No Matter What

Chapter IX

The way seemed long and dry. I kept going. Forward I went, without hesitation.

Out of nowhere, something fell. It was... an "s"? Then a "t." An "o", a "p"... "Stop." The letters floated. I tried to touch them, my hand went through. They were made of mist. I walked through them, disobeying the order. More letters. They said, "Second Chance! Stop and you may take it."

"It?" I asked.

A bag of pure gold coins materialized in front of me. It was big, and I could tell why it would be tempting, but it did not tempt me. I went around the bag, forward.

"I warned you," spelled the letters. They evaporated as I ignored their message. Three rose petals: blue, black, and purple; that was all the writing I cared about.

My surroundings morphed. The sides of the road dropped down as I walked, the road got narrower. The bottom of the hill disappeared. Soon enough, I was walking on a stone beam that was being held further and further up from the ground as I moved. Balancing was much harder with a hurt foot. I could not see what lied ahead of me because of the darkness of the night, but I felt it coming. I knew the beam would become as narrow as a string. I knew my foot would not be able to take it. An idea came to my mind. Though my arms were full of wounds, they were stronger and hurt much less than my foot. So I crouched down and, with a jump, I was under the beam. My hands were firmly gripping it. I moved forward with swings. I tried my best not to look down; I was hanging over certain death.

It was a long way. I was relieved I had chosen to move with my arms rather than with my feet, but I was getting tired. The beam really had turned into a string. My hand ached and my arms trembled from attempting to hold up my weight whilst holding on tight to the thin rope. "Hold on," I kept telling myself, "you're almost there."

I let out a sigh when I saw that the bottom was rising, and moments later I was able to jump down landing on the ground. It took awhile for my legs to get used to being used again. I had survived the first test.

The ground leveled and my trip continued. I was determined. Three rose petals. Save mom. Walk. Forward. I was so lost in my thoughts, I did not notice the trap.

I had barely fallen from tripping on the string and the arrows were already attacking. They wooshed from every side. Whoosh! I dropped down to dodge it. Whoosh! I rolled over. Whoosh! Whoosh! They came nonstop. I ran as fast as I could. It was at the end that I fainted. One of the arrows had wooshed right onto my burnt foot.

I was not unconscious for long. I woke up, my foot throbbing with pain. What luck I had. I pushed it in further, through my foot, to take it out. My nerves, everything, had been ripped. I broke the arrow in half and pulled it out. Crying, I ripped a piece of my dress and wrapped up the gash, thankful it was only a flesh wound. I put some weight on it to test how bad my injury was. I could still walk. Still, I thought it would be best not to use my foot that much until it was healed. I took a branch from a tree to use as a walking stick and continued. I was almost there.

I went as fast as I could with a cane. I needed those ingredients. I stopped for a moment to catch my breath. The ground moved. I looked around, I was floating. The rock I was standing on had been elevated, along with many other rocks that formed a path. There were two rows of rocks floating next to each other. The words came again,

"Watch your step, pick wisely..."

I started to panic. It was one or the other. Pick the wrong one, and you fall, diving towards your death. I had an idea. I broke off two twigs from the branch I was using as a walking stick. I threw them, one on each of the two rocks. The left rock dropped instantly, taking the twig with it. Right rock it is. This way I went, down the whole path until, on the penultimate choice I had to make, there was no longer a stick.