They step out of the library and are met with the deafening roar of grinding gears, molten brass, and massive iron pistons.
The Hollow Quill stands on a moving conveyor belt, its theater-mask head spinning frantically before stopping on Grief.
“You cling to each other like children in a storm.
How tragic.
The Gauntlet does not tolerate a shared burden.
It demands a division of agony.”
“Hear the parameters of Phase III: The Clockwork Foundry.
This floor is a synchronized execution machine.
The exit path cannot be opened by one hand.
Levers must be thrown concurrently on opposite sides of this burning abyss.
The mechanisms are timed down to the exact heartbeat.”
“Speed will not save you.
Strength will not save you.
If one of you is a second too slow, the iron will crush the other.
You cannot be in two places at once, Starved One.
Choose who bleeds first, or watch the gears turn you both into ash.”
It looks directly at Monster and whispers: “The ink has already dried on your mind, Starved One.
You pulled her back from the teeth, yes?
A clever trick.
But remember…
your mind keeps the ink, even if time washes the stone.
How many drops of sanity do you have left to bleed?”
Monster didn’t understand a word of what the creature had said, so he asked it: “I don’t think I know you, so could you tell me who you are and why you call me by that name?”
“Oh, sorry, you seem to have lost your memory again.
Let me fill you in.
My name is the Hollow Quill, you can just call me Quill if you prefer.
You are in a tower called Aethelgard’s Gauntlet, where you and Accompanying Flesh are trying to survive and escape.
You can consider me your enemy, but killing me wouldn’t help you find all the exits anyway, as I am the one who helps you both by telling you what to expect in the next stages.”
Monster pondered: “What would happen if I ate your shadow?
Would I then gain your memories and be able to find the exit with Janine?
And you still haven’t told me why you call me “Starved One”.”
The Hollow Quill appeared directly in front of Monster’s face, just inches away, its faceless head reflecting Monster’s image, and then it spoke: “I prefer you to follow the rules, Starved Soul.
You don’t want anything to happen to either of you if you act against the advice of the guide.”
Monster backed away.
He felt slightly intimidated by the Hollow Quill, whose words sounded cold but polite.
He couldn’t tell if it had feelings or if it was simply cold and following protocol.
From what Monster had just seen of the Hollow Quill, he could only conclude that its personality was cold, legalistic, and extremely polite.
Either way, it was unsettling.
It’s voice was two-toned and echoing, like the sound of a grinding stone and a chime.
The Hollow Quill tilted its head, sensing that it had frightened Monster, and said, “Enough chit-chat, I’ve explained how Phase III works, now get going or you’ll both die.”
Janine, who had remained silent the whole time, nodded and pulled Monster to his side at platform A, and then she went to platform B.
On the left side of the chasm is Platform A.
They are separated by a 100-foot drop.
It began with the loud clatter of the gears, and then they both tried to pull the lever at the same time.
Janine was too slow, however, and was crushed by the iron.
Monster then had to use save state to rewind time and try again and again.
It wasn’t easy, but once was enough to finish it off.
He simply had to pull the lever until he and she had done it simultaneously.
But then he had to watch them both die many times and feel the pain of being crushed.
On the twelfth attempt, Monster shouted across the room to tell her when to pull, but that didn’t change much, as one of them was always slower and got crushed.
What The Hollow Quill hadn’t told them is that there are massive iron pistons that slam down from the ceiling every five seconds like giant meat-tenderizers, and automated Brass Sentinels that guard the controls.
On the fourteenth attempt, Monster noticed something.
The levers are linked to a rotating clockwork dial in the center of the room.
The dial spins at random speeds.
If one person pulls early or late by even a fraction of a second, a blast of superheated steam shoots out from the floor, instantly scalding the other person to death.
Because the dial spins randomly, Janine keeps failing and dying.
Monster uses save state dozens of times, resetting the 3-minute window.
In each reset, he memorizes the exact visual cue of the dial right before she dies.
He uses flash step to dodge his own side’s pistons while screaming countdown commands across the chasm “Pull in three!
Two!
ONE!”.
He repeated this over two thousand times, memorizing each dial and trying not to forget it, while putting himself under great stress and pressure, as he was the only one who could do it, even when he felt exhausted.
He screamed in pain after being crushed and struck by superheated steam that shot from the ground, instantly scalding him.
He would always use save state to turn back time, and then yell at her to pull the lever at the same time as him.
The problem was that sound wasn’t as fast as light, so his words didn’t always reach her in time for them to draw at precisely the same moment.
Sometimes Monster simply gave up and sank to his knees, but death is inevitable in this place, so even giving up isn’t an option for him.
He only wishes he didn’t have to suffer amnesia twice, because all he has are memories of the lies the Ink-Weavers fed him.
He even broke the rules by leaving the platform to find the Hollow Quill.
Yes, Monster had gone mad and wanted to eat the Hollow Quill’s shadow, and sometimes even considered killing Janine to get out on his own.
He even went to Janine’s platform to help her, but in the end he died and returned through his save state ability, which he had learned from his book before entering the third phase.
After five thousand attempts, he finally managed to pull the lever at the same time as her.
From Janine’s perspective, they walk in, pull the levers perfectly on the “first try,” and win.
But when she looks at Monster.
He is panting, bleeding from his nose from mental strain, and looking at her with cold, aggressive irritation because he just watched her die five thousand times in a row.
He snaps at her to “Just shut up and move.”
She realizes he is treating her like a mechanical object, breaking her emotional trust in him.
They finished the third stage and moved on; for Janine it went quickly, but for Monster it felt like days had passed.
As they entered the fourth phase, the Hollow Quill began to injure Monster, tearing him to pieces, forcing him to use save state several times, and Janine had turned her back on him and let him die while she completed all the phases alone.
Monster screamed at her and tried miserably to strangle Janine for betraying him, even though he had died so many times just to make sure they could both escape.
“Why are you turning your back on me?
Don’t you dare let me die!
I did everything so we could both survive, and you’re abandoning me?
Finally understand: You can’t achieve anything without me!” Tears streamed uncontrollably down his face.
Then Monster saw his doppelganger, another version of himself, but more stable, perhaps his true self before he lost his memory and was so miserable, and it said to him, “Get up, idiot, you’re making me look stupid.” Get faster updates on novelping.com.
Monster didn’t understand.
Why now?
Why is the real Monster speaking up now of all times?
Couldn’t he have spoken to him earlier?
And why didn’t he regain his memories if he saw his true self before his amnesia?
Monster glared angrily at his other self, wiped the tears from his face, and shouted: “I don’t know who you are!
I don’t understand how you can survive this hell and seem so carefree.
I’m suffering here, and you seem fine.
Have you gone insane a long time ago?”
His other self didn’t reply, but simply said: “Keep dreaming, maybe that’s all you’re good at.”
This only made Monster angrier: “What do you know about dreaming?!
You’ve probably never even experienced this nightmare!
So don’t tell me I can’t do anything but dream!
Do you even know how messed up your life is?!
I wouldn’t even want to be in your shoes!
But giving up is pointless if I can’t even die!”
Monster was unaware of his hallucination; the idea that the Hollow Quill had killed him or Janine had betrayed him was therefore not real, but rather the effect of the ink-weavers, which were still lingering in his mind because they had stolen his memories and given him hallucinations.
From the Hollow Quill and Janine’s perspective, they can see Monster screaming at himself, but they can’t understand a word he says because his hallucinations prevent him from speaking normally.
He understands himself perfectly well, but from their point of view, he speaks as if he has forgotten how to speak.
After about thirty minutes, Monster calmed down and fainted from exhaustion.
Janine’s stomach growled, causing her face to turn bright red, while the Hollow Quill simply watched them until he brought something to eat.
Since he didn’t know what humans ate, he brought them a sandwich and tobek – yes, tobek is the same food with the same recipes that Monster once had with his old best friend, whom he had forgotten.
Janine started to eat, but couldn’t eat properly because she felt uneasy whenever the Hollow Quill was near.
She thought the Hollow Quill was staring at her, but she had no idea, because it had no face, and its mirrored head could only reflect other people’s images.
Its faceless, mirror-image head movement reflects Janine’s restless, crimson facial expression.
Janine could no longer stand the silence and turned to the Hollow Quill: “Could you please stop staring at us?
It’s creepy.”
The Hollow Quill replied: “I didn’t mean to be creepy, but I just want to make sure everything goes smoothly.”
Janine nodded and continued eating.
After a few minutes, she asked something trivial again: “Why are you even here?
You never tell us anything about yourself.
You’re the guide, but surely even you should have a reason for being here, shouldn’t you?”
The Hollow Quill replied simply: “Don’t even ask, I’m not here to chat.”
Janine closed her mouth with a gesture, finished eating, and went to sleep herself, because in this tower it does not say that sleeping is forbidden, so resting is not a bad thing.
Monster woke up shortly afterwards, saw the food and ate it immediately, but after eating the tobek, a tear rolled down his left eye.
He had no idea why, but he wiped his left eye.
He had no idea that a part of him remembered his best friend, with whom he had shared a tobek back then.
After he had finished eating, he saw the Hollow Quill and thought about eating its shadow.
He slowly approached the Hollow Quill, remaining silent and trying to get close to its shadow.
Just two meters away from the Hollow Quill, he grabbed the Hollow Quill’s shadow and brought it to his mouth.
Before he could eat it, everything went black and he lost consciousness.
The Hollow Quill placed Monster’s body next to Janine’s and left them both to rest before the final two phases of the following day.
The Hollow Quill is gone for now, but will return as soon as both are no longer exhausted.