Aizan Wears the Mask as Himself

Jonah found someone else trapped in the maze. Aizan looked like a masked hexelf bard, or something close enough to that shape for the party to begin there. His speech came distorted, heavy with interference, as if the maze had made communication another kind of intimacy problem. He knew enough to be useful, but not enough to be safe. Aizan said the party had to solve why they were really here if they wanted to leave. That sounded less like directions and more like a diagnosis. Vithyrex's maze was not only testing navigation. It was asking each person what love, longing, fear, identity, and self-recognition had done to them. Jonah tried to remove the mask. Aizan resisted because he did not see it as a thing on him. He saw it as part of himself. That made him more than a guide or prisoner. He became a living example of the maze's theme: forced closeness, chosen identity, and the terror of being touched where the self is protected. He asked Jonah his type. Jonah answered with strong independent female dwarves. Aizan let go.