Bittersweet Legacy

Jason turned to the lion beside him, “So you can talk, but it’s not magic?”

A low growl came from the lion, and Jason took that as an affirmative. It stopped as they came to a split in the path they were on. They could either continue further ahead, or they could turn right.

“Which way?”

“Why are you asking me? You seem to have a better idea of this place than I do.” Jason looked around in annoyance before pointing, “Right I guess.”

“I will go the path you choose to follow you, but you shouldn’t be so flippant about choosing where you go on the path in life.” They turned shortly in to find themselves turning left and coming immediately to a dead end.

Jason sighed, he bit his bottom lip as his brow furrowed slightly before turning hurriedly and heading back the way they came, the lion on his heels.

Turning right to stay straight on the path they were previously, “So what’s the deal with the judgement?”

“No judgement, I was merely offering a bit of advice.”

“Well, the thing is, when you must figure out a path in a maze you must make sacrifices and find yourself going down dead ends. I mean, I don’t have a way of marking my path, no string or breadcrumbs- “

“How did you find me?”

Jason stopped for just a second as he was caught by the question, “I climbed to the top of one of the walls.”

“Why do you not do that now? Is there anything stopping you?”

“Well, nothing physically,” he said glancing to the lion in his peripheral.

The lion stopped and sat on its haunches. “So, you need help?”

Another sigh as they came to another series of paths, left, right, or straight. Somewhere in the distance he could faintly hear those creatures yet again.

“I want to find a way out of this place, but I am not sure how. You said you would follow me, not lead me out of here. So, are you implying you know how to get out of this place?”

“’What I know is what I know, what I don’t know is what I don’t know’.”

“That, is something I used to say as a kid.”

“What does it mean?”

Jason was silent, and unmoving, his eyes lowered to the floor. “It was my way of showing I didn’t know everything. It always bothered me when people acted like they always knew more than they really did.”

“I feel like there is more you wish to say.”

Jason opened his mouth, but it felt as though his mind went blank.

Was there more? Did it matter if there was more? No, one thing at a time he needed to focus and get out of this labyrinth.

“If it helps, you can leave me.”

“What if you get into trouble with more of those creatures?”

“I will be fine on my own, but you, you need to worry more about yourself than others.”

“There is nothing wrong with offering a helping hand to another.”

“Even to your own detriment?”

“Well, no. But you don’t always know if someone is up to something until you get to know them.”

“Really? There is no way to sense a person when you first meet them?”

Jason thought back to when he was a little kid and how he met one of the men his mom had hooked up with. They were together for years, and yet from the first day Jason had tried to tell his mom that he didn’t trust or like the man, only for the man to call him a spoiled brat. He felt there was more, more instances from when he had been trying to learn… learn what?

He raised a hand to his head and closed his eyes tight feeling the throb of pain and his vision tilted from one side to the other. Seconds passed like minutes before he felt relief wash over him.

Moving his hand, he looked up to see the lion staring at him.

Jason shook his head as he turned away and motioned with a hand, “I’m fine since you seem so concerned.”

“Do you need someone to fall over themselves in concern for you?”

“No, just like a person doesn’t need a smartass talking animal as a guide,” Jason had been rolling his eyes as he had spoke until he realized what he had just said. He turned to find himself alone.

“Damn it!” Jason turned and began to mentally work his way through his path before he charged forward pushing himself to run up against a wall and jumping up, grabbing the ledge and lifting himself up.

He looked about the once more shifting walls of the labyrinth and raised his eyes to see a strange floating green and black orb above what could have been a center of the maze.

“Alright, let’s see what this shit is all about.”

He twitched in his sleep before his eyes opened, the green of the spell flickering for a second before it broke. He rolled out from the space in the wall he had been laying in, landing on his hands and knees.

A green and black creature flew in through an open space, “Ah you’re awake, good. The Queen will see you now.”

He closed his eyes, feeling the strange warmth that seemed to pulse through it as he began to pull at the threads of the broken spell and memories.

Jason stood and carefully took in a breath and turned to follow the one he knew as Skitter, but as soon as she turned, he made his way in the opposite direction.

Quickly Jason made a run for it, making his way through the various paths until he came to the raised ground that told him he was at the entrance, or in his elated thought the exit.

As Jason began to make his way out, there was a sound and he found himself being lifted from the ground and slammed against a wall forcing out the breath from his lungs.

Slumping to the floor, Jason gasped as he turned to find the same large creature he had come across before was now approaching him again.

“It would seem you finally broke free.” Her eyes and horn glowed green.

Jason charged at her, taking her by surprise as he resisted the spell.

Taking a second he reworked the spell he knew of light and reworked it to create heat and threw the spell of fire at the head of the queen.

Her scream and subsequent use of force to throw him back gave him a sense of pride.

Jason hit the ground hard but worked to roll over and scramble to his feet to escape.

As the light of the outside sun hit his eyes he had to squint to see and make his way through the trees around him as he could hear the buzzing of insects behind him.

Jason let out a yelp as he felt something strike his back, sending him tumbling into the dirt. Quickly he was up and running again.

He heard a noise behind him and took a risk glancing over his shoulder to see Skitter raising a brief shield for the two of them as she buzzed behind him now.

He stopped suddenly turning around, “Get down!” Jason raised his voice as he raised a hand and sent a gout of flame at their pursuers catching not only the two bugs, but also a number of branches of trees.

“Here, this way” Skitter moved quickly using the fire and smoke as cover to lead Jason away from the hive.

It took some time, but when they were able to slow down enough for Jason to catch his breath he looked to the green and black insect next to him, now walking at his pace.

“Why are you helping me?”

Skitter stopped, her eyes lowered, a distant look in her eyes, “That Queen, is not my Queen. She has changed since I have been away, and I do not feel the connection I once did. I feel lost and empty.”

Jason took in a breath, “I can’t say I understand what you are dealing with, but I am on a strange world not my own, and to my knowledge there are no other of my kind here or anywhere. I am cut off from them if any are still alive.”

Skitter looked up, as Jason reached over feeling a tear slide down from her eyes, “Will you help me further? You don’t have to, but two beings alone in a world together means they are not alone.”