Eathy had always been afraid of pain, he was so afraid of it, he was seldom went anywhere without watching every step he took, always being sure he put it down carefully, because even a tiny twig poking him wrong in the feet would be too much for him. He never went remotely close to Veronica, so even when Greg finally fell victim to her torture, Eathy was the one male elephant in the forest who'd avoided her.
So why on Earth had he followed his friend Ellie into this ancient temple that was sure to be coated in booby-traps.
He blushed. Of course he knew why he was doing it. It was just too embarrassing to admit it was because he wanted to spend time with a cute girl.
After tumbling down a slippery slide for which there was no way back up, Eathy began to wonder if maybe it wasn't going to be that bad, that slide was pretty fun, surely that meant he was someone that was fun to be, right.
But that's when he noticed the room in front of them, a massive space layered with tiles about the size of their own bodies, almost all of them with a small circular hole in the center. A narrow trail of tiles without these holes spread across the center of the room, indicating this was the path they should probably take.
"What do you think will happen if we step on one of those tiles with holes in them?" Eathy asked anxiously.
"I don't know" Ellie said, "Probably something dreadful."
As if in answer, a loose rock from the ceiling crumpled free, and collapsed onto one of the holey tiles.
The instant its weight hit down, a spike shot out of the hole, about as tall as Ellie and Eathy's legs. If that wasn't bad enough, the tip of the spike ejected something into the air like a syringe. It was only a liquid, but it radiated an energy that even from there, halfway across the room, they could almost feel a type of pain which they had never knew existed, not a pang, not a sharpness, not a heat, but something else entirely, something indescribable. Ellie and Eathy's breath caught as the wave washed over them and then faded into nothing.
"What was that?" Eathy asked, shaken.
"I think I've heard of this before," Ellie informed him, "It's a kind of toxin I think. It fades quickly, but even the slightest drop is more painful than anything you can replicate in real life. With the exception of a dragon laying an egg that is."
Ellie took a step for the room, toward the first safe tile, but Eathy held back.
"You expect me to go in there? After that?" Eathy cried.
"Don't worry," Ellie said, "Just follow me and we'll stick to the safe path. It's not like you can go back up that slide."
Eathy hesitated. He knew she was right, but this was just too much on his nerves
But finally, Eathy shakily followed Ellie into the room. The going was easier than he'd thought, and eventually he began to calm. He'd avoided Veronica and he'd just been down a cool slide, surely it couldn't be too bad to be him.
But then the path of safe tiles ended. Ellie stopped and spotted the next safe tile a few feet away, a bunch of holey tiles between them and it.
"Hold on, I think I can make it," Ellie said.
And she leaped.
Landing nicely.
She backed up a few feet to give Eathy room.
"Okay, your turn."
Eathy looked at the gap between him and the next safe tile. He gulped. He was trembling all over. He couldn't do this.
