Jania sprinted before the Keeper could come out from the wall. She focused forward, locked on the second piece that was closest to her. She darted towards it and grabbed it. Then came the splintering, sharp, brittle snaps of wood cracking apart, followed by the eerie scraping of something dragging itself free. A hollow thunk-thunk-thunk echoed as pieces within the wall dislodged.

  As she ran, she noticed the zyphs’ marks flickered with light. Their forms pulsed and started to glow, reacting simultaneously as the Keeper began pulling itself free.

  They activated, Jania thought. She shoved the thought aside, filing it away for ter. Not even looking back, she kept running with two fragments secured in her left hand. No time to be scared. No time to feel fear. She continued moving to the next piece. Her shoulder bag spped against her side with every step. Some zyphs she weaved past, her movements sharp and precise. Others, too close, too many, she had no choice but to plow through.

  They scattered on impact, pushed aside by her momentum, but they didn’t fall. Instead, they continued their eerie, weightless drift, spinning, completely unbothered by her passage.

  The third piece hovered above the floor. Low-hanging. Easy.

  Jania lunged forward, dipping low without breaking stride. She grasped the fragment in a swift motion, like snatching a coin off a table mid-sprint, and pushed forward, barely a fraction of a second lost.

  Smoothly, she transferred it to her other hand. The fourth piece was a bit tricky to get since it was floating in a rotation mid-air. It was too high, so it was doable. Jania affirmed.

  She sprinted forward, legs burning, heart pounding. And then—

  A shift.

  A presence.

  Her instincts screamed at her, and without thinking, she threw herself to the side.

  But, not fast enough.

  Something tore through her left arm. A white-hot fsh of pain. The sickening rip of flesh parting.

  Jania hit the ground hard, rolling with the impact, her shoulder bag digging into her ribs. She gasped, her vision tilting, her body still pushing forward, and her grip on the pieces hadn’t loosened despite the shock. Warmth spilled down her arm. Wet, sticky, unmistakable. Blood.

  A huge gash. A bad one.

  She couldn’t afford to stop. Not now.

  She clenched her jaw, forcing the pain aside, and locked eyes on the fourth piece. Did not even spare a gnce at the assaint. Knowing it would make her tremble and hesitate more in fear. Jania pushed off the ground and ran again. Her arm throbbed, every step jarring the open wound, but she didn’t think about it.

  The fourth piece was ahead. She ran straight at it, chasing the rotation, adjusting her speed by instinct alone. The moment the fragment aligned with her reach, she lunged, fingers snapping around its rough edges—

  Pain.

  Something struck her right shoulder. The tip of the cws raked across her skin. A deep, crushing agony fred, nearly knocking her off bance. She stumbled but didn’t fall or fail.

  The fragment was in her hands, so she ran.

  Her shoulder throbbed, and her breath came ragged, but she refused to stop.

  Four down. Two to go.

  The next was the farthest one, deep in the corner. Would she even make it? Jania wasn’t wasting time on that thought. Survival wasn’t a question. It was a demand. The Keeper closed in. There were no thundering footsteps or vibrations on the floor, especially since the weight in the air was thick and suffocating, like she felt she was in a narrow space, and a creeping force pressed at her back.

  Okay, pn B it is, Jania thought, and she eyed a certain keyhole ahead of her. At the edge of her vision, a zyph drifted within reach. Without slowing down, she seized it with her free hand, barely registering the cool weight against her palm.

  Jania felt a sudden swish in the air behind her. She unched herself forward in a desperate sprint, throwing everything into one final leap toward the keyhole.

  But, something tore into her left calf at the peak of her leap. A spike of pain fred up, and the hard nding did her no favors; her injuries worsened instantly. She held in her scream. Although her body ached and bled, her goal was crystal clear. The keyhole. That was inches away.

  With all her might, she outstretched her hand and jammed the zyph into pce. Honestly, Jania did not know what to expect. It was either—

  Vwoom.

  The golden lines that were etched on the surfaces began to pulse. The room shuddered, exhaling a sudden breath of power, then ice erupted from the Keeper’s position, surging outward in an unstoppable wave, swallowing the floor and walls as frost bled through the golden lines, turning them to crystals.

  You have activated a special zyph with the mark [????] or

  [CODE 2??6:P]. All entities are now frozen for 35 seconds.

  Jania gasped, her breath curling in the sudden frigid air. Her bleeding leg seared at the change in temperature while the wound on her arm met the frozen surface with a sharp, biting sting. The warmth of her blood spread for only a second before the cold leached it away. However, whatever this was, Jania could take it. Better than being cwed to death even.

  Regardless of the wounds, Jania tried to crawl as fast as she could, despite her body screaming at each movement while her red blood streaked across the gcial blue surface. Crawling to the next piece was not a feasible option. She already knew that. What she was crawling to was entirely different.

  The only thing that could give her another edge was…

  Another different zyph.

  The only zyph that at least had its respective keyhole closest was the one with the pointing finger. Jania made sure to remember their positions, specifically the pcements of zyphs, their keyholes, and symbols. She didn't know what the pointing finger or script meant, but at this point, she didn't care. The Keeper would unfreeze soon, and she wouldn’t st longer in this state.

  So, Jania kept dragging herself with strangled grunts. Each with suppressed pain. When she was somewhat closer, she stretched her fingers, trembling, barely brushing the zyph’s surface. Not enough. She gritted her teeth and forced her arms to move, her wounded leg dragging behind her.

  “Hff—hff—,” Jania’s breath came in short, uneven bursts, misting in the cold air. Inch by agonizing inch, her wounded leg screamed in protest.

  Another pull. A little bit closer. She had it.

  Without pausing to think, she stretched her body, using her right foot for leverage and pressing down with whatever weight she could manage. Her right hand trembled as she forced it forward, each movement dragging another sharp sting through her wound.

  And smmed the zyph into the keyhole.

  You have activated a special zyph with the mark [????] or

  [CODE 5??3M1:P]. You are now healed.

  The same resonant sound echoed through the chamber while a low thrum pulsed beneath her palm. Jania could feel and see her torn flesh healing. Pain became nonexistent, and her skin was back to its original state, but, of course, the streaks of blood were still there, and her clothes remained damaged.

  Thank God, Jania thought as she immediately stood up.

  Hiss. Ice started shimmering away, starting from the center, which urged Jania to take her next step fast. So, she quickly pced the pieces she had in her pants’ front pocket. The fading sound intensified, like a breath exhaling into nothing. She shifted her weight forward and pnted one foot with enough grip to push off. Her other foot skated over the slick surface, her body leaning into the motion. It wasn’t a perfect start, but momentum built fast.

  And faster.

  She bent her knees to adjust her bance, arms outstretched to steady herself. The cold air rushed past her skin as she slid, her speed carrying her toward the next fragment, which loomed ahead.

  Jania braced herself and thrust her palms against the wall the instant she reached it. A dull impact rattled through her arms, but she held steady, pressing her weight against the solid surface until she came to a stop as the fading magic reached the ends of the room, vanishing completely. She picked up the fifth piece and slid it into her pants’ other front pocket.

  Face-to-face, Jania saw the Keeper floating forward. It hovered since it cked a lower body. Instead, it had these broken zyphs and stripped pieces of cloth that looked like wood hanging from its body. But Jania didn’t stick too long staring, she made a run toward the next fragment that was on the same side of the room. She took notice of several zyphs that were not glowing anymore. Those were the key blocks that had the marks Jania used moments ago.

  Jania thought it would either imply the zyphs here were one-time use or had cooldowns. She hoped that it was the tter. If not, the only way to effectively assist her was to use the remaining zyphs correctly.

  Jania turned her attention back to her goal. Her feet pounded the ground, and she concentrated on building up more speed, without worrying about the Keeper. She lengthened her strides. Her breath hitched, her body tensing as the final steps approached. No hesitation. No second-guessing.

  She pnted her foot and unched. Her fingers hooked around the fragment. Momentum still carried her forward, but without enough control to break the fall properly. She braced for impact, twisting midair, trying to angle herself for a roll, but her form was off. When she nded, her legs buckled, and instead of a smooth recovery, she stumbled, colpsing onto one knee.

  Pain jolted up her leg, sharp but not unbearable. She hissed through clenched teeth, forcing herself to push up, fingers gripping the fragment like it was her lifeline.

  Now, all she needed to do was put all of the pieces together, but before that…

  Jania ran again to get closer to the avaible zyphs that had their respective keyholes within a short distance. There was no sound or the distinctive feeling that pressed on her back. When she reached her desired strategic position, she turned in the direction of the Keeper. It was leisurely hovering towards her with its long tree limbs and sharp branches as cws that were stained with Jania’s blood.

  That gave her motivation and fear. Fear of dying alone in this horrible pce, of being cwed to death. The motivation fueled her brain power while she took all six burr pieces from her pockets and started assembling them. The Keeper was in her peripheral vision.

  She knew she had to be quick, but her hands kept shaking. The pieces cttered against each other, slippery with sweat and some with blood. “You can do this,” Jania muttered to herself. “Just stay calm.” She took a deep breath, but that was also shaky.

  Although the Keeper was a little far, it didn’t stop the tremble in her bones. Nevertheless, Jania mentally isoted herself from now and blurred out the background.

  After a few seconds more, Jania completely moved on autopilot, twisting one piece so it slotted into another.

  The first piece. Steady.

  The Second was easily slotted in.

  Third.

  Fourth.

  Fifth. She smelled the metallic scent of blood mixed with hot metal and a mineral scent of dust that Jania often found in old books. It was closing in.

  Snap. Sixth.

  Huh?

  Jania froze.

  There was a gap. Jania winced with one eye. She made sure she spotted all of them, but the puzzle before her said otherwise. Before all else, she turned the puzzle around to check if there was a hidden mechanism. She couldn’t see one. An inner chill started to spread in her chest as she looked left and right for the piece that she could have missed. Where? Where was it!?

  Then, the air grew colder. The Keeper sped up.

  She grabbed the zyph she had in mind and made a short run to the keyhole. The Keeper’s behavior left a certain impression on her mind. It was pying with her. If that creature could go that fast in the beginning, she would not have survived in the get-go.

  Janua used the zyph without even sparing a gnce at the Keeper.

  You have activated a special zyph with the mark [????] or

  [CODE 5??0:P]. All entities are now forcibly dispced.

  Once again, a deep thrum resonated through the chamber, sending vibrations through Jania’s bones. At the same time, Jania looked back to check how the system defined forcibly dispced. What she saw was that the Keeper was on the other side, and its back was facing her like it had been pced in a timeout. That would do. Face the wall and think about what you’ve done, Jania thought.

  She pnned to scan the whole area again; however, something caught Jania’s eye. The st piece.

  It wasn’t floating at a high height.

  It wasn’t close to the ground nor hidden behind zyphs.

  It was on the Keeper’s back.