He landed in a gigantic room—clearly the entry to the labyrinth. A giant owl statue loomed above his head. Longclaw’s tribe hid the Emerald here who knows how many years ago, but the real question was “Which way?” From the opening, Sonic could tell there were many paths. But he couldn’t assume that all of them would take him to the Master Emerald.

“Okay, trial and error . . . ,” Sonic said, and sprinted down a first path. It immediately collapsed beneath him, and Sonic hopped back just in time to avoid a pit of spikes! “That was an error.”

He’d be more cautious on take two, feeling his way down another path. That is, he thought he could go easy, until his foot set off a pressure plate that launched a volley of arrows right at his head!

“Zero for two. Rough start,” Sonic said after ducking out of danger. “I don’t have time for this!”

If caution wouldn’t yield results, Sonic had to do what he did best: rush in as fast as possible and try not to get killed. He was the fastest thing alive, after all. Why should some labyrinth of booby traps trip him up?

What followed was a flurry of action as Sonic made a speed run at every tunnel available. Some ramps collapsed halfway through his run, and Sonic had to spin jump to safety. Deep in the bowels of one path, he narrowly avoided a spiked wrecking ball. Down at the lowest levels, the stonework of the labyrinth fell sharply into rivers of flowing lava. Sonic could ride them for a while until the blocks were eaten up by the hot magma. But even after all that, he still hadn’t found the Emerald.

Then, at last, he broke through. Swinging on a tangled seaweed vine over the worst of the booby traps, Sonic kicked his way through a crumbling wall and into a central chamber. The green glow of the Emerald and its beacon radiated in the room’s center.

-Chapter 14