Rana ran on top of the rising tiles as the ceiling earth continued to rain down debris. The halls rumbled as the dirt below consumed the falling rubble. Large stones shattered as it crashed into the rising platform, its destruction was the thunder that accompanied the hailstorm of destruction.
The novice would be scared, the experienced would be watchful, and neither were the correct course of action.
When the beating light above the room glowered, the tunnel leading into the room would collapse and retreat was no longer an option. The fearful would find themselves stranded and eventually be overwhelmed by the increasing waves of heavy impacts. The presumptuous thought the challenge was elementary and they planned carefully, but they did not realize that these mines have claimed many lives who thought the same.
The torn walls and broken pillars were not of this room. They were the consequence of the constantly changing layout of the mines, of what the Dungeon consumed. Floor entrances themselves were the challenges, not whatever was outside of it.
The light above dimmed and Rana’s instincts flared. She jumped the side as the light brightened. A shadow appeared above her before a boulder crashed onto the platform and shattered. She did not let the interruption stop her. She had to pay attention to the death sentences from above, the room had a mind and would do anything to crush her. However, there was only one aspect of the room that remained undamaged and that was what she needed to be wary of. The giant tiles unfazed by all the destruction was where the traps of the room hid and waited.
Still, Rana had little time to contemplate the exact mechanism behind the trap. The reason she bolted the instant the room triggered its wake was due to the challenge being based on speed and reaction rather than careful planning.
The ceiling above would crush whatever remained on the elevated tiles and the dirt below swallowed whatever fell into it. The debris above fell faster and in greater numbers as time passed while the platform raised slowly, surely, and steadily. She wondered how else would the room bring about her death.
Rana continued to run forward. Staff in arm. She took a step and felt a slight shift under her right foot. Of course. The platform already had a means of bringing her up. It only needed a way to drop her. Fortunately, she already expected it. She gathered her weight and rolled forward. Her momentum brought her over the pit and she tumbled into safety.
The safety was only temporary.
Rana picked herself up and flung her body to the side as another boulder fell towards where she was. As long as she remembered that the room looked to kill her, she should be able to manage its attempts. The scrapes and shattered debris would’ve been dangerous as well, but thanks to the equipment she picked up earlier she was able to prevent those damage. They were minimal, but with low health and no health regeneration, they could prove to be fatal.
Rana did not stop and neither did the room. She saw the tip of a stone shaft but something felt off. The lights were bright. The room wanted her to dodge. She glanced at the sides and found small plates shifting slightly. She had to move forward.
Rana grasped the edge of her jacket and raised her arm over her head. The kingdom gave its high-ranking soldiers decent equipment, but she doubt it would be enough to mitigate the damage from stone crushing her from that far up. What it could do was prevent cuts to her already broken skin. She picked up her speed. When she reached just beneath the point of impact she took a large stride forward. The jagged rock cut at her skin, but the jacket prevent it.
Her foot landed in thin air.
Rana clicked her tongue but she remained calm. She was irritated at her own carelessness. She straightened her staff and allowed the ends to stop the fall. The plates to the side began to close. She gritted her teeth and pulled herself up and managed to escape from the fate of being cut in half.
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Rana felt she was off balance. She wondered if the fall and lurch rattled her brain but she soon realized it was because the floor was tilting. The giant platform was attempting to dump everything into the ground. She looked ahead to the exit. It was too far away. She had to run to the side.
Rana raced towards the edge as the elevation continued to climb. Her footing was beginning to slip as the pull of gravity began to take its grab onto her feet. There was still some distance, but it won’t be long before the downward fall overpowered her strength. She took a few steps and with a cry leapt towards the edge.
Her fingers reached the edge. Still, the platform continued to turn and before long she would lose her holding. She could attempt to run on the thin edge, but it at best gave her three steps to the side. It was too narrow and made dodging the dangers above more difficult.
Rana decided.
Rana waited for the tilt to reach a suitable degree before vaulting over the edge. She slid down, using her feet and palms to slow the descent. When the tilt was enough as a footing, she pushed herself up and began running forward. Her steps leaned to the edge on the other side, but they would soon correct themselves as the platform balanced itself back. That was when the true challenge began and she needed to be as close to her destination as possible when it happened.
The tile flattened. The falling stopped. The sound of gears turning and plates shifting ground to a halt. Only the echoes of her hurried steps. The room was silent but Rana knew it was only temporary.
The light above rang a slow hum then it exploded in a ring of light. The giant platform that was the ground she ran on split into hundreds of small tiles that only fit one step. The plates began to rise and fall, moving in opposite directions, but each direction was towards death.
Rana began to hop on one tile to another. She avoided the ones going down. They were traps. There were only a few more jumps left. She was close to the ceiling. She could make it.
With a yell she hopped past the formation of hovering tiles, their edges cut her skin as she squeezed past the opening between them. With a tumble, she landed on the other side of the room.
Rana lay flat on her back, the chill in her body spread into her mind as she tried to recover from the fall. She made it, she was alive.
Rana realized she was still in the room. She turned to the side and dodged a spike that shot up. She scrambled to her feet and crashed into the tunnels. She leaned on the dirt wall and looked into the floor entrance. The tiles in the air crashed onto the ground with a clap of thunder, raising dust within a sea of shattered constructs.
When the dust settled, the tiles were one once again. The room was silent. The giant weathered tile slept silently within a hallowed hall littered with broken walls and shattered pillars.
Rana looked towards the entrance of the room, the collapsed tunnel opened and revealed an entirely new path. The mines shifted when a floor entrance was triggered. It seemed like no expedition managed to discover that information. She would like to stay and ponder the reason why, but something else was on her mind.
Even if humanity did not have knowledge of that information, the same cannot be said of monsters. The Rot Mother definitely knew when the mine shifted and Rana just exposed her location. She had to hurry. She willed her groggy mind awake and began to move deeper into a level that would be far more dangerous than the one she barely survived.