Statues

A low rumbling resonated through the maze. 

To Solan, it had only felt like he had gotten half an hour of blissful rest, his mind eventually managed to block out the pain. 

But outside of Solans delusion, almost an entire day had gone by, the sky was only slightly brighter than it had been when he entered the maze, so he assumed he was nearly a day into the maze. 

Most of which had been spent sleeping in one spot, sleeping for so long however, gave the lurking statue enough time to stumble onto a small boy, sitting alone in a dead end of a maze. 

The moment Solan heard the rumbling his blissful sleep had been interrupted, his mind springing into action, his body somewhat managing to follow. 

Again, the statue seemed to disappear from where it stood, reappearing in front of Solan, who was still getting up at the time. 

'Pause.' Solan shouted in his mind, and right on time, the statue paused, its arm pulled back. 

That moment was a moment Solan would be able to capitalise on. 

Swiftly he moved under the statues pulled arm, moving just far enough out of the way so that the punch narrowly flew past him. 

'Rumble, step, pause, punch' Solan had managed to figure out how to beat it. 

When Solan had first seen the statue, he was walking towards it, before stopping, then throwing a punch, then stepping again. 

The statue was copying his movement and his timing. 

Solan took those moments, run, evade, run, evade. 

As he ran, he felt a pain radiating from his lower chest. It wasn't nearly as painful as before though. 

As he ran, he quickly checked himself, his ribs weren't fixed, but the pain was gone, his skin was still bruised but not nearly as badly as it should have been. 

'Maybe the maze heals it or something' He didn't have time to figure out what was happening though, if he could run, he could survive. 

'This bastard is too quick…' 

Solan knew his opening, the pause was the only time he had a chance to attack. 

But that knowledge didn't mean anything if he couldn't execute it, if he wanted to attack during the pause he'd have to get close to his arms… that was basically a death sentence. 

Solan thought as he ran, losing the statue in the maze of green, he looked over the top of the hedge, trying to see the school peeking over the top, he was slightly closer, but it didn't mean anything. 

There was no way he could go through a maze filled with dead ends and loops while running from something like that. 

This thing was faster and stronger than him and seemed to copy his movements, but that meant two things, he could dictate its moves, and he could outsmart it. 

'I'll beat this damn test, and ill break your statue while I'm at it' Solan smirked to himself as he started thinking of his next moves. 

… 

Solan ran around, searching for small sticks and branches, listening out for the familiar rumbling to echo through the leaves. 

He had spent several hours searching, after a while he had managed to sweep the area around him clean of sticks, for now anyway. 

Next, he looked to the hedges themselves, searching for thicker branches, and cutting them down to the size of his forearm. 

Finally, he took a while to map out the small area around him, ingraining it into his memory, making planting rocks and sticks as landmarks. 

Every turn marked as he muttered to himself "rocks for right, sticks for left, rocks for right sticks for left." 

Darkness was seeping in between the leaves revealing a dim blue glow a little way away. 

Laying the final sticks down, his plan was set, this was how he was going to kill this damn thing. 

A loud voice boomed through the maze "Come and get me you rat bastard!" 

Suddenly the blue glow that was peeking over the hedges started moving… quickly. 

The glow zipped through the maze, Solan didn't have any time to hesitate. 

Quickly Solan sprinted through the maze, down a long stretch until he came to a crossing, looking down he saw a rock planted in the dirt. 

'Rocks for right' He reminded himself, sprinting right through the maze. 

Suddenly behind Solan a loud snap sounded, the sound of sticks being stepped on. 

'Come on, come and get me!' 

Following the sticks and stones he ran until he reached the stick, planted into the ground in the middle of a large stretch, slowly he turned around, seeing the blue hue zip behind him. 

Solan stared down the stretch of darkness, waiting for the blue to light it up, his window would be mere seconds, he had one chance at this. 

Almost instantly the blue hue flooded the corridor stretch of maze, flying closer. 

'Not yet…. Almost…' Solan's heart pounded, his eyes darted around making sure not to miss time his reaction. 

The blue got closer, closer, before Solan could even start to make out its face, speeding towards him. 

'Now!' 

Solan's arms moved out, spraying out his stomach, flexing his abs, clenching his teeth, preparing for a punch to his stomach. 

The statue moved faster and faster, appearing in front of Solan, then again, pausing, pulling its arm back, and launching it towards him. 

Solan's body panicked, but not his mind, he kept his body from moving, keeping his hands up and spread, away from his stomach. 

A force slammed into his stomach, his mind reeled, he kept his teeth clenched, hoping not to bite his own tongue off. 

"Ack!" His body flew backwards, launched down the long stretch before lightly hitting a wall at the end. 

Slowly he sat up with a bloody smile lit up over his face. 

Reaching into his shirt he pulled out five, arm length sticks, each now snapped in the middle, his makeshift armour hadn't done much, but it had taken enough force so that he could still move, if only slightly. 

'You marble dumbass…' Solan couldn't help but curse at the statue, his stomach still burned with pain, his bruised side was in much worse condition now, but he would worry about that later. 

The slight blue hue paused for a moment, as if memorising what had just happened, before launching towards Solan, who was now slowly getting back up. 

'Come on…' Everything had gone well up to this moment, now he just hoped that he hadn't misunderstood how the statue fought. 

He could hear it getting closer and closer, the blue getting brighter and brighter. 

He picked up a sharp rock sitting at the end of the stretch, putting it into his fist. 

He readied his body, putting a foot behind him, sinking his boots into the soil. 

He pulled his arm back, copying the statue, exhaling a shaking breath. 

He twisted his body, searching where to aim. 

He could already make out the features on the statues face. 

His eyes darted lower, looking for the weakest point. 

'Right side, underarm' He repeated to himself, the cracks on the marble skin showed a little hue underneath. 

He could see it, the blue tinted magic moving its body. 

Then, he stepped forward, moving the energy from his legs forward. 

Untwisting his body, pushing his shoulder forward. 

Putting all his strength into his arm, gripping the rock in his hand, feeling it cut into his palm. 

He launched his fist forward. 

The statue flew straight into him, seemingly readying itself to throw the same punch. 

But then its arms flew out to either side of it, the blue crack exposing itself. 

"Got you…" Solans expression morphed into a bloodied, crazed smile. 

Quickly he slipped the rock between his fingers, aiming its edge into the hue. 

At the speed that solan threw his punch, and the speed of the statue. 

The rock edge became as lethal as a knife. 

Cutting through the air, Solan forced the rock forward, slamming it into the crack. 

He felt the force pressing back against his arm, his wrist felt like they were going to fracture, he felt his forearm burning. 

"Just die you bastard!" Solan screamed, it was his body verse the headmaster's magic. 

He wasn't sure how long his body would last, suddenly though, he felt the magic give. 

The force cracked slightly, like glass shattering under pressure. 

The more Solan pushed the more he felt it give. 

The cracks across the blue tint spread, he could feel the pressure trying to hold, fighting him. 

Suddenly the statue threw its arms down, heading for Solans head. 

Solan pulled his hand back, he stone still lodged inside the magic field. 

"Screw you all!" he shouted. 

Before throwing it back forward, smashing the stone deeper. 

Then the cracks spread to the edges. 

The force against his hand dissipated, the magic shattering into shards. 

The light blue hue, dulling slowly. 

Before the statue collapsed. 

… 

"You..." 

Walking past the last statue along the long path, Solan's eyes narrowed into slits. Solan had spent the last four hours trying to find his way back to the school through the maze of hedges. 

And when he got back, there was a smiling man, leaning on his shoulder, his black hair swaying messily. "Hey kid! What took you so long?" 

After a second, Solan just walked past him. He didn't have the energy to deal with his theatrics. 

"Wow, someone's pissy this morning. You look like you've come out of a maze!" 

Suddenly, Solan had far more energy. "What do you mean 'like'? You left me in the middle of that damn field. You're lucky I didn't bleed out, you good-for-nothing teacher. Not to mention the maze!" 

"What maze?" 

"That on—" Solan shouted, turning around before stopping. The maze was gone. The maze he had spent more than two days trying to get out of was just gone. 

His shock dissipated quickly with the hysterical laughing behind him. "Ahh man, again! You're too easy! God, kid, you really won't make it in this school if you're this gullible." 

Again, he felt the urge to punch him. Deciding against it, he started walking past him again before hearing a couple of footsteps. 

Then a blue tinted sphere shot towards Solan, just narrowly dodging it, seeing it his teacher in the back of the head he was about to laugh. 

Before suddenly, a hand lifted Solans chin up, making him make eye contact with Headmaster Thornfield. 

He paused, staring into his eyes, analysing him. 

"What's your name, child?" Solan tried to avoid his eyes but was forced to look at him. 

"S-Solan, headmaster..." 

Solan half-prepared for another gut punch, but thankfully he was let go. Then the headmaster turned around and started walking away. 

"Kealan, you will be responsible for his basic education. When he can pass a first-year test, he can join the classes." 

Solan was silent. He wasn't sure what to say. Eventually, he spat out a "Th-thank y—" 

Quickly, Kealan's hand covered his mouth, taking him by surprise. Looking up at him, Kealan shook his head silently. 

So instead, he just watched the old man walk down the hall before turning a corner and disappearing from sight.