The Curse of Hidden Hollow

The Third Trial

 He came to the next chamber, and this one took him by surprise. It was a large room, with large stones, pulleys, and a few strategically placed wooden ladders placed into the walls. At the top of the ladders were platforms. The door out of the room was another large stone, with two ropes coming out of the top. Ahtunowhiho appeared in front of him, making him jump slightly. "This is the strength test. You must find a way to get the door open using the pulley systems and the stones." Ash was a little worried. If he couldn't figure this one out, he was stuck here, and nobody would ever find him. He went over to one rope hanging down from the pulley and tried to pull it. It was heavier than he expected. He climbed his way up the rope, and it started to lift one of the stones. He climbed up to the first platform to get a better look around. He looked behind him and noticed a hook sticking out of the wall. He had an idea, what if he could figure out a way to hook the stones up to here? He went back down, grabbed the rope, and went back up to the platform. He pulled as hard as he could, but he underestimated the strength of his pull and the heaviness of the stone. He fell right off the platform and landed hard on his side. He yelled out in both anger and pain. He brushed off the dust and got back up to the platform. He had another idea. He grabbed onto the rope, and jumped off the platform, still holding onto the rope. He went down, and the stone came up. He touched down on the ground softly and looked up. The stone was swinging back and forth. Ash's arm veins were popping with defiance, holding up the swinging stone. He let the rope go a little slack, causing the stone to swing a little more, till it landed on the platform. He climbed back up and looked over to the doorstone. What if he could tie the door stone to the first stone, and push the stone off the platform to get the stone to lift the door? He hopped off the platform, landing on the ground with a thud. He headed over to the doorstone and grabbed its rope. He went back over to the ladder, and climbed back up to the platform, still holding the door rope. He got back up onto the platform and headed over to the stone. He pulled the rope tight and tied it to the hook in the stone. He pushed the stone off the platform and heard a whining sound as the pulley went crazy with the weight of the stone. The door lifted a little from one side, and Ash gave a little fist pump. He looked over to the other side of the room and sighed heavily in disappointment. There was still a whole nother one of these to do. He sucked it up and prepared himself for it. He repeated the process. Climb the ladder with the rope, tie it up, jump down, grab the other stones rope, climb up, tie it up, and push the stone down. The stone hit the floor, sending dirt everywhere. The door lifted itself up, revealing the next passage. Suddenly, he heard a rumbling sound. He thought it was the Wendigo, but he didn't smell any rot. No, this was something different. The pulleys started loosening themselves from the ceiling, and the door started slowly closing. Ash swore and started running for the exit, walls crumbling around him. As he ran, he thought to himself, "How come the only time this place is falling apart is the time that I'm the one going through it!?" He slid under the door but didn't make it all the way. He tried crawling his way out, and he had almost made it. When he looked back, he saw he was still half under it. He was panicking now, fighting to get out. He felt pressure from his waist down. "NO!" Ash shouted, voice full of fear. How was he going to get out of this one? He screamed out in pain as the stone found its place. His breathing quickened, and he couldn't feel his legs. He lay back and looked upward. "Well, hopefully, if some explorers ever find this place, they'll find my bones and know what happened." He saw a blue glow approaching him from behind. Ahtunowhiho came into his view. "It would appear you have gotten yourself into a bit of a dire situation here." Ahtunowhiho said. Ash grunted in reply. "You know, this is still a test of strength. You can get yourself out of this." Ash grunted as he lifted the stone. It barely moved, so he lifted again. His hand slipped and his arm ran up the wall, scraping it. He shouted out in pain and surprise and fell backward to take a breath. He looked around, Ahtunowhiho had disappeared again. He looked at his arm, and it was bleeding. How was he not dead at this point? He'd lost tons of blood by now. Eh, it didn't matter, as long as he kept pressing on through this, he could worry about the blood loss later. He lifted as hard as he could from the right side, and the block began to shift more. He eventually got it off of his right leg, and he took a moment to breathe. He lifted his right leg, it was obviously broken. This was going to be a problem. He winced in pain, his leg hanging over. He scooted himself a little to the right and shoved his shoulder against the stone as hard as he could, gritting his teeth in pain and anger. He was able to shove it off, and he crawled away from it, hissing in pain. He lay down on the ground face first and punched the ground hard. It was the worst pain he'd ever felt in his entire life, worse than the time he fell off the roof putting up Christmas lights, worse than the concussion at the entrance of the mines. He felt tears welling up in his eyes. He heard Ahtunowhiho above him. "You got it off, but it seems to have done more damage than originally anticipated." Ash turned to him in anger. "YOU THINK!?" The chief was unmoved. "This wasn't what I was expecting. Those stones were supposed to stay up." Ash didn't know what to think of that, what does he mean by that? Does the chief know exactly what's going to happen? His mind was overwhelmed with pain, anger, and exhaustion: The unholy trinity. He lay his head on the ground and sighed in pain. He saw a blue light appear. "What are you doing?" He asked the chief. The chief looked at him with a slight soft smile. "I thought that I would give you a bit of an advantage there since that one was unanticipated." Ash was confused, "Wha-?" He was interrupted by the chief putting his hands on his legs. He looked on in wonder and shielded his eyes as the lights got brighter and brighter, and then, it stopped. He regained his sight and looked down. He realized he didn't feel any pain. The chief had healed his legs! Ash looked at him, his mouth hanging open. "You could do this kind of thing the whole time!?" The chief nodded. "Then why not heal my head? My arm? My other arm!?" The chief took a deep sigh. "It's not a true trial if there is not some pain. You need some form of physical pain to test you to your fullest." Ash understood his point, but that didn't mean he had to like it. He huffed in annoyance. "Whatever.." Ash got up, glad he wasn't completely crippled. The chief watched him with intent eyes. "You still have 2 more trials to complete." He said. Ash groaned as Ahtunowhiho had just asked him to do the dishes and take out the trash. He took a deep breath and turned to the chief. "Alright, what's up next on this haunted house from hell." The chief shook his head at Ash's remark. "Up next is the test of bravery." "As if the last few haven't required bravery." Ahtunowhiho frowned. "Trust me, this one requires more bravery than all of the other ones." That really scared Ash, but nevertheless, he pressed forward. His internal monologue took over as he walked. "More tunnels, more tunnels, hey, a cool rock! Tunnels, tunnels." He still felt his fear but after all this? It was starting to feel a little mundane. He of course eventually came to another chamber.