Aion's laugh boomed in the distance.
"Very well! If you are that eager to be killed, then be my guest!"
Just then, the torches that surrounded me on the walls all sprung to life, the blaze providing me some light in the pitch darkness that was before me. I could see a little deeper into each path, but nothing was different from before. Then, the thing that broke my fall was revealed to me, although it wasn't what I was expecting. A giant stone slab? I put my hand on it, and it was rock solid, landing on that would've killed me immediately. But, there was nothing else around. My only guess is that the stone is magic and becomes soft enough to save a life once you reach a point where it would normally take one.
I took another look around to get as much information as I could, then I noticed something. All eight of the paths had a different symbol carved into them. I heard Aion laugh in the distance, making me grind my teeth, this man was starting to get on my nerves.
I approached the path that was directly in front of where I was standing, the path marked with a snake. In the distance, I heard a rumble, and then Aion's voice.
"Fredrick! I've taken a liking to you, so I will give you some advice. Be sure to save your stamina! Haha, good luck!"
Very helpful advice, for sure. Nonetheless, he told me more than he thinks he did. Now I know that either what's in here is a long endurance challenge, or I will have to go through all 8 of these rooms. Although, something told me he was lying about taking a liking towards me, and just said that to everyone in order to lure them into a false sense of security.
I took a careful step into the room, and as I did a large stone door dropped behind me, cutting off my escape as well as my light source. Continuing on in the pitch black darkness, I felt my way along the wall until eventually I had hit a left turn. Upon turning, I saw what this challenge would be. A giant stone serpent lay upon a giant pillar. The pillar was in the center of a giant room that was lit up dimly with torches all around the circular walls. Around the pillar, were small stone slabs held up by weak looking wood pillars. Below all that was pitch darkness that I can only assume would lead to my demise. Upon my entering, the serpent eyes glowed to life and became a sharp green color. It's gaze locked in on me, seemingly reading my every thought. As if to reinforce this idea, its tail slapped on the ground, eagerly awaiting me to fall into its clutches.
Aion's voice rang through the distance again.
"Fredrick! As I do with all challengers, I'll explain the rules of this game to you. As I'm sure you've guessed by now, you have to make it to the other side of this pit. However, the twist is my pet, Jerrey, the snake, will attempt to eat you. Also, some of the stones that you need to jump on, are fakes and will immediately send you to your death. Additionally, you have ten minutes. Time starts now, good luck!"
Oh great, this is gonna be a fucking pain.
Suddenly, a giant clock appeared in the ceiling, slowly ticking down to my defeat. But, there was one thing Aion didn't know. I never lose.
The time to think was nonexistent, however, I had an idea already of what I'd do. I could use the serpent to my advantage.
I quickly jumped on the platform right in front of me. It wobbled slightly, but held firm. My plan was to bait the serpent into knocking out the fake platforms. The platforms clearly made a circle around the center pillar with the snake, and branched off into two separate paths around the pillar. The exit was on the opposite side of me.
The serpent roared and swept its tail around the vicinity. I jumped over it, my shoes grazing the serpent's skin. As my feet landed on the ground, I jumped towards one of the platforms to my left. As my feet connected with the stone, I felt something snap below me, so I quickly leaped back to the starting platform and landed just in time to see the spot I was just standing fall into nothingness.
"Haha! See, Fredrick. You need to be careful! As I'm sure you've figured out by now, the platforms will only get more difficult as you progress!" Aion's voice mocked from above.
He was right, I saw this earlier but didn't take active note until now. The stones further in the back were much smaller compared to the ones up here. They were large enough for me to stand on, but I doubt I'd be able to move around on them, which would make my general strategy obsolete.
Just then my brain surged again, all my thoughts flew through at rates I had never been able to achieve before, and I was able to see everything perfectly. Not only has my cognition improved, but my reflexes as well. Suddenly, I sensed the snake's tail whipping behind me, but I jumped over it right as it would've made contact with me. However, it cleared a couple platforms ahead of me, making this deadly game of hopscotch a little easier on my behalf.
I wasted no time, I looked up to see around seven minutes remaining on the clock. I had finally made it to the middle of the left side, meaning I was roughly half done, however things were about to get much harder. The platforms are now much smaller, I could move around a little on them, but not much more. Just as I was collecting some thoughts, my instincts kicked back in, seeing the snake looking right at me, about to lunge. It's now or never. I jumped toward the platform right in front me. My feet hit the edge and I kicked myself back as the snake's head collided with the platform right in front, completely demolishing it. The snake recoiled back and immediately whipped its tail across the ground. I narrowly avoided the tail by jumping over it.
This process repeated for a while. Sweat slowly dripped from my brow, and I could feel my breathing get heavy. 5 minutes remain.
"Haha! Well, Fredrick, it seems you've realized that you cannot succeed here. Very well, I will offer you a choice. If you give up now, I will keep you alive, and you will spend the rest of your days here with me. But if you want to die, feel free to give Jerrey a snack!" Aion's voice rang throughout the chamber, his words stirring Jerrey.
I looked up and shouted, "Nice try! I know I can do this easily."
Silence echoed through the chamber, Aion was a little mad.
I stood before the remaining 3 platforms with a puddle of sweat around my feet. My muscles burned and ached from all the dodging and jumping I've had to do to cross this vast chasm. The serpent was growing more and more aggressive as I was growing more and more tired. I couldn't let this stop me, although the exit was 3 platforms away, it still felt just as far away as it had back when I started this. I looked up to see 3 minutes left on the clock. I breathed a heavy sigh and took a quick look around.
The last platform was barely wide enough to support my feet. If I took a slight misstep, it would be a one way ticket to the abyss below. The serpent was certainly about to attack again, and my previous plan won't work anymore, so I had to think on my feet.
I glanced up at the towering serpent, watching its every move. The green glow of its eyes followed me, anticipating my every jump. But something caught my attention—something subtle in the way the serpent recoiled after each failed strike. The head of the serpent was consistently retreating to the pillar after every lunge, as if it needed to reset itself.
That's when it hit me. The serpent followed a pattern. It was difficult to see at first, but now that my brain was working in overdrive, I could see it all perfectly.
I calculated the exact moment the serpent would strike, this would give me a brief window to act. I stood still for a moment, taking some deep breaths to help my body and to focus. The serpent's eyes gleamed once more, signaling its next attack. The serpent shot forward, its mouth wide open, teeth glistening in the dim torchlight.
I summoned all the strength I had left in my body and jumped forward. My feet met the stone of the platform right in front of me, proving to be a real pillar. I quickly glanced behind me to see the serpent fangs around the spot I had been only moments before.
The serpent roared in frustration, its tail whipping back toward him, but I was ready this time. I leaped again, this time onto the second platform. The instant my feet made contact, the serpent's tail smashed the stone slab behind me, sending chunks of rock cascading into the darkness below. Before I could find out if I was standing on a real platform or not, I used the last of my strength to jump onto the ledge in front of me, signaling my victory. I looked at the clock to see 10 seconds remaining.
I sighed a sigh of relief, but also internally something told it'd be better for me if I had more time remaining.
"Very impressive, truly an incredible performance, Fredrick. I'm in awe, really, you should be proud." Aion's voice boomed in the distance, his voice having no sign of awe or admiration.
"Yeah, yeah, just go ahead and tell me how easy this was and how many people easily cleared this with minutes remaining." I was tired of this guy already, this wasn't something I had signed up for. It was certainly a welcome challenge, but it all started to make me wonder something. If this is what I have to do to get the Glass of Time, what did Jeffrey have to do to get the Watch of Eternity? Assuming it was Jeffrey, but at this point I'm 95% confident it was him, everything lined up. A shame Mr. Thorne got defeated, otherwise I'd know for sure, but I'll have to leave it up to my intuition for now.
There was silence for a while, but then Aion finally responded.
"Fredrick… I don't think you understand. You are the 7th person ever to pass this room, and your time is currently faster than all of theirs combined! At this rate, you might be the first to pass the second room!"
Oh, great.