Level Tutorial of the Joker: Welcome to the Jungle
Then there was a voice, Terry could not tell if it was out loud or only in his head:
“Today for consideration and tutorial, we have Terrance Benjamin Owens. Terry, as he prefers, is invited to the Joker’s Tutorial ‘Welcome to the Jungle’!!! You will need to choose one of the pre-laid paths through the trees. Make your way to the end to receive a prize. This is a tutorial, complete the challenges as they come and you see fit. GOOD LUCK TERRY!!!”
The voice did not seem to echo as the message finished. There were 5 different paths around him and each went in a different direction and were blocked from view by turns and the prevailing brush. Terry decided one path was as good as any other and started to make his way forward. After a few steps he stopped and looked behind him. A black wall was where he had started, it was impenetrable to sight and he knew there was no turning back.
Terry continued on the trail. It was narrow, barely wide enough for him to walk along without turning sideways to avoid a branch or the strange bushes. What made the bushes strange, was the sticky residue on the leaves whenever he brushed against one. Something told him to not let that residue get on his skin.
After a bit he got to a hole, he was able to step across, but the existence of the hole felt like a testing of his skills, as if the obstacles in his path would get greater and greater. The black wall behind him was not close, but he could feel it there, almost like a looming presence that pushed him forward. He began to move faster, at first it was a simple jog.
The view around him was not pleasant and added to his unease. The trees were blocking all sight lines and Terry felt a pressure as he moved along. It had stared in his stomach then his chest it grew to a feeling of isolation from the world around him when it truly sunk in.
Terry only partook in one type of sport in school, it was a distraction more than anything and the only other distractions at his boarding school were books and designated computer time for class work or leisure on the weekends. That sport was cross county or long distance running, Terry was not big and strong like other boys that played basketball or football. He did not have the hand eye coordination that others had honed, he had endurance. Terry used this endurance to run and jog for an obscene amount of time. His longest time on the college team was a three and a half hours circuit during the competition season. He did not do this every week, but he always tried to run a decent 45 min to an hour long run three times a week to keep fit in the off seasons of the sport. A light jog like this could be kept for a very long time.
“It is fine, you’re fine. What is there to go back to? Moving forward is the best option” Terry often talked to himself, if he did not have his headphones in during a run. He was alone and he had a direction. This was not a dream he felt the world around him, the sticky bushes and rustling as an unseen breeze moved the branches and leaves around him. This was a world, a new world, and an exciting adventure.
“No one has done this before and I could see real magic and new races. Aliens! That sounds like a good time, really. I need new experiences! This will be fun” He rambled a bit knowing he was alone and there was one to respond to him.
The next notable obstacle was another hole, this one was too large to simply step over and Terry saw it as he jogged up and did a leap.Terry was not unathletic, He also tried track in field at the boarding school, they did not have a dedicated team at his college for any running sports it was more of a club. He did a mile in about 11:06, and could keep a pace for a long period even finishing a half marathon in his freshman year in about two hours. The hurdles were his favorite, his endurance allowed him to place in several races where others became tired or burned out. The Cross County teams in his school trained and competed in large parks and had to run and practice on trails much like this.
He jumped another hole in the path and came to a stop at the next one. It had to be about 15 feet across. There was a sort of help with this one though, two swinging rope-like vines. It reminded him of an old video game as the ropes were swinging of their own accord toward and away from him. He took a few steps back and timed his first jump to grab the swinging vine. He did a quick dart and jumped, as the rope came towards him. He grasped it in each hand and swung first back (the rope was sorta moving on its own) then forward as he prepared to reach for the second rope. He made the transition almost smoothly like an amateur Tarzan. He thought of the children's film and the song popped in his mind, "Son of Man” by Phil Collins.
He smiled thinking back to watching that movie in theaters. It came out around his birthday and he was 11, his mom took him to see it. As he moved to the next jump of three swinging vines with a log to dodge swaging perpendicular part way through, as he remembered the day itself. Terri’s boyfriend at the time had really liked Disney and went with them to see the film, it had been his 3rd or 4th time seeing it actually. He had been one of the good guys, probably why he did not last long. Terri usually was attracted to drama and often made decisions to spice up a relationship. The thing that had broken Terri and the Disney guy up had been a misunderstanding between him and a female coworker that Terri thought he was too close to.
They broke up about two weeks after that particular outing and Terry was sad to lose a buddy. He never really felt it was his mother's fault, but as he thought of it now over 10 years later swinging like Tarzan from vine to vine, he found that he did blame his mother for that. Did she just not feel comfortable without an argument or something to push against? Her and Ron had stayed together because Ron always controlled and commanded… Was that what she wanted?
As he landed on the other side and went back to jogging his mind twisting with the questions on this past event and possible epiphany, he almost ran into the next obstacle.
He started moving uphill. The incline was not very steep but it did turn left and right making it difficult to keep track of the path. He came to a wall, about 10 feet tall, looming in his path. It had hand holds like a practice rock climbing wall at a park or playground. They were even bright primary colors against the rock wall. It did not take him long to climb it, but when reached the top there was a small ledge and another wall to climb, this one at least 20 feet vertical.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
“Not sure I like where this is going” he said as he moved up to the wall and began grabbing the hand holds. He was only one grip up when he reached for a handhold and it fell off the wall into his hand. He fell back on his butt and looked at the red object in his hand then at the wall. There was a red handhold near him and he gripped it, testing. Sure enough, it came off easily. “Well now, I really don’t like that” he said looking at the wall noting the over use of these red hand holds in the design.
He began to climb again, paying close attention to how he placed his hands and feet. It was slower going, but he got to the top without another fall. He was unhappy to see another wall, this one had similar handholds and was closer to 40 feet tall. “Beginner, intermittent, and expert I guess. I wonder if there is a trick here?” he questions looking at the colorful hand holds. There were a good number of each, he reached for a red and it let go after a moment making it so he might have time to use them really quick before reaching for another. The yellow ones were hot to touch, he could stand the heat for a few moments giving him a chance to reach for another. The blue ones were very cold to touch and he realized that if he went from blue to yellow it could burn him less. This was going to be difficult.
He was puzzling out a path from below when he was struck with a particular feeling. It was like in the cross country races. Often when moving through the paths in the park you did not see fellow runners till you passed them or visa versa. There was a tingle that Terry felt like a racer was coming up behind to pass him and he looked back. The black impenetrable wall was moving towards him. It was eating up the distance on the first wall now and knew he had to move.
Terry did not hesitate and started with a yellow in his left and blue in his right. He would try his best to keep each hand to one color trying to use the blue more. With his feet it did not matter as much at first, but he felt the rubber of his sole melting after a few times using a yellow for the steps. He was about a third of the way up when the blackness swallowed the halfway point on the second wall. He did not want to look back, but he stumbled on a red and he tried to move faster.
His hands often slipped off of the blue holds now from the cold numbness in their grip, but as he reached for a yellow, he swore there was a sizzle. That is when he found a clue. In the wall itself, there was a divot very much like the hand holds. He was about half way up when he saw this one and then another within reach of that. He moved to using them instead and the path from these divots was easier to traverse. That clown called these levels like in a video game, I guess this is like a secret or tactical way. I need to keep my eyes open here and think outside the box when I can.
Just as Terry reached the top, the darkness behind him began swallowing the tallest wall. He continued to move forward to not be swallowed himself. There was only a small landing in front of him and he saw a decline slope leading down and around. Moving down hill was much simpler and allowed for a good increase in speed. It did not help with the first obstacle he faced, another hole. This one was no larger than a step but there was only room for one foot on the other side before another black deep hole a step wide appeared and then another. The holes were placed so that he could not miss a step!
After 5 or 6 of the step holes, the obstacle changed to wider holes; Terry now leapt across one leg at a time. He could see ahead this theme continued. This slowed his jog considerably, the leaps getting a little further each time. He did not want to miss a jump, he recalled side scroller platformer games where the deep blackness simply swallowed up the player if they fell in, he did not want to find out if that were the case here.
Terry looked back after the first standing long jump he had to complete. This hole was about 7 feet and he just barely made it across. Landing and huffing out a breath he saw the black wall was moving down the path of stepping holes. When he looked forward he saw he had about 3 more jumps to make. These had larger landing areas allowing him to get a bit of a start before his leap, the holes as a result were a lot longer the last was easily 10 feet across. He had to rush it for these last jumps and then sprint to stay ahead of the wall of darkness. He began a take off for the next jump.
As Terry flew through the air he decided to keep going and not be careful as he had been on the jumps before. He landed running and flew across the second gap barely landing on the ledge before the final hole. He knew right away he was not going to make the last jump, but his momentum did not let him stop to think of another plan.
“Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, oh ssssshhhhiiiiittttttt!” he exclaimed as he ran his arms flailing for his final leap over the darkness. Running in the air as he reached for the ledge and Terry began falling short and into the hole. His hands slapped the edge and he was just able to hold on. He was slightly surprised when he swung and did not hit a wall, like he was hanging above a void holding onto a floating platform. Terry pulled up as hard as he could. This was not like climbing out of a pool, but like trying to do a chin up on a bar. The situation however, gave him adrenaline and he forced his way up enough to get a foot on and roll on to the path floor. He huffed with exertion looking back at the approaching wall. Seeing that it had swallowed all the leaping holes, he pushed himself up and began to sprint to create distance. But the next obstacle was neither a hole nor a wall.
He saw it briefly as he came around a corner. WOOSH! Something swung across the path, and he saw a gauntlet of swinging obstacles moving left to right and right to left across the trail.
“You gotta be kidding me, man…” Terry let out still breathing heavily from the climbing, leaping and running. The darkness was eating the road behind him and he had only one way to go. He tried to get the timing right, but after the first and second swinging pole he got hit by the third. It smacked his shoulder as he tried to turn himself out of the way and he went down between two poles and turned around. He then saw the dark wall moving forward like a spreading ink stain on white paper. He did not have time to sit, he had to move.
Terry did not pay attention to the timing and was smacked several times for his trouble. Each time he tried to make a forward fall over any of the sides. He was determined to reach the other side and not be swallowed by that black wall behind him. The poles were not hindered or stuttered as they wooshed by or plowed him over.
Terry was so focused on getting to the other side, he didn’t even notice when he passed the final swinging pole and got to the final sprint. Once he realized, he looked back to see the poles being swallowed by the darkness. Terry sprinted terrified by the possibilities the darkness held. In front of him the path continued in a decline toward an opening in the center of the thick forest. He did not have long to go, but Terry swore the darkness was gaining as he ran.
With a last roar of exertion Terry broke out of the path to the clearing. A feeling of completion came over him and he doubled over panting, his heart racing. Terry looked back up the path to see the final moments of the darkness. Once it reached the clearing, it faded away showing the path he had run.
“Well that is a relief” Terry let out a contented sigh still hunched over.
“Ya you did alright, I nearly screamed when you missed that jump.” Terry spun around at the light feminine voice, but there was no one near him.
“Where are you? Were you watching me?” he questioned the silence around him.
“I was watching you, it was quite a show, and look down before you step on me or something” Terry followed the instructions, looking down to see a familiar turtle in the grass at his feet. It was looking up at him almost expectedly. “Heya, I am your Rosa” the turtle seemed to smile.