The lights flickered over and over and Ben grew more worried.
"You were right," he said to Ingrid.
"See what I mean," she said as they ran. "You better watch your step, I wasn't joking about killing you, you know."
Ben gulped as he was a bit scared of her. Ben was a lot older than he looked, most of them were, but all his life he'd never looked intimidating.
He kept on wondering why his more youthful form was his prime, was he shaper as a teenager? Was he stronger? No it couldn't be as he was never athletic even now he was already tired of running.
They caught up with the red headed girl and she led them in the dark through a diverging path to the right.
When the acid comes it'll mostly go down that path, she said. You see the lights they're a lot stronger here, they should be a really strong force field behind us.
She glanced back to check and Ben saw a faint blue glow in her eyes and knew she was using Horus but on both eyes.
Ben, like everyone else, had little knowledge of this world, this purgatory, but still he felt they were people like her who were catching up to this faster.
Everyone felt so unusual, no one seemed like the average person and knew that he too would have to alter himself to survive but how could he change what he had always been.
"Wouldn't it be better to save time by using it on one eye?" Ingrid asked her.
"It's not as powerful on a single eye, you won't see enough details out there, that's how he was able to read the code on the walls."
"Who?" Ben asked.
"Some old man but he didn't make it, he got caught up in the acid."
"An old man?" Ben said under his breath, wondering about it. 'Would he be in his prime then?'
"Look there's one over there," she said. "Oh right your eyes aren't activated."
Ben quickly activated his eye but on only one, he quickly looked around and saw it, it was a red arrow made up of many different shaped boxes arranged at a random order and capped off with a triangle for the point.
"It's a red arrow!" Ben said.
"Not only that, the color, the shapes, they mean something."
******
Who are you? William asked the old man as he gripped him by his collars. He stared into the old man's weathered eyes then the lights flickered over head and the man gasped.
"We have to leave now,"he said. "The energy fields are about to give up."
"What's all this talk about an energy field? What did you do to my friend?"
"Can't you see,"the old man pointed to the entrance. "When these lights go out, what's holding back the acid is going to give."
William took a glance at the entrance and knew he must be telling the truth; he pulled him up on his feet and they started running down the tunnels.
They ran and ran and the light kept flickering, it seemed like they would die at any moment but the tunnel kept on going with no end and no diverging part in sight.
"Sorry I grabbed onto your leg without permission," the old man said. "Someone as able bodied as you. I knew you'd get us out."
'Able bodied? Flattery stings'
"You have my gratitude." the old man said.
William smiled and gave a little wave but he knew they would both still be floating in acid if he hadn't found the option for a booster.
'I got lucky,' he thought. 'But still I spent half an hour on that.'
"It seems this part won't come to an end anytime soon. I'm sorry but you don't have to slow down to match my speed."
William had done so instinctively, Strange as it was he was unconsciously trying to look out for the old man, he seemed so familiar to him, like his eyes and face were echoing the memories of the many elderly people that had helped him, from the nuns at the orphanage where he grew up, to his mentor, to his father in law who he had worked for when he went clean.
"What's your name, young man?"
'Young man?' In his mind he was still in his mid forties and it was getting more and more annoying to be addressed as a child.
"I'm not a young man pops, I'm in my forties."
"Oh right you got deaged."
William couldn't help but wonder about the old man's appearance, why was he still old?
"I know you're wondering about it too, I'm I really at my prime as I am? I think I am, I'm a lot sharper, I know I am and I believe to alter my body would he to alter the development of my brain as well, it's either that or our game masters have favorites.
Willam thought about the moving statue back at the dungeons.
"Purgatory," the old man said. "I spent my whole life not believing in superstition, now I've got to fight my way out of one."
William chuckled and the lights began flickering again.
"This is the last set we have to hurry up."
"What do you mean set?" William said.
"It'll flicker nineteen times in three sets and then I'll turn off and you know what comes next."
"Yeah…"
Willam remembered Nod, the acid must have pushed him farther down than he had thought at the time.
His shield was active as william remembered it, when the rats pounced on him, the acid would have freed him from them just as it did for him.
Willaim hoped Nod had found his way out too but a lot of uncertainty festered in his heart as he thought about all three of them and it kept derailing his focus.
William turned his attention to the path ahead and tried not to worry but it still got under his skin. it still messed with his nerves, there was a constant growing uncertainty around him and every turn seemed to present its own curveball and worse he hadn't even been in this world long.
They could only count as the light flickered overhead. William thought about the old man's intelligence, to deduce the patterns and functions of such a hostile place in such little time, highlighted and exceptional ability and a keen eye for details.
Willaim thought the old man would be a valuable asset as he had something he was lacking. William was more socially intelligent, he could weave his way into people's hearts and minds and alter their perception of him however he wanted as well as being able to steal from anyone in a ballroom.
But he knew he couldn't carry out a big job on his own, he always needed a wide array of talents to set all the dominoes in places and a thought kept occuring to him, if he was going to survive this world he would have to ally himself with people of great abilities like the old man like Ben, Nod and maybe Ingrid.
The lights stopped flickering and then turned off.
"They're dead," the old man said.
They could hear it roaring faintly but still the stream had the same dreadful power over them.
The darkness around now only added to the tension and with no end to the tunnels and no diverging part in sight they knew they were in real trouble.
"Get on my back pops?"
"Are you sure?" The old man protested.
"There's no time, get on already."
The old man got on his back and to stop himself from falling off, he interlocked his hands around William's shoulder.
William took off, running faster than he had gone before. The walls had begun shaking, the rumbling of the stream could be heard through them and from the vibrations the old man could tell how far the stream was from them.
"I know this may be a bit harsh with me on your back and all but could you go any faster, it's gaining on us."
William's legs were strained already and he was slowing down, he had barely caught his breath the last time he drained himself and now he was seriously considering using another boost.
'That'll be an hour in total, it's a rip off but still it's the only shot I've got.'
Then a thought occurred to him.
'Damn it, I don't even know how much time I lost in that acid. I've got to keep running. Maybe there's a diverging path up ahead with a force field. I don't like leaving things to chance like this but I've got to save on time, it's my life.'
But he was wrong and the rumbling got far more intense and then he didn't need much convincing, his legs and his ears did it all.
With his intent strongly established the guide appeared and a notice came instantly and it pissed him.