“Greetings, Genever. I am the Demon of the Maze, and I am here to set you free. ”

Genever gaped at the crimson creatue. It took the shape of a tall, slender, handsome man clad head to foot in an exquisitely tailored red tuxedo. But it had horns on its head, a spathate tail that flicked to and fro easily, and the tuxedo only covered from the waist up and from the knees down.

“You’re who…. what? ” said Genever. A moment ago, it had been just another day in the maze. He’d fought some monsters, ate some meals, explored some passages, and written it all down in his journal. It was the same thing he had done every single day for as long as he could remember.

Then he had turned a corner that looked exactly like a million others and suddenly found himself in a strange room with translucent white walls and this absurd figure looming over him.

The Demon smiled a smile filled with warmth and compassion, and stepped a little closer to Genever, then said, in a voice brimming with benevolence,  “I said, my dear man… that I am the Demon of the Maze, and I am here to free you. ”

The Demon then gestured to a seemingly random section of wall and it slid open.

“Voila!” said the Demon. “The exit of the Maze. At long last, you are free to go. All you have to do is walk through that door and you will be free of the Maze forever. ”

“Forever?” said Genever dumbly.

The Demon nodded with great satisfaction. “Indeed. Step through that door and this terrible place will disappear in the blink of an eye, never to be seen again. It will be as though it never existed. Isn’t that wonderful?”

“Um, yeah…. sure. ‘ said Genever as he stared at the opening, not moving a muscle. .

“Well then what are you waiting for? ” said the Demon kindly. “This is what you have been working towards for all these years. Your long, dark journey is finally at an end. You win. You outlasted the Maze. And here is your prize : your freedom. All you have to do is walk through this door and claim it. So what are you waiting for?”

Genever’s thoughts were a blur. The Demon was right. He’d been working hard to reach this goal for a very long time and here it was. He hated the Maze, hated being trapped in it, hated all it had taken away from him, hated who it had forced him to become.

Every day was a struggle to escape this accursed place, and he had made a lot of progress lately. Escape had seemed more possible than ever before.

So why was he more scared of that door than he had ever been in his entire life?

The Demon seemed to understand this. “This isn’t a trick, Genever. Come closer and you will see. ”

With great hesitancy, he took a few steps closer to the door.

“You see?” said the Demon. “This really is the exit. Look through the door.  Isn’t it exactly how you always imagined it would be?”

Genever looked, and it was.

Blue sky with lazy fluffy cloud floating serenely though them. A friendly yellow sun shining down on green grass shot through with flowering vines. A brown dirt road stretching off into the distance, suggesting all kinds of possibilities.

It was a perfect match to the image of freedom that had pulled him through the most difficult times in the Maze. The times when it had seemed like the Maze stretched out infinitely in all directions and escape was impossible and he would be stuck in his own personal Hell forever.

It was that image, in fact, that had gotten him this far.

And yet, here it was, and he was terrified of it.

“This is what you wanted, isn’t it? ” asked the Demon.

“I guess so. ” said Genever. ‘I guess I just didn’t expect it so… soon. ‘

“What difference does that make?” asked the Demon. “Here it is, the thing you want most in life. Getting it with less work and wait that you thought is a good thing, right?”

“I guess so. ‘ said Genever. “I mean, that makes sense. ‘

“So what’s stopping you?”:

Genever didn’t know. He desperately tried to remember what his life had been like before he had been thrown into the maze by an evil magician.

He remembered sunshine, and laughter, and kind people who made him feel safe. He remembered being on the water of a river in a great big boat with the rest of his family. He remembered food, and parties, and getting into trouble with his brothers.

He remembered being happy.

Could life really be that good again? He could barely relate to it. It was almost like that life belonged to someone else. Someone who had never followed that beautiful voice into that dark cave where the evil magician lurked.

That innocent child was dead, and had been for a very long time. Or so Genever had thought. But the sight of all that sunlight and green was awakening something within Genever, something both utterly alien and inimately familiar.

“Maybe you’re not ready for this yet. ‘ said the Demon. ‘If you want, I could send you to some other part of the Maze and let you go back to your ‘normal’ life. ‘

Genever was tempted. Suddenly, the Maze life he’d thought he hated more than anything else lseemed safe and comfortable and warm to him. It would be so easy to go back to what he knew and pretend this had never happened.

But Genever knew that was impossible.

Because he’d know. Know that he had been given his chance to escape and turned it down out of fear.

How could he go back to working towards the exit knowing that/

Before he could really think about it, Genever walked up to the door, and said ‘i am going to go through. ‘

The Demon beamed. “I am so glad to hear you say that. And let me just say that it has been a privilege and an honor to work for you. ”

“Work FOR me?” said Genever. “You work for me. ”

The Demon smiled. “We all do, Genever. All the creatures of the Maze, and the Maze itself as well. It was all for you, sir. Because you needed it. And now that you don’t need us any more, our purpose is fulfilled. All that is left is for us to fade away. when you walk through this door. ‘

Genever was touched. He shook the Demon’s hand. It was warm and perfectly smooth.

“Thank you for all you’ve done for me. ” he said, somewhat awkwardly.

“We were only too glad to help, sir. ” said the Demon. “Now I think you have a date with a door to get to. ‘

Genever nodded, squared his shoulders, shook the dust off his clothing, and strode confidently through that door and into the future.