Happy Halloween, heres a story about Hayati and Mewscaper succumbing to a eldritch latex maze.
Originally, Mewscaper did the first few paragraphs, but then I took over. In return they provided a nice rubber slab illustration to go along with this~!

Mewey and Hayati’s Harrowing Maze of Minotaurs

The portal puckered and squeaked. The zafara adjusted his hat, eyes tracing the shiny rim before staring down the gaping hole. Beyond was a pulsing tunnel, of which he couldn't even see the bottom.

It likely was a way forward, with how slabs both vacant and filled until recently were squeezing through it into the depths. It, however, certainly was a risk: there was a chance the portal would simply process him like all the others and deliver him a new existence at the other end.

Already, the guards had been rendered harmless, one burbling as a pistachio pudding, the other trudging as a fudgy thick-cake, so the zafara had at least a little time to contemplate. He checked the room again. The arcana actuators were nulled. The long telekinetic series of synthetic slabs to be deposited was paused. The portal didn't seem like it was transfiguration-based.

And Mewey was waiting down there. The Adventuring guild was dragging their feet; It’d be too late once they arrived. He had to go now.

The zafara sucked in a breath. His orange gelatinous form bubbled. He flopped his lopped ears, shuffled his footpaws, and thumped his tail. He exhaled, and tossed an aura of protection over himself. Better safe than sorry.

He was Hayati, and he shied away from neither dessert nor danger. He was the “Lord of the Sweets.”

Hayati flipped the switch, and the line of slabs began to move once again, squishing one at a time through the portal. From his possessions, he drew out a long length of black licorice and braced his footpaws, waiting, timing. With a crack of the licorice whip and a bounding leap, he yanked himself up to the top of a passing slab. He clutched tightly into the squeaky rubber, with his licorice whip as an anchor, as the slab pressed down into the hole.

The portal squirked and squished over Hayati as he and the slab sank into the tunnel. His protective aura strained but held as the smooth slick walls smothered him; so it seemed the portal did have some corruptive properties.

Hayati shut his eyes, one hand digging deep into the slab (which, uncomfortably, seemed to wiggle and give a muffled moan) and the other hand keeping his hat on. It was dark, it was tight, it smelled thick of rubber, and it felt like it was getting warmer and warmer…

Just when Hayati thought he was going to get pressed flat and assimilated after all, a shlorping sound wetly welcomed his ears. Dull light trickled in, and he opened his eyes cautiously.

The tunnel had opened up. The slab squeezed through to the other side of the portal, into a wide, circular chamber. In the center hung a large vat of viscous bubbling liquid, at which the slabs ahead spiraled and lined up, getting dunked in one by one. It was a staging area. Reality still had a hold here. The room made sense, but it was but a doorway to a place that shouldn’t be reachable.

PshaChunk-chunk, Pshachunk-chunk.

Warm. It was too warm here. Hayati's gelatin instantly began to swelter. He grimaced, layering on another set of magic. The slab continued forward, taking its place in line, waiting its turn for the dip.

PshaChunk-chunk, Pshachunk-chunk, Pshachunk-chunk.

He had to get out of here. The smell of rubber was strong, insidious, and had an odd murk of… bovine. And it was hot. Very hot.

Hayati looked for a place to leap, a safe spot to land. Chunk-chunk, chunk-chunk. The series of slabs started and stopped repeatedly. It made it hard for Hayati to get his bearings, his face erratically shoving into the surface of the slab. His licorice whip went slack, as he struggled to keep his grip. The victim embedded on the front struggled as well, not paying attention to the passenger holding on.

The vat was coming up too fast. Plup—fssssshh~ Plup—fssssshh~ Slabs dipped in and pulled out, polished to a high gloss, perfect for putting on display. Prisoners made into people who praised the rubber, squeaked in more than one sense.

Chunk-chunk.

The slab Hayati rode moved, now floating directly above the vat. It was its turn.

The gelatinous zafara made the leap, but just barely. The spade-tip of his tail briefly dipped into the corruptive rubber vat, as his backside kissed the rim of the vat. Whatever was in the vat, it was trying to make its way up his tail, and corrupt him from the inside out with rubber thoughts. No time to waste.

Hayati grimaced as he tore off a segment of his tail, including the tail bracer. It was fashionable, and helped balance, but jewelry could be rebought, and his tail could be remade with magic. But not right now, as the air was saturated with the smell of rubber, which dampened any kind of regeneration he could use. Every use of dessert or sweet magic had to be critical, and remaking part of his tail wasn't one of them. Balance was going to be an issue, but with the help of the licorice whip, stuff would be alright, assuming Mewey wasn't too far gone.

The line of rubberized and corrupted slabs continued their line into another vat, and then into another portal. The second vat was not as molten, but just as dangerous. It was a magical extraction solution, meant to pull out residual magic and energy that weren't rubberized by the first vat. The lack of stairs in the chamber meant that this area was fully automated, and as such, personnel meant to do work would not be found. Any magic used here would be a waste; The extraction solution would simply absorb all changes done. He had to go deeper, and that meant another corruptive portal to go through.

A whipcrack of the rope, and a nice bounce was all it took to get back onto one of the rubber slabs. The smell of bovines had increased twofold, nearly overpowering the smell of rubber. Or was it the other way around? Hayati couldn't tell, his mind was straight as a railroad, and dead set on the task at hand. Another protective ward was cast, this one taking a bit more out of him due to the stale air, but it was worth the price of not instantly falling under the thrall of whatever owned this place.

Hayati peered through the portal, carefully stepping through. The ward held up as well as the first one, resisting all attempts of rubbery corruption. Once assured of his safe passage, he completed his crossover. It was a corridor, stretching from opposite ends of the darkness, to the dim light of the portal entrance. He could barely see, and the fade ambient sounds of disembodied creaking and squirking made him wonder if he were just better off staking out in the vat rooms to plan his next move.

He grimaced, nose twitching. The waft of bovine rubber exhausted from the vat rooms, through the portal, and down the corridors. It most certainly was the most saturated here. No, he couldn't stay here. Wherever he was, it was a place or realm that didn’t adhere to proper reality. Thick, rubber laced air permeated everything. It would be a fool’s errand to try and extract magic from the air; he’d transform in a second.

He strode, putting some distance between himself and the venting portal, sticking close to the wall. Darkness was all that was able to be seen. . He whispered an incantation, and his eyes lit with enhanced vision, piercing darkness like a cat’s.

He almost jumped from the wall. Slabs. Slabs everywhere, lining the wall down the corridor, and up, up to a ceiling so far up that he couldn't even see it. Some parts were left empty, but most were filled. Some were even laid horizontal, meaning to navigate he would be walking on those who were already taken. The occupants wouldn’t mind; their minds lost to the pleasure. The slab nearest to him was occupied: the outline of a humanoid, with features reminiscent of a male bovine. One faint, whispered moo was heard. Hayati noted that the features of the transformed humanoid were quite similar to the mythos of the Minotaur… And if they were doing their own version of this, It would mean he was in the labyrinth now. And given how the walls of this legendary maze were created out of slabs of people, Mewey was certain to be in here. It shouldn’t be too late to save them. It was an hour ago that they were a pretty kitty cat, light blue and snow white, free as they could be. And then stolen by rubber mages in a blink of an eye.

Hayati turned the corner. Navigation would be the hardest part, as he had no idea where he was going, even though his attunement to his friend meant that identifying Mewey was gonna be a lot easier. Mewey’s ears were sensitive enough both ways to ping off like echolocation. A simple radar spell attuned to Mewey would be more than enough to find them, but getting to their slab would be another matter entirely.

Glorp-MOOOAOAOOOOOHHHH!!!!

The gelatinous nature of Hayati quivered and wobbled. Something, or someone in the maze awakened, stirred from their slab induced stupor, and was freed to call upon the Labyrinth’s will. They were a full blown rubber minotaur now, meant to take on intruders, like a pesky jelly zafara. Lifting an ear up, Whatever or whomever made the sound was close, but not too clo-

MOOOOOOOAHHHHHHHHHHRGHHH!

Another roar. It was much closer. In fact, it was right behind him. Made of dark cyan and blue rubber, it blended in perfect with the maze. Top-heavy, muscled, and menacing. Its tail tuft swished from side to side, incredulous about the intruder. Hayati didn’t think twice; He ran. Inertia would give him an advantage; Turning corners and blind turns would make the Minotaur slow down, and thus buy him some time to at least charge up a spell strong enough to transform the minotaur into something a bit more harmless.

glorpglorpglorpMooOOooO…ROAAGGGHHHRH!!!

The maze had let out a second minotaur, this one far ahead. He was going to be pincer attacked if he didn’t get out to dodge. It sounded a bit more feminine, but roared all the same; a vessel of the labyrinth itself, taken form to obey all orders. An intruder was on the loose; Contain them. Whatever the labyrinth was, It was furious that something so delicious was eluding capture.

Hayati gasped for breath upon hearing the second minotaur, but barely had time to react. He immediately was beset upon by the minotaur he thought he had outrun. A swipe to the tail barely scrapes his skin, making him wince in more pain. Losing his tail tip was a loss in itself, but a complete tail loss would make balance much harder to retain. But enough time had passed for him to properly charge a spell. For his mastery of desserts and sweets, Hayati’s magic had built in powers that allowed anyone transformed to quickly regenerate wounds, meant for whimsy, not for combat. But breaking this rule meant more raw magic had to be put into the spell, but when it came to bonafide threats, no cost was too great. Most of the time, it would be released as a projectile, but no chances were being taken; Direct infusion would be the way to go.

Hayati’s licorice whip glowed blue, infused with a very specific spell, hand crafted for the situation. The minotaur was pure, unadulterated rubber. No features of whom they used to be remained. But that would change, as a swift whipcrack was heard, striking the minotaur in its chest by the tip of the licorice. The rubber resisted. But it would falter. Soon, the dark brown rubber turned darker as it changed into a chocolate shell, and began crumbling and melting from the ambient heat. Hayati had based the spell on a regular chocolate easter bunny, hollow on the inside. The chocolate quality wasn’t that good, but that wasn’t the point of what Hayati used the spell for this time. Any move by the minotaur would shatter itself, and would make itself fall into pieces. While he knew the maze would eventually absorb its broken guardian, it was out of commission for the moment, and Time is what he desperately needed.

Roaaaggg…..

The chocolatified minotaur crumbled as it tried charging again, broken by its own weight and movements. Success.

The jelly zafara scattered some of the transfigured pieces, not even risking taking a piece for himself to try and get a rebate on his exhausted magic. A quick ping of Mewey signaled he was close to her location, but the roars of the second Minotaur were closer. No time was wasted in preparing a second spell, and a dash towards Mewey!

ROOARRGHSWOMMPH!

Hayati landed straight onto the floor, with an unceremonious bounce off of the entombed floor’s face as he was clotheslined by the Second Minotaur. While it had some more female features, like an udder, more masculine features were quickly overwriting the rest of the vessel. His eyes were distorted and dazzled by the imaginary stars he was seeing. A gelatin body had no bones to break, but a hit like that still hurt. No bits of rubber had been transferred in the hit, but he was prone on the floor while the visage of the guardian was above him. The minotaur attempted a grab, but failed as the Zafara had just managed to slip out of its grasp. There was no time. Mewey was practically next to him, and he needed to get rid of the threat, NOW.

Rolling to his knees, he prepared a raw burst of dessert magic. It was going to lack finesse, but was gonna make whatever it hit feel like they’d been hit by the whole proverbial dessert tray, and then some. Regeneration had to be disabled, so the cost would be even higher, to the point of nigh exhaustion of all of his magic. The licorice whip was imbued, crackling like pop rocks. A lash was all that was needed. A whipcrack, and a flick of a wrist…

And it connected, straight at the face of the bovine. Miscellaneous candies rained from the tip and hit the floor as the Minotaur reeled back, hands over its face. More candies hit the floor, as fingertips and facial features became sweets like peppermints, lollipops, suckers, caramels, and taffy. Sugar was laced in the air, before being subsumed by the bovine rubber scent again. While the Labyrinth had much more power than Hayati, it seemed stunned by the sheer force of the magic spell. But it came at a cost. Hayati pinged Mewey again, and arrived at what was their slab. Their features were still there, half dazed in excitement, arousal, and fear. A simple transforming spell would be simple to separate the kitty; He’d done the process before when turning people into chocolate bars with their bodies embedded halfway into them.. But this was the last bit of magic he had. If they were to escape, he’d have to rely on using Mewey’s magic, and he wasn’t sure that she was in the right mindspace to do so.

“Mewey. Mewey! It’s me, Hayati, wake up from what they’ve done!”

“Haya, nyah? Is that… Mooouo?” “Yes, yes it is. Listen, you need to think clearly, you’re a cat, not a minotaur!”

“Do mou need my magic to get out of here?”

“Probably. Please, focus!”

Mewey’s fur had been rubberized, but still retained its color and look. Rubber minotaur horns had started to grow on their head, but with severance from the rubber slab, they were easy to remove. Her legs did have hooves, but with the maze the way it was, it might be an advantage. Hayati carefully pulled her away from the slab, and into the center of the hallway.

“Hayati, why don’t I hear mou?”

“Mewey, I’m not speaking right now. I know you don’t have telepathy.”

“Mooou should hear what I’m hearing! Moo! Moo!”

The zafara froze, mentally. He was perhaps too late. Mewey had been changed a bit too much. His mental hesitation was punished as the Kitty-minotaur in the making pushed him very close to one of the blank slabs. Somehow, it sensed him, and began making tendrils to wrap him up. His magic was so low, meaning escape was gonna be impossible once he was caught.

“Mewey, this isn’t you! Snap out of it!”

“Don’t moo know, Mewey wants to be a minotaur now! Moo can be her minotaur mate!”

“Please, think about your friends, Kirry, Khloe!”

“They can be moo’d up as well! But moo needs special treatment for wrecking up the labyrinth!”

Hayati hit the slab face first. Right away, Two rubber tendrils penetrated his ears, projecting their rubber goodness straight into his gelatinous head. Torrents of rubber goop washed over every thought he had. The maze was truly alive, and wanted him. Mewey was just bait. He lost the minute he stepped into it.

Right behind him was the Kitty-minotaur, rubbing his backside with her rubberized fur. She too began to be absorbed into the slab, coating over Hayati. They were gonna be together in the slab until Hayati and Mewey were both one and the same, Minotaurs for an eldritch maze.

Hayati’s orange color gave way to a dark cyan. His gelatin thickened to a squishy and durable rubber. His clothing? Nowhere to be seen, as it was easily pulled away by the slab. Something turned him around, and made him face outwards. His eyes were left uncovered, so he could see most of his body be converted into a masculine rubber structure, fitting for a top-heavy minotaur with nothing on its mind.

That's because nothing here had anything in their mind. The maze did all the thinking. People were just vessels, with personalities taken out of them. Labyrinth had nothing useful to do with them, just their vessels.

“Join the moo, Moo.”

“Muh… Moo…”

Hayati’s mind and identity were being blasted away. He was part of the labyrinth. Mewey was part of the labyrinth, and part of his slab until he was fully converted.

“Moo for me, Darling!”

“Muh… MOO!!!!!!!”

If Hayati had any residual magic left, it would’ve been released in that howl of pleasure. He was very chaste, and thus had nothing down there, but it didn’t mean he couldn’t release that mental high. He was a vessel, and his body was of the same material of everything around him.

“Good Minotaur! Now Mewey needs to undergo the same moo-iness, because she was left out to attract you!”

The rubber minotaur roared in sadness, as the Mewey-minotaur left his slab, into the empty one next to him. Their thoughts began to blend into one, the same thoughts of the location they were in, all contained within the heads of the minotaurs and victims in its clutches.

It cared not for those who worshipped it, and made new empty slabs. Pretenders. While they did give it Mewey, it could’ve captured the pussy on its own, had it known she was so attracted to rubber. Hayati’s capture was a treat, a bonus.

Hours later, the Adventuring guild the being once called Hayati had alerted arrived on the scene. They were indeed too late to do anything to save Hayati or Mewey, as all scrying attempts to discern their location revealed rubber, and brazen moos of pleasure. The doorway that let the Labyrinth anchor itself to reality would have to be purged, but at least the guards Hayati had transformed into desserts could be interrogated for their motives.

And besides, what was now the twin pair of minotaurs were happy, with nothing in their head. No need to think when the Labyrinth did that all for you.

Mewscraper/Labyrinth of Latex, Maze of Minotaurs