What could Gabby say? He'd managed to find a golden ear the last time he'd come to the maze, but found that a little disappointing of a prize. Perhaps, if he tried very hard, there would be a second, better prize waiting for him? It was worth a shot!
Heading left, he heard the moan again, and decided to investigate this time. He found a sad boil making the sound, and asked him what was wrong. When he received no answer, he chose to leave the boil where he sat, to cry away his problems. Was it Gabby's fault that he'd been so melancholy? Of course not! Neither was it his responsibility to fix the situation.
Gabby moved forward, finding himself in front of a small pond. He knelt down and looked within, to the crystal clear water that reflected his handsome visage. It was tempting to simply stay there for a moment, and enjoy the view. But since this was not his destination, he looked around and found the cup in the middle of the pond, and the sword by the side. Both of these items would have made excellent prizes in place of a golden ear, so Gabby thought to take both of them. Unfortunately, his first choice - the cup - did not leave him time to worry about the sword. When he drank from it, he was besieged with visions of vines that constricted him and pricked his tender skin with their thorns. He growled, thrashing out to fight them, but when his claws attempted to dig into the vines he found himself holding nothing but air. It was just a hallucination, brought on by the liquid in the cup. He should have known better than to drink random liquids.
One last shred of the hallucination clung to him - a whisper that told him he should go east. He knew it to be nothing more than the lies of a hallucination, and yet that meant there was no harm in choosing that path, regardless. He certainly did not believe there was actually something out there whispering to him in an attempt to do him harm. This was a student challenge, after all!
Heading east, he fell to his knees on the ground with surprise. A pile of gorgeously glittering stones all begged for him to take them away. They were green, which was only his second or third favorite color, but favorite nonetheless. So he reached out to take the first of many to come, but as soon as his hands wrapped around it he felt it grow in his hands. Not long after he had to drop it due to it's size, he came to realize that the stone had not grown. He'd simply shrunken down to a third of his normal size, which left him aghast with displeasure.
"Not again." He muttered, standing to scurry over to the small, gnome sized entranceway that could clearly be seen nearby.
When he exited the maze, he was no less smaller, and somehow had not found any kept treasure at all. It was a riotous disappointment, and he meant to complain to someone concerning his state of being, but no one seemed to notice him from down below.
When he tried to fly, he found his wings had shrunk just a little more than the rest of him, and they could not support the weight of his small, but hefty little body. He kept hovering an inch or two, and then tumbling back down to the ground.
He was going to write a sternly worded letter about this, when he was his full size again. He had enough problems being short for a dragon as it was - but this was just ridiculous!
THIS IS HALLOWEEN
WHERE IT IS ALWAYS HALLOWEEN (and sometimes exams)