Verity woke up and was startled. She had not meant to fall asleep. The emotional rollercoaster and wiped her out more than she expected. The journey up until then had been hard on her and she had yet to fully recover. Everything was as she last remembered it with the skeleton sitting across from her and the journal open on the table. It was still unclear to her what had actually happened at the end, and she decided that was ok. It was better to imagine the little girl made it to safety then imagine she died here or never existed in the first place.

The first thing Verity did was look for the 'dead' or warped space Mira had mentioned as leading to the challenge of the strange minotaur. From the journal it sounded like he had died and gained a replacement, so she hoped the information would still be accurate. It did not sound like the best route to take but it was one of the two options she knew off right now. After searching in vain for a while, she ended up back at the table. It was tempting to take the book as a sort of keepsake or charm, However, she felt weird about it now. If this was a shrine for Mira then she would not defile it by taking the written account of her struggle. That would cheapen the value of what the poor girl had gone through. Instead, she reached into her pouch and pulled out a small handmade doll that she had been given by her mother as a child. She felt a pang of grief and regret as she placed it down next to the body of the fox-kin child. She also moved a few pages forwards in the journal and added in her account. She wrote about her home, childhood, and motivations. It was a relief to bare it all in the notebook. She hoped this would let her be like the girl and leave no room for doubts or insecurity.

With one last look into the room, she left it to search for the key that would bring her out of this place. Her own stomach rumbled and her throat felt dry. This was not a place to stay, nor did she want to give up on her goals just yet. The stairs to the roof were at the end of the hall blocked by a sturdy wooden door that swung open with shocking ease when she rested her palm against it. The route up was dark and blocked by a hatch in the ceiling. It took all of her slight height to nudge it open and catch the lip with her hands. The stone caught on her hands making them sting. There was no need to fear her hands would bleed, but she could tell some sand had been lost in the action.

She swung her foot up to the hole and managed to carefully haul her body onto the roof. She found herself cursing the designers of such a stupid hatch as it was unnecessarily difficult. When she was at last on the top of the building, she could see where everything was. The area where she had arrived had the wall spanning its length and the far wall blocked any look into the other side from behind the wall. However, from above, she could see through to where a lush green scape awaited. She had not expected it to connect directly to the rest of the labyrinth for some reason and was disappointed to realize it was just located on the fringes of the maze. There was a small pipe that led across the gap from the edge of the roof with no discernable purpose.

A mesh fence above the already high wall blocked anything human sized from entering or exiting. She did not know how a key would unlock that as there were no visible doors, but she began to search the roof for one anyways. The thing she had seen from the distance while on the ground turned out to be a small hut built into the far side of the roof. There was no other useful objects on the roof or anything to check out, so she went to the small room and opened the door. The first thing she noticed upon entering was a golden bottle on a wooden table in the center and a keyhole in the ground. The hole was pretty small, just the width of the edge of her hand.

The bottle was fairly good sized with about a foot in height and a couple of inches in width. The color distracted her and kept her from noticing the shape at first. It took a minute for her to realize the potion bottle was roughly the shape of a key with a cicular base and squiggly upper portion. Am I supposed to drink that? Just looking at the glowing liquid with small bits floating inside made her queasy.

A search of the room revealed nothing else and the bottle was not a match for the size of the keyhole. She took another look outside before looking back at the potion. The bottle was warm o the touch and she tried to reject the fear induced thoughts of what could happen when she drank it, but she had no reason to doubt the hint. No reason to trust it either. She was conflicted, yet still brought the solution to her lips and downed it. It tasted good. Like the best thing, she had ever tasted level of good. Sugar was a rarity for her and so she had little reference to the flavor, but despite the sweat awesomeness that invaded her senses and made her gulp it down, she also noted a metallic almost blood flavor hidden underneath.

The after flavor of metal and blood grew stronger as the nice taste faded. It persisted until she found herself wiping her mouth and spitting vainly to end it. The bottle grew heavy in her hand and she quickly placed it inside her bag. The plants seemed to vibrate against her and she felt pain. Pain, unlike any she had ever felt. A burning from the tops of her toes to the hair sprouting from her head. The world was swimming and she closed her eyes to keep from getting even more nauseous and confused. Then she felt dizzy and blacked out.