The Plane

to solve it, tell me, and we'll forget about it.”

“That's fine.”

“Okay.”

Slowly, Cold picked up a steady pace, ready to dodge an incoming threat at any second. Occasionally, she threw short glances over her shoulder to ensure that the glimmer was still visible. But by the time it was on the edge of disappearance, there still hadn't been any change to her surroundings. Carefully, Cold started to navigate along the invisible circle which her sight radius drew around the distant glimmer.

The minutes crept by, and Cold began wondering if something would happen as soon as she lowered her guard, and how she was supposed to tell when she had completed the circle. Then, she thought of something else... and then of something else

“Hey!”

“What?” Cold shook her head. Blinking, she tried to remember how she got here.

“Is everything alright? You stopped paying attention to the location of the puzzle, and began to walk in a straight line.”

“I.. I-I'm I'm...” Cold turned around. Her head felt dim and bleary... and she could feel this sensation intensifying.

“I think we're facing another threat,” she said, quickly so as to explain it while she was still lucid enough to formulate thoughts. “Something is messing with my clear thinking. I... I... you... do you... are you affected too? I mean, are you not affected... I... are you?”

“I'm fine”

“Right, then you... if you... mhh...”

“Hey! Hey!”

“Gaaah!” Cold shuddered, and a wave of fear washed over her.

“You've been out for almost half a minute.”

“Right. Give me commands. If you see something... mhlll... ffffff...” She squeezed her eyes as hard as she could, trying to stay in the moment. “If you see something dangerous, give me commands. Simple ones. Shout something until I react. I don't know if... mhhh...” She smiled. The water was so clear...

some day, she would like to visit the

but everything was peaceful. The beach stretched on for as long as her sight

“Left. Left.”

Cold reacted as soon as she could process the meaning of this thought. When her consciousness kept creeping back bit by bit, she saw that she too would have noticed the shape in time. It was black, it was deadly, and it came towards her straight from ahead. But it was also slow. Cold judged that it would have taken at least ten more seconds to reach her position.

“I don't think that'll be the only one. Keep looking.”

“I will.”

“Mhhh...” Cold could feel her thoughts leaving her again. This time, she didn't fight it – she had just dodged an attack, she didn't need to think right now. If the drowsiness came in waves, the sooner it happened the sooner it might go away...

“Forward.”

Mhhhh

The world was a cube. When you stepped over the edge, it would flip and adjust the point of gravity. It was impossible to fall – but it was also a trap.

“Forward."

Forward? There was no forward in a cube. Every direction was the same. Forward was