While he caught his breath, Lyle scanned the shoreline for any hint of what task he had to complete to escape. Aside from the beach where he had started his journey, there were three other inlets where visible land rose from the water, the four together positioned at the cardinal points of the lake. It even looked like he might be able to reach the one straight across from him, if the trajectory of his path continued unaltered. A flickering orange light came from that beach—Lyle thought it was a flame, but he was too far to be certain. The two others, far to his left and right, had some kind of metal brazier set into the ground, but the distance made it impossible to tell for sure what he was looking at.

Then the stones rose again, prodding Lyle to continue his journey.

The time between them sinking and rising was shorter this time, which Lyle hoped was a good sign but feared was the opposite. He also happened to notice that the stones closer to the center of the lake had sunk first, with the outer ones following a few seconds later.

Lyle prepared himself again, then stepped off the larger platform. The fish began to jump again, forcing him to cut them out of the air or be sliced to ribbons.

It was difficult to keep track of time in this place, but it was easily half an hour before he reached the next safe haven. He still wasn’t even halfway across the lake, but he was relieved when he touched sanctuary because the runes had begun to glow just as he stepped onto the platform. He was almost certain that the steps had been up for a shorter time this round, which meant he would have to hurry if he wanted to make it all the way across before finding himself dropped into the water.

After catching his breath and waiting for the stones to rise again, Lyle continued his journey, though with a bit more speed in his gait. It only took twenty minutes to reach the next platform, which seemed to be nearly in the center of the lake. He could see three other platforms from his position, each directly in between what was likely the center of the body of water and one of the beaches.

The runes had not begun to glow yet, but he waited. Within minutes, the sinking process occurred. He had been right. The speed of the cycles was increasing. If it kept going at his rate, would he even be able to make it to the other beach before they rose and sank so quickly that crossing was impossible?

When the path rose again, Lyle observed that the steps began rising in the center and flowed outwards like dominoes in reverse. He took a quick minute to investigate each of the nearby platforms and see if he could identify any specifics about the beaches towards which they pointed.

The platforms were smooth and unremarkable, but now that he was closer to the center of the lake, he could see the beaches with more clarity. He was certain now that the beach directly across from him held a bonfire of some kind, and the two on either side still appeared to be braziers. That made his goal relatively clear. He had to light the braziers with the fire from the far side of the lake.

Easy enough, if only the steps would stay put long enough for him to do so.

He sped up even more as he made his way toward the beach. The fish had proved ineffectual at harming him, but they were certainly making it difficult to keep up the speed he wanted. When he reached the next platform, he had mere seconds before the steps fell in the same order they had risen—outward from the center.

Lyle needed a new plan. He wouldn’t make it to the next haven at this rate. He had an idea, but it might get him killed. He believed in his Kindled body’s speed, though, and he had to try if he was certain to fall into the water on his next crossing.

When the steps rose once more, Lyle took off at a sprint, surprising the jumping fish who passed through the space where he had been seconds before. He concentrated on pumping his legs and maintaining his balance, praying that he wouldn’t slip or get hit by a fish.

He reached the haven nearest the shore in mere minutes, his speed shocking even to him. It had been clear to him that he was getting faster and stronger as he grew used to his Kindled body, but he hadn’t expected quite so obvious a difference. Usually results like this took Embers at least a few weeks, and his Kindling had been mere days before.

He waited patiently. The steps sank and then rose, and he took off once more.

He took to the shore mere moments before the stones fell again, despite not pausing in his headlong rush for even a moment. He heaved deep breaths, and a problem occurred to him—how was he going to make it back to the middle if the steps rose outwards? He probably had extra time in the direction of the shore because he was following the pattern, but if he tried to fight against the current, he would be swept away. Lyle would have to wait and hope the cycle changed soon, because he certainly wouldn’t make it back to a haven now, even at his fastest.

The flame presented another problem. If he moved too quickly, he might well put it out. If he didn’t move quickly enough, he would fall into the water and it would go out. And probably die.

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This labyrinth wasn’t a puzzle of directions, but one of balance between speed and safety.

The fire itself blaze with orange, yellow, and red flames within an inset brazier that hadn’t been visible from offshore. Five torch handles rested on the edge of the container and fell down into the center where they burned, but the flames didn’t climb the wood as they might a tree whose base has been lit.

Lyle grasped one of the handles and began to pull it out of the brazier so he could attempt to get it to the other beaches when he heard a rush of movement behind him. He instantly dropped the torch, which fizzled out as soon as it hit the ground, and jumped to the side.

A tentacle whipped through the space he had just fled as an eldritch monster pulled itself ashore, grasping at the ground with its many other limbs. It was octopus-like, though more substantial and muscled in its body. As it came onto shore fully, Lyle realized it had some kind of reptilian limbs aside from just its tentacles, giving it easy mobility on land.

It was also the size of a car.

Lyle cursed, dodging once more. The thing didn’t appear to be as fast as he was, but it had ten limbs to attack him with, and if one of those tentacles got a good grip…

Lyle assumed his insides and outsides would be involuntarily switching places.

There wasn’t quite enough space on the beach to maneuver around it, but Lyle was able to keep out of range and lead it to one side of the beach while he backed away. He found himself circling the brazier while it followed in a merry chase. It knocked into the metal a couple of times, causing him to wince as he imagined what would happen to him if all the torches went out. Fortunately, the brazier and torches didn’t even budge despite the horrible beast’s immense mass.

To get close enough to deal a fatal blow, Lyle would have to reduce its range, so he attempted to cut off a diseased-looking tentacle.

He made a swipe at it with his black blade. The edge sliced through the rubbery flesh easily, reducing the length of the tentacle by a few feet and eliciting a guttural roar from the beast that shook the ground beneath his feet. He covered one ear with his free hand and flinched as the noise washed over him, hoping it wouldn’t suddenly become more cautious in its advance. If it were intelligent, he would stand no chance.

His fears were unfounded. It barreled onwards recklessly, and Lyle began to methodically slow his retreat as he cut his way closer and closer to the monstrosity. He chopped off two feet of a tentacle here, a foot there, until he reduced its reach enough to allow it a step closer. It flailed and screeched with pain each time he injured it, but it was otherwise heedless of its loss of limbs. Still it mindlessly chased him until he was finally able to stab his blade directly into its eye after ducking and weaving around the many shortened limbs. Lyle relaxed and took a breath of relief, only to be slammed by a tentacle stump and tossed to the side. He rolled to a stop and gasped for the air that had been knocked out of his lungs.

Of course it didn’t die, Lyle thought sarcastically through the pain as he tried to push himself up. No, that would be too easy.

It was nearly on top of him. It reached out to grasp Lyle’s leg with its reptilian claws before he could react, and yanked him to the ground once more. It started pulling him underneath itself, presumably to crush or eat him with some horrifying approximation of a mouth. He fought and slashed his entire way, opening up wounds that dropped gouts of inky blood. In moments the beach was saturated with oily blackness.

It began to slow, finally, when he stabbed upwards into the bottom of it. He frantically carved his blade through its underside, and gallons of goop dropped onto him as he cut pieces away and put holes in its hide.

Finally, it gave one last shudder and collapsed directly on top of him.

Spewing the creature’s viscous innards and struggling to get himself out from under it, Lyle thanked his lucky stars there had been only one. He looked down at himself and wanted to curse the stupid thing for making him so vomit-inducingly filthy, but that was hardly his biggest problem. Still, it was disgusting—dirt and sweat were one thing, but this smell of rotten fish and the gelatinous substance that painted his body were absolutely vile. It made him want to bathe in lava to make absolutely sure no trace of it remained on his body. Sure, no trace of his flesh would be left either, but that seemed a small price to pay.

He shook as much of it off as he could and even rolled around in the dusty dirt and brown grass to try and wipe it away. He had a little success, but not as much as he would have liked, so he ended up washing his face with some of the water he had brought along in a pack and hoping that he wouldn’t need to drink it later.

Lyle rested a few minutes and watched a couple cycles of the stepping stones rising and falling. When his heart rate returned to normal, he stood up.

The steps had returned, so he started out onto the pathway at a decent pace with one of the torches in hand. He had to cut down the fish again, but that was better than trying to sprint and thus putting the torch out. He got into a rhythm, and began to feel confident he would make it across, but his luck didn’t last. Within a few minutes of stepping onto the first step, he noticed the runes lighting up on the path in front of him, and he wasn’t safely in range of one of the larger platforms.

Lyle cursed under his breath and turned around, just barely catching sight of the stones dropping underwater a few more steps towards the center. He had to speed up or the stepping stones would drop right out from under him.

At a sprint, he avoided the fish and managed to keep his balance, but the torch went out, leaving only three left in the brazier for him to complete his task. He made the shore, and watched several cycles of the steps moving so quickly that once the step closest to the shore rose, he could already see the light that indicated their imminent sinking in the distance. He had no hope of reaching sanctuary, so he settled down to wait next to the fire, not taking his eyes off of the water.