Jeff and Trevor smelled the wall long before they saw it. The deep, floral scent was a beacon, cutting through the damp miasma that coated the rest of the swampy forest. It pulled the two young explorers along by their noses, the rosy aroma growing so strong they could practically see it floating in the air like a wispy trail of pink smoke. They clambered over twisting roots, stumbling trance-like, somehow managing to avoid the camouflaged ebony ponds, whose surfaces rippled from the touch of unseen creatures. With the kind of agile grace brought on by years of athletics, even in a daze the pair crept carefully along the moss-covered trunks of fallen giants, the arboreal corpses having long since been left to rot.
They followed the pungent trail for nearly an hour, winding ever deeper into the shadowy murk until, seemingly all at once, the trees came to an abrupt halt. The duo blinked and winced at the unexpected brightness as they stepped out of the dark, wet woods into a broad, sun-dappled clearing of dry grass. The jarring transition was made all the more so by the towering slab of twisting emerald, dotted with spots of bright pink, that loomed a few yards ahead.
"Is that...is that what I think it is," Trevor asked, his eyes wide as they took in the full scope of the wall that stretched for nearly a quarter of a mile in each direction. He twisted his sweat-soaked baseball cap around backwards, craning his neck to look up at the top of the structure that stood at least ten or fifteen feet above his own six-foot height.
"What else could it be?" Jeff clapped his friend on the back, grinning excitedly. "Dude! We actually found it!" The sculpted blonde could barely contain himself. His thick arm flexed when he reached over and gave Trevor's hat-covered scalp a rough rub, the other fist raised triumphantly. "And you said we wouldn't find anything."
Trevor pulled out from under his friend's grip, shaking his head and raising his hands in surrender. "I sure did," he said with a short laugh, his lean pecs bouncing slightly against his tank-top when he shrugged. "Looks like I was wrong. But that still doesn't mean there's a..."
"Come on! Let's see if we can find the way in," Jeff interrupted, darting off in search of an opening in the unbroken green.
Trevor watched his brawny friend scamper eagerly away, wishing he could share in Jeff's excitement. Now that the shock of their discovery was wearing off, his reluctance had room to grow. If the legends were true, as the looming wall of roses seemed to suggest, the young brunette wasn't so sure he wanted to find the house that supposedly lurked at the center of the fragrant maze. It was rumored to belong to an old hag, whose pact with ancient forces had created the impossible clearing in the dense swamp, where she could work her magic uninterrupted. The massive labyrinth, somehow made entirely of roses, acted as the final test for anyone who wished to seek her out. There was no guarantee that she would grant a person's wish, but anyone who made it to the center was at least given an audience.
It all sounded like nonsense to Trevor. He didn't believe in magic or the supernatural, nor did he think Jeff truly bought into any of it. His friend just liked to explore. The giddy ball of muscle had always been the more impulsive one, so when he heard about the supposed labyrinth in the middle of a swamp, with a witch's hut in the middle, there was no way he could pass it up. Never one to turn down a hike, Trevor had gone along to humor his friend, but he never actually expected to find anything.
"Dude! There's an opening!" Jeff stuck his head around the corner and motioned for Trevor to hurry up. The lean brunette jogged to the end of the wall in time to see his friend step through an open archway into the maze.
"Hold up! If you get lost in there don't expect me to stick around waiting for you. I've got the car keys, remember?" Trevor's jog turned into a sprint, his years of soccer propelling him to the opening before his excited friend could get himself in trouble. "Damn, man, would it kill you...to...wait," he trailed off, nearly bumping into Jeff because he was too busy staring at the flowered walls to look at anything else. They were impressive from the outside, but inside, completely surrounded by the towering, fragrant barricades, they were awe inspiring. "Holy shit."
"Okay, how do more people not know about this? I mean, I've heard the stories, but why isn't this all over the internet? This is incredible!" Jeff sniffed one of the buds that rested at nose-level, leaning in to try and see if there was a manmade structure underneath, or if it was all natural growth. "Someone's gotta maintain this, right?"
"No clue," Trevor said, looking back at the opening behind them. "But now that we know this is here, maybe we come back with more supplies? It's already afternoon, and this place is clearly massive, so how about we..."
"No way! We have to at least go in a little. What if the hut's right around one of these corners?"
