To appease the Minotaur each month a young man of age from the city of Argros is sacrificed. To be chosen is a privilege and those who face the beast become heroes…forever. Also, to be sacrificed means that the people of Argros will have good fortune, bumpers harvests and protection from both invaders and the beast’s hunger for that month.
This month it’s Dymas’s turn to be sacrificed.
Dymas has been preparing for this day for over a year. Now, with his purpose in life clear and his fate sealed, Dymas prepares to meet the beast within the maze. But will all be what it seems? Will Dymas, a young man who’s quite different because of his love for life and of others, change the Minotaur’s mind so he doesn’t become its next meal?
Fate would have it that Dymas was taken from his family a year after he came of age. To be selected to appease the beast within the maze for the benefit of all of those who lived on the island near the labyrinth was a privilege and an honour…so the elder folks of the city told him. Dymas understood the why—it was the why him he was more concerned with. He knew deep in his heart that he had so much more to give than to be sacrificed on his nineteenth birthday to a monster whose hunger for young men knew no bounds. But fate, it would seem, wasn’t on his side for this lifetime. He had been chosen and every other life in the city of Argros depended on him when it came to be his time to do what he had to—do what he was to be prepared for. After all, protection from the beast who could wipe out an entire army within a matter of hours was a small price to pay in exchange for the life of a young man of age each month.
“This is where you’ll be staying, our Dymas,” the house master said. He was a brutish looking man with an imposing presence and gleeful look on his face and he pointed to a bed near the window with enthusiasm.
Dymas had found himself in what he could only describe as a dormitory. Ten other beds were in the room placed in rows with the one that he had been allocated. As he went to his bed he thought about how he was about to be trained in the fine art of offering himself to a beast. How could anyone prepare him for death in such a way? He imagined there would be many sleepless nights between now and his time to die.
“Thanks,” was all Dymas offered.
To be honest, everything was overwhelming. He missed his parents and his brothers as soon as the dormitory door was closed and the large man had left him to settle in. At least he had been given permission to bring a companion, even if no one understood his reasoning—he wanted to keep a connection to home. Also, Dymas knew deep down he would rely on his companion Nathanial more and more as his time to walk the lonely road toward the maze grew closer.
“So you’re, Dymas?” a young male voice said from another bed.
