Brilliant Man/Vir Clarissimus (Latin)

Chapter 18 The Third and Final Trial

Ozwald finally took the jump. Before this decision, he'd spent a full minute wrestling with it in his mind whilst Zed effortlessly passed. He bounced through a succession of slanted platforms – and dodged a dropping platform – before reaching the finishing, orange base at the end. From all sides, the cheering of the crowd and crazy lights crushed his sanity. Awaking from the daze, he dodged a swaying, speedy object. Once he'd recovered his breath, he turned around, facing the pendulum. He swiftly ducked, a slip of white stitching taken from his lab coat and left to fall down to the endless darkness below.

Better it than he.

These were dangerous levels of excitement.

Despite the rough start, Ozwald was still motivated. Adrenaline pumped through his veins and was maybe the reason he felt so great; however, his energy hadn't kept him from harboring suspicions towards Zed and whether his gameplay was actually skill-based or simply cheating. This time, Ozwald saved the thought for later, for if either was true, he'd fight tooth, nail, and bone for the justice of his friends.

Ozwald faced the latest scheme. Two bright, sedentary bases were set apart from one another: there was a red base to his left and blue base on his right. The problem was knowing which of them was a hologram.

Ozwald stupidly eyed both bases, wishing one would just shut off, giving him the answer he desired. Meanwhile, Zed quickened his pace. Hope finally smiled itself on him when he began squinting, certain that the platform on his right had just shuddered. To test this, Ozwald carefully sat down on the orange base, then flashed his foot through the dark-blue deepfake. Next, he changed feet, repeating this over again with the red platform. It was firm.

"One step closer to victory!" Ozwald laughed, bleeding of sarcasm.

After crossing over to the correct platform, he lingered a while longer, witnessing the blue base disappear entirely, fleeting pixels its only remains.

Ozwald laughed, moving forward. First, he performed an axel jump from a neon-white base over to a newly-forming platform. Next, he quickly flipped to a platform, finishing with a sweet lutz to a nearby supporting base, then slid onto another sedentary platform, hopped off several more bases, and from here charged forward on a neon-green road.

Despite many shortcomings, courage kept on his side, pushing Ozwald and regulating his movement. However, beyond the axels, lutzs, bounding, and new motivation, it soon grew exceedingly difficult not to put off his thoughts. Even again, he tried pushing these feelings down, executing another flip towards a newly-forming platform, but then they resurfaced. It was so sudden that it reminded Ozwald to cling to the already generated pixels, not those pending.

Every movement Zed makes has been the same since the start, he realized, then avoided a swaying pendulum. Resting at a nearby base, more thoughts surfaced. Could Zed not have really changed the order of his court 'til the end? Perhaps, mine – even – is just a consistently repeating code with only slight deviations like the pendulums to scare the crowd. Assuming Zed has not already mastered his route, this discovery is in my full favor.

"This is getting out of hand," Ozwald muttered, his breathing staggered. Even with courage, fatigue soon caught up to him. More than victory, he wished to pause and sleep very soon.

Ozwald looked down under his feet, watching the unchanged, twilight abyss. Beyond Zed's colorful game of Twister, this was a quiet, anemic world, its bounds open completely to the creative hands of artists and authors. Being neither of these was probably the reason why he was struggling, why he'd already lost.

Still in his trance, Ozwald failed to notice the dark, veiny shadow blocking his front. The jagged, tall structure looked rough and splintered, sporting a hard, tar-black color. Neon streaks covered the dark form, reminding Ozwald of Zed's spike attack during the second trial.

After leaving the ground, Ozwald identified this impediment, passing beside it easily. He paused momentarily, wanting to stop and rest, however his next obstacle already ensued - a large, spherical shape – that, before he knew it, had already sent him airborne before he crashed onto the slick, neon floor, passing through the same dark structure he'd avoided only moments before.

After tackling against his body for a minute, Ozwald finally let himself rest. For seven minutes, unholy pangs and aches surfaced in all places.

Sensing his break was over, he attempted to bring himself up. After being shot through the neon rock, Ozwald was left blinded, but soon his eyes began slowly opening to the world around him. Eventually, his vision was restored, revealing that he had, in fact, changed environments.

Before, he'd perceived hazy white as porcelain fixtures, but with his renewed vision, Ozwald could clarify what he'd really seen. His front was a neon-porcelain tunnel, comparatively lower in brightness to the trials from earlier. Ozwald looked around, tapping each white panel with glee.

It was also in this moment that his side quest began.

First, his lower-body buckled: his thighs, quads, and joints all snapped together, forming a seated posture. In a similar manner, both his eyes and arms locked forward, poised for the adventure ahead. Then Ozwald was launched up, safely falling into a bed of weaving code-lines that eventually solidified into a car.

Instinctively, Ozwald's foot had shifted slightly towards the pedal and his hands gripped the wheel. Engulfed in darkness, he reached for the little switches by his side, activating a few. Suddenly, his space became bright, its stylish, neon-blue lines likening it to a computer; code fell into Ozwald's face while LEDs lacing the handles and even wheel turned purple.

Ozwald was finally free – both free from Zed and now able to harness the power he'd possessed. This power – an entirely separate force from Zed – defied its master by providing him his teleportation and new vehicle. Similar acts of rebellion he himself had done repeatedly throughout Zed's games.

Ozwald tightened his hold of the steering wheel, flicked up a switch, then flattened the pedal, violently shooting his vehicle forward.

He was on!