Short Story
Leo had always believed that a day off should be treated as a precious commodity. Unfortunately, his line of work had a habit of making such luxuries exceptionally rare.
Since arriving in Seattle, he’d spent most of his time either investigating supernatural disturbances, chasing down missing people or trying to prevent some ancient creature from turning an otherwise pleasant afternoon into a bloodbath. He’d barely had an opportunity to explore the city properly.
Today, however, was different.
No phone calls. No missing persons. No monsters lurking in the shadows.
At least, that was the plan.
He’d decided to spend the afternoon sightseeing, starting with Saint Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral. The building had caught his eye when he’d first arrived in Seattle, but he’d never found the time to visit. Its imposing architecture and distinctive design made it an interesting place to explore, and he was pleasantly surprised by how peaceful it was inside.
After spending some time admiring the architecture, he eventually found himself outside, wandering around the cathedral’s labyrinth.
It was a simple enough design, a winding path that led towards the centre before guiding visitors back out again. Leo followed it at a leisurely pace, enjoying the quiet and the opportunity to think about absolutely nothing.
He’d almost reached the centre when a conversation nearby caught his attention.
“Swear to God, mate, I’ve never heard anything like it.”
Leo glanced towards a pair of construction workers standing beside a van. One was leaning against the vehicle, nursing a cup of coffee, while the other was animatedly describing something.
“Your mate actually went down there?” the first asked.
“Course he did. They were doing maintenance work in the sewers, and apparently they’d found a wall that wasn’t on any of the plans. Knocked a bit of it down, thinking there might be a blockage behind it. Turns out there was a whole bloody maze on the other side.”
“A maze?”
“Massive, apparently. Tunnels going off in every direction. Old stone walls, strange markings, the lot. He said it looked like something out of a museum.”
“Sounds like a health and safety nightmare.”
“You’ve no idea. He said there was a smell coming from it that nearly made him throw up. And noises. Proper horrible noises. Groaning, scraping, all sorts. His team reckoned it was probably some old drainage system, but I don’t think anyone’s too keen on going back in.”
Leo slowed his pace.
An underground labyrinth. Strange markings. Horrible noises.
It was almost impressive how quickly his day off had started to sound like work.
“Where was this?” the first worker asked.
The second man gave him the name of a street and described the section of sewer where the discovery had been made.
Leo committed the location to memory.
He considered ignoring it. After all, he was entitled to a day off, and someone else’s strange underground discovery wasn’t necessarily his problem.
Then again, the last time he’d ignored something strange, he’d ended up fighting a load of monsters in the woods.
He sighed.
“Well, there goes my afternoon.”
The entrance to the sewer was tucked away behind a temporary construction barrier. Several workers had gathered around it, their expressions ranging from irritation to outright panic.
Leo stopped just around the corner, out of sight, and listened.
“You’re telling me the wall moved?”
“Yes! I told you, it bloody moved!”
“That’s impossible. It’s a stone wall.”
“Then explain how they’re trapped on the other side of it!”
The second man was clearly struggling to remain calm. He was covered in grime, his hard hat was hanging loosely from one hand, and his breathing was still uneven.
“Look, I don’t know what happened,” he continued. “We were checking the tunnels when the wall just slid across. Completely sealed the passage. We tried to get it open, but it wouldn’t budge. Then we heard something coming towards us.”
“What sort of something?”
“I don’t know! Something big. There was this horrible groaning, and then screaming. I ran. I had to get out of there.”
“Jesus Christ.”
“There’s still three of them in there!”
Leo stepped out from behind the corner.
“Right, I take it you’re having a difficult afternoon.”
Every head turned towards him.
The site supervisor, a broad man with a fluorescent jacket and a deeply unimpressed expression, stepped forward.
“Who are you?”
“Leo. Investigator, of sorts.”
“Of sorts?”
“It’s a complicated job description.”
The supervisor looked him up and down. “I’m afraid this is a restricted worksite. You’ll have to leave.”
“Normally, I’d be delighted to follow instructions. Unfortunately, you’ve got three people trapped underground, and I’d rather not have to explain to their families why nobody did anything.”
The man who’d escaped hurried over.
“You can get them out?”
“I can certainly try. Which way did you go?”
The worker began explaining the route, drawing a rough map on a piece of scrap paper. He described the main tunnel, a junction where the left passage had partially collapsed and, finally, the strange wall that had trapped his colleagues.
Leo studied the map.
“Anything else I should know?”
“Just stay away from whatever’s making those noises.”
“Wonderful. I was worried this might be too straightforward.”
The supervisor stepped forward again.
“Hold on. You can’t just go charging in there. We need to call the emergency services.”
“By all means. Give them a call. In the meantime, I’ll see if I can find your missing workers.”
Before the supervisor could object, Leo slipped past him and disappeared into the sewer entrance.
He heard someone shouting after him, but the sound quickly faded as he descended into the darkness.
The smell hit him first.
It was a foul mixture of damp earth, stagnant water and something far worse. Leo pulled a face and briefly considered whether he could justify turning around.
Then he remembered the three missing workers.
“Of course. Because a pleasant walk around a cathedral wasn’t enough excitement for one day.”
He raised his hand and whispered a single word.
"Noctivida.”
A faint shimmer passed over his eyes, and the darkness retreated. The sewer walls became clear, revealing the uneven stonework and narrow channels of water running beneath his feet.
He followed the route the worker had described until he reached the damaged section of the tunnel. The broken wall was easy enough to spot. Beyond it lay a passage that looked as though it had been untouched for centuries.
Unlike the concrete and brickwork of the modern sewer, these walls were constructed from enormous blocks of dark stone. Ancient symbols had been carved into them, their edges worn smooth by time.
Leo approached the nearest wall and ran his fingers over the markings.
Greek.
At least, they looked Greek. Some of the symbols were familiar, while others were older or more unusual than anything he’d encountered before.
He traced a line of carvings with his fingertips. As he moved, a thin layer of frost spread beneath his hand, leaving a pale, icy imprint on the stone.
“Ancient Greek architecture beneath Seattle. That’s certainly not something you see every day.”
He stepped back and examined the passage.
The walls were too uniform to be natural, and the carvings were far too deliberate to be decorative. Whoever had built this place had intended it to last.
And judging by the sheer number of passages branching off in every direction, they’d also intended it to confuse anyone who entered.
Leo glanced at the map again.
“Well, this should be fun.”
He continued forward, following the directions he’d been given and leaving a trail of frost along the walls. It was a simple precaution. If the tunnels turned out to be more complicated than expected, he could always follow his own markings back.
A low groan echoed through the passage.
Leo stopped.
The sound came from somewhere ahead, deep and resonant, as though something enormous was dragging itself across the stone.
He slowly turned towards the darkness.
Nothing.
Another groan followed, this one accompanied by a scraping noise that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.
He moved towards a narrow alcove and pressed himself against the wall just as something shifted in the distance.
For several seconds, he heard nothing but the steady drip of water.
Then came a heavy thud.
Another.
And another.
Whatever was moving through the tunnels was large.
Leo waited until the sounds faded before continuing.
He encountered several more disturbances along the way. On one occasion, he heard something dragging its claws against the stone just around a corner. On another, a series of deep, guttural groans echoed through the tunnels, followed by a sound that was disturbingly similar to someone laughing.
He saw nothing.
That, more than anything, bothered him.
He’d fought enough supernatural creatures to know that the absence of a visible threat rarely meant there wasn’t one nearby.
Eventually, he reached the wall the worker had described.
At first glance, it looked no different from the others. Massive stone blocks fitted together with remarkable precision, the surface covered in ancient Greek markings.
Leo crouched and examined the base.
There.
One of the stones near the floor was slightly out of alignment. It was barely noticeable, but the gap around it was enough to catch his attention.
He pressed against it with his foot.
Nothing happened.
He tried again, applying a little more pressure.
A deep grinding noise filled the tunnel.
Leo quickly stepped back as the entire wall shuddered. A section of stone slid sideways, disappearing into the adjoining wall and revealing a narrow passage beyond.
“Well, that’s convenient.”
He waited for the movement to stop before stepping through.
On the other side, he found a collection of tools scattered across the floor. A hammer, a crowbar, a battered toolbox and a hard hat lay abandoned beside the wall.
The workers’ equipment.
Leo picked up the hard hat and turned it over in his hands. There was a name written inside, although the grime made it difficult to read.
He placed it back down and followed the trail.
The passage gradually widened as he continued, eventually opening into a corridor with a large stone door at the far end.
Unlike the other entrances he’d passed, this one was reinforced with thick metal bands. Strange symbols had been carved into the frame, and the stone itself was covered in a layer of dust.
Leo approached cautiously.
He placed one hand against the door and gently pushed.
It opened with a low creak.
Beyond it was a vast chamber that looked less like an underground room and more like a cave. The ceiling rose high above him, disappearing into darkness, while jagged rocks protruded from the walls. A series of crude torches illuminated the space, casting long, flickering shadows across the uneven floor.
There were cages.
Several of them stood along one side of the chamber, their thick metal bars secured to stone platforms. Chains hung from the ceiling, and a collection of broken furniture had been piled against the far wall.
The air was heavy with the smell of damp earth, old sweat and something distinctly animal.
Leo peered inside.
Three men sat in the nearest cage. They were filthy, exhausted and clearly terrified. One was clutching his arm, while another had a nasty cut above his eye.
Leo scanned the rest of the chamber before slipping inside.
“Afternoon, gentlemen. I don’t suppose you’re the missing construction workers?”
All three men jumped.
The one with the injured arm scrambled to his feet.
“Who the hell are you?”
“Leo. I’m here to get you out.”
The men exchanged bewildered glances.
“You’re here to rescue us?”
“That’s generally what people mean when they say they’re here to get someone out.”
One of the men approached the bars.
“How did you even find us?”
“Let’s just say I have a talent for finding trouble.”
Leo crouched beside the cage and examined the lock.
“Right, before we start celebrating, I need to know what we’re dealing with. Who put you in here?”
The injured man shook his head.
“We don’t know. Something huge. We were trying to find a way out when it came out of the darkness. We barely had time to react before it grabbed us.”
“Did you see what it was?”
“Not properly. It was massive, though. Bigger than any man I’ve ever seen. Its face was always in the shadows.”
“And it brought you here?”
“Dragged us through the tunnels. We tried to fight it, but it was like trying to wrestle a bloody truck.”
Leo glanced at the lock.
“Any idea how to open this?”
“The key’s on its belt. We saw it when it brought us in.”
Leo looked towards the far end of the chamber.
“Of course it is.”
He gripped one of the bars and gave it a hard tug. The metal didn’t move.
He tried again, this time using both hands, but the bars remained perfectly still.
A closer inspection revealed why. The metal was unlike anything he’d encountered before. It was dark, almost black, and covered in tiny etched symbols that seemed to shimmer faintly in the torchlight.
He ran his fingers over one of the markings.
The metal was cold, but not in the ordinary sense. There was something unnatural about it, a faint magical resistance that made the bars feel almost alive.
Leo released his grip.
“Interesting. Very interesting.”
“Can you break it?” one of the men asked.
“Not without making an awful lot of noise. And given the company we’re keeping, I’d rather avoid that.”
He studied the lock again before looking towards the back of the chamber.
A second door stood behind a collection of crates. It was smaller than the first, but its heavy wooden frame suggested it led somewhere important.
“Stay here,” Leo whispered. “I’ll be back shortly.”
“You’re going after it?”
“Well, unless one of you has a spare key hidden somewhere, I’m running out of options.”
He gave them a reassuring smile.
“Don’t worry. I’ve dealt with worse.”
That was only partially true, but he didn’t feel the need to mention it.
The second door opened into a room that Leo could only describe as a bedroom.
It was a rather generous interpretation of the word.
A large bed occupied most of the space, its wooden frame reinforced with thick iron brackets. A collection of animal hides had been thrown across the mattress, and several enormous leather cushions lay scattered around the floor.
There was a crude wooden table in one corner, covered in bones, scraps of meat and a collection of objects Leo couldn’t immediately identify. A large barrel stood beside it, while a series of thick chains hung from hooks in the wall.
The room had none of the warmth or comfort he would have expected from a bedroom. It felt more like a stable, somewhere an animal might sleep between hunts.
And on the bed lay its occupant.
Leo froze.
The figure was enormous. Even lying down, it was clear that it stood considerably taller than any human. Its broad shoulders were covered in coarse, dark fur, and one thick arm hung over the side of the bed.
A heavy belt was fastened around its waist.
Leo’s eyes settled on the key hanging from it.
There it was.
He took a slow breath and crept forward.
The creature’s breathing was deep and steady. Every exhalation sounded like a low growl, and its chest rose and fell with an almost rhythmic heaviness.
Leo edged closer, careful to avoid the scattered bones on the floor.
He was almost at the bed when he finally got a clear look at the creature’s head.
Two enormous horns curved outwards from its skull, their tips dark and sharply pointed. Its head was unmistakably bovine, with a broad muzzle, flared nostrils and a thick covering of dark brown fur. A tangled mane ran from the top of its head down the back of its neck, and a pair of large, pointed ears twitched occasionally as it slept.
A minotaur.
Leo stared at it for a moment.
“Well, that explains the smell.”
He’d heard stories about minotaurs, of course. They were creatures of ancient legend, most famously associated with the labyrinth of King Minos. But seeing one in person was an entirely different experience.
This one was enormous, its muscular frame easily capable of overpowering a human. Thick arms ended in powerful hands, while its legs were built like tree trunks. Its hooves rested against the floor beside the bed, and a short tail occasionally twitched behind it.
There was a crude leather harness draped over the bedpost, along with a heavy axe resting against the wall. The weapon was nearly as tall as Leo and looked as though it could split a person in two with a single swing.
He decided that picking a fight with the creature would be a particularly poor use of his afternoon.
Instead, he reached for the key.
The metal ring was clipped to the minotaur’s belt, just within reach. Leo carefully lifted it, trying to avoid disturbing the creature.
The clip resisted for a moment.
He adjusted his grip and eased it free.
Success.
He held the key in his palm and slowly began to retreat.
Then the minotaur shifted.
Leo stopped breathing.
The creature rolled onto its side, causing the bed to creak beneath its weight. One enormous hand dragged across the mattress, and its horns scraped against the stone wall.
Leo remained perfectly still.
The minotaur’s head turned towards him.
For one dreadful moment, he thought it had woken.
Then its eyes closed again, and a thunderous snore filled the room.
Leo let out a slow breath.
“Right. That’s enough sightseeing for one day.”
He slipped through the door and quietly closed it behind him.
The three men were still waiting when Leo returned.
He held up the key.
“Good news. I’ve managed to acquire a way out.”
“Where did you get that?”
“Borrowed it from our rather unpleasant host.”
Leo inserted the key into the lock and turned it.
There was a satisfying click.
The cage door swung open.
The men wasted no time getting out. The one with the injured arm stumbled as he stepped over the threshold, but his companions caught him before he fell.
“Thank you,” he whispered. “We thought we were going to die down here.”
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. We’re not out yet.”
Leo glanced towards the bedroom door.
“Keep quiet and stay close. If you hear anything, don’t stop to investigate. Just keep moving.”
The men nodded.
Leo led them across the chamber, keeping his movements slow and deliberate. The torches flickered as they passed, casting their shadows across the walls.
They were almost at the main door when a terrible noise erupted from the bedroom.
A roar.
It was unlike anything Leo had ever heard. It began as a deep, guttural bellow and rose into a thunderous, bull-like scream that shook dust from the ceiling.
The men froze.
“Oh, for God’s sake,” Leo muttered.
The bedroom door burst open.
The minotaur stood in the doorway, its enormous frame silhouetted by the torchlight. Its eyes were wide open now, and its nostrils flared as it caught their scent.
For a moment, it simply stared at them.
Then its gaze settled on the key in Leo’s hand.
The creature roared again.
“Run!”
Leo didn’t need to repeat himself.
The three men bolted through the door, with Leo close behind. The minotaur charged after them, its hooves striking the stone floor with such force that the entire chamber seemed to shake.
The first man stumbled as they entered the corridor, but Leo caught him by the shoulder and pushed him forward.
“Keep moving!”
Behind them came another roar, followed by the unmistakable sound of stone cracking.
Leo glanced over his shoulder.
The minotaur had barely fitted through the doorway, but it was already charging down the corridor. Its horns scraped against the walls, and its massive shoulders knocked loose chunks of stone as it pursued them.
“Brilliant,” Leo muttered. “Absolutely bloody brilliant.”
They ran.
The tunnels seemed considerably longer on the way back.
Leo led the men through the labyrinth, relying on the faint icy markings he’d left along the walls. The workers couldn’t see them clearly, but Leo had no trouble following the trail.
At every junction, he turned without hesitation.
Behind them, the minotaur continued its pursuit.
Its roars echoed through the passages, accompanied by furious bellowing and the thunderous pounding of its hooves. Occasionally, the creature struck a wall with such force that the entire tunnel shuddered.
The men were beginning to tire.
“How much further?” one of them gasped.
“Not far.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I’m the one leading us!”
Leo took a sharp turn into a narrow passage, narrowly avoiding a chunk of stone that fell from the ceiling. The minotaur thundered past the junction before realising they’d changed direction.
Its furious bellow filled the tunnel.
“That’s it!” Leo shouted. “Come on, we’re nearly there!”
They pressed on.
The air gradually became fresher, and the smell of the sewers grew stronger. Leo recognised the familiar stretch of tunnel ahead, along with the faint glow of daylight coming from the entrance.
They were close.
Very close.
Then the minotaur roared again.
Leo glanced back and saw the creature rounding the corner. Its eyes were fixed on them, and its enormous hands were clenched into fists.
The workers began to panic.
“Keep going!” Leo shouted.
They reached the strange wall and saw the opening they’d entered through earlier. Beyond it lay the modern sewer, with the familiar concrete walls and the sound of running water.
One by one, the workers scrambled through.
Leo was last.
He turned towards the tunnel, expecting the minotaur to come charging around the corner at any moment.
He could hear it.
The furious bellowing. The pounding hooves. The scraping of its horns against the stone.
Then the wall began to move.
Leo barely had time to react before the enormous slabs of stone slid together, sealing the passage. The grinding noise grew louder, and the ancient markings began to fade.
He watched as the carvings disappeared, one by one, until the wall was nothing more than a smooth, unremarkable surface.
The minotaur’s roars abruptly stopped.
Silence returned to the tunnel.
Leo stared at the wall for several seconds.
“Well, that’s convenient.”
He brushed the dust from his jacket and turned towards the workers.
All three were staring at him.
The one with the injured arm looked as though he was struggling to find the words.
“What... what the hell was that?”
Leo considered his options.
He could explain that they’d just escaped from an ancient labyrinth inhabited by a minotaur, a creature from Greek mythology that most people believed didn’t exist.
Or he could lie.
He decided the latter would save everyone a considerable amount of time.
“Honestly? I’m still trying to work that out myself.”
The men exchanged bewildered looks.
“But it was chasing us!” one protested. “You saw it!”
“Yes, I did.”
“And those cages! The walls! That thing was enormous!”
Leo nodded thoughtfully.
“Which is why I’d strongly recommend you don’t dig around here anymore.”
The worker with the injured arm frowned.
“Are you seriously telling us to just leave it?”
“I’m telling you that whatever is down there has been undisturbed for a very long time. I’d suggest keeping it that way.”
“But what was it?”
Leo gave him a tired smile.
“Something I’d rather not meet again.”
The site supervisor appeared at the entrance, followed by several other workers. He took one look at the three missing men and hurried over.
“Jesus Christ! You’re alive!”
The workers immediately began talking over one another, trying to explain what had happened. Their descriptions became increasingly frantic as they spoke about the labyrinth, the cages and the enormous creature that had chased them.
The supervisor looked towards Leo.
“What’s going on here?”
Leo shrugged.
“Your workers are safe. That’s what matters.”
“But what about the tunnels?”
“I’d recommend sealing the entrance and finding somewhere else to carry out your maintenance work.”
The supervisor looked unconvinced.
“You’re not seriously expecting me to just abandon an entire section of sewer because of some story about a monster?”
Leo glanced at the now featureless wall.
“Believe me, I’m doing you a favour.”
The man opened his mouth to argue, but Leo had already started walking away.
He had no intention of sticking around to answer a hundred questions, especially when he didn’t have any answers himself.
As he reached the entrance, he heard one of the workers mention something about calling the police.
Leo sighed.
“Of course they are.”
By the time he returned to his office, the afternoon was almost over.
He’d originally planned to spend the day sightseeing, perhaps grab a coffee somewhere and enjoy a few hours without having to worry about supernatural creatures.
Instead, he’d spent most of the day crawling through sewers, exploring an ancient Greek labyrinth and narrowly avoiding being trampled by a creature that belonged in a mythological textbook.
He dropped his jacket over the back of a chair and collapsed onto the sofa.
For a few minutes, he simply stared at the ceiling.
The building was quiet. The familiar surroundings were reassuring, and for the first time that day, he could finally relax.
He closed his eyes.
A minotaur.
He’d fought vampires, banished spirits and dealt with creatures that most people would struggle to believe existed. Yet somehow, being chased through a labyrinth by a gigantic bull-headed monster felt particularly ridiculous.
He wondered whether the creature had always lived beneath Seattle or whether someone had deliberately brought it there. The ancient Greek markings suggested the labyrinth had been built for a purpose, but he had no idea what that purpose might have been.
Perhaps it was a prison.
Perhaps it was a sanctuary.
Or perhaps it was simply somewhere the minotaur had called home for centuries.
He’d have to think about it another day.
For now, he was content to leave it alone.
Leo shifted on the sofa and pulled a cushion beneath his head.
“Next time I have a day off,” he muttered, “I’m staying in bed.”
He closed his eyes, hoping that, at the very least, the rest of the evening would remain uneventful.
And, more importantly, that he wouldn’t have to fight a minotaur anytime soon.
