Arianne

Arianne had spent her entire life tending the Royal Gardens. She did not belong to the nobility, nor did she hold an important position in the castle. She was simply the head gardener, the only person capable of keeping the kingdom's strangest flowers alive. Yet she knew a secret no one else had discovered. At the northern edge of the gardens there was a completely empty patch of land. There were no trees. No paths. Just grass. But on some nights, exactly when the palace clock struck three in the morning, that space would transform for a few minutes into an immense labyrinth of black hedges. And it always happened the same way. The next morning, someone in the castle would die. For years she believed it was a mere coincidence. Until she decided to go inside. The labyrinth constantly changed shape, as if it were alive. After nearly an hour of walking, she found a white marble fountain. Floating on the water was a single red flower. When she touched it, the reflection in the water no longer showed her face. It showed the face of the next person who was going to die. That night she immediately recognized the man in the reflection. It was the new commander of the Royal Guard, who had arrived at the castle that very afternoon. Arianne ran to warn him. But when she managed to find him, he was already waiting for her. As if he knew she would appear. And before she could say a single word, the commander showed her a red flower identical to the one she had found in the fountain. —You're not the only one who can enter the labyrinth.

Updated September 23, 2026