Labyrinth Game

The Equinox was approaching and with it The Game. As Saul contemplated the sunset he felt that his time was approaching too. The Elders could not deny him once he had returned because they knew what he would return with. After that no man, alive or dead, would be able to refuse Saul. 

For now he rested there on the balcony, at peace yet as sharp as a blade. He would attend The Dead Eve, where those before him were remembered and sung of and about, but not yet. 

Dawn broke on the day of The Game as Anya sighed and rolled over. No invite for her, a female, to the previous nights celebrations or the pomp and majesty of entering The Labyrinth but nonetheless a busy day. As she sat up she looked across the bedroom at her books. Years of study had made her wise for someone so young as she and, later than her peers, she had blossomed physically. Not that Anya cared much for pleasures of the eye; words on paper were her lovers.

She got up, stretching, and began to prepare. Of course no mere woman had ever solved the mysteries of the maze but she felt ready for the challenge. 

The lunchtime sun bore down heavily on Saul as with an irritated sigh he turned and walked away from yet another dead end. His start had been promising but there were so many ways to turn that any confidence had been eroded as frustration settled in. He was also mildly suspicious of the lack of corpses in The Labyrinth. Surely there would be some remains of the fallen? 

He had food and water with him but neither would last more than three days. He noted once again the quiet and oppression evident in the maze itself as this time he turned left. 

With a scream Anya dropped the rudimentary map she was making. They had encountered each other finally. As Saul scowled then half smiled she wondered if he was just the muscular looking thug most of the men who usually entered here. 

As for Saul he was now openly leering as he walked toward Anya. Why she was quite the damsel in distress and a beauty too! He scowled again as she hastily picked up her map and made off. 

"Hey!" he yelled. "Are you making a map?".

"Yes," she shouted over her shoulder as she walked faster. "I've spotted a pattern. The Labyrinth is actually easy to solve!". 

Saul muttered as he jogged to keep up the turned right after Anya. What they saw stopped them both dead.

It was The Minister, ruler of their world, sitting on a bench next to a bunker. He smiled up at them as they continued to stare in confusion. 

"Hello!" he waved. "Allow me to explain...." Explain he did. 

For there was no prize for solving The Labyrinth. At least not for them. The finest male and female of the species were selected for procreation. Finding the bunker was relatively easy, even for Saul he added. That wasn't the point though; what they wanted were good genes and suitable DNA to further populate the world with Highers, those people like The Minister who ruled and were superior on their world. 

Lowers, like Anya and Saul, were sheep; good for labour but not much else. However all Lowers had been tagged secretly at birth so their biometric data could be harvested. Those found to be most compatible were selected once a year. 

Oh they could resist, he went on, but they would be used whether they cooperated or not.

Which is why Anya and Saul, being acutely aware of the fact they were both dead now anyway, gave each other a resigned final look before heading towards the open door of the bunker....