Azazel had barely made it to the very center of the maze when a sharp scream rang through the green hedges.
It cut through the silence like a blade.
For a brief moment, the sound echoed along the winding paths, bouncing off the towering walls of leaves before slowly fading into silence.
Azazel stopped walking,he dipped his hand into his pocket and brought out a pocket watch.
Glancing at the time
Just fifteen minutes.
That was how long he took them to get into hunting outfits.
He tilted his head slightly, listening.
Then he sighed.
"They're back," he muttered to himself, his voice carrying a note of mild annoyance. "The game has started. I was hoping to take a look first."
Somewhere deeper in the maze, laughter followed the scream—loud, eager, and cruel. More voices joined in, the sound of boots scraping gravel, branches rustling as something struggled through the narrow paths.
Azazel slipped his hands back into his pocket and looked down one of the twisting corridors ahead of him.
The hedges shifted gently in the night breeze, their shadows dancing across the ground.
For a long moment, he simply stood there, considering.
Then he began walking again.
Not toward the voices.
But away from them back to the entrance, he wasn't interested in playing his step mother's stupid games rather he would let her lay out all her cards on the table.
Elysia moved as quietly as she could, though every step seemed too loud in the suffocating silence of the maze.
The gravel crunched beneath her bare feet, each sound making her wince.
She didn't know where Francesca had gone. One moment they had been walking together, and the next—
Gone.
Vanished as if the maze had swallowed her.
Elysia wrapped her arms around herself as she hurried along the narrow path. The hedges loomed high on either side, thick and tangled, their leaves brushing faintly against her shoulders whenever the corridor narrowed.
Somewhere far away, another scream broke through the night.
She flinched.
It ended quickly.
Too quickly.
Her breathing quickened.
The guards hadn't lied.
They were prey, this was the end for them.
Elysia reached a corner and slowed, peeking cautiously around it before stepping forward.
The path ahead stretched empty.
For now.
She continued walking, trying to keep her footsteps light.
But the deeper she moved into the maze, the more the air seemed to press down on her. Even the wind had gone quiet.
Then—
A sound.
Not a scream.
Footsteps coming from ahead
Elysia froze.
They were slow and unhurried as though the person had not a care for what was going on in the world around them.
Her heart began to race.
She looked quickly to her left.
Another path curved away between the hedges.
Without thinking, she turned and slipped into it, trying to put as much distance between herself and the approaching steps as possible.
But the maze twisted cruelly.
After only a few turns, the new path curved sharply—and she nearly collided with someone standing directly in front of her.
Elysia stumbled back with a small gasp.
The man didn't move.
His hands rested lazily in the pockets of his coat.
For a moment, neither of them spoke.
Then Azazel slowly looked down at her.
Recognition flickered in his burgundy eyes.
"You!" He said with a low voice and his eyes narrowing.
Azazel studied her for a moment, the faintest hint of amusement tugging at the corner of his mouth.
There she was,the woman that haunted his dreams every night or so he thought. For a moment the woman before him look exactly like the woman in his dreams yet so different.
The puzzled look in her eyes making him almost doubt that she was the one but they both had teg same vivid blue eyes that was almost too unique to mistake.
Behind them, another distant scream echoed through the maze.
Azazel barely reacted to it.
Instead, his gaze drifted lazily over Elysia's face, then the path behind her, as if piecing together how she had ended up here.
"You're having a difficult evening," he observed.
Elysia didn't answer.
Her mind was racing.
Run.
The thought came instinctively.
But her feet refused to move.
Something about him made the air feel heavier.
Azazel noticed the tension in her shoulders.
Slowly, he tilted his head.
"Who are you?"
His voice held faint curiosity, nothing more.
Elysia stared at him confused on why he had not ended her life yet.
Azazel watched her a moment longer.
Then, unexpectedly, he stepped aside.
Just enough to leave the path open behind him.
"If you intend on running" he said calmly, "you should probably do it now."
Another scream echoed through the maze, closer this time.
Azazel glanced briefly toward the sound before returning his gaze to her.
His expression was unreadable.
"Before someone less patient finds you."
Elysia spun on her heel and fled, retracing the path she had taken. Azazel's gaze followed her, sharp and unyielding, caught between curiosity and disbelief. He as much as he wanted to see a reflection of the goddess in his dreams in her, but the truth gnawed at him: they were nothing alike.
Then, without warning, two massive wings unfurled from his back, stretching wide and powerful. The air caught around them, lifting him effortlessly. With a beat of those wings, he soared upward, leaving the maze—and her—behind.