B3 Chapter 359:Obstinance, pt. 7

Kaius only had a couple of seconds before the drawing would flash on the parchment.

Everything he had was leveraged towards capturing as much of it as he could. He leaned heavily on Truesight, straining his vision until he could see every pressed fibre of the paper. His Glass Mind was churning, aiding him in recording as much of his sensory experience into memory as was possible.

With his Intelligence, his mind worked twenty-five times faster than baseline — tracking every fraction of a moment with razor acuity.

Black ink popped into existence.

What looked like hundreds of lines cut across the immense board from left to right, stacked close together. They were thin, with slight inscriptions jotted down along their length. Small enough that without his vision, it would have been impossible to make out what they were.

Even with his abilities, he struggled to make sense of them. The first fingerwidth of the first line was clear, but after that there was a constant barrage of symbols both above and below the lines. The ones on top were larger — slightly more detailed. Tiny drawings, he realised.

The first one was a box, covered in smaller holes.

A jolt ran up his back. It was a map. Abstracted, and hard to read, but a map all the same. If he was guessing right, that first box was the obstacle just past the chasm. He switched his focus to the drawings below the lines. Simple dashes, randomly scattered across their lengths.

The location of the hidden traps, perhaps? It wasn’t much to go off.

Before he could study it further, the moment passed, and the drawing vanished.

Kaius frowned — he hadn’t gotten much. Sure, he’d recognised what it was, but there had been no time for him to spend actually memorising very much at all. He’d been too busy simply processing what he was looking at.

Still, he would likely have more opportunities in the future. He just hoped that a closer inspection would reveal more detail than it seemed to have at first glance. Sure, having a general indication of the location of hidden traps would help, but the lines were so abstracted it was hard to guess what the obstacles themselves would be, nor divine any exact locations.

One thing did worry him — the blank section at the start of the map. Everything he had already pushed past was gone.

It seemed if he reached something, the trial expected him to lean on personal experience alone.

An altogether frustrating experience. He’d had his hopes that it would be pivotal to his success, but it seemed he would need to devote time and attention to gain an advantage from this discovery. Kaius scowled, unloading his prepared spells into the course before he started his work on preparing for his next attempt.

Once he was finished, he didn’t waste time.

Setting off at a full sprint, Kaius relished in the simple movement and exertion. It helped to drive the likelihood of his impending doom out of his mind — forget the cold kiss that came after a final breath.

Reaching the midpoint between the entrance room and the first obstacle, he threw himself into a dive — flying forwards just a stride above the ground.

A heartbeat later, a bassy twang filled the air. The spinning dart shot across his back, wind tugging at him. It shattered against the far wall, stone shards pelting Kaius as they blew outwards.

Before he could hit the ground, he slammed his hands down — popping himself back up so that he could continue his sprint without a break in his pace.

Another second and he was at the glaive trap. All he needed was speed.

Expedient Shunt detonated directly behind him, as Slip Step caused the world around him to waver and twist. Before, he’d been moving fast enough to be a blur to an unenhanced man — now he practically teleported.

The waist high wall was next. Mid vault, he heard the glaive woosh as it cut through the space behind him.

Kaius leapt forwards as he reached the swinging bars, catching the middle bar as his first handhold. A heaving kip was all he needed to reach the other side.

Every Warhaven he had slammed over the climbing wall. Three Shunts got him over, and a fourth saved him from breaking his legs. Now he just had to cross the chasm.

He didn’t slow down, breath coming heavy and fast as he hurled himself towards the first platform.

Last time he’d almost beaten it. This time he would — it was just that simple. He knew the trick with the quickened drop time, had gotten the feel of the sudden changes of orientation. Unless it had another trick, he would beat it.

Touching down, he vanished in a puff of displaced air. He saw the next platform — waiting in the corner of his eye. There was no thought, only reaction. He jumped.

And jumped.

And jumped.

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Until he stood on the far side of the looming darkness, doubled over as he drew in great gulping breaths of air and smiled in wild pride at his success. He could do this.

He’d push as far as he could, work on his spells and The Veteran’s Edge, and when he died he’d do it all over again. As long as it took, he would do it.

….

Kaius ran his hands through his hair, taking deep breaths to focus himself for his next obstacle.

The last one had been rough to say the least. He might have beaten it, but it had cost him a quarter of his spells and half of his health. Better than his first three attempts, at least.

At first glance, it looked like an empty stretch of the course. He’d been suspicious of course, but nothing could have prepared him for the invisible blade that had cut through the back of his calf only two steps in.