I randomly picked another one to test it and the stone didn’t light up, an arrow was shot out and the first stone stopped glowing.

I got off of the stones and sighed. It was just a big version of the small one I had just done. I hope Phuaphua didn’t fall asleep before I finished since it’d be annoying to get him on my shoulders like that. Me moving would keep him awake, but I didn’t want to get him hurt on this one.

I just did it systematically. I stepped on the first stone the furthest to the left and then tested the next ones I could step on from that one. I didn’t want to have to start over each time but even after the arrows fired and the lights went away, the arrows wouldn’t stop till I got off of the one I was standing on. I doubted it was exactly the same as the mini puzzle, and with this many stones I probably only had to make a path across the room and not touch them all. So, I just went along the first row until I found the right step to take in the second row.

I continued from there eventually making it all the way across the room. After going back and forth with each failure, the pattern really managed to stick in my head.

Once I stepped off of the final tile the door opened.

“Phashk, rhogae!” I sighed.

The door opened but when I went to go get Phuaphua and stepped on a random stone it reset the whole thing and the door closed.

“Tskham, you knew that it’d reset, come on, think!” I yelled at the ceiling.

I just walked back over it letting the arrows crash into my aura before starting again.

Since I was pretty confident, I had managed to memorize it, I put Phuaphua back on my shoulders and stepped across.

I mean if I was really nervous, I would’ve just left him at the other side and tested going back on the same stones, since I didn’t want him to get hurt.

I made it all the way without issues and went through the door. After a straight line and one turn, we made it to the final room. I looked at the tall wall across from me and saw circles lit up by a bright green glow going up the wall.

There were about six rows and eight columns but not all of the rows had holes in the column.

“Phashk’kyem… that’s what those rods were for.”

There were probably more on the other paths between the big rooms.

With how many rows there were I’d probably need at least four more. Who ever made this stupid place really wanted puzzles to the very end.

I’m sure who ever that was had a really punchable face.

I turned and trudged back to the stairs before taking a light jog up them.

“You’re almost done, Ihrhis. Almost done.” I muttered.

After the stairs I took the side pathway and hit three dead ends before finding another puzzle.

This one was weird, and not too similar to the others I had done. There was a stack of small wooden boards and a wall with pegs in them. Sand was falling down from a hole to the left and there was a hole at the bottom on the right. I sat down so that the puzzle was at eye level and started to get to work.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

The pegs weren’t all evenly spaced out and the boards were all different sizes. It would be trial and error to find the right ones but once I put one in, I couldn’t take it out. I tried finishing it but didn’t make it and ran out of boards.

The pegs then slid into the wall dropping all the boards down before sticking back out again.

So, I’d have to commit to decisions on each attempt. Very time wasting.

I was in my third go at it by the time Phuaphua had completely lay down on my head and yawned.

I was glad he wasn’t hungry, but I wanted to finish sooner than later since climbing up with him asleep would probably be more annoying.

Halfway through the third try I realized I messed up a few boards earlier, so I just stuck the rest in randomly to clear the slate quickly.

I finished in the fourth try, took the bar and went back through the tile puzzle since there weren’t any other paths for me to take. I tested walking back through it on the lit up tiles and it worked so I took my steps carefully before heading up the stairs on the other side.

I found the fourth mini puzzle after multiple dead ends and did a mini version of the light path one all over again.

I had to go back through the third room and found two puzzles right next to each other. One was some spinning circle thing and making the patterned lines line up properly. Like the rope one moving one circle moved another while one only moved on its own. I finished it quicker than I was expecting to and moved onto the final one.

This one seemed slightly familiar, but I couldn’t remember why.

It was vertical and set in the wall. There was one wooden ball, and the others were blocks. They slid along specific paths and I had to get the ball to slide all the way down and through a hole in the bottom.

After six moves the puzzle would reset itself. And it took me about eight tries before I managed it in four moves.

With all the bars I went right back to the final room with that stupid wall.

The path up wasn’t clear, yet again another puzzle. The height wasn’t one that wouldn’t necessarily be unjumpable for me. I really wanted to punch whoever made these puzzles.

I mean if I could solve them, they weren’t that difficult so who would spend time setting this up? Just seemed like a huge waste of time to me.

A punchable face would be very nice to see after all of this, it would be great if they were waiting for me after this. I could get a good swing in on them, would feel a lot better after that.

I looked up the wall and planned out the paths. One right path, and I probably had to stick with the one I picked.

I worked backwards starting from the door. With only six and not using my strength to my advantage, planning a path was annoying. I probably had to put them all in the right spots for the door to even open.

Down, over left, down and over left, down, down, over left, down.

How many moves was that?

I stuck out my fingers, down, over left, down and over left, down, down, over left, down.

Seven.

That doesn’t work.

I mean the first two moves look like the only options unless I just throw myself up from the last peg.

So, down, over left, down, over right? Three.

That puts me halfway down, but there’s nothing directly under that.

I looked back up and then hit myself in the face annoyed.

I was counting from immediately under the door platform, that probably wouldn’t work at all.

Let’s try the right.

Down, over right and down, over left and down, over right…. That’s four.

Left would be over, over, and then down, so seven.

Right would be over and then down, so six.

“Alright Ihrhis, time to do it.”

With Phuaphua on my back I started climbing. I had to leave the extra pegs at the bottom, and climb down to get the next two, I kept one in my mouth.

Phashk’kyem, time consuming as always.

I swear when I get to the top if that stupid door doesn’t open….

Luckily, I wasn’t screwed when I got to the top. The door opened and, now it seems I entered the real final room.

Across from me was a child like person with horns and a thin leathery tail sitting on a chair.

“Welcome challenger! Finally, someone’s come to entertain.” The child got off and sauntered towards me, “you don’t know how long I was waiting. I mean I thought a drought would be pressing enough that people would come to find a solution sooner.”

His face was very punchable. But when I thought I had connected with it my arm went straight through.