Chapter 14

There had to be some way for me to both dodge the bricks as they fell, and simultaneously cover the distance before the gate got too small for me to pass through it. I didn't even want to know what could happen if I didn't pass — I had spent too long in Odesso to want to spend any more time in this cursed, abandoned, dry place.

Between me and the gate was a distance I mentally calculated to be two kilometres, and I started to run even faster, trying to be just as careful with dodging the bricks, but the gate was not waiting and I panicked, my fear and sense of urgency getting the better of me. I started to run, jumping over the bricks until one hit me and made me fall. Refusing to stop, I jumped to my feet and continued, only to get another brick to my face, stunning me with the force it used.

I still do not know where the spirit came from — maybe from the sight of the gate becoming smaller, but I started to crawl when one of the bricks going through the sand hit my metallic hand and threw me off. I continued with the other hand and another brick knocked me off balance, throwing me down into the desert sand.

And slowly, I lost consciousness.

I must have been out for an hour or so, but when I opened my eyes again, the cloud of bricks that had come at me now and again were now hanging over me, waiting. I mumbled, trying to remember and think of why I was where I was, when I remembered the gate.

With a start, I jumped and looked at it, and to my surprise, it remained unchanged from when I was knocked unconscious.

I swallowed the lump that stuck in my throat as I felt my heart start to pulse in my chest, and the bricks started to move again, same as the gate, which continued becoming smaller.

"No." I yelled, shutting my eyes. Everything had stopped when I was knocked unconscious.

Why was it continuing now?

I wanted it to be a dream, something I would wake up from.

My eyes remained shut, and when I opened them again, I saw that the gate did not close, nor reduce in size. Was the key to getting out in keeping my eyes shut?

With my eyes closed, I started to walk towards the gate when I felt a brick crash in front of me. It startled me and I jumped back, causing me to open my eyes for a split second before shutting them back to keep my head. Still, I felt a few more bricks crash around me, making me realise that it wasn't exactly because my eyes were shut. There was something else, something I was failing to notice.

I opened my eyes and took a deep breath, so I would see when the bricks fell, and surely enough, I moved just in time to dodge one. Maybe if I did it calmly enough, then I would dodge them.

So I walked calmly, not running, and killing all fear, and I was doing it quite well and getting closer to the gate, which had never stopped growing smaller, but this time only with minimal, almost unnoticeable changes. What shook me out of my calm state was a brick that hit my metallic body, startling me again.

As my heart pulsed in my chest, the bricks continued falling with even more frequency, and I shut my eyes, realising I had my answer.

It was all in my heart rate.

While I lay unconscious and unmoving, my body completely relaxed, nothing moved.

While I relaxed myself and walked, making sure my whole body was calm, and my heart pulsing steadily, the bricks fell less frequently, allowing me to dodge with ease.

When my heart pulsed and raced out of shock or fright, everything continued like a storm, forcing my heart to pound even more frequently, and making everything worse.

That was the key!

I had to be calm, to keep my heart rate steady.

With a deep breath, I opened my eyes and continued as steadily as I could, making sure I calmed myself well enough to not cause my heart to pulse in my chest, and like magic, I found the bricks easy to dodge, with the gate waiting for me. It was still becoming smaller, but if I maintained my cool, I would pass through without a fuss.

It was almost unbelievable, even as my counter counted away.

*1. New Notification Alert*

173,586,891 out of 173,789,537 bricks dodged.

I had a few hundred thousand to go.

I steadied myself and continued, dodging each one that came. With time, I figured out that the bricks were coming at half the pace as my heart beat. An old school stat reminded me that my heart beat at 75 times a minute under normal circumstances, and at half the pace, I was dodging 38 bricks a minute.

I still had about two hundred thousand bricks to go, which would put me at a rough 5000 bricks left to dodge per minute, if my heart rate remained as it was. However, I needed the rate to be better, as I wanted to be out of here in minimal time.

So I ran.

I sped, still holding my metallic hands over my head to protect it, feeling my heart thump in my chest as bricks fell like rain all about me. I refused to stop even when I saw the gate visibly becoming smaller, and I ran until the counter was complete, by which time I had reached the gate.

*1. New Notification Alert*

173,789,537 out of 173,789,537 bricks dodged.

*COMPLETE.

However, any joy I would have felt now that the bricks had now stopped falling, with the cloud gone and a plethora of broken bricks waiting behind me was soon eroded by how small the gate now was.

It was most definitely too small for me to pass through.

*******

At this point, I was left with no other option than to call Maia. But first, I decided to try every other option. I could just not go around the gate, as some force fields stood like steel walls by the sides of the gate, even stopping me from seeing what was on the other side, and I could not pass through, as it was only the size of my head and far too small for my metallic body to pass, leaving me trapped there.

Left with no other choice, I called my System Guide.

"How can I get through this gate?"

"You use what you have."

"No, Maia. NO!" I barked, now sick of the riddles. "I'M TIRED OF THE RIDDLES YOU GIVE ME. I WANT AN ANSWER, AND I DEMAND IT NOW."

At first, there was silence, which prompted me to think that I was even better off without the damned System Guide. Then it spoke.

"Apologies, Master Alex. Please use your katana to dig until you can get through."

"Oh." I huffed, surprised that an answer had come so easily.

Without wasting another second, I took out my katana and started to dig restlessly. The gate had shrunk to become the size of my head, and I dug through the hard sand with something as thin as my katana until at last, the hole was wide enough.

With tears of joy, I pushed my way through.

And at last, I was free of Odesso.