In the Crystal Crypts

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Over a thousand years ago, a costly war raged in the north. Its end was marked with a heavy tax imposed on the losing city, one that demanded the minotaurs pay in blood.

Six years pass, and with each year comes a new drawing of lots. On the seventh year, a new name is drawn, and yet another victim is cast into the labyrinth…

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Comments ( 9 )

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Burraku_Pansa

Burraku_Pansa #1 · Mar 1st, 2013 · · ·

So wait, haven't actually read this yet, but… Hunger Games? And awesome cover.

Edit, post-read: Definitely not bad, but I'm having a bit of trouble following it, in some ways. Mostly in that certain plot points seem to have little in the way of explanation—less in a 'mysterious' or 'a story for another time' sort of way, and more in a 'but why?' sort of way.

Edit edit, thought more [very mildly spoilery?]: In the context of this being an entry for WBA Feb!Contest, the minotaur didn't much feel like the hero. Sort of got swept along, y'know? I suppose that bothered me somewhat, too. Still, this was a good read, particularly the first half.

peppermint owl

peppermint owl #2 · Mar 2nd, 2013 · 2 · ·

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Fun fact, Suzanne Collins took inspiration from the Theseus and the Minotaur story! The picture is also of a labyrinth floor mosaic that became popular throughout Europe in the middle ages. Supposedly, walking the labyrinth is supposed to help you meditate, focus, and/or relax, depending on your source.

...I really need to update my author notes.

But yeah, I totally see where you're coming from. I found this story hard to start, so when it came to crunch time, it did get a little light on the heroic path and heavier on the hand of fate to meet the deadline, which I think explains some of the "but why" bits. I also wanted to meet the word requirement as best I could, though last night I realized there was much more I wanted to say, so unfortunately some scenes had to be cut. I've added them back into my personal draft and they'll be inserted here after the contest ends.

Thanks for reading, and I'm glad you enjoyed it!

Csquared08

Csquared08 #3 · Mar 4th, 2013 · · ·

This was fairly entertaining. Nicely done.

2199840
Do tell when you've updated. I am most certainly interested in reading the extra scenes.

Educated Guess

Educated Guess #4 · Mar 7th, 2013 · · ·

Midas! Midas was the king with the golden touch, not Minos.

Other than that, pretty great! I liked how you slowly revealed that they were in the Crystal Empire, although I'm a bit confused as to why Sombra had bat-ponies. Still, it did a lot more actual world-building than my entry did, I dare say.

peppermint owl

peppermint owl #5 · Mar 7th, 2013 · · ·

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Aaah, you're right! How could I have derp'd on that??
I'll fix that note right away!

Thanks so much, and I'm glad you enjoyed it! The bat pony thing was a bit of an unspoken side story that had a little more exposure in the scenes I deleted. It wasn't super-important to the plot, but basically it further illustrated Sombra's slow taking over of the general area around the Empire.

Thanks again for reading!

RazorWing_GB