Chapter 31: Maping Out The Way!

Chapter 31: Mapping Out the Way! *Thump* *Thump* *Thump* Holding a torch in his hand Ken’s legs were flashing by, only touching the floor to garner enough power to dash again. He had an advantage by now, so he wanted to map enough of the situation here before the other prisoners reached him. Being multiple times as strong as a normal human meant he could move that many times as fast; the physical path allowed for that much. His body was better all around, so he could do things he normally wouldn’t be able to. He had been rushing forward for 5 minutes now, and so far there was only darkness, rats, and more darkness. He would have had a harder time even with his enhanced vision if he wasn’t thoughtful enough to get the torch. the source of light that was powered up not directly by a flame but by some kind of crystal. This was what allowed him to run as fast as he did without it extinguishing. But soon, Ken had to stop. The long path behind him should take the prisoners more than 30 minutes to reach due to the darkness and their sheer number; the fastest should be here in at most 20 minutes. It was possibly made to buy enough time for the guards to reach them in case an escape like this happened or to tire them out. In any case, Ken deduced that once they got here, they wouldn’t be as fast anymore. In front of him three paths branched out, and he was sure they had traps. After all, his hints told him. [The middle? Definitely take the middle! and beware, you might just meet up with the guards.] [I won’t go right if I was you... I’m scared of snakes and scorpions, even more so of pitfalls, by the time you reach where the paths reconnect... maybe you won’t] [Just go to the middle; the left isn’t worth it. You’d be drilled with holes, filled with arrows, and you could very well be smashed by a boulder or skewered by spikes. it’s not made for humans to escape.] Hearing that the middle path was the safest, Ken didn’t think anymore. He did what any sane person would do. He went left. Why wouldn’t he? It was the most dangerous path. Once he decided on his path, he dashed once again. His eyes worked like never before. Countless hints were displayed in front of his eyes, pointing out things possibly not even the designer of the prison knew about. [Don’t walk over here; I know you don’t want arrows as accessories.] [This might be the quickest and post peaceful way to day, a pitfall to hell.] [Ah yes, the good old boulder, though for you it’s the safest of all.] Hint after hint was placed in every corner of the walls; every meter he passed didn’t fail to have a trap somewhere, somehow. It took Ken 15 minutes for him to reach the end of the left path, and sure enough, the paths were reconnected, just that there were 5 here, not 3, with 2 branching out from the right or middle path because Ken hadn’t seen one where he came from. [From here on out be cautious.] Seeing the hint, Ken knew that there would be guards in here. He didn’t know also if they were aware of the prisoners escaping or not, so they could very well be all there. He stopped in his tracks, just outside of the now right path, trying to figure out if he should go check out the situation of the guards or go map out the other paths. Ken had his reasons for doing what he did. Mapping the paths—that is, a reason that didn’t turn out to be useless after all. But he decided that it was wiser to check the guards before the other paths. To know more about the situation at hand. So he moved once again, this time stealthily, in an efficient method that promised minimal noise. The entire path all the way here was dark, and it was plain with only hidden trap formations and stone walls all around, as if he were in a dungeon. But starting from here, things were different. The place was well lit; the structure and design were cubic and more normal. Even the walls and ceilings were straight and cubic in shape, unlike the rest of the prison and the cells, which seemed as if someone punched a hole and put iron rods in. He put his torch in a corner and moved slowly inside. The place still looked like a maze, but an organized one; the stone-tiled floors weren’t jagged and poking at your feet, nor were the walls and the ceiling. The torches were evenly spaced, and one could see well what was going on. He had reached an intersection; going forward was the exit, to the right was the guards quarter, and to the left was the guards’ canteen. A simple and tidy design, one that none of the prisoners had seen. From what he had seen so far, it seems like the guards should be responsible for giving the prisoners food, and there was no such thing as letting those criminals out; in fact, the bunch of them seemed to know each other. All in all, this was more than definitely an instance made for the trial, nothing serious with backgrounds or very thought-out prison rules. It was a simple objective, and one didn’t have to go too much into the useless details. Escape the prison. As simple as that. The faster you did and the more righteous you were, the better. Ken moved right, going to the guards’ quarter, as he could hear voices coming from there, and his hints told him that no one was in the canteen at the moment. At the end of the path, there was a gate, and inside, Ken saw what seemed like a staff room. "You son of a Ditch!!" ------End------