I hit the yellow ball with my shoulder, sinking into its top as I did, but then I was launched up. I flew up and then landed on a cube-like the one I had just got climbed upon with a hard thump.

I closed my eyes tight, but I didn’t drop into my mind. There was no point in it; I would after I was on the ladder.

I put my hands over my head as I waited for the man in the tuxedo to appear. He never came, so I laid there for a bit, letting my body heal slowly as I did.

[Looks like you might have a chance after all, but I think that you will have to hurry once you get up.]

I nodded to myself and slowly spun myself around to face a winding path that led up. Every five feet of the bridge section looked cracked, and jagged lines were running through each.

‘What do you make of this?’

[I saw the girls using them before, and they were dropping out, but the girls seemed to be able to know where to walk. I didn’t see them long enough or from a good angle, so I had no way to make out the pattern they were moving in.]

Well, I could just jump on the sections every five feet, but nothing was holding up this spiraling platform. There was a good chance that these could even break open at those points, but this was my best choice with the info I had.

Before getting up, I turned my buoy around to look at what was behind me, and when I did, I could see that I had skipped a level. This was good, but I looked down at the second ball that I had used to bounce upon, and it was black.

The third ball was still yellow, but the middle ball was the only way that I could get up here so quickly. I turned back to my next challenge and started to study it some more; I needed to keep moving forward, or I might not be able to make it.

[I suggest you move fast and don’t stop. The more you think, the more you will not be paying attention. Just give it shit like you are in some crazy game show; don’t let failure be an option! You can do this!]

I could feel my heart start to pump, Hero’s words got me fired up, and he was right. If I thought about this too much, I would just bring more problems and what if’s into my head to distract me.

“Thanks, boss, I got this. No amount of worrying or wishing will ever change what will happen,” I said as I got myself ready to go.

[Wish in one hand, and then shit in the other, and see which gets fuller faster. Only the things you can touch and affect matter, and you will never get your wishes by wishing for them.]

That was a good point, and now I was pumped, and I sprung up, leaping to the first section. I landed, and the section behind me opened up, but I didn’t stop and kept going.

Platform broke open behind me, but the center sections never fell, and I was able to make it across seven sections. Then the pattern changed, and the floor became filled with ten-inch floor sections with holes in the center.

I didn’t need to be told what this was; I remembered watching Keri almost getting impaled. This time I would not have the same luxury, but I didn’t slow and burst forward.

Then the clicking started, and I was dodging a spike a moment later.

Step left, turned, and curved my body as a spike stabbed up and cut my arm, but I kept going. The clicking was starting to intensify, and after another seven sections, the sides became walled with a room.

[Oh boy.]

I ignored Harold and started to really listen to the clicks, and I dodged, spun, and dove, slowly picking up a pattern.

Left, right, left, floor, right, and then the roof, and repeat. This section was much longer, and I had no way to see how much longer it would be; all I could do was focus on the pattern and its increasing speed.

Even knowing the pattern didn’t prevent me from getting hurt; it only told me where to be aware. The spikes were starting to come faster than I could tell, and my cuts were starting to pile up.

I was covered in blood, but my sweat stinging in the cuts kept me on edge.

Then it happened. A spike came for my face, and I was already moving into it; momentum prevented me from moving in time.

As the black spike drove to my face, I did the only thing I could think of in a split second.

I punched it.

The black spike shattered, and like the sun had burned the fog away, I could see what I needed to do.

Like a whip, hair raised as my excitement for the thrill of a fight-filled me like pure fire. Dodging things were fine, but I was built to fight back.

I started to track the clicks differently, slowing right down, forcing the click to slow as well. The spike came, but I was able to track them, and I smashed every one of them as they came, slowly moving forward.

My fist was getting sliced, but I healed fast enough that I could switch hands to let the other heal. Still, the path felt like it was never-ending, but I didn’t mind this part of it.

With every spike hit and smashed into shards, my reaction increased, and they became easier to track. My pace started to increase, and then I started to sprint, only smashing the ones that would hit me.

Then I saw the red light pouring in up ahead, and there was another giant cube waiting for me that I threw myself one to. Ahead there were hanging long ropes and massive swinging ax blades between them.

[Looks like fun.]