Head swimming with the possibilities of what he had just witnessed. What he was able to do just then. Taking a step back, suddenly feeling lightheaded, Norbert fell onto the ground. Thinking about what he had just witnessed, what he had just done just moments before, the realisation of what he had just released into the world coming to fruition.

Looking down at his shaking hand not knowing if it was from shock or exhaustion, the ground past it catching his eye, Norbert saw a thin line and started still snaking in front of his eyes going along the floor. Norbert rubbed his hand along the floor, feeling it catch into what had caught his eye. Taking his glove off, allowing his bare skin to move freely against it, Norbert confirmed what he felt, there now being a slight crack in the floor, at least a meter away from the impact.

Spinning around, Norbert examined it along its edge, feeling it go thinner and thinner until it disappeared, about a meter and a half from the wall he had just punched. He was thankful it didn't extend down the hall, not wanting to explain a collapse of the mountainside due to his stupidity.

Breathing calmly, the stars having abated from his eyes and the dizziness receding away, Norbert stood up, not feeling as lightheaded as before, the world only slowly spinning with his sudden movement. Norbert traced the path of the energy within his body, confirming that it was slightly better than before, becoming more stable but still nowhere nearly as much as before, when the river was thick and rapidly flowing around his body, compared to the gently meandering river that it was now.

Obsius stared at him as he smiled at the bird. "Seriously, I'm all better now," Norbert told her.

The bird came forward again, landing on his head as she rapped on his forehead from above, Norbert returning with a smile as he rubbed his hand affectionately on the bird's head. Looking back at it, Norbert enhanced his magic vision as he looked at the grey stone wall with brown wisps flowing off and within it. Nothing was unexpected as he looked towards the crack he had just made in the wall.

The same brown wisps could be seen in the air, slowly dissipating as they disappeared from the space he just formed. Staring at it longer, Norbert turns his head in confusion. They are also spinning, chasing after the few brown wisps that remained, which these purple ones were chasing before both types disappeared in the air, leaving only the brown on the two sides of the crack remaining. Changing his vision back to normal, the brownness going away as the grey came out; Norbert looked at it, seeing the edges of the stone on either side.

Feeling the cracks and jagged pieces that made up what he did to the stone wall. Seeing hairline cracks branch out from either side reminded him of electricity-burning wood, the main path with hundreds branching out around it, trying to find the least resistance.

Squinting, Norbert looked at the crack, seeing he wasn't strong enough to go through the wall either, only more stone remaining. Looking back at where he came from, the white room was still visible from this side of the hall. Torn between two decisions, Norbert took out the coin, looking at the heads and tails as he thumbed it between his fingers, feeling the grooves around the coin's edge and the face of the queen on it.

Moving it to his lips, Norbert whispered, "Heads to the white room, tails through the wall." Norbert said as he flicked the coin in the air. Watching it rise, lower than when he usually did it, surprised at the amount he had lost as he watched it plummet. Catching it out of the air, palming it to his other hand, Norbert looked at what his fate had in store.

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Looking back up at him was the tail side. With apprehension, Norbert looked towards the crack in the wall, gulping as he wondered how thick this wall was. Putting his hand in the hole, Norbert extended his finger, feeling how much space he had. His index finger touched the back of the crack, his wrist where the rest of the wall should be.

Looking back at the whole, Norbert felt the energy within him, knowing it would take him much longer to regain than the time he had.

Opening his backpack, Norbert looked around, taking a bite of the rations he had in there. Norbert swallowed it down, followed by some water. She took a cracker for Obsius, knowing she would want one before she even insisted. A prideful look came to her as Norbert passed the biscuit over.

Sitting down, back leaning against the wall with his backpack next to him, Norbert finished the piece of jerky, biting into the rigid piece of meat as he looked at the rest of the hall. Feeling the excellent stone on his back, Norbert wondered how to escape this ever-growing maze.

No matter his move, the next step always confused him; nothing about this place had any rhyme or reason; it felt endless and entirely limited, forcing him to go on a pre-destined path.

Shaking his head in annoyance, Norbert took another bite of the jerky before popping the rest in his mouth. Looking at Obsius, sitting on top of his backpack as she ate, not wanting to be on the dusty floor as Norbert looked at the crumbs she was making.

Seeing her finished as well, Norbert cupped his hands while pouring some water, allowing the bird to drink from his hands. The bird flew away, signalling to Norbert that she had enough. Norbert drank the rest up before patting his hands dry on his pants, putting the water skin back on his backpack and placing it on his back.

Stretching himself, happy that he was now calm, Norbert looked at the wall. Rubbing his hand affectionately before patting it, Norbert said, "I'll be back for you." He said.

Walking away, Norbert felt inside, the purple energy racing around his body slightly more than before, a bit thicker now that he had eaten. He looked back at his backpack, knowing he couldn't get enough food to allow himself to replenish his used energy for another strike at the wall.

Keeping it in the back of his mind for later possibilities, if he could even recreate what he did, this time Norbert walked towards the white room again.

Obsius was already taking the lead, hopping on the ground as she waited for Norbert to catch up. Norbert jogged along, not using the torch anymore, this part of the hall being the same as before.

Walking forward, Norbert entered the white room as before. I looked once more up at the ceiling and the climbing ladder. He turned his head to follow the ladder down until it went down to the next floor below his current one.

Looking back at the hall, Norbert saw the marks just above the doorway leading into it, remembering when he saw it before, the number two blaring right at him. Norbert thought about what it meant as he thought about it being the second one.

The maze from above rang a bell; Norbert did not remember ever seeing a single dash going above the hall, knowing he could have easily missed something. Even finding this place was a challenge enough, dealing with Skelly and needing to be saved by Granny so much.

Knowing he was starting to spiral in his thoughts, he knew he would start to think about thinking, which would never result in anything good except for a lot of wasted time. Receives a chirp from Obsius, rattling Norbert from his cage, nodding at the bird as she flies down the hole ahead of Norbert, travelling to the following room below.

Norbert breathed in as he felt the energy again, the same amount as before; Norbert could not tell if there was a slight increase idly, but hoping there was, not wanting to stuff his face constantly.

Norbert climbed down the ladder as he thought about how much gold he would need to constantly eat like that, not wanting to even think about it. Reaching the floor of the room below, Norbert looked around, seeing it was identical to the others he had been in.

Landing on the floor, happy that there wasn't any dust, he breathed in, his scarf still around his neck, not having moved it up after eating the jerky—the dust in the hall above tickled his nose.

Looking around the room, it looked the same as before; staring at the doorway, his eyes glued to what was above it. There above the doorway were three slashes, Norbert knowing it was the number three of this place.

Pushing past his anxiety rising, Norbert entered the new hall, wondering what he would have to offer inside.