Trapped in Wonderland

♟️| Checkered Escape

"..."

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• Location || CHESS •

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Cathy blinked.

She looked around, and nearly jumped out of her skin. She was in a void, on a floating chessboard. There were some other chess pieces. Cathy took a step back, onto a white square. She fell back, yelping, as she sunk into the square.

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Cathy blinked.

She looked around, and nearly jumped out of her skin. She was in a void, on a floating chessboard. There were some other chess pieces.

Wait, didn't this already happen? She could have sworn she already went through this. She took a step forward, and let out a gasp as she was sucked down into the tile.

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Cathy blinked.

She looked around, and nearly jumped out of her skin. She was in a void, on a floating chessboard. There were some other chess pieces.

What the heck? This already happened, twice. This time, Cathy stayed in place. She checked her clock, and it said 12:00PM. Cathy looked up from it. Suddenly, one of the chess pieces moved forward, hitting the ground with an extremely loud thud. Cathy nearly fell over from how unstable the ground had become. She looked at it, shocked. But barely a second passed, before a heavy thud erupted from the other side of the board. The ground shook again, and she fell down again, inches away from into the tile. She moved away from it, standing back up. How was she going to get out of here? If she took a step forward, she just got sent back. She stood there, thinking to herself, while at the same time attempting to survive the shaking every time a chess piece moved, until everything went silent.

Cathy stared at the chess pieces expectantly. They weren't moving. Suddenly, she felt shaking. She looked down, and noticed the tile beneath her shaking. She yelped, and moved to another tile. She instantly realized her mistake, and squeezed her eyes shut, expecting to get sucked into the tile. But nothing happened. She opened one eye, and she was still in the same spot she had been in seconds ago. It then finally hit her what she had to do. She groaned.

She would have to wait for all those pieces to move before her, and if she took too long when it was her turn, she could possibly get sent back to the beginning. And from the looks of how fast some of the pieces were moving, she would be stuck there awhile. All she had to do was avoid making any mistakes, so she could get out of there faster.

Cathy patiently stood there, waiting her turn, until finally, she was supposed to go. She took a step forward, but gasped. The tile she had stepped on was slippery. She fell back, getting sucked into the tiles behind her.

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Cathy blinked.

She looked around, and nearly jumped out of her skin. She was in a void, on a floating chessboard. There were some other chess pieces.

"...God Dangit." she angrily mumbled. Looks like there was a challenge. Not like being a chess piece in a void was challenging enough. Cathy sighed. Cathy checked her clock again, and it said 12:00PM still. She looked back up, and watched a chess piece move to a tile. This time, she was more ready. She carefully balanced herself, surviving the next mini earthquakes, until everything fell silent. She took a step onto the next tile, expecting it to be slippery. She was a bit surprised when it wasn't. She looked at the tile she had slipped on, and kneeled down, feeling it.

Cathy was half expecting her hand to get sucked into it, but nothing happened. She could feel the start of the tile have a strange new material on it that felt like ice. She stood up, and carefully placed her foot on the tile. Her foot instantly started being sucked down, and she quickly pulled her foot out of it. She nearly fell over in the process, since a chess piece moved. She sat down, tired of worrying about falling over. As she watched the pieces move, an idea hit her.

'What if I mess with my clock by moving it forward, then maybe I could speed up the movement here?' she thought. It was worth a try. She looked at her clock. It read 12:14PM. Those chess pieces really did move slowly. She paused before messing with her clock.

'I remember the tile shaking like it was going to fall when I took too long.'

Well, that's just great. She would have to worry about THAT too. She stood up, preparing herself to run. But also... the tiles became slippery when she moved forward. She scoffed. This was getting better and better. She started sending her clock forward, and to her surprise, it worked. The chess pieces started moving much faster. Cathy continued, waiting for them to move more. Suddenly, the tile she was on started shaking with such extreme speed, she was almost thrown off. She quickly scooched over to a different tile, and watched as the tile she originally had been on fell into the void, leaving just a hole. She shuddered. Thank god this place just started over whenever she messed up, or she'd definitely be dead.

She started turning her clock ahead of time, speeding up everything. She repeated the process of jumping to the next tile carefully, and then speeding up her clock. Until, she was almost at the end. She glanced at the one piece that hadn't moved all round. As soon as it was her turn, she decided she would move forward, but away from that piece.

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She finally had made it. She had reached the end row. A laugh escaped her, as she let out a sigh of relief. A door had appeared in the void, and was floating over to her.

'Thud'

Cathy froze. Slowly and hesitantly, she turned her head.

'Thud'

A chess piece was moving towards her. The ground shook every time it hit the ground.

"HURRY UP!!!" Cathy yelled, now facing the door floating towards her. She panicked, as she heard the thudding getting closer, and closer. Cathy looked down at her watch, and started messing with her watch again. But that just sped up the chess piece.

Then finally, the door had reached her. She swung it open, and fell into it.