of glass and every mirror. Until he breaks a pane and trips, falling through the pane and onto the floor- Or where there should've been a floor. He began plummeting down a spiraling hole, falling on and on for what felt like years and years, and till he slams against the- Wall? Dazed, Kaelen stands up, parallel to what he fell onto.

  Kaelen, confused: What the hell is this place?

  "This is so freaky... It looks like it could be some form spatial manipulation."

  A Sigil?

  "Probably."

  A stage light turns on, dragging Kaelen's sight to the masked woman from earlier.

  ???: WELCOME~! LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, ONE AND ALL! WELCOME~ TO THE BIG TOP! -Where for just ONE night we'll have an EXTRA SPECIAL GUEST! Please~ everyone welcome~! KAELEN CALDER!

  Kaelen: Who the hell are you?

  ???: I am Lady Shape if you must know.

  "Shape...? Probably has shape-shifting abilities."

  Kaelen: Why are you here and not Sister Mirror?

  Lady Shape: Lady Mirror.

  Kaelen: Fine. Why are you here and not Lady Mirror?

  Lady Shape: For the the~atrics~ dear Kaelen~! I was promised I was allowed them should I assist her.

  Kaelen: So this is her doing?

  Lady Shape: But of course~!

  Kaelen: What do you want from me?

  Lady Shape: You're here to play a little game with me Kaelen Calder. If you win, then maybe~ I'll let you meet with Lady Mirror.

  Kaelen: And what exactly is stopping me from killing you?

  Lady Shape: You're free to try and make your way through the labyrinth within my big top yourself, but I think you'll find yourself stuck here forever.

  Kaelen: You could be bluffing.

  Lady Shape: Why bluff? I think you'll find I don't need to bluff.

  "There's no reason to fight this if it's just a game. It's not like we'll die"

  Kaelen: I see. And what exactly is the game?

  Lady Shape: I'm glad you asked~!

  The lights turn off and on again, the location they were in suddenly changed to a large corridor that went on seemingly forever.

  Kaelen: What's with you and infinite rooms?

  Lady Shape: I like them. Anyways, the game~!

  Kaelen: The game?

  Lady Shape: The game is~! You run as fast and as long as you can until I kill you~!

  "Why am I not surprised?"

  Kaelen: That's about what I was expecting.

  Lady Shape: LET. THE GAME. BEGIN!

  Lady Shape shifted. Her limbs twisting and turning in unnatural ways, growing and shrinking, gaining and losing joints, as her form grew, pulsating and writhing until it was at least a hundred times the size of a normal person. The sickening twisted version of a human form went onto all fours as it continued growing and spiraling outwards, unfolding to take up the entire massive corridor. Lady Shape let out an ear piercing screech as the corridor in front of Kaelen began to change in similar ways, twisting, turning, undulating, as parts stretched, and others shrunk. Kaelen turned on his feet and began to run for his life as the unholy monster began to chase him.

  This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

  "See? Shape-shifting. -Fuck that is creepy though."

  Kaelen: This is not what I signed up for!

  The hunt had begun. The lumbering monster reaches and grabs for Kaelen, almost reaching him. If it weren't for his ducking and dodging he'd have been grabbed. He had to find a way out of this situation, he couldn't run forever. He ran faster to get a larger distance away from the monster, and turned to face it, summoning a bow and arrow to try and shoot it in the eye. Only the face shifted, the eyes spinning in their sockets, the sockets pivoting around the face, moving to avoid the arrow making it hit an elongated cheek. Kaelen's face twisted in horror as he turned to continue running. He suspected that no matter what weapon he tried summoning the monster would simply move its body parts so that Kaelen couldn't do any major damage. As far as he was aware, there was no way to escape from this situation, all he could do was hope there was a door somewhere along this corridor he could use to escape.

  "Unfair..."

  -Tali-

  When Tali had finally made it back to the big top with her invitation, both Kaelen and the Circus Light were missing. She had expected Kaelen to be gone, he did say that he'd go ahead and deal with Lady Mirror, but why was the other Circus Light gone? The worst part was that they didn't know her name, so if Kaelen was fighting her he wouldn't be able to guess her actual ability. Either way, she entered the big top, preparing herself for whatever lay ahead.

  It was dark. Actually dark. Not as in little light, but just straight up no light. Or at least almost no light. Was this the ability of Brother Shade? The one Kaelen had described that put him into a total void. But she was under the impression Brother Shade was dead. Kaelen had killed him, Blazing him, and used the Luminosity to create his Sigil. The darkness made no sense. Unless multiple Sigils could cause the same or similar effects?

  Neon lights switch on, showing Tali where she was. A long circular tunnel, neon lights of numerous colours spiraling around the walls. She turned to look back at the entrance, only to find the tunnel went both ways. At some point she had been transported to an area she assumed was in the middle of the big top. She decided to follow the direction she had been facing, it was the most likely to actually lead somewhere, even if that somewhere was a trap. If she went the other way there was no guarantee she ever ended up somewhere other than this tunnel, since things like location or space seemed to no longer stay consistent as seen in the sheer length of the tunnel. This was probably the work of the other Circus Light's Sigil. That, or there were more than two Circus Lights in the big top.

  Though she wanted to call out to see if someone was there, but judging by the eternal circus theme of the Circus Lights that would probably make her situation worse so she decided against it. She'd just have to follow the path set for her, and at the first sign of something that made sense, pull on it and get out. When she finally reached something she could recognise, it was a small yellow door.

  Tali: Why is it this small?

  It was maybe a fourth of her size, smaller than most children. She crouched down and squeezed her way through anyways, entering what appeared to be the main room of the big top. She could even see the roof. If it was called a roof. What was the top of a big top called? -When she realised who was at the center of the room all questions in her mind stopped.

  Lady Mirror: Dear oh dear. I hadn't expected someone to legitimately make their way through the first puzzle. No cheating at all was not in my cards, and yet here you are. I was expecting you and Kaelen to enter at the same time, making Kaelen's guaranteed cheating count as your cheating too.

  Tali: Where's my sister?

  Lady Mirror: Now now, not so fast. You didn't even ask what I was talking about.

  Tali: I don't care Lady Mirror. Show me my sister.

  Lady Mirror: Spoil sport. I can see why no one likes you.

  Tali: Show me. My. Sister.

  Lady Mirror: *sigh* Fine. If you must insist so much.

  Lady Mirror grabs a rope on the floor and pulls on it, dragging something- Someone into the room. It was Ela. Tali raced to Ela and tried to check her pulse.

  Tali: Ela! Ela wake up!

  Lady Mirror: She won't be waking up any time soon.

  Tali: What did you do to her?!

  Lady Mirror: Sister Sleep owed me a favour, but not enough of one to help me out here, so I decided this was probably good enough.

  Tali: She's just sleeping then?

  Lady Mirror: Probably. I don't actually know the specifics of Sister Sleep's Sigil.

  Tali: Good enough. Now. Let her go.

  Lady Mirror: Or what? You didn't bother to bring a weapon.

  Tali: You think I didn't bring a weapon? You might've been preparing but so have I!