CHAPTER 10: The Labyrinth

The next morning, when Madalen woke up, she found Jio sitting alone in the dining room. She sat next to him, and Jio offered her breakfast.

"Are you thinking about the trials?" he asked, noticing her pensive expression.

"Yes," she said, grabbing a pancake with her fork.

"Be careful, because He won't warn you. He can put you to the trials at any time."

"What did you mean by 'the heart'?"

"You'll understand when the time comes."

"You don't have to be so enigmatic with me anymore."

Jio remained silent and continued to eat. Madalen didn't push him any further.

When they were finished, Jio went to rehearse with the troupe, while Madalen took a stroll in the amusement park. There were people around her, but she knew it was just a trick of the demon—thought-forms that lived in the circus to satisfy Jio's needs. At some point, she saw the plump police officer. He greeted her, but she didn't respond.

You're just a lifeless puppet, she thought. Observing the people, everyone was happy. They were smiling and enjoying the rides in the amusement park. Madalen approached the Ferris wheel. She considered climbing it, but with the fog and the gray sky, she knew she wouldn't see anything—not even the chasm. She paused for a moment. She realized she was not hearing anything. Everything had gone eerily quiet. Everyone had disappeared as if by magic; people, laughter, sounds from the rides—all gone. It didn't impress her, though. She headed to the circus, thinking everyone might have moved there for the show.

She entered the circus, but there was no one.

"Jio?" she shouted. Maybe he was in his room.

Then she heard an eerie, familiar voice.

"Search, search, you won't find him!"

It was the playful voice of the demon.

"What? Where is he?" Madalen asked, looking around, but she didn't see the demon anywhere. She only heard his voice.

"If you want to see him again, go where logic is distorted," he said.

A riddle, as expected.

What was the place where logic was distorted? She sat down and thought for a while. The Box of Madness—there, everything was distorted. Confident she had found the answer, she ran to the labyrinth.

She navigated through the rooms and turned the first right corner. She saw a large corridor leading to a dead end. The labyrinth had disappeared... She went to the end and touched the wall, hoping there was a secret door. Nothing.

Strange... Maybe I'm not in the right place... But something stopped her thoughts.

The ground and the walls began to tremble unexpectedly. She felt the soil under her feet move, like an earthquake. The black and white tiles began to lift from the floor and form new walls around her. As the walls that were there before began to descend to the ground, it was as if someone had pressed a button, changing everything around her. Walls were erecting and walls were falling, until a completely different labyrinth was formed, more chaotic, with more corridors and more dead ends. She looked behind her. There was no passage, only a large wall covered in a checkerboard pattern.

She proceeded straight ahead. She saw many open corridors leading to nowhere. She chose one at random and continued. After walking for a few minutes and reaching many dead ends, she realized that if she didn't do something, she would never get out of there. She decided to mark the walls as she had before, only she didn't have her keys or anything sharp to cut her hand. Misfortune. Then she saw a half-broken tile on the floor. She pulled it with all her might and took it out. She threw it down and broke it into pieces. She took a sharp piece and cut her palm with it. A red brook of blood flowed. She touched her palm to the white tile of the wall and marked it. The blood was crystal clear on white as it dripped, marking the rest of the tiles below.

Suddenly, she heard an intense noise again. The walls changed again. She was disappointed because she realized she had marked the walls unnecessarily.

She decided to go deeper.

A few meters away, at the edge of one corner leading to another corridor, she unexpectedly saw the repulsive and strange appearance of a huge, monstrous clown. His body was hidden behind the corner.

She first saw his face, that scary, weird face, smiling at her and revealing his pointed teeth.

Then his big, long hands appeared, with white gloves holding a huge hammer that looked like a toy. She was sure that if the hammer fell on her, it would crush her, like when someone kills a mosquito with their palm. But what scared her the most was neither his face nor the hammer. It was his body. It didn't look human, but like a centipede! It was truly huge and long, even though the whole body wasn't revealed behind the corner. The scary clown made an eerie sound, shook his huge, fluffy eyebrows, and ran towards her. He was so fast that she didn't understand when he approached her. He raised his hand with the hammer and forcefully pounded the floor where Madalen stood. Fortunately, she saw his move and avoided the terrible attack. She felt the air as the hammer hit the floor. The ground shook and cracked. The jolt was so strong that it made her fall. She got up as quickly as she could, her breathing cut short.

The frightening, giant clown, seeing his attack fail, lifted the hammer again. Madalen, not losing time, began to run away. The labyrinth suddenly began to change. The floor, the walls, all around her shifted strangely. It was as if reality was distorted, as if she had taken a drug. Then the walls began to close in on each other. She ran desperately, trying to find openings before they closed. The clown was screaming now and then, and she, terrified and frantic, ran without knowing where she was going. She only wished she wouldn't find a dead end. The chase lasted for a few minutes, until her worst fear came true. She found herself at a dead end! Two walls were closing in front of her at that moment. The clown, furiously pursuing her, didn't notice the walls. She was now literally stuck against the wall. He lifted his hammer, and Madalen, frozen with fear, put her hands over her head, covering it. She closed her eyes, waiting for the worst.

 A loud noise was heard from the closing walls, accompanied by a crushing cry. She opened her eyes hesitantly. The hammer was stopped just above her head, barely missing her. The clown was immobilized between the two walls. He shook, trying to free himself, until he stopped abruptly. Madalen moved away in a split second as the hammer fell to the ground. She looked at the immobilized, seemingly lifeless clown body. Then she noticed a thick, black fluid running out of his injured body, pooling into a pond of black blood. It dirtied her hair, clothes, and shoes.

As the thick, black blood came out of the clown's body, he deflated like a balloon. He deflated and deflated until only his strange shell was left. Madalen approached it reluctantly. She stood above him. There was no doubt. The clown was dead. A deep breath of relief escaped her. She sat down, trying to bring her breathing back to normal. It was then that she noticed something moving in the clown's bulk. She got up and approached very reluctantly. A small volume appeared under the shell. Under the covering, she saw a strange, black thing shaking. It looked alive, but she couldn't understand what it was. She kicked it slightly with her leg. It continued to move up and down rhythmically, making a familiar noise. She looked at it closely. Then, as if understanding what it was, she picked it up. It was slimy and soft. She put her ear near the black, strange, slimy object. It sounded like a heartbeat! She was stunned. The heart she held in her hands did not look like the ones she knew. It seemed too small to belong to the giant clown. She realized it was part of an incomplete heart.

The key is the heart...

With that thought, she took the clown glove, tore it to make a pouch, tied it to the loops of her jeans, and put the heart inside.

When she looked behind her, the labyrinth and the walls had changed again. The path seemed easier, not so chaotic. It didn't take long to find the troupe's rooms.

 She looked for Jio but couldn't find him anywhere, no matter how much she shouted.

Then the demon spoke to her again. His voice echoed throughout the amusement park.

"If you want to see Jio, you have to go through my second trial."

Madalen sighed heavily once again.

"And where is the trial this time?"

"In the place that reflects the truth."

She sat on a bench, staring at the amusement park. She thought for quite some time until she decided to take a walk through all parts of the park, hoping to understand the riddle. It didn't take long to realize what the demon meant when she stood in front of the room with the mirrors.

"But of course!" She struck her forehead, feeling a little foolish for a moment.