<h4>Chapter 86: Cookies and Milk</h4>


    Now with bags in hand the four scouts prepared to enter the maze. Thyme waved his hand over them and waves of grass shot out covering each contestant. Green felt the grassing for her more than she sure it, it was simply that fast even for a trained scout like Green.


    Darkness enveloped her for a moment but then Green opened her eyes again. Immediately regretting that decision Green emptied what little remained in her stomach on the ground. *Ugh, yuk, oh why… can''t you just I dunno fly us or something. Why does it have to be teleportation.*


    Green only half recovered looked around to address any threat but was surprised to find that the scenery was beyond expectations. She was in a small log cabin with a sofa and some cookies left on the table. There was a fake firece in the corner and one real window next to the door and three fake windows on the other walls. The chair was decorated with embroidery over the back and sides and the cookies smelt freshly baked.


    *Oooh, warm cookies. Wait no bad Green that will only make you tired. Head for the door and get on with it.* Green walked briskly towards the cookies and picked on up. Taking a bite she was pleased to taste a very soothing vour, they were shortbread cookies with a little bit of something added to the middle.


    A big smile spread over Green''s face as she munched on the batch of cookies. Her smile only got wider. You know these are really good. Suddenly a warm ss of milk appeared next to her which she happily consumed as well.


    Just as Green reached for the next cookie she froze. *Wait a minute… is this actually the first test of the maze? Does Thyme think he can distract me with cookies! Because he is right.* Thought Green as she finished yet another cookie.


    After consuming all the cookies Green noticed a note on the table. It read "I hope you enjoyed the cookies. This is a little apology for the transport method and a nice way to deliver your first orb. You can find it under the logs in the fake fire ce. Once you pick it up the front door will unlock… though I wonder if you even tried it. Sincerely -Thyme"


    Green blushed a bit at thatst part. She knew that the first thing to do in any strange situation is to get your bearings and find out what your options were. *But the room was just soforting… I think these starting rooms must have been tailored for us just like the bags. Even looking through the fake windows shows trees as far as I can see, but from a treehouse perspective, something you would never find outside my home.*


    Sighing Green walked over to the firece and moved aside a log underneath it was a glowing green orb she ced into her bag. *Of course it''s green, why wouldn''t it be green. You know just because it''s my name doesn''t mean I like the colour that much… Ok maybe I do but that''s doesn''t mean anything.*


    As Green walked to the door another thought urred to her. *Oh wait, wait, that obstacle course was broadcast… Oh dear, I hope I haven''t made a fool out of myself already.* Green had to exert a grand amount of effort to not burry herself into the couch. The tipping point was that everyone would see her make even more of a fool of herself if they really were watching so she decided to push the door open instead and while it was expected she couldn''t help but feel disappointed to see the dull grey stone-like walls.


    A short ten metres away was an intersection branching off to the left and right. Green kept a light amount of mana in her eyes to dry and identify any obvious traps. The moment she crossed the threshold to enter the intersection though a wall rose up to block the room she was just in from the rest of the maze.


    Green overloaded her eyes with mana searching for the trigger that caused the wall to rise. Green stared intently at the stone like wood, that with closing inspection could be certainly confirmed as wooden in nature. However there was nothing. *I really hope that was the only manually triggered trap in the maze. I bet Thyme is watching and that''s why it went up but I just wish I knew if this was a reaction time test*


    Green nced left and right but could only see the same grey walls that took a left turn after a few metres. *Does it even matter which way I go? I know this is a maze but the challenge is to find more orbs. So does it actually matter if I know where I''m going? I guess it does so that I''m not backtracking…*


    Green decided to head left, and then left again. Pondering the correct way forward had cost her lots of time in the obstacle course, despite the fact she won. As she walked her guard was both raised and lowered. Green was able to spot a number of small traps. A pressure tile here, a trip wire there. Nothing to serious but simply the fact that she could see any traps at all was actually a good sign. *If I can see the traps that means that most traps should be visible. I can''t drop my guard too far but I don''t know how long I will be trapped here.*


    ##


    Ten minutes of wandering around, taking turns left and right while easily keeping her bearings Green arrived at a door… or at least what she thought was a door.


    The dead-end Green had arrived at featured a beautifully carved wall. It seemed to depict the great n wars that caused the divide between the upper and lower nes. Five ns all surrounded a glowing object in the centre, it looked a bit like the orb she carried in her backpack, but Green knew enough history to know the ns never fought over something so trivial as a single artefact.


    The first corner of the wall depicted the forest tribe, made primarily out of the elves and the fey, her people. The elves outnumbered the fey three to one, but in this mural what would pass as the front lines had an equal number of fey and elves stood ready to fight with a number of shockingly detailed civilians hiding amongst the trees in the background


    The second corner had the mountain tribes, made up of dwarves and dragons. Unlike the fey and the elves who worked together there was a clear divide between the tribes as they were depicted. The dragons flew above the dwarves and rained fire down on friend and foe alike. The dwarves for their part held grand shields redirecting any misced fire towards their forges to further increase their strength of arms.


    The third tribe was the tribe of the nes, the humans. Their section was overwhelmed with bodies, with each figure and face individually carved. You could see signs of infighting and betrayal within the human masses but also quite a number helping those on the edges, and once on the front lines they all stood together, a stalwart bastion against the other races.


    The fourth tribe, the tribe of the sea, was made up of naga and naiads and a few other less tribes of the sea. They didn''t look ready to fight so much as they hid away, with only their eyes touching the surface. The section depicting the sea tribe had intricately detailed water with various twists of the waves that made it hard to tell if you were being stared at or not.


    The final tribe, the beast tribe, depicted the grand variety of Kemono no ko, the children of the beast. Despite their vastly different appearances they were the most cohesive of the tribes evenpared to the elves and fey. Their issue was that they were spread amongst the others, nomads for many years they had settled around the globe.


    Green looked at the slot in the centre, and took out her own orb. Slowly lifting it towards the gap she hesitated. *What if I''m wrong… I mean how fragile is fragile? Like, never touch this ever fragile? Or like fine ss?** Green returned the orb to the bag. Instead she felt along the edges of the crevice. Pushing lightly on the back she found made small pieces of extra stone poke out over the cover to keep something in ce.


    Green took out the orb once again and looked at the hole. Ever so carefully she pushed it into the slot until she heard it click. A bright light started to radiate from behind the carving, giving a whole knew life to the scene before her. It gave it an eerie beauty as many of the smiling faces now had dark shadows cast over them, and yet ever tribes base, the ce with the citizens remained brightly lit against the darkness. *Ok… but what now?*