"Lets break up," He said. At first I was taken aback, then realized he of course meant the roads in front of us. It didn't seem all that practical in hindsight. Then again, what ever really does? At the time though, it made some sense. The right path was narrower, a bit wiry, but looked like it cleared up ahead, and he didn't think he'd fit through the brambles. He wouldn't have fit; also hindsight. He would have cut himself on the brambles 'til he was empty of life juice, I'm sure of it. The left path was broader, but appeared to be on some downward slope, swallowed by the dark wall that hid everything behind it. I told him it was fine, we could make the right path work, push brambles out of the way, eventually find a way to make it through, but he reminded me that we have our phones, so if one of the paths doesn't work out, we could always try whichever path worked best.

I didn't like it. but he was already lumbering off into the dark, and I had already determined that I could make it through those tight bushes. So I went in.

At first, it was relatively easy. The unified path up to the divide was rough and only got worse until the split. The path felt quite like a spy movie, almost. Dodging and weaving around the dangers. A narrow miss here, a sly dance there. It became wearisome though, and I was constantly having to stop and rest. At some point, I tried calling him, but the reception was bad, and in the end we decided to continue on our decided paths. Continuing on, I did get scratched by a sharper thorn than the others. Maybe it wasn't sharper, but it did snag me, and I bled a bit. It was one of those scratches that doesn't hurt bad though, and the bleeding stopped quickly. I did try a berry once, but it was bitter, and left me dizzy. The bushes became thicker, and in frustration I swiped at them with my hands and rushed through a patch that was gnarly, and my hands wouldn't stop bleeding. I couldn't crawl like I used to, had to find other ways around and through the bushes, mostly unsuccessfully. Trampling only worked with some of the vines and overgrowth. I took my shirt off, ripped it in two and wrapped my hands in the cloth, but it did little to help; besides, there were leftover bits of thorn embedded deep in my palms, and my ragged red fingers did little to help with precision. Without my shirt, I thought I was able to move more swiftly, having to stop less to free the fabric from tiny horns on vines, but when I finally reached the end - a clearing that ended in the distance at a shoreline with the expanse of the entire ocean behind it - I looked down, and my body was covered in red lines, my undergarments crimson, and my body was numb. A buzzing sort of numb that let me know how little blood I had left flowing in my body. I could feel the cells scraping my veins begrudgingly, moving along because it had to, because that was its job, because if it didn't scrape its heels along the path to my heart and away again, what else would it do?

I found a tree and leaned on it, waiting for him. I gazed upon the ocean, daydreaming of his return, busied myself with the task of removing the thorns I could from my hands, braided grass, made a flower crown. Time continued to pass. I looked again at my body, and found scars. The ocean held a new pallor. The trees contained new growth, and all around me were old leaves that hadn't turned ay fall colors, they had simply fallen. I turned to my left, and for the first time since arriving at the clearing, realized that the other path deposited in this very spot. Standing to view the two path ends, the left one was full of thorns, and the right one was now the broad one descending into darkness.

After a moment of hesitation - why did I hesitate? - I ran into the mouth of the right path, pushing aside my fear of darkness to go looking for him.

The dark path had many roots, pitfalls, and hidden branches that seemingly attacked me, bruising me at every turn. When it levelled out, and offered some relief to the barrage of forestry, there was sometimes a trap. Surely it was only nature, but many times it felt manufactured.

Finally, when I thought I must have descended into some sort of cave with the amount of dark roughness around me, I spotted him.

He was sitting at the head of a grand table in the middle of the path, and in his left arm, he lovingly cradled his right arm, which had been cut off, hacked up, and sewn together to look like a small child. Some seats contained skeletons, some seats contained corpses with maggots spilling from their eye sockets, but dotted here and there were other people, alive and well, some jovial, some brooding, one of them was staring off into space, another faced backwards in their chair, trying to peer further into the darkness of the forest. On the table, the food situation was nearly the same condition as the bodies around it: old to new, rotting to fresh; in each of their cups however, was the same red liquid, and no matter how many drinks people took from them, the quantity within remained the same. I sat at the other head of the table, unacknowledged by any other member of the party. It were as though I did not exist. Calling out his name didn't receive so much as a glance from any person, no matter how sane.

A cup appeared before me, filled to the same level with the same liquid, and I realized with a sinking feeling, that in order to ever be able to speak to him again, I would have to drink as well.

"So, who’s taking left and who’s taking right?" The man on the far left looked at his other three companions, as he asked the question showing a scar that spans his face.

The Fork in the Road had two sides one going down a hill and to the left. The other going up the hill and to the right. The question was which one was the quickest way out was one of these the right path or not. There were so many paths before they could have missed the right one. maybe they took a wrong turn on the fork that was back there they were chancing this out for the last few weeks. Questioning and chancing whether it was a very good idea or not.

As he thought about this the other three members were looking at him. One of them spoke up.

"so, what’s our plan. Split in half who knows maybe we’ll both end up in the same spot on the way back, but two just went uphill the other two downhill."

The third person looked at him and said.

"Are you crazy ones obviously going down and to the left. whereas the other is going up onto the right. If they're gonna meet back up they would’ve gone the same direction."

The fourth one just looked at all three of them and shook his head. The first one looked back at the other three.

"So, let's split up two to each path first one to get to the end is is the victor, or more accurately you’ll get there before we do. Just send a bird our way."

The second and third person love each other and said we’re taking the left side. They hurried down the path and up the mountain. The first person looked at the fourth.

"I guess you and I take this path."

The fourth nodded and headed out right as it went down the hill they started to see the mountain for what it really was. A massive absolutely massive fossilized dragon. Its head spanning almost a mile high, its whole body bleached in white. As white as snow. The first looks out at the mountain and says

"OK. So, I’m glad I didn’t take that way I don’t think even if the things fossilized I would like to go towards that thing it’s a massive dragon, disaster class even."

As they continue to go deeper and deeper and deeper and down and down and down, the first noticed that the fourth was ahead of him. Far almost too far ahead. The first looked around he found densely packed oak trees, and the path was made of gravel when he looked up he found oak trees but little to no light was coming through. As he continued to walk he started to catch up to the fourth. When he caught up completely fourth looked at him and pointed to a rock. The first one said.

"oh, that’s a good idea let’s rest."

The fourth one continued to stand in front of the rock where the first sat. As the first sat he heard a loud CLICK.

he asked, "What's this?"

Without warning them, without anyway of knowing. The first person was gobbled up by something that entered out of the ground. The only thing remaining was a hand on the rock. It was so quick the fourth never saw what it was. He looks blankly at the rock before turning. The fourth then backtracked to the fork in the path. He went down the left side to meet up with the other two.

The other two had made it all the way to the top of the mountain. they were looking out across a beautiful Oaken forest its trees stretching for miles upon miles. The rock underneath them was completely white they weren't covered in snow, so maybe it was a rare mineral. With a start, the third turned around and said,

"Oh, God!"

There right behind him was the fourth. The third squeaked out.

"I thought you went down with the first? Why are you back here?"

The fourth motioned to his neck and slit his finger across his neck. Then he motioned that he ran back up the mountain. The second look at them.

"So, it was a trap. Up here must be the right way."

As the fourth continued on the path with the other two they came to a rock that resemble a horn. The third continued on with the second stopping to study, thinking that perhaps it was a rare mineral deposit of some sort. The pure white of the rock was so alluring he had to feel how smooth it was, like bone, it was so beautiful. When the second looked at the fourth he found that whiteness had covered the world. Without warning the second was gone.

The fourth looked over the edge then ran to catch up with the third. The third saw the forth coming he asked,

"Where’s the second?"

the fourth motioned over the edge, the third said.

"It’s so slippery up here careful where are you step."

As the two of them continue down the back of the mountain the fourth started to look ahead. but the fourth could hear the second crying silently a little ahead of him. The oak trees were coming back up again, they kept moving finally when they had gotten off the mountain the third turned to the fourth and said.

"Well, I think that was it."

He had no time to finish right there and right then the dragon's mouth chomped down on him killing him instantly. the fourth and final man looked in front of him and saw that the mountain had become a giant dragon of catastrophic size. it's massive eye looking at the loan person. The eye was so large it dwarfed any house or building in the radius of the labyrinth, the fourth looked up at the Dragon. The dragon looked down at him. The fourth smiled happily and spoke for the first time.

"Hello, my young child. How are you today? I brought you some food, Did you like the snacks? I’ll bring you some more after all I am a cursed devastator class dragon in a human body. Aha ha ha ha."

With that he left, walking away from the dragon who went back to his slumber.

the fourth went back to the beginning of the labyrinth chewing on the fingers of the hand from the first. He waited for the next victims to arrive.

story's end

If you have any questions or like anything let me know.