With a running start, Maggie jumped to the next platform and began her pursuit after the imps at full speed. Skipping from platform to platform, she tried to match the distance between them, praying that she didn't trip down to her death every time she momentarily lost her balance when a smaller platform wobbled down under her weight.
But one thing was getting increasingly clear; she was losing them.
The Imps, she noticed, were going in a specific direction; following a path that seemed to lead to a structure far ahead, built low against a massive rocky landmass. Its entrance was a gaping maw that seemed to eat all light around it. Very ominous. Maggie took one good look at it and decided that she, under no circumstances, would like to enter that thing, thank you very much. So she better stop those Imps before they get there.
Well, that might be harder to do than she anticipated.
The Imps, it seems, took one good look at her slugging behind, and snickering, started to split between a multitude of smaller paths leading to the same landmass. “Dang it, they are splitting apart!”
Choose one and follow!
From a higher platform, Maggie quickly scanned the paths the Imps seemed to be going through, looking for the ‘less adventurous' one, quickly getting to the conclusion that they all seemed to screw her over one way or another, and she didn't have enough time to stop and analyze her options to not make a choice in the heat of the moment. In the end, she followed a particularly cheeky Imp —one that seemed too fond of showing their behinds to her— through a path with only a couple of long, uneven platforms, leading to a floating wooden bridge in the far right of the rocky landmass. The problem with this path? The last platform was too far from the bridge for her to be comfortable jumping to. But thankfully, one of those wire thingies seemed to be slowly wobbling a little over the platform, between it and the bridge. So maybe, just maybe, she could use it to gain enough momentum to get to the bridge.
A new plan formed in her mind, she sped up after the Imp, ignoring the fleeting little voice in the back of her head saying that this was madness and focusing on the bigger, bossy voice telling her she had less than forty minutes left to live.
Getting close to it, she noticed the wire had a strange carbon-like color. It was smooth at some points and rough at others, with some fiber-like figments appearing beneath its smooth surface. Taking a better look at it, it actually seemed like some kind of cluster made of a few different wire-like appendices, covered by a thin membrane that looked suspiciously like muscles under one's skin. She couldn’t help but wince at that thought. Regardless, this was her only path forward, and she was too close now to back down. Shaking the thoughts out of her head, she sped up, and getting an impulse, jumped as far and as high as she could, reaching for the wire.
In the heartbeat between her jump and her target, she felt her stomach drop and tried as hard as possible not to look down or think of how foolish her idea was, and as soon as she touched the wire, she failed at both of them.
As her palms clasped against the wire’s surface, to her surprise, she felt an electric current immediately course through her body. Not strong enough to hurt her, or make her muscles clamp against its surface. But strong enough to make her feel a spike of pain and sudden panic. And in a split second, she fought her body for control of her reflexes, to not let go too soon and fall to a painful searing death. She would have succeeded, were not for the massive pain she felt as soon as her injured hand closed against the electrified surface. It felt like a strange mix of pain and itchiness, like a blade going further into her hand at the same time as thousands of ants marched under her skin. Before she could ever react to it, her left hand slipped the wire and she found out her upper body was NOT strong enough to hold her weight with only one hand. In that moment, she could only force her body forward, to get enough momentum to hopefully push her as far as possible, as her body started to plummet in an awkward fall towards the later end of the bridge.
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“Crap, crap crap!” With the measly momentum she gained before releasing the wire, Maggie’s body was launched towards the floating bridge, awkwardly tumbling through the air until her torso hit the edge of the bridge’s board. Its wooden surface immediately punched deep into her stomach, hitting her solar plexus and forcefully expelling all the air from her lungs, making her cough and grasp for oxygen as she panickingly scratched the wood, trying to find enough purchase to avoid falling as her body started to slide down with her weight. Amidst her panic, she found a crevice between two boards, and without thinking, punched her palm deep into it to stop her fall. She yelped in pain as her weight pulled her down, smashing her fingers between the wooden boards, but stopping her fall.
“Any… help!?” She asked in a strained voice, panting and grunting from exertion.
I’m afraid I can only provide you with moral support.
Growling at Belinda’s not very supportive moral support, Maggie mustered all her resolve and took a few final deep breaths, “Come on, Maggie… You can… Do… This!” With a tremendous effort, she started pulling her body onto the bridge, feeling her already sore arms and fingers straining ever further. It felt like her biceps were going to snap at any moment, with how far she had been pushing her muscles. She swore in that moment to never skip gym again in this life, and get as ripped as possible once she gets out of this place. With one last growl, she pushed herself upwards and rolled onto her back, grasping for air furiously. She was finally secured on stable ground. Well, as stable as a floating bridge can be.
As soon as Maggie’s feet, well, Maggie’s bum, touched the bridge, the Imp stopped moving and turned its body towards her, looking around, suspiciously coy. They, well, she —Maggie noticed once she was close enough to make out the Imp’s features— seemed to be hiding something behind her body.
“Come on, Maggie. Not… Stopping… Now.” Groaning, with some effort, Maggie got up and started to push herself forward, towards the cheeky Imp.
“Oh, boy. This bridge does not look safe at all.” She finally took a good look at the bridge. It seemed like a very flimsy thing. On each side, it had some strange, sturdy metal beans. But the wooden boards themselves were dry and broken in many different places, and with each step, it felt like they were slightly dislodged, wobbling in their sockets. She was surprised the board that arrested her fall didn’t break on impact. But as she moved close enough to look at what the Imp was hiding with her body, she suddenly stopped in her tracks.
“Wait… That looks like a lever. Why is there a lever on the other side of a bridge, Belinda?” And there it was, a small, metal lever, planted in the rock near the side of the bridge.
Maggie, get out of the bridge, fast!
Putting two and two together, Maggie realized why there would be a lever close to a bridge, and panicking, immediately tried to bolt towards the other end. The imp took one good look at her, and with a smirk, took one step to the side, towards the lever. Close enough to pull it in a second.
Maggie immediately stopped in her tracks, getting into a low crouch, extending her arms forward, trying to not look threatening. “Okay, okay! Come on little fella, don’t be hasty!”
The Imp looked back at Maggie, tilting her head to the side, faking a confused expression. She pressed one finger to her mouth, as if thinking about what to do next, and then extended her little hand toward the lever.
“Don—!” Maggie cut herself short and continued in a more calm and sweet voice. “Don’t pull it. We can be friends, right? I’m sorry. I won’t hurt you,” Carefully, she took a couple of steps forward. “Here, have a biscuit.” Slowly, she picked up a biscuit she was saving in her pocket, well, most of a biscuit; it got a bit beaten up with all the falling and rolling she was doing, mostly the falling. “You want a biscuit, right?” Maggie tried to give her most genuine and warm smile. And for a moment she thought it would work. The little Imp, now curious, slowly moved forward, reaching for the biscuit and grabbing at it with her tiny little hand. Maggie's smile grew at that. See! Maybe she wouldn’t need to kill the little critters after all. She was sure she could better face her challenges forward if she could befriend them. They didn’t try to kill her at first, after all.
As soon as the Imp secured the biscuit in her mouth, she extended her arm towards the lever and in one quick motion, pulled it all the way back. “YOU—!” Maggie’s smile was immediately broken, replaced by a face of utter astonishment, as almost instantaneously, the flimsy bridge’s boards underneath her contracted inside its metal beans, revealing the abyss below her. “—MOTHERFLUFFEEEEER!”
She started falling.