It was a maze, but that wasn't the problem, not really. Sid was smart. He could easily map out the paths he had been down, and remember them perfectly. The problem was that the path's didn't stay the same.

Sid would run down a corridor, but then that path would lead back to somewhere he had already been. But, if he ran down it again, he would wind up somewhere completely different.

"Curious," he murmured to himself.

As he was trying to go down each and every path, despite the constant shifting, something changed. Something fundamental shifted within the world around him.

The once pristine hallways started to splinter and crumble with age. The hallway almost seemed to sag inward under some invisible weight as Sid continued his trek forward.

It was as if age had finally caught up with the place. Like it was suddenly rushing to catch up to the decay it was supposed to have. As if whatever magic that had kept it pristine had suddenly shattered.

Despite this drastic change, Sid seemed to do nothing more than appraise a few cracks and chunks of rock that crumbled away before he moved on.

Nugget was alone, again,

A black ichor that was the same consistency of blood oozed down from a machine's severed torso. The mechanical parts were stuck to the wall by pieces of rebar as it hung there limply.

Nugget strutted up to the wall and looked up and down a rather large crack. Slowly, she closed her eyes. Her body grew still. Even her breathing seemed to slow, and she almost looked dead.

The only sound in the hallway was the slow dripping of the black liquid. After nearly a minute in her trance like state, she slowly reopened her eyes. She appraised the crack again. It had not changed, and she seemed dissatisfied as she shook her head.

But, Nugget was not alone any longer. A cold mist was rolling in around her, and hungry eyes that burned like blue flames peered out from the darkness, affixed on her tender flesh.

Nugget seemed to pay no attention to the eyes as she walked over to another crack, and looked it up and down. She shook her head again, and then moved to the next crack.

Behind her, the glowing, blue eyes disappeared into the darkness.

Then, with the speed of a lightning strike, Bakade lunged silently for the hen. With her clawed hand outstretched and ready to pierce her flesh.

Without paying any mind to her, Nugget leaped up onto the wall at the last moment. Bakade's claw sunk into the aged stone as Nugget pushed off of the wall. Not to attack, but to float away from Bakade.

The chicken landed in front of another crack on the opposite wall, and tried to inspect it. The mist had grown thicker, and so she flapped her wings to clear enough away to give her an unobstructed view.

Bakade lunged again.

And so, the silent process repeated between the two of them. Without a word, and with hardly any noise besides the sinking of razor sharp claws into stone, the two of them continued on. Striking and dodging, all while Nugget continued to inspect various cracks.

Finally, Nugget stopped. Her eyes grew wide as she stared at a small crack, no thicker than a strand of hair. She nodded her head.

Bakade was relentless, and continued her assault. In her blind fury, she leaped for Nugget once again. However, this time, instead of moving away, Nugget jumped up onto Bakade's arm, and used her momentum to shift the gaunt woman's direction slightly.

Her claw had been on target for the small crack, but thanks to Nugget, it went missed by nearly a foot.

With their dance changed, Bakade abandoned her strategy of wildly lunging at the chicken. Instead, she reached up with her injured arm, and swatted at the hen.

Nugget didn't give her much of a chance. immediately after landing, she began to run up Bakade's arm. Her talons helped keep her grip as she ducked and weaved around the giant claw that swatted at her.

As Bakade grew closer to her skull, Bakade opened her mouth instinctively. Drool dripped down her red stained teeth as the flames in her eye sockets seemed to narrow in on Nugget.

SNAP!

Bakade slammed her jaw shut as she tried to take a direct bite out of Nugget. However, the skilled chicken seemed to have no trouble avoiding her attacks. As Bakade's jaw closed, nugget leaped up onto her snout, and then further up to ride along her skull in-between her antlers.

Bakade's eyes grew and it almost seemed like the flames themselves were going to rise up and lash out at Nugget. She lowered her head and tried to ram the wall to slam Nugget against the stony surface.

As she lowered her head, Nugget slipped over backwards in the air above Bakade. She lifted her foot high into the air and for a brief moment, her talon almost seemed to glow.

Time seemed to slow down as she swung her talon down onto the back of Bakade's skull. As she made contact, a shockwave reverberated through Bakade's body as her skull was forced down even further, until it had lined up square against the hairline fracture in the wall.

Crack!

Bakade's antlers slammed into the wall first, but they passed through as easily as if it was made out of sand. And as her skull made contact with the wall, a wave of black energy exploded out in a wave.

Bakade was immediately thrown backwards and slammed against the opposing wall with a harsh thud. She let out a small grunt before her head dangled down limply.

As the energy wave came out, Nugget brought her wings up in front of her face. At the exact moment the wave was about to hit her, she flung down her arms and passed through the shockwave unharmed.

Nugget flapped her wings a couple times to soften her landing. She let out a slow breath and then looked back at Bakade. She focused on her a moment before she turned her eyes back to the crack.

It wasn't thin any longer. A baseball could easily fit through the new width. It also seemed to glow with an odd light. The color was hard to describe. It hinted at some sort of green or purple, but was far beyond what most eyes could truly perceive.

What it left was a strange sort of void. A place where the mind knew there should be a color there, but there wasn't Not really. At least, not one that could truly be understood.

Nugget nodded slowly at the crack, and without any hint of hesitation, stepped inside.