A Bad Time Part 2

As the die hit the floor a brilliant white flash of light pulsed into all corners of the room. Both Iyana and Natamin were momentarily blinded. Both of them felt something was in the room with them. A primal presence of brute strength and fury. Preparing herself for whatever it could be Iyana attempted to take a few steps backward and space herself from it. She gasped and fell backward as her heel slipped against a small rock on the floor. 

"Oof!" Iyana said and landed on her behind. She had no time to tend to the minor ache and pain of her hinee as she heard a loud snorting sound. Rubbing her sore eyes an outline slowly came into focus of something approaching her. It was huge, layers of muscle covered by thick brownish red fur. Twin pointed horns that were matching brown. Blood red eyes that seemed to pierce deeply into Iyana with a deep hatred. Each one of it's large nostrils had a single golden nose ring through it.  In it's right hand was a giant double bladed axe which it held like it was weightless.  Iyana knew well what this beast was. A minotaur. Usually guardians of mazes or mundane things with treasure or items of value at the end. Not the brightest of creatures but they tended to have a natural cunning that made them difficult to deal with. She had never encountered one up close before. Her mind raced on what best spell to cast to counter this monster. The minotaur roared loudly and stomped it's right hoof into the ground and began to charge at Iyana.

Freezing up momentary Iyana couldn't act. She tried to think of a spell or action to take but she could only stare blankly. Her perception of time slowed down as the lumbering beast grew closer and closer to her.  As the minotaur struck it's axe downward Iyana's body prepared for impact. An Impact which would never come as Natamin quickly dashed out in-front of Iyana and deflected the Attack. Redirecting the force of the blow Natamin quickly sweeped the minotaur's left leg sending it tumbling forward into the wall. It's horns pierced the stone causing it to become ensnared momentary. As it struggled to free itself Natamin grabbed Iyana by the arm and pulled her into her feet. 

"Hey Wake up!" Natamin shouted.  "I'm not going to hold your hand on this." The sound of Natamin's voice triggered something in Iyana A sense of rivalry.

"Ha! Like I need you! Watch and Learn." Iyana declared as she held her hands at her side and drew magical energy. The minotaur kicked hard at the wall and managed to gain enough momentum to free itself. Quickly turning around it growled deeply and snorted once again and slammed it's hoof into the floor. It's sights set on Iyana as it began to charge once again. 

"To slow!" Natamin  declared to Iyana and slashed her sword downward. As she did a powerful blast of yellow magical energy flew towards the Minotaur At great speed. As Natamin grinned expecting the magic strike to kill the Monitor it leapt over twenty feet into the air over the attack. As the Attack hit the back wall behind the minotaur it exploded. As Natamin looked upward the minotaur roared and slashed down at her with it's Axe.

"So says you!" Iyana declared and held both her arms forward. Energy shimmered in front of as she shouted "MAZE!" Causing the minotaur to vanish entirely. 

"Huh?" Natamin declared confused. She looked around sensing absolutely nothing. "The bloody heck is that?" Natamin asked demanding an answer.

"Oh nothing. Just my Insta-win ability." Iyana said not even looking at Natamin. A strong hint of pride was in her voice as if taunting Natamin.

"If you've had that spell all along why didn't you pull it out till now?" Natamin asked.

"Because as you're elder I didn't want to embarrass you that's why." Iyana responded.

"What did you just say Grandma?!" Natamin quickly replied.

"Don't make me put you over my knee again!" Iyana said and put her hands on her hips and grinned at Natamin.

"Hmmph!" Natamin said and looked in the direction opposite of Iyana. "So how's the spell work anyway?"

"Well it sends a single target away into a pocket dimension where they have to navigate a maze to get out. The maze is entrely random so there is no way cheat the spell. Then once they get to the end it spits them back out." Iyana said.

"And how long does it take to get to the end?" Natamin asked.

"Usually up to eight hours or more depending on how smart the target is." Iyana replied.

"Well wait a minute. That thing was a minotaur they are deisgned to know how to.." A brilliant flash of light occurred as the minotaur appeared in the air where it had disappeared. Swinging it's blade downward between Natamin and Iyana it just barely missed them both.  Natamin grabbed Iyana's shoulder and lunged forward, the two of them faded out and appeared twenty feet away behind the minotaur.

"What was that?!" Iyana asked feeling weezy from moving so quickly across the room. 

"It's called a speed step." Natamin responded and twirled her Tulwar around looking a the minotaur who turned to face them. Slamming it's hoof into the floor it prepared to charge the duo once more.

"This guy's a bit predictable. Take out the axe..." Natamin said and slowly began walking forward towards the minotaur with a grin on the face.

"Right!" Iyana said and gathered energy in her palms once more. As the minotaur raced across the room Iyana held her hands out and shouted "Animated Weapon!" The Minotaur stopped in it's tracks as the Axe in it's hands refused to move forward. It struggled and roared at it and attempted to swing it downwards.

"Gotcha now!" Natamin said and dashed forward, fading out of sight she reappeared right under the minotaur. Thrusting her hand forward she plunged her tulward right though the other-side of the minotaur. As it hunched over in reaction Natamin let go of her sword and reached up and grabbed the minotaur's nose rings. 

"Got your nose!" Natamin declared and as hard as she can pulled at the rings ripping them right from the Minotaur's flesh causing it to howl in pain.  The sound was enough to stun Natamin as it hit her sensitive ears. As the minotaur attempted to reach out and grab Natamin it's axe quickly plunged itself into the back of the Minotaur's head instantly killing it. Taking a single step to the side Natamin avoided being fallen on.

"Guess will call that a tie." Natamin said and keeled down and retrieved her sword out of the minotaur.

"Keep dreaming." Iyana responded. "Hey.. where did that Gazer go?" 

Natamin and Iyana both looked around the room but the gazer was nowhere to be seen. Where it had been floating at the top of the steps there was nothing but a keyring with several different keys on it. Picking them up Natamin looked at them all. As she did that there was a swirl of magical energy and a ethereal treasure chest appeared. It was transparent and slowly became solid.

"This must be the test of Intellect." Iyana Declared.

" I was expecting a simple riddle or math problem." Natamin replied.

"Which one?" Both Iyana and Natamin asked at the same time to themselves.

Squid Key

Skeleton key

Bronze Key