God's Gone AWOL

[3] *Intense Screaming*

There was nothing else hidden in the garden that they could find, so they once again followed the path back into the gloomy maze. This time, nobody was in the lead. Atticus and Bentley stayed side by side while Leslie followed a few steps behind, contributing very little to the direction the group took. —Not that it really mattered anyway. They had no map or guide or indication on where to go, so really all they could do was wander until they found another obelisk or perhaps even a door.

While they were walking, Atticus started thinking. The rhymes written on the two obelisks had managed to mention himself, Bentley, Lucifer, and Hazel —though none directly by name. The second line of the first rhyme had to be talking about the change in dynamic between Atticus and Bentley, how they were no longer at each other's throats all the time. It was accurate. But the second line of the second rhyme seemed a little more daunting. Atticus wasn't sure how to feel about it yet.

As though she had been reading his exact thoughts, Bentley suddenly spoke up.

"So what do you think?" She asked, "The writing on the obelisks is definitely for us, right?"

"I can't think of any alternative," Atticus answered, "The second one mentioned us saving the four realms. Is that why you've come back from the dead?"

It was the first time he had properly guessed at her motivation out loud. Unsurprisingly, she waved him off with a vague answer.

"Oh trust me, if my job was to save the four realms I'd rather die a thousand times over. Earth stinks, Heaven stinks, Hell... stinks. Purgatory has nothing in it so it also stinks. None of them are worth saving,"

Atticus wasn't sure if it was just his own mind playing tricks, but the fog around them seemed to turn a deeper shade of blue. The air felt heavier too, like everything had just become even less inviting than it had been a minute before.

"I disagree," He said.

"We disagree on everything," Bentley replied,

"Hey, guys?" Leslie voice came from behind them. He was ignored, as always.

"When I was resurrected, I was told to stop the war. Do you think the writing could be elaborating on what's gonna happen?"

"You've just been blindly following orders from an unknown source without knowing the intended outcome?" Atticus asked.

She turned to him.

"Isn't that exactly what YOU'VE been doing these past couple days? Following me without any idea where we're going?"

"Guys!" Leslie nearly shouted.

The volume of his voice jolted them back into reality.

Both of them froze. Atticus' mind had been so deep in the conversation, he hadn't noticed that the fog surrounding them had become extremely dense. They couldn't even see three feet in front of them. During their conversation, they had allowed themselves to be swallowed completely by the haze to the point where the two of them had become the only things in existence. Even the towering hedges on either side were barely visible.

Every molecule of Atticus' being was suddenly on high alert.

"You guys!" The silhouette of Leslie appeared out of the gloom. He reached for both of their hands, but Bentley jolted away as though she had been electrocuted, so he just clung onto Atticus again. "Let's go back. I saw a turn off earlier and this way is obviously too foggy for my comfort level—"

Atticus interrupted him by raising his hand. With the glow of his eyes, a gentle wind ruffled his and Leslie's hair, but the heavy fog didn't budge. It remained, drowning the three entities in its suffocating embrace.

"Let's retrace a little," Atticus said.

"You think this is too foggy?" Bentley asked Leslie, "You clearly weren't around during the industrial revolution,"

As soon as she was done speaking, another chilling wind rushed over the group. For a second, Atticus could have sworn he heard a living person's deep breath echoing in the passing air like a hauntingly cold sigh. Both Leslie's grip on Atticus and Atticus' grip on Bentley tightened as a collective shiver hovered in the thick air.

"Alright! Alright! I was only calling you a coward. I wasn't objecting in any way shape or form. Lead the way oh mighty bellhop!" Bentley ducked behind Leslie.

But of course, the moment the three turned to go back the way they came, a horrible rustling noise came from within the hedge. It was growing before their very eyes. Twisting and expanding, forming another wall directly across the path, preventing them from taking another step.

"Perhaps..." Atticus said with a small voice, "We were on the right track to begin with?"

The hedge seemed to agree and didn't make any attempt to block their way again. So they tried to continue the way they had originally been going, deeper into the fog.

Then suddenly, a dark shadow flew quick as a flash across the path in front of them. Something was moving up ahead. Of course, Bentley had the quickest reflexes, so she quickly shoved Atticus behind her. From the shelter of her body, the angel instinctively shot out a quick blast of fire. However, his attack only dyed the blue fog with a fleeting halo of orange, before it disappeared from their sight completely. Even though it hadn't illuminated anything threatening, all three of them already knew...

They really weren't alone in the maze.

"What do you think that was?" Atticus asked.

"I don't know." Bentley lowered her arm. "But I intend to find out,"

She started forward in the direction she sent her spell. Atticus was prepared to draw his blade follow, but then he remembered they still had a human to take care of. So instead, he turned around and gripped Leslie's arm tightly.

"It's alright, just stay by me and I'll protect you in case anything comes our way." He looked back at Bentley, "Bentley—?"

But the moment the two made eye contact again, that same deep rustling sound came from within the hedge. Bentley's startled face quickly disappeared behind the tangle of branches as the hedge formed a wall between them. Immediately, Atticus' mind entered full panic-mode and he ran directly into the shrubbery.

"Bentley!" He tugged on the branches, though what for, he wasn't sure. "Bentley, can you hear me?"

No response.

"M-Mister angel man?" Came the high and frightened voice of Leslie.

"Not now!"

Atticus didn't even bother to look at him. He was busy checking any and all edges of the hedge for any sort of way to reopen the pathway between him and Bentley. There was no sign of a switch or door that would make the shrub go away because it was a shrub. It was a living entity, and therefore could move unpredictably and separate them from one and other if it really wanted. So what was he even looking for? Who knew, but he had to look for something.

However, before he could find anything that might help him reconnect with the missing demon, a high-pitched scream of terror pulled his attention back towards Leslie.

Except when he turned around, there was no Leslie at all. There was nothing except fog. His entire person had disappeared without a trace, save the echoing shriek that was still ringing in Atticus' ears.

Amidst the cool scent of leaves and grass, the angel froze. He had a terrible choice to make.

Leslie: the annoying, yet innocent bellhop who had just been doing his job. The one who had been promised safety, yet had still fallen into the clutches of the unknown evils hidden in the mists. Or Bentley Hellbourne: the bane of Atticus' existence and the only person across all four realms whom he would thoughtlessly sacrifice his own body and soul for.

Of course he chose the latter.

A blast of holy fire collided with the green hedge. The twigs and vines that weren't incinerated on impact were sent flying in all directions by the shockwave. Atticus had thrown all caution to the wind and no longer cared if, or how much he hurt the hedge maze. Blocking him from Bentley had been the same thing as it signing its own death warrant. So once the smoke cleared, he stepped gracefully, yet determinedly through the singed hole, careful not to get any loose soot on his clean, ivory jacket.

With glowing eyes, he glanced around. There was no demon in red waiting for him, only a stretching hallway of green, smothered by the layers upon layers of fog. As he called her name and once again heard no answer, Atticus felt a horrible chilling sensation wash over his body.

Then he saw something on the ground. It was the compass Bentley had picked up back in the art gallery. The one with "Home" written on the side. It wasn't a good omen, but it wasn't a bad one either. However, an omen it certainly was. At least it indicated that Bentley had been in this area, so Atticus quickly picked it up and shook it slightly.

'Alright compass, I'm lost. Show me the way out of here and I shall be eternally in your debt.' He rambled in his mind, all the while shaking it up and down.

He glanced down. The little needle had already stopped spinning and was pointing very determinedly forward. Without any second of hesitation, Atticus clutched it and started running down the path in front of him. Where it was leading exactly, he did not know. Nor was he quite sure why he was following it. But for the time being, there was really nothing else he could rely on. Worst case scenario, it would take him back to the button in the gallery. At least in a place like that, he could retrace his steps. So he followed that needle religiously, turning left and right, allowing it to guide him through the maze.

Left. Right. Left. Right. Between rows and rows of hedges. One hand was on the compass, and the other was curled tightly around the chain of his necklace. The entire time, his eyes never once left what was directly in front of him. Everything else became a sort of blur of blue, grey and green. In his desperation, the only thing in existence was that little needle, pointing ever onwards in the direction he needed to go. Onwards and onwards and onwards for what felt like eternity.

Then he came to an abrupt halt. Not because he wanted to, of course, but because there was nowhere left to go. The needle was pointing directly into a great, big, solid, green wall of a hedge. Up until this point it had stayed true to the existing path, leading him around such obstacles. But whether the compass was glitching out, or the maze was trying to mess with both of them, there was no further path to go down.

So, with another explosion of holy fire, Atticus made a path of his own.

Meanwhile, everything had actually been very peaceful for Bentley up until this point.

After being separated from Atticus and Leslie, she had tried to find a connecting path back around, but instead she ended up in the middle of another square garden. At first, she had hesitated as to whether she should start translating, or wait until the other two showed up so they could do it together. She could read Enochian just fine, but the English translations of the other two inscriptions both rhymed, which was much more fun to read out loud.

She'd just been circling it a couple times, debating what to do, when all of the sudden an earthshattering explosion had disrupted her thoughts entirely. At first she thought something was here to kill her —or at least TRY to kill her— but who would have guessed that the one causing so much noise and destruction actually turned out to be none other than Atticus pash de Ophaniel. An involuntary smile crossed her lips.

"I thought you said no bullying the maze," She said.

As soon as he saw her, the compass in his hand fell to his side, instantly forgotten. Atticus immediately rushed forward and grabbed her by the wrist, tugging her away.

"We're getting out of here right now," He told her.

"Wait!" Bentley struggled in his grip, "There's another obelisk!"

"Why are you concerned with that right now? Can't you tell there's something else in this maze with us? We're in danger,"

But Bentley was incapable of suffering from death, so Bentley didn't care.

"Whoever brought us here knew who we were," She said, "They wouldn't put us through all this puzzle-solving and leave all these messages around just to kill us before we've even finished looking around,"

"They couldn't have had good intentions either," Atticus replied.

"Don't you at least wanna know what the stone says?"

Atticus stopped pulling on her.

"What does it say?"

She ran back to the obelisk and quickly ran around it in a circle.

"'A battle awaits that can't be avoided. And victory always has a price. For peace to prevail in its final form, there must always be a sacrifice.'"

"That's so ominous!" Atticus continued marching towards the nearest hedge wall, "I've had enough of this, we are leaving even if it means burning this godawful place to the ground."

"Relax," She said, waving her hands about, "It's talking about my death. The one from before."

"That doesn't make it any better. Let's go."

But Bentley didn't go.

"Why are you in such a rush all of the sudden? Also, where is the bellhop guy? —Leslie?"

Atticus didn't answer at first.

"Didn't you see the movement earlier?" He asked, "We aren't alone in this maze!"

"So what? Leslie was kidn*pped by the minotaur or something?"

She was trying to laugh at him. But she couldn't laugh for very long before a horrible BOOM! echoed throughout the entire maze, shaking the ground beneath their feet. Both Atticus and Bentley turned to face the direction the sound had come from, but there was just an endless wall of fog. Both were frozen in place, neither quite sure what to think.

And then there was another BOOM! This time, accompanied by a series of sharp sounds from overhead. From deep within the white gloom, several black shadows came hurling towards them. Each frantically flapping it's wings and cawing loudly in fright, as though they were running away from something. —Crows. A murder of crows. Too terrified to even give the two entities on the ground a passing glance, they beat their wings until they had disappeared away into the fog again. Atticus felt his heart grow very cold.

As anybody with any understanding of the animal kingdom knows, if an animal is running away from something and that something isn't you, chances are you should be running too. If you're ever in a forest and the trees suddenly become quiet, leave the woods immediately. If you're scuba diving by a beautiful coral reef and the little fish all disappear without a trace, resurface as soon as you can. If you're deep inside a hedge maze and thundering, spooky sounds start echoing from within, causing all the nearby birds to immediately hurl themselves in the opposite direction... yeah, your best bet is to run.

This time, it was Bentley's turn to grip Atticus' wrist.

"Okey-dokey, time to leave now!" She said.

Then they bolted after the crows.

...