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The gnomes had made a maize...maze. Malik wasn't exactly sure what to think of it, but there would be no harm in trying it out, right? He had Sir Reginald with him so there wasn't anything to worry about! The mew was good at scaring things off after all. They could do it and be just fine. Coming upon the first part of the maze, he had a decision. Go left or right. Right or left. He couldn't just walk through the maize it seemed, something about strange gnome magic. He'd never met a gnome before now, so he really didn't plan on questioning it. He supposed he would just have to go left and see just where it took him! With Sir Reginald happily perched upon his shoulder nothing could go wrong! Or so he thought. It didn't exactly take long to change his mind, especially when he heard the sad moan from nowhere. That was....a bit more than he'd expected from this silly looking maize...maze. He really needed to stop mixing up the words.

"I'm sure the strange noise was nothing, Sir Reginald. Yeah we'll just keep going left," he muttered to his mew, taking the next left and continuing what he assumed was further on into the maze. The path he headed down now was colder, much like the strange dragon ghost he'd encountered several times so far. Though he really doubted said dragon smelled like coal and peppermint like this path seemed to. If he did that would just be odd. Shaking his head and steeling his nerves he continued on, ignoring the sounds of the strange wailing train horn. It really seemed things were going to keep getting weirder and weirder what with the horn and now the stream thing and the required fee before him. Really what sort of maze was this? Extorting their own students like this. Still he guessed it was a good business practice. There were no gnomes around to see if he would really put in a seed or not, but it was better that he do so anyway and not risk the wrath of the gnomes.

It seemed as soon as the seed hit the bottom of the can a gnome materialized out of nowhere. It figured of course. He had paid his fee so why was the gnome trying to harass him now? Harass someone who hadn't paid! It was fine though, surely it couldn't be that much more. They were students. They couldn't afford all the fancy things like they could when they were with their parents after all. Glancing over at the sign, Malik nearly screeched at the ridiculous price the gnome was now showing. One hundred seeds?? This was all so absurd! He had to pay it though. It was the right thing to do and he really didn't want any trouble with them. He really wasn't happy about it, but he forked over the hundred seeds the gnome asked for and hurried across the bridge.

He felt like he was getting close now. He was sure to make it to the center soon enough! Sir Reginald mewed at him, making him really believe he was close if his trusty companion was with him! Winding farther and farther in, he finally reached the center. He had actually won, well, at least he thought he'd won. A gnome had come out and everything and handed him...an ear. A golden ear. This was not a prize he wanted whatsoever he did not want this, but he just had an urge to taste...no. No way. He was not tasting....it tasted like a tortilla. It was gross and weird and he really just wanted to get out of there now. He heard whispers of students now too because of this strange ear why had this happened to him? He had just wanted to explore more.

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