15 Awkward

"Are you kidding me…" Maya was paralyzed like like a child too small for an amusement park ride. Only there was nothing fun about her situation. She whipped her head around in search of any way across the pitch black gorge. Nothing. If she had suction cups tied on her hands, maybe she could crawl the side wall like a lizard. But alas, she wasn't as prepared as Frina or Graff.

CLUCK-BUZZ-VHOOM!

Maya turned around. The chasing mob had evolved to a trio behind her and it wouldn't be long before they all collided by the gorge. She checked on the dead weights wrapped under her damp pits. No dice. Their cheeks were sunken, deeper than Athalos' bare ass crack, and only a blip of their souls remained, the rest was drained by their near-death experience. They looked like two cartons of tetra pack juice sucked dry. "Nope. Still useless."

But time moved without mercy. She had to do something. She didn't want to die but even more, she didn't want people knowing she died by chickens, wasps, big spiky balls, and a very big hole on the ground. As the thought of being shamed for a lame death distracted her, an idea struck. "Gregory."

"Where are you guys?!" Maya squinted as she looked to the ceiling behind. The bat could ferry them across. She wasn't sure how far the gorge went or how many trips back and forth they would need but it was a shot worth taking. She finally pinpointed Graff and Gregory at a distance but her hope was crushed.

"Ye'll have no piece of me! Or the meat!" Graff blocked a stinger with his shield. He swung and fought off wasps that either tried to stab him or tried to stab the roasted chicken for a meal. Gregory did his best snapping, clawing, and maneuvering in the air. Despite their efforts, some wasps had chickens pierced by their stingers like kebabs and drifted away from the fight.

After Graff wrestled a whole chicken back from a wasp, he noticed that the group went to a full stop. He called out, "What's stoppin' ye, Lady Maya?!"

"Hole! The-The floor's gone! It's just gone!"

Graff didn't need to think twice. He dealt with such skill many times before, not on the field of battle but on the stage, small and large. He loved and hated it because of how gullible he was like a newborn babe. It didn't help that he looked like one too. "It's damn illusion magic! Has to be! The path is still there by yer feet! Don't let it fool ye!"

"The whole path?! Like anywhere I step is gonna be fine?!"

"W-Well…" Graff averted his eyes even though Maya was too far to notice. He tried to sound reliable but he never saw past the arcane trick, ever. The sweat from his hands made Gregory's fur on the back of its neck like a freshly watered yard. Hiding his embarrassment, he stammered as he swung wildly at the wasps, "C-Can't ever be certain with illusions, r-right?! Maybe it's this? Maybe it's that? M-Maybe some trial and error, eh?!"

Maya got nothing except more anxiety by talking with Graff. In a panic, she looked around again and just when nothing at all seemed to be of help, she noticed Athalos' staff tightly gripped on his hand. "Right… It's like being blind."

Maya dropped Athalos and Frina like sacks of rice on the ground. She pried the staff from Athalos' grip which was unbelievably tight, like a grip of someone electrocuted by a thunderbolt. She was in a frantic hurry and she didn't need this kind of resistance from a party member. She groaned and, one by one, pried his fingers off like unreasonably sticky price tags of products at a grocery. She might have broken one or two fingers by accident, the sounds were more brittle than a pop of a joint, but she didn't care. "Sorry, Athalos."

Athalos' mouth was open and a steady stream of drool dripped from the corner. It wasn't sure if he was still in shock from death's close embrace or if his body had surpassed its limits of pain. Most likely both.

"Okay. Here we go." With both vegetable-like comrades back under Maya's arms, she tapped the staff at the empty space of the gorge. Nothing but air in front of her.

Maya lugged the heavy baggage she carried as she ran the edge of the gorge, tapping and tapping. She arrived at the leftmost corner, the only place she hadn't checked. She tapped and there it was. The sweet sound of hope, of wood against rock.

Using the staff, Maya felt the tiles' edges and where it led next. It was like walking on air but not as a romantic or exhilarating experience as one would think. She stared at the endless pit below with every step. After a few tiles, her torchlight even caught the edge of the other side but it was very faint like a strand of ginger hair.

However, the moment of relief was short-lived. The tiles snaked around like tangled string and the horde of many were right behind, the closest ever. A few chickens fell to the pit below and no, their wings didn't help them no matter how hard they flapped.

Maya felt the pressure. Because the tiles looped, she wasn't sure if she passed the same tiles twice. "Damn it! This is taking forever! It's like playing a sadistic game of Snakes and Ladders! In the dark-"

"AAAH!!!" Frina's guttural scream shocked Maya who almost lost balance from the fright. She opened her teal eyes to the groundless pit of darkness below. She thrashed her arms and Maya used all her strength to keep them stable. Frina shouted, "Are we falling?! Why are we falling?!"

"Calm down, Frina!" Maya begged. "It's an illusion! The tiles are—"

"AAAH!!!" Athalos screamed and Maya fell forward. Luckily, it was a safe tile.

While Frina got on her feet, slightly ashamed of her panic, Maya strangled Athalos' neck. "WHY?! I should be happy you're both back but Just why did you scream?! You can't even see! I swear, do it again and I'll push you off myself!"

"F-Forgive me… my…" Athalos' face was on its way to purple and Maya finally let go even though she didn't want to. He huffed, "My flashback… It was just really scary… and took a while actually. Most of my flashbacks don't last this long- Wait. Why do my fingers hurt?"

"Doesn't matter!" Maya expertly brushed it off. She avoided the conversation further by briefing the two groggy members. She pointed to the edge. "The tiles are illusions but some are real. I've been trying to take us across but we're only halfway to the other side."

Frina slammed her lute at a chicken. She felt good to be back and operational but she also tried her best not to look down. Her knees, hidden by her dirty feed-covered grey dress, clicked and weakened.

Frina was surprised that the mob of chickens possessed some intellect and emotion. The chickens pushed one of their flock off the ledge and did so until they found the real tile. Clucking at their ingenuity and evolved awareness, they funneled into the tile. She wondered what breed of chickens they were then spoke, "They're thinking. We should go. Now."

Athalos held out his hand. "Let me redeem myself."

"How many times can I say no?" Maya snapped in a blink. Though, given how close the chickens were, she didn't have a choice. She took out her short sword and gave him back his staff. "Please, please, please don't make me regret this and find the right path!"

"Regret? The word itself is sick of me." Athalos scoffed. He held the tip of his staff and extended it forward to ground level. Years of blindness had strengthened his approximation. He cautioned, "Lady Maya. You are about to witness a skill I've pushed to perfection. You better not blink for it might be too fast for the untrained- Rapid Location Sense!"

Athalos swept his staff left to right like limited radar but with the speed of an apple falling from a tree. It was true that if anyone blinked they would miss the action but in truth, it wasn't as fast as proclaimed. Still, he covered ground faster and coupled with no visibility to fear heights, the party moved forward but so did the chickens.

Maya slashed a chicken and blazed another with her torch. She guarded the rear with Frina. It was a deadly dance of balance.

"We might actually get… through… this." Maya's words slowed at the sight of the approaching iron spiked balls. "Step on the gas, Athalos!"

Athalos furrowed his brows. "Step on the— Is that possible?"

Maya corrected herself. "Faster! Huge balls are here!"

"R.L.S. increase!" Athalos obliged with a scream that would shake the most stubborn birds off a tree. He ramped up the speed to half the lowest setting of an electric fan. His wrists burned from strain but it was pain worth taking. He didn't want to succumb to another flashback.

Frina threw a spice jar in the air and smashed it but instead of seasoning the chickens, she aimed it forward. It was the closest thing she had to powder or dust to reveal the transparent tiles. But the cavern's draft still blew in the same direction. Not only did she help the chickens with their route as the tiles behind were revealed through salt and pepper, but spice got into Athalos' eyes.

Athalos laughed and cried, the line separating the two mixed in the stream of his burning eyes. He did his duty of navigating but there was still one question in his mind: Why does it still hurt?

The spiked balls blasted through a wall of chickens and sent them down the gorge. Then they swung over the party's heads and they didn't even need to bend a knee to avoid it.

Maya sighed with a smile. It was a break they needed the most. Not only that, the other edge of the gorge was in sight. "At least we're safe from that trap—"

SNAP!

The chains broke. The spiked balls went into a freefall right above their path. Everyone screamed, poultry included.

Maya pushed Athalos from behind like a lawnmower. Frina pushed Maya to add speed. They went forward, swerved, and turned with Athalos leading the way. From exhaustion and pain, Athalos' eyes rolled up and turned white but he still kept his R.L.S. active.

The distance that remained was three rows of tiles. But they were out of time to search for the correct path. The iron balls of death were seconds away from crashing down.

"We have to jump!" Maya shouted.

Frina fainted on the spot. She truly didn't have the heart to jump. As she fell limp, Maya grabbed her before she fell down the gorge.

Athalos, oblivious to what happened behind him, prayed, "Grant me the wings of a hawk and-"

Maya would've let him finish but time was up. She carried Athalos and Frina wrapped under her arms, same as when they were unconscious. With a face of desperation and a scream that came from the bottom of her soul, she jumped.

CRASH!

The spiked balls tore through the illusioned tiles like wet paper. Bits of debris, rocks, and feathers erupted in the air. Blocks of stone tiles fell and were consumed by the darkness of the gorge. The clucking cries of chickens faded to the bottom as well.

"Oh my god… Oh my god…" Alive and on the floor, Maya felt she needed a new heart with the way it wanted out of her chest. She checked on the other two at her sides. "You guys okay?"

Athalos spasmed from overexertion and pain and frothed at the mouth. Frina was frozen; It was her self defense mechanism to cope with fear.

"Yeah, no way you guys would be… Is it really this hard to have a damn license… Adventurers would be dead before they even got to their first quest…" Maya just stayed on the floor, chest pumping up and down. Nothing chased them and she welcomed the rest, the cold stone tiles felt refreshing.

"Nay, Lady Maya!" Graff, on top of Gregory, circled the fatigued group like a vulture above them with a whole cooked chicken in his hand. He was all smiles but he also looked like a porcupine with around thirty wasp stingers on his skin, four on his head. He took a bite of savory chicken leg, juices spurt like a squeezed orange, but a worried expression soured his face. "By all means and by me stunted legs, This should be easier. Something… 'fowl' is about. Heh."

"Graff… Feed us…" Maya stuck out her tongue for any droplets of chicken oil.

"Lick yer lips and unfasten 'em belts!" Graff steered Gregory to the ground and slid off the bat's neck with the poise of a baby escaping a crib. He fell rear-first to the ground. As he rubbed the pain away, he walked over with the chicken basket. "I'm tellin'. If there are anymore blasted traps, I'm gonna shave me barren beard—"

CLICK.

Graff dropped the chicken basket. He had no excuse and simply averted his eyes. Gregory sighed.

"I'm gonna hold you to that, Batman." Maya groaned. She had nothing left in the tank. She tried to get up but both her body and mind ached. Turning over, belly touching the ground, was the best she could do. "Seriously… What now?"

The darkness of the cave split open. With a heavy rumble of moving boulders, the vertical line of light slowly expanded to the sides of the cave. Dust rained from the ceiling.

Maya covered her eyes from the sudden brightness. She could make out a silhouette deep into the sea of white. "Who is that?"

Graff took out his shield and hammer. His nose twitched even wilder than Athalos' spasming. He moved Gregory behind him and he was extremely cautious. "I'd wager whoever nabbed Jeff's friend and left all these toys for us to play with… I'd give me thanks for the bat but nothin' more."

Clap. Clap. Clap.

The slow applause echoed from the figure which sat on a throne atop a grand flight of gem-adorned stone stairs. The figure's hand rested on a sword's pommel and a low voice boomed like thunder, "Very well done… but I have to send my apologies. I pressed my button too early and it takes a while for the sliding doors to close again."

Maya muttered to herself, "Is everyone here an idiot?"

"Might be a Dernham thing. Can't be sure," replied Graff with a blank stare.

"Sooo…" The figure cleared its throat. "Before we continue introductions, I'll give you a freebie— Yes, I'm generous that way— Um, try to survive. It would be really awkward now if you didn't."

"Wow," Maya shook her head and blinked, twice. "Thanks for the tip. Isn't that what we've been—"

Snap! Snap! Snapsnapsnapsnap!

It was like fireworks. The sound of cut tightened ropes came from the group's sides, at the cavern walls and the heavy rumble was back. The walls closed in on them, not at a snail's pace but a snail's pace fast forwarded five times the speed.

Maya, Graff, and Gregory looked at each other with tired eyes then screamed. If it wasn't obvious, everyone in the party had exceptional lung capacities.