[Comm (Coins)] (7) The Escape

The next chamber was quiet, but differently from the stillness which had hidden the shadow monster. This was an expectant silence, without peace, but without a foreboding danger.
I looked around uneasily, but it was Arctic who broke the silence.
“Do you think… this is the last room?”
“I hope so,” Gravity said mournfully. “I need a snack.”
Her comment broke the tension just enough that we all chuckled a little. We could always trust her to be thinking about food, and it felt rather relieving right then.
Khaos however quieted quickly, and I noticed him searching for Aska’s prints. They had trailed sharply into this chamber, but then vanished entirely. Just ended as if he had been lifted off the floor mid-stride.
“At least he got out,” Daydream commented.
“Yeah,” Arctic nickered. “But how? I don’t see any doors, or windows.”
“I don’t smell any fresh air either,” Gravity chimed in.
I glanced around. The chamber, like several of the others, but in the center there was a wide, flat disc of stone carved with an intricate spiral, exactly like the one on the entrance to this whole misadventure. Its lines branched, looping and reconnecting in dizzying patterns. Symbols dotted the grooves like constellations.
Daydream traced them with her breath, leaning close to study them. “It’s beautiful,” she whickered.
Khaos sighed deeply, “It’s a puzzle.”
Arctic groaned. “Of course it is. Because this place hates us.”
I leaned in next to Daydream to examine the disc more closely. “Look. The spiral starts on the outer edge and winds inward, but these symbols don’t match the direction of the grooves.”
“They’re wrong on purpose!” Gravity cocked her head. “But why make a wrong puzzle?”
“I think we have to figure out the pattern and correct it,” I answered. Khaos paced around the stone slowly, his eyes narrowed as he studied it.
“Aska must have used this,” Arctic said. “Surely that’s why his prints disappear at the stone.” Then he squinted. “But I don’t see any moving parts.”
“That’s because you see with your eyes,” Khaos said, “not your mind.”
Arctic blinked at her. “Wow. Hurtful.” But I laughed gently.
“I think she meant it kindly.”
Khaos didn’t deny it, which was unusual in itself. Instead, he lowered his nose to the spiral and traced one of the carved lines. The symbols along it glowed faintly blue, but the glow weakened the deeper they went.
“Like something’s draining this place,” Daydream whispered.
Gravity gasped. “Maybe it’s the monster!”

Arctic paled. “Please don’t say that. I can't take another one.”
Daydream shook her head. “No. This isn’t fear. This is… exhaustion. The Gate is tired.”
I studied the symbols again. “These look like directional markers. If we follow the wrong sequence, the room might rearrange again.”
Daydream’s fox flickered into view beside her, tail brushing the disc. Where it touched, three symbols brightened.
Khaos froze. “Do that again.”
Daydream lowered her head and hummed, a soft dreamlike note. The fox tilted its head, then tapped the same three symbols, each glowing brighter than the rest.
I stepped back. “So those are correct?”
Khaos shook his head. “I think they’re the starting point to Aska’s path. He didn’t just walk out, he had to solve the puzzle. But it didn’t stay solved, so we have to redo it and make sure it stays solved this time.”
Arctic threw his head up dramatically. “Perfect. We’re doomed.”
I nudged his shoulder. “No, we’re not. Let’s think.”
We gathered around the disc. Khaos pointed to the first glowing symbol. “This matches the direction he was running. He didn’t hesitate, so he must have recognized the pattern immediately.”
Daydream whispered, “A spiral that unwinds itself.”
Gravity nodded slowly. “So we don’t follow the spiral inward… we follow it backward.”
Arctic blinked. “Backward?? But we’re trying to escape!”
“Sometimes escape isn’t forward,” I said softly, remembering the times we had to backtrack in the maze. I tapped the disc’s outermost groove. “Start here and move counter‑spiral. Only step on symbols that share the same glow as the starting points.”
Gravity squinted. “That doesn’t sound too hard.”
Arctic poked one glowing symbol with a hoof and the entire room shuddered violently.
“ARCTIC!” Gravity yelped.
“I was only testing it!
Khaos lunged and shoved him aside just as a crack ripped across the floor where he’d stepped. The symbol dimmed to dead slate grey.
“It punishes thoughtless movement,” Daydream observed.
“Okay, okay,” Arctic said. “No more touching. I promise.”
I moved forward and took Arctic’s place. “I’ll map it,” I said. I traced the steps carefully along the disc, moving slowly counter‑spiral. Each time I reached a symbol matching the fox’s glow, it brightened further, humming a soft harmonic tone.
Daydream’s fox followed alongside me, tail swishing like a painter’s brush revealing the correct path.
Arctic leaned toward Khaos. “She’s actually kind of amazing.” I nickered my thanks.
“If we escape this, I’m eating so many muffins,” Gravity whispered loudly. I had to hold in a laugh and focus so she didn’t distract me. The harmonics grew louder as I neared the spiral’s center.
But then I stopped abruptly. Ahead of me lay three symbols glowing with equal intensity.
“Oh COME ON—three choices?! Just pick one!” Arctic paced beside the stone, his ears back with tension.
“No.” Khaos’s voice dropped. “One is correct. Two are traps.”
“And how are we supposed to know?” Gravity asked.
“You need to choose for us,” Daydream instructed me. “Think deeply, but follow your instinct. You’ve never led us wrong before, just trust yourself.”
I exhaled slowly, considering my options. It seemed too easy, but I felt like the middle one was right. I didn’t know why, but I flicked my ears and held my breath as I stepped on it.
The chamber exploded with light. The spiral lines blazed gold, racing toward the walls. The room shook violently, then began to dissolve, stone turning to dust, dust to light, light to wind. The ground fell away.
Arctic screamed. “WE’RE DYING AGAIN-”
“No,” I whispered, hope filling me. “We’re leaving!” A rush of cold air swallowed us, and then we were outside.
The stone chamber was gone, as was the Gate, the clearing empty except for swirling sparks of fading light. Mountains rose around them, jagged silhouettes under a pale sky.
Arctic collapsed in relief. “We lived!”
Gravity sniffed the air. “And Aska was here recently.”
“He did make it out,” Khaos lifted his head toward the ridge in relief. I touched her side.
“We’ll find him, don’t worry.”
Khaos didn’t respond, but when he led us toward the exit, his steps were steady. 

The Spiral was behind us, Aska was ahead, and we were finally free.