Chapter 1

The Lottery had taken place and the name had been drawn. Only in this Lottery, if your name was drawn you were far from the winner. Ariadne, the youngest daughter of Aegidios, a simple shopkeeper in the village was the name drawn this time.

The town drew the name of a virgin girl every three months in this Lottery. You see, this was Pelatrea, and this town was cursed.

Long, long ago, there was a young woman in the town, an extremely lovely woman, who caught the eye of Zeus, the most powerful of all the Greek gods. He came to earth one day in the form of a young man and seduced this beautiful woman and she became with child.

Hera, Zeus’s wife was, of course, furious with her husband’s infidelity and cursed the woman and the town in which she lived. The curse was that the child, when born, would be a Minotaur – a creature with the head and lower legs of a bull and the body of a man. And so it was that when it came time for the woman to give birth, the curse revealed itself to everyone’s horror.

A local seer was called on to explain why this child was born so and it was decided that this child and her mother should be banished. A labyrinth was constructed a few miles away from the city at the top of a nearby mountain. This labyrinth was where the Minotaur and its mother would live for the rest of their lives.

The villagers of Pelatrea were told that because of this woman’s indiscretion, they too, would share in the curse and the lottery was set up to decide who would be sacrificed to the Minotaur. Every three months, each eligible girl over the age of sixteen who was still a virgin was required to put her name in the Lottery and one name would be drawn. Anyone who tried to hide their daughter or cheat the Lottery in any way risked the terrible wrath of Hera herself – something no one wanted!

That was a great many years ago and everyone who lived in Pelatrea at that time was long dead. It was assumed that the woman died not long after being banished to the labyrinth, however no one knew for sure because no one had ever come back from the labyrinth. The Minotaur though, being sired by Zeus, was immortal.

Now it was Ariadne’s turn. For the last two years, she had been able to beat the Lottery. She had seen nine young women of the village called to be sacrificed. Some went bravely, most went crying, and a couple went screaming for help. She was certain that all of them screamed for help at one point or another.

Like others before her, once Ariadne’s name was called out, she was allowed some time to say goodbye to her family before being whisked away to be prepared. She was taken to the mayor’s house and given a very nice room to stay until the following day. Guards were posted at the door and outside just in case she decided to try to escape and she was fed a sumptuous meal.

The next morning, several women came to prepare her for the Minotaur. The women went about their work saddened that once again they had to prepare an innocent girl for who knew what horrors would befall her in the labyrinth. They barely spoke at all except to give directions – it was just easier for everyone that way. Ariadne was going to certain death and there was nothing anyone could do about it.

The women disrobed her, gathering her clothes to return them to the family. She was washed thoroughly with luxurious sponges until she was squeaky clean. Then she was shaved completely until she was smooth everywhere and a healing creme rubbed into the skin where she was shaved to soothe it. Her long brown hair was washed and brushed until it shone. Then the women began preparing her for the sacrifice. Her nails were painted red, her face powdered, and her lips were colored to match her nails. Her eyelids were colored and her eyelashes darkened.

Once she had been washed, perfumed, and her makeup applied, she was given a floor-length, flowing gown, made of a very sheer material, so sheer as to hardly be worth the trouble of putting on! Her feet were adorned with simple sandals, the straps of which wrapped around her ankles and up her calves.

When all the preparations were done, Ariadne was taken to the village priest for a simple ceremony to bless her and offer her to Hera for her approval. Once the village priest saw her and found her worthy of the sacrifice, and the blessing ceremony was over, Ariadne was taken up the long road to the top of the mountain and the labyrinth.

Ariadne was carried on the ceremonial litter, a fancy chair supported by two long poles and carried by some of the village men because they wanted her to be fresh and pristine for the Minotaur. Several of the village people – her friends, family, and others, followed behind her as far as they could. But once at the top of the mountain, she said her final goodbye to her father and two men led her to the labyrinth entrance.

From the outside, the labyrinth looked like a huge stone building with walls roughly twenty feet tall. But the curious thing was that there was no door or windows anywhere to be seen! The only exterior landmark on the whole building was a set of stone stairs going up the side of the building.

The men escorted Ariadne up the stairs and over to a grated hole. One man slid the two massive bolt latches holding the grate closed and lifted the heavy hinged grate. They lowered Ariadne on what looked like a swing with a wooden seat. She stood on the seat and held onto the ropes as the men lowered her until she could step off. The swing was then raised back up and the grate replaced and locked. Ariadne knew now why no one ever returned from the labyrinth ... there was no way out!

With a blank stone wall behind her, there was only one direction she could go from here, so she began to slowly walk down the hallway. As she got further from the hole she was dropped through, it quickly became very dark. She walked slowly along the hall, carefully running her fingers along the wall so she could feel for any openings.

The floor of the labyrinth was soft and sandy and the air was warm and only slightly humid, not dank and moldy like she expected it to be. Were there more light, it might even be slightly pleasant! The air smelled of a faint ocean smell and a musky animal smell she could only surmise as the Minotaur.

That was when fear began to creep in. Ariadne was walking down an almost pitch black hallway with no idea where it might lead and knowing that there was some terrible unknown beast lurking around someplace! How long would it be before she confronted it? Would she even see it coming? If it was this dark now, how would she possibly have a chance against the beast?

She had heard the stories about the Minotaur, and although no one knew exactly what it looked like, rumors and speculation had made it into a terrible, horrific carnivorous nightmare that preyed on the flesh of anyone unlucky enough to be trapped in here with it.

Slowly Ariadne made her way down the hallway. Then she came to an intersection of two hallways. One to the right and one to the left. The right-hand one felt as if it was going slightly downhill, deeper into the labyrinth. The left one smelled of ... the sea? Could it be?

Her hopes raised slightly as she took the left-hand hallway and continued slowly walking in the darkness. The hall turned to the right and then a little further on to the left. It was then that she noticed the walls were getting a bit lighter. Somewhere at the end of this hallway was light! She moved carefully but quicker now, and as she got closer it got easier to walk. Then she saw it, an opening in the wall. She ran toward it and what she hoped would be freedom.

But her hopes were dashed only feet away when she got to the opening. There, in front of her, was a short platform overlooking a sheer cliff of no less than three hundred feet. The ocean was indeed down below her, but directly below her were terrible jagged rocks. She looked out at the beautiful Mediterranean Sea.

Out in the distance, almost too far away to make out, was a sailing ship. She looked down at the waves throwing themselves onto the vicious rocky shore. Then it occurred to her. This WAS the way out! But it was a way out by suicide. These were her choices now – to face the Minotaur and who knows what horrors, or to end it quickly on the rocks below. She wondered how many girls had given their broken and battered bodies to the sea over the years.

Ariadne turned around. She wasn’t ready for such a gruesome fate. Not yet at least. She would keep it in mind should she need it, but she wasn’t ready at this time.

She began walking, knowing that she was walking deeper into the labyrinth. The hallway got darker again like before, and once more she was forced to walk with one hand trailing on the wall. A few minutes into the hallway, Ariadne began hearing faint animal noises. Logically, she knew it must be the Minotaur, the monster of the Labyrinth, half man, and half beast and the nightmare of the village children. But strangely, Ariadne felt sorry for the creature. It sounded so mournful, so lonesome. Being condemned to these dark empty hallways for all time must be a terrible punishment. And for something that wasn’t even it’s fault! And now, Ariadne was going right towards it. She was at once curious and terrified of what she might find.