The Plane

such a cell to exist. With a panic scream, she leapt towards a cell at her front left, which wasn't even the closest option. For a brief moment, she thought that she wouldn't make it, but then she arrived about half a second before the cells behind her lit.

Now, the adrenaline was overwhelming, and what was left of her lucid thinking began to fear that she might collapse or simply start running away if the challenge went on for longer. Yet, even though she hadn't even began processing her near death experience, she somehow managed to fall back into a quick but controlled rhythm, allowing her to stay alive for another five or six cycles. It was now that the time to escape each strike got truly uncomfortable, if it went on for another twenty seconds she would inevitably miss one, it was close every time, she would fail any moment now and then

It stopped. The illuminated squares disappeared, and Cold could feel that the challenge was over. With an uncontrolled whimper, she broke down at the spot, crying hopelessly against the apathetic ground.

She couldn't tell how much time it took, but eventually, she hoisted herself up into a sitting position, staring tiredly towards the light.

“You did wonderfully.”

Cold sniffed, and she couldn't bring herself to smile. “Thanks,” she replied nonetheless.

“I... I knew exactly how many rounds were left at each point, but... I thought telling you would have been distracting.”

“Yeah... honestly, that sounds like a trap. I think... if you told me how... many I had left, we might have died.” She suppressed a sob. “It... must have been hard to... watch it all without saying anything. But I think it was the best you could have done.”

“What now?”

“Let me sit here for a few more minutes. I need to get calmer if we want to have any chance of beating the next challenge. And we aren't getting anything done in between them anyway.”

She didn't ask how it went with the puzzle, but she knew that she would have to soon. Despite no intuition pointing towards it, Cold wanted to try and travel farther away. Even if it wouldn't get them out, they might still find something.

Minutes passed, and Cold prolonged standing up for longer than necessary, judging that even being slightly more prepared was at this point more valuable than exploring the area around the light. Even though the last challenge had taken more from her than any one before, she found that she was more hopeful now than earlier, perhaps