"Alright! Let's do this! We will play the limbo dance and the winner will ask of the loser anything. I am someone who holds my promises until they become reality. IF you win, you can ask anything of me."
It was a tempting offer. However, she was only saying it because she wanted him to forget about the threat of death. Only when you made the situation funny that the mind would work properly. Obviously, he thought she was trying to pull him into some kind of worst-case scenario. However, it was worth giving it a chance. He didn't want to ridicule himself but, what choice did he have?
Players of the limbo dance were considered "out" if they wouldn't remain standing while going under the bar. Standing meant that only the feet touched the floor and the hands weren't holding onto anything else. Aurora changed one thing in the rules; they would go forward both at the same time since the threads were right above the lines on the road. Therefore, no one would wait for the other's turn to be completely out from under the bar.
Stephan found himself throwing his body forward to dodge the statues strike and bending backwards till he reached the middle part. It was easy for Aurora but for him, he felt as if his back would be broken into pieces. The audience laughed loudly at the limbo dance. Before bending, they did the same movements; standing on one foot then switching to the other continuously while tilting their heads to both sides, they kept going on like that till the middle.
Once they reached the giant gargoyle, it moved while drawing his halberd. Unlike the other statues, it had the agility to reach Stephan while he was running. The halberd blade landed right in front of him. The gargoyle looked down on both of them amusingly. With its bloody red eyes, it looked at them, a wide grin on its face.
"I swear; I will erase that smirk from that stupid face once this race is over," Aurora yelled with a determination that surprised Stephan.
When the blade shone brightly in front of him, when the chance to get more courage from the humour Aurora created dissipated, the monster appeared to tell him that pain was ahead of him. He wished he could stop himself from feeling fear at each turn of events, his body was more honest in behaving. The trigger was everything he wasn't used to. He was only a player before but now, he was promoted.
When he thought about it, all his wishes to be in the virtual worlds he came to fantasize about all the time when he was on Earth were complete suicidal notes. Earth was far too peaceful and Masmoenia was a hard game in itself. With constant death flags and insane people that were allowed to roam the world without being held captive in an asylum, he was a survival mode. He had to turn cold and indifferent more than he was on Earth. Yet, even when he was cognizant of all that, he was still a mortal. The only that didn't change between both worlds; his helplessness in real events and his mortality.
Nevertheless, he came this far because he made good choices. Therefore, it was better to be confident and trust the process. He could imagine the better version of him would want him to do in that situation and carry it out. Thus, he had to cling to her. The gargoyle put its feet each in a side and rods sprang from its legs turning at constant speed. Now not only he had the halberd to look out for but also the rods.
As another halberd strike was coming down to him, Aurora threw herself backwards, hitting his back and pushing him out of harm's way. She hugged him next and jumped dodging all rods till the next thread where they would do the limbo dance again. As soon as they came out of the gargoyle range, it turned back to the initial position.
"Why did you help me? You were clear in me protecting you and you doing nothing but following me around."
"I didn't expect that. That's a new mechanism they must have added because of me. Supposedly, you got to dodge only the halberd. Well, I gotta check why they changed it. I guess the butterfly effect."
His eyes opened widely until the eyeballs were in the middle of the white area. He was speechless. If she had expected things and meant for him to go through some hardships as training, wasn't it right to push him to the limit in a stressful environment? The realization struck him hard as she thought of who to communicate with to acquire about the change in the race. The rods were extreme for her. She knew Stephan wouldn't survive it.
The reason for the five-minute rule was simple; the participants had to rest between intervals. Only one minute was enough to reach the next line so they had four to rest. However, with the rods, no amount of rest would help him achieve the end of the race. She thought maybe it was only for them.
"What's your purpose by doing all this?"
"Let's finish this race. Look over there! There isn't much left! The fourth part is like a bungee jump, except that we don't have the protection of a belt."
"This is your method of training," he crossed his arms, exhausted. "I don't understand at all. Weren't you supposed to show me how to swing a sword, maybe how to make a spell without using my mana or something in the sort?"
"No matter how many times you swing a blade, the present Masmoenia is hell. Well, the past one and the future one are the same. It's just the colors. The present Masmoenia is darker while the past is more on the bright side. Therefore, you need to learn how to run, to escape and dodge death flags. This is the purpose of this race. Once we reach that door over there, you will have a day of rest and food."