Moving towards Lily, her head turned slightly as she probably felt the wind coming in her direction.
He tapped her shoulder with Morse code. Need help. You got touch. Only you can walk properly. Vision and touch equals good.
What do you want me to do? Lily signed.
Kyle turned his head towards where Rachel was. She laid on the floor, licking her lips of the crumbs. She'd probably be easier to handle if Lily was the first one to get a hold of her. On the other hand, Ollie stood still where he was, waiting for instructions. Clyde still sprawled on the floor as if his life ended.
Clyde, you idiot. Stop being a baby. We need to do this puzzle. Kyle thought.
You would never understand the pain I'm in right now, fucker. Clyde thought.
Kyle mentally grumbled. He'd grumble really loudly if he could. He tapped on Lily's shoulder again, Get Rachel first. Your hands are softer. She'll respond better.
Idiot. I don't know where she is. Lily signed.
Get on the floor. I'll point you towards her and you crawl. Kyle tapped on her shoulder.
Lily took a crawling pose on the floor, but her direction was completely wrong. Her whole body was pointed towards the platform. Good try, but goddamn, this is going to be a long one.
Moving over to her, he tapped first. Don't hit me when I touch you.
Fine. Lily signed.
Kyle rotated her towards Rachel and then softly tapped her shoulder.
What the fuck you hit me for? Lily signed.
Shit if I know. I can't feel how much strength I'm using. Kyle tapped on her back. Now just go.
Lily shook her head visibly then started crawling to Rachel, but then stopped as she felt herself go astray. You know what, just fucking guide me.
Right. Kyle put his arms on her waist, causing her to slightly flinch and tense, but then relax in a split second.
Ready. Lily signed.
Kyle guided her towards Rachel, taking about 10 seconds to crawl to where she was. Lily's hands reached out, landing on Rachel's upper arms. Her arms then closed in on Rachel's face, landing on her lips, causing a flinch before relaxing.
Lily tapped code on her teeth. Hold me. Go platform.
Rachel nodded, though it looked more like she shook her head.
I'll go get bossman. Kyle tapped on Lily's shoulder.
Snapping his fingers, Ollie's head snapped in his direction. He snapped his fingers again in code. Follow my snaps. Get over here.
Ollie's feet began to move, wobbling across the floor towards where Kyle was. He almost tripped on one of the debris from the floor, but surprisingly caught himself. In the 10 seconds that felt like forever, he arrived.
Grabbing Ollie by the hand, he snapped his fingers. I'm putting your hands onto Rachel's shoulder. Don't grip too tight. We're doing human chain. Follow.
Next was the twinkie nut. Clyde, get over here. Follow the sound of my voice.
Fuck you. We're thinking, not talking. Clyde thought, picking himself up from the floor. He moved over to where Kyle was, wobbling across the floor.
Twin telepathy magic. Having one less idiot to communicate to was a life-saver if this one wasn't such a twinkie nut. Kyle could feel where Clyde was at all times, and so could he. No privacy, but fuck it.
Clyde arrived moments later. What do we do now?
Now, we get up the fucking platform and see what this bullshit is about. Kyle thought. He crouched to where Lily was and tapped on her shoulder again. Ollie has Rachel's hand. I'll take your hand. Follow. Platform is about 10 metres.
Lily signed, Ready.
Kyle took her by the hand, and she stood up slowly. She stood up Rachel while also straightening her. Ollie followed, standing up from his crouch.
The journey began. 10 meters.
One step forward, Kyle softly pulled at Lily, causing her to take one step forward. The others stumbled, but that's fine. They caught themselves before falling. This whole place would've been too unfair if it also deprived them of mechanical sensations such as balance and actually moving their bodies.
Slowly, the group moved step by step. Only Clyde didn't hold on to anyone else. He followed his twin's telepathic location.
Kyle, seeing the team struggle to move, felt like time moved slowly. Everyone is literally moving in slow motion to him because they were. 30 minutes passed in his mind, but in reality only 10 minutes passed when the team arrived at the first platform. The step height was about two steps high. But who cares. As long as they stumbled onto the platform, everything should be good.
Kyle once again tapped on Lily's shoulder. Two steps high. The others can just stumble onto it. Get them on top first.
Lily nodded. She moved Rachel to where she felt for the platform with her other hand. Rachel's shins hit the corner of the platform, causing the marble to slightly dent as she tripped. Her head hit the floor as well, denting the pristine flat surface with the mark of her forehead.
That was the first time Kyle actually saw how sturdy Rachel's body was. She and Gale had a different level of sturdiness compared to other Awakened.
Ollie was next. His hand had let go of Rachel's hand when she fell. Kyle lifted up the short man and then just softly threw him onto the platform.
No harm done if they can't actually feel.
Lily felt for the platform herself and vaulted herself on top of it.
Clyde, you're next. Kyle thought.
Guide me, idiot. Clyde thought.
Kyle guided Clyde until he reached the platform. Get your foot two steps up.
Clyde did exactly as he was told and stepped up.
Now everyone was on the platform. Let this fucking puzzle begin.
The first was supposed to be vision. However, Kyle could already see the bells. From left to right, it was brass, crystal, iron. The order obviously meant something. Note taken.
And now, this would mean that the first platform would be hearing instead. Turning his head to the platform's centre, he saw a round table with five exactly the same porcelain looking cups arranged from left to right in the same direction as the bells from above.
Whatever it was, they first needed to go over there. Vision is already answered. Four platforms meant four different data points.
Kyle grabbed Rachel's wrist and placed her hand on Lily's arm. He tapped against Lily's shoulder. Table in centre. I'll guide you.
Without waiting for a response, Kyle took Lily by the hand and began walking her across the platform.
Clyde, Kyle thought. Follow my location. Table in the middle with cups.
Got it, Clyde thought.
Kyle reached the table and snapped his fingers, catching Ollie's attention. Follow sound. Table in centre.
Ollie moved to the sound of Kyle snapping. He stumbled on the dent that Rachel had created, but catching himself again, walking until he reached the round table.
After they were all gathered, Kyle examined the setup again. There was no pitcher for the tea, even though the table looked set to be a rich woman's tea party. The tea cups themselves also had the same gold, platinum, and bronze inlay in an elegant pattern of who knows what the fuck kind of art style. He couldn't tell. He was proudly uncultured.
He tapped against Lily's shoulder, Five cups in row. One spoon. You hit each cup. Same strength, gently. I'll guide.
Why? Lily signed.
Hearing test. Need sounds.
Kyle snapped his fingers again, listen to cups. Remember sounds.
Ollie nodded, though Kyle didn't bother looking his way.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
Kyle guided Lily's hand to the teaspoon, curling her fingers around it. Then he moved her hand to hover above the leftmost cup.
Hit this one, he tapped.
Lily tapped the rim of the first cup gently. Looking back at Ollie, he responded with a nod and a messy OK hand symbol. Kyle didn't know what the he heard, but he had to trust he knew what he was doing.
Moving Lily's hand to the second cup, she tapped it with the same gentle strength again.
Kyle snapped his fingers, saying, You good with these 2 sounds?
Ollie opened and closed his hands in morse, First one, loud. Second, soft.
Good. It was working.
Guiding Lily to the third cup, she hit it. Then the fourth, then the fifth.
Kyle looked back to Ollie, snapping his fingers. Notice anything?
Ollie opens and closed his hands again, Repeat pattern. Confirm it.
Kyle guided Lily to repeat the whole sequence, and then asked Ollie again what his take was.
Loud, soft, soft, loud, soft. Ollie morsed with his hand. That's the pattern.
Five cups, which means they needed to hit the bells in a specific order 5 times. The amount of strength also mattered. The first checkpoint was done. They needed to get to the next platform. This should be easier since it was touch, and Lily's unsurprisingly competent.
Kyle tapped on Lily's shoulder, Loud, soft, soft, loud, soft. That's strength order. Bell on ceiling need hit 5 times. We go next platform.
Lily signed, OK.
Kyle put Rachel's arm back on Lily and started guiding her toward the next platform. The second platform rose about four steps higher than the first.
Clyde, follow my location, Kyle thought. Moving to the next platform.
Got it, Clyde thought.
Kyle snapped his fingers in rapid Morse code for Ollie. Follow sound. Next platform.
Ollie's head turned toward the snaps. He nodded and started making his way over, using Kyle's constant snapping to guide him.
The group moved slowly across the first platform toward the steps leading up to the second. Kyle kept one eye on Rachel, who occasionally stuck her tongue out as if tasting the air might somehow help her navigate or do anything.
On second thought, Kyle took out his phone from his jacket and snapped a picture of Rachel sticking her tongue out. Blackmail material? Check. She'll probably give up a hefty sum for him to delete this, or their apartment could get burnt down in an accident. Either way, no risk, no gain.
When they reached the edge, Kyle noticed the platform was four steps up. Last one was two steps. It should be fine.
He grabbed Ollie first, hoisted him up, and threw him onto the second platform. Ollie landed with a visible thud but didn't react to the impact.
Clyde, you need to jump up, Kyle thought. Four steps. Too heavy for me to lift.
Great, Clyde thought. Jumping blind. My favourite.
Clyde jumped up, but his foot stumbled on the edge, causing him to fall face forward onto the next platform.
Perfect landing. My nose hurts. Clyde thought. My heart hurts more though.
Shaking his head, Kyle turned to Rachel. He grabbed her around the waist and threw her up onto the platform as well. She landed next to Ollie, who was already getting up.
What did you do to Rachel? Lily signed.
Threw her onto platform. Four steps high. Watch your step when you climb. Kyle tapped on her shoulder.
Reminds me of what Gale did in the eclipsed.
Kyle didn't know what she meant by that, but it didn't matter. Lily reached for the step, found it with her foot, and vaulted over.
Once Lily made it up, Kyle climbed the step himself. The platform looked exactly the same as the first one. In the middle of the platform were five gray boxes arranged in a straight line in the same orientation as the bells hanging from the ceiling. Each box was exactly the same with a flat top surface.
He tapped Lily's shoulders, Five boxes in centre. Need to touch them.
Kyle guided Lily to the centre, bringing Rachel along. Clyde followed Kyle's mental location, and Ollie tracked the sound of his rhythmic snaps.
When they reached the boxes, Kyle examined them more closely. No markings. No visible differences. Just five identical gray containers with smooth top surfaces. He tried touching it, but couldn't feel anything. Of course, that would be too easy.
He guided Lily's hand to hover above the first box, tapping: Touch surface. Tell me what happens.
Lily nodded and placed her palm flat on the first box. Nothing visible happened. She lifted her hand and signed, Vibration. Short pulse.
Kyle guided her to the second box.
She touched it and signed, Long vibration.
Working through all five boxes systematically, Lily reported, signed, short, long, short, long, long.
Great, second piece of the puzzle done. The third platform was next, which was taste.
Kyle gathered the group again. Same drill as before. Grab Rachel, place her onto Lily, mental directions to Clyde, morse code and snaps for Ollie. They slowly moved their way to the edge of the third platform, which had a height of about 8 steps, double the last.
He grabbed Ollie first, hoisted him up, and tossed him onto the platform. Ollie landed in a heap but immediately started to right himself. Next was Rachel, who Kyle picked up by the waist and threw. She landed much more gracefully than Ollie, rolling to absorb the impact either by luck or she got used to the sensation of falling.
Clyde, Kyle thought. Eight steps high. Jump over.
Eight? Clyde thought. You're fucking kidding.
Just do it.
Clyde went over to the edge and jumped straight up to the edge. Surprisingly, this time, he managed to fall more gracefully as he overshot the jump and landed on his butt.
Kyle turned to Lily and tapped on her shoulder, Want to be thrown up?
No. Lily signed immediately.
Eight steps high, Kyle tapped. About 145 cm.
Lily nodded, taking one step back. She wound up her legs and jumped exactly 145cm, not a centimetre less or more. Unfortunately, the platform was slightly higher. Her feet snagged on the edge and she fell face first upon landing.
Kyle vaulted up the eight steps, landing smoothly on the third platform.
Lily had already picked herself up. Her hands moved in quick, Why did you say 145 cm if it was 148?
Kyle tapped against her shoulder, Fuck if I know. 8 steps is approximately 145cm.
Looking around the platform, Kyle noticed Rachel on her hands and knees, tongue extended as she voraciously licked the air around her. He didn't even want to begin explaining the sudden expressions of surprise and confusion that were coming and going all over her face.
Kyle tapped Lily's shoulder, You're probably going to have to do this one with Rachel. She'll bite my fingers off.
Lily signed, Guide me to her.
Kyle took Lily by the elbow and led her across the platform to where Rachel continued her air-tasting buffet. He positioned Lily directly in front of Rachel, then stepped back to watch.
Lily knelt down and softly touched Rachel's lips with her fingertips. Rachel flinched slightly but remained receptive, though her teeth remained clenched. Lily tapped a message against Rachel's teeth, Why are you licking the air?
Rachel's hands moved in response, opening and closing in Morse code, the air suddenly tastes like textured glass. The floor below tasted mostly like iron and rocks. You think Gale had to do this a lot with his parents?
Lily turned toward Kyle, her hands signing, What did she say?
Kyle tapped back, Rachel says it tastes like glass.
This floor only had one answer, which was glass taste. The other floors had had 5 answers before. But this one had just one. There must be something to it, but right now, the answer was glass for this floor.
The group once again shuffled toward the edge of the fourth platform. This one was 16 steps high. Each platform doubled its height, figures. But now, he didn't know how much strength to use to throw the two up. He could overshoot it, and they'd fall off the platform.
Fuck it. No other choice anyways.
Kyle grabbed Rachel first. She was sturdier than Ollie. She could probably take the fall to the bottom of the platforms. Hoisting her by the waist, he threw her up. She sailed through the air, but stopped short and hit the wall of the platform, causing her to crash back down onto the third platform.
Her expression didn't change. There was no pain there. Just a woman licking the air as she laid on the floor.
He picked her up again, this time putting in more horsepower to his throw. She sailed through the air again, reaching the next platform just a bit higher than before, and then managing to land on the surface.
Kyle grabbed Ollie immediately, using the same amount of force while the amount of mechanical output needed was still fresh in his mind. Ollie flew through the air, landing beside Rachel and sprawling across the platform's surface. Both tried to get up as soon as they landed.
Turning to Lily, he tapped her shoulder, 16 steps high. About 288 cm. Make it 300 cm to be safe.
Lily nodded, her face focused as she backed up one step. She wound herself up again and jumped exactly the height of 300 cm before landing smoothly on the fourth platform.
Clyde, Kyle thought. Need to jump 16 steps high.
How the fuck am I supposed to know how much strength to use? Clyde thought. I can't see or feel shit.
I'll get up there first, Kyle thought. Then grab you as you jump.
Kyle backed up, gauging the distance visually. He wound up his legs similar to Lily, and then jumped straight up. He barely cleared the platform, foot almost snagging the edge, sending him tumbling forwards.
He recovered and looked below the platform. Hurry up and just jump.I'll catch you.
Clyde did the same motion as his twin, jumping upwards. He fell short, apexing just before the edge. Kyle lunged his hands forward, grabbing Clyde by his collar and pulling him onto the platform.
This whole platform smells like a burning furnace, Clyde thought, as he brought himself up.
If it smelled like a burning furnace, that could only mean iron.
Turning around on the platform, he saw the bells were right in front of the platform and the ceiling was just a couple of centimetres away from Kyle's head. The order was flipped from when they were looking at it from below. From left to right, it was iron, crystal, brass.
All the pieces of the puzzle were with them. Only problem was, taste and smell only had one answer.
Let me piece this shit together, Kyle thought, staring at the bells. Five different inputs from five senses. This has to make one coherent answer.
So what are you thinking? Clyde thought. I got nothing but smell, bro.
Vision showed us the bells themselves: brass, crystal, iron from left to right. Hearing gave us loud, soft, soft, loud, soft. Touch gave us short, long, short, long, long.
And this platform smells like a burning furnace, Clyde thought. Which has to be iron.
Right. And Rachel said the third platform tasted like glass, which has to be the crystal bell, Kyle thought. But that doesn't make sense since the other two platforms provided 5 answers while the last 2 only provided one.
Right. Clyde thought. We still don't know what order to ring them in.
Wait. Remember the challenge instructions? Clyde thought. It listed the senses in a specific order: Vision, Hearing, Taste, Smell, Touch.
Yeah, and?
And in that order, taste comes before smell, Clyde thought. Taste identified crystal. Smell identified iron. So crystal must come before iron in our sequence.
Still doesn't tell us the full order, Kyle thought. Let me think… the patterns have five positions each, but we only have three bells. Some bells must be rung more than once.
No shit, Clyde thought.
The patterns must tell us how to ring each bell. Loud versus soft for strength, short versus long for duration.
And? Clyde thought.
If taste identified crystal specifically, and taste was earlier in the sense list than smell, which identified iron… Kyle thought.
You said the first thing you saw the bells when we entered this white room, right?” Clyde thought.
Yeah, what of it? Kyle thought.
And then do you see the bells in the fourth platform and in what order? Clyde asked.
The bells are flipped since we see them from behind. Iron, crystal, brass. Kyle thought. If its the first thing I saw and the last thing I saw, but the orders are flipped then…
It means vision is neither first nor last. It's the middle. Crystal comes first and iron comes last based on taste and smell. Clyde thought.
Then what’s the answer for vision? Kyle thought. Vision was visible from the beginning… maybe it would mean the answer for vision is brass, crystal, iron.
But the order flipped at the fourth platform Clyde thought. Why not iron, brass, crystal?
That’s a trick. Look. From the beginning, none of the orders flipped. Kyle thought. We went through Vision first since I saw the bells at the top. Then hearing, taste, smell. It’s the same order from the instructions.
Then crystal, brass, crystal, iron, iron? Clyde thought. And we ring them according to the patterns?
Right, Kyle thought. Loud, soft, soft, loud, soft for strength. Short, long, short, long, long for duration.
So crystal hit loud and short, brass hit soft and long, crystal again hit soft and short, iron hit loud and long, and iron again hit soft and long, Kyle thought.
If you say so, Clyde thought. I'm just the nose here. This entire puzzle smells like bullshit to me.