The steps were wide and gentle, with curving handrails on each side. Thick energy veins ran through both walls, providing pulsating blue light.
Lamb in arm, he tapped the first step with a toe. No crossbow bolts sprang from the wall; no swinging death blades dropped from the ceiling.
“Good, good. I guess I’ll go explore now.”
He said the last part loudly as he fully stepped onto the stairs and then off quickly…
Perhaps he was being too paranoid. This place didn’t want to kill him, look at how well the fellow in room 1 was being taken care of.
Dakota crept down the stairs, pausing intermittently to listen. The passage wasn’t that long, only descending seventy feet. Another tunnel greeted him at the bottom but this time, he could see the end.
A huge crystal wall blocked the way forward. It was made of the same stuff as the pillar in the room above. Energy veins ran in spiralling patterns across the wall, creating seven distinct circles at chest height. The wall had no other adornments.
He slid forward, trying to peer through the crystal. It was a milkier shade than the pillar above and he could only see vague outlines. The circles pulsed with energy, appearing as if they wanted him to activate them.
He was extremely curious about what lay beyond the wall but…he looked at the lamb resting on his shoulder. There wasn’t going to be anything dangerous. None of the other circles had done anything other than flash red and open doors.
Jesus “bahh’ed” as Dakota set him down twenty feet from the wall. Just in case.
He returned to the circles, excitement building. He placed his hand into a circle, hopefully, this wasn’t a mega-sleeping area.
He “pushed” and blinked.
A new room expanded before him. Square tiles covered the floor as faintly glowing ropes hung from the ceiling. Three identical statues rested against the walls to his left, right and across from him. The statues were knights, stone chiselled to look like plate armour, feather ploom pointing from the tops of their helmeted heads. They were also nine feet tall and had a red circle on their chests. The crystal wall was behind him.
“Teleportation? Or is this even real?”
“SCALING DIFFICULTY TO PARTY SIZE.”
He didn’t like the sound of that.
“Um, excuse me, I came in here by accident. Can I leave?”
The floor heaved, tiles rising and falling as a few ropes hanging from the ceiling shifted location.
“No, you don’t understand, I don’t know what’s going on. I don’t know anything. I don’t…”
“BEEP.”
“Oh crap.”
“BEEP.”
Three floor tiles changed colour, sending red sparking energy into the air.
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“BEEP.”
The energy consolidated into three hovering…orbs. Each had a red circle, making them look like massive eyeballs. Dakota also noticed glowing rings appear around the room. Some were on the top of newly formed pillars, others floated at the bottom of deep pits.
“BEGIN.”
The eyeballs zipped into motion, each moving in a different direction as the red circles on the statues brightened.
An orb moved toward him, it gave the impression it was patrolling a preset route. He inched further into the room, staying away from it. He had a feeling being spotted would not be a pleasant experience. Their “eyes” were flashing dangerously.
The room stretched out around him. It was a square, probably a hundred feet by a hundred feet and would be the jungle gym every kid wished they could play on. Floating tiles connected towers of stone as ropes hung at varying lengths from the ceiling. Some reached the floor, others hung between hovering rings.
It was obvious the point was to collect the rings but he wanted to establish the stakes before going full murderhobo. He edged along the room, backtracking whenever an orb strayed too close. He counted twenty rings, although more could be hidden in the deeper pits. He poked his head over one now. A rope dangled from the ceiling, reaching the bottom of the hole fifteen feet below where a ring bobbed.
Dakota slinked back, returning to his spot near the wall. This wasn’t that hard. With a bit of stealth, anyone could collect the rings. He kept moving, working his way toward a statue. The closer he got the more impressed he became. He could see every crease on the gauntleted hand, every chink in the armour. It looked as if a real person had been petrified into stone. Ignoring the knight was nine feet tall, of course.
The circle on the knight’s chest pulsed a blood red. It glowed brighter than any other circles he had seen so far. He approached from the side and was about to touch the statue when a click sounded behind him.
The orb had caught up. Its eye pointed straight at him as the circle glowed brighter. He dodged to the right but it tracked him, following his movements.
“Time out?”
The orb blasted a beam of energy, striking Dakota in the arm as he darted to the side.
Pain flooded his mind. He pulled up his shirt to reveal a smouldering hole going straight through his arm.
“What the freak?! This is supposed to be a game!”
He rolled, narrowly avoiding another beam, and sprinted away from the orb. He cradled his arm, fighting back tears as he hurried towards a tower. The first orb followed as the other two closed on his position.
Tiles rose in an ascending pattern around the spire, making a usable, albeit steep staircase to climb.
Taking three steps at a time, he burst onto the top. A glowing ring floated in front of him. Tentatively, he poked it. It dissolved in a shower of glitter.
“I’m Sonic the freaking hedgehog.”
A beam of incineration nicked his shoulder. The skin didn’t bubble and char like it had in the barn fire. It just hurt. He leapt off the tower grabbing a rope in his good hand. He wasn’t strong enough to hold on but he did slow his descent.
He grimaced, shaking his hand. He hated rope burn. An orb zoomed around the edge of the tower as the first orb fired beams from the top. Dakota rushed to a wall, wanting to put something solid behind him.
He reached the middle of the wall and ducked beside the statue for cover. This wasn’t working. The orbs were too quick, surely there was a method of destroying them?
Gritting his teeth, he set himself. He would only get one chance. The orbs had a cool-down period after they shot. That was his window. He poked his head out, spotting two of the orbs.
“Hey, you great big ugly fa..”
He ducked as two beams sliced through the space his head had occupied moments before. Bellowing, he rushed from behind the statue. And immediately wheeled as a third beam cut in front of him.
His back prickled. Turning, he realized he was in front of the statue and the glowing cir...
Dakota blinked, looking at the crystal wall.
“ATTEMPTS 1, COMPLETIONS 0.”
Jesus “baah’ed” behind him.
Wordless, he picked the lamb up and squeezed.
Stupid messed up training facility.