Chapter 2
Shocked at his bravado, Tal stepped back from the edge of the walkway. Unconsciously he had moved towards the edge.
"What am I doing? This is potentially fatal. Where did I get all this bravery and confidence?" thought Tal.
As these thoughts ran through his mind he was unconsciously pulling the colours for making the light rope into his mind. Fatigue grew in him and the thought of the long trip down the walkway kept appearing in his mind as he silently debated with himself.
"Safe, long, tiring, walk down the walkway on one hand and dangerous, short fun freefall down to the bottom level on the other." thought Tal.
"Fun?" said Tal aloud.
Tal brooded over this thought and started with some quick calculations.
"If it is 1000 stretches to walk up the spiral then it should be 500 stretches of rope that I need to make plus more for miscellaneous uses. 530 stretches will do."
Tal started to make the rope. He went over the colours to make sure he wouldn't forget anything then he started to weave the rope.
"Red light for strength," he said aloud.
A red strand of light flowed from his sunstone.
"Yellow light for flexibility,"
A yellow strand shot out and started to twist with the red strand.
"Indigo light for binding,"
An indigo strand shot out from the stone and encased the other two strands. Tal stood in concentration for a few minutes creating the rope. Lights twirled and twisted together then coiled itself on the floor. When Tal had reached 520 stretches he made loops for both ends of the rope. On one end he fused a loop with indigo light to make a kind of restraint and then he tied it to his legs. As Tal got to the other end he found himself in a dilemma. He didn't have anything to secure the loop onto!
Frantically, Tal looked for an anchor and in his panic almost lost concentration which would have dissipated the rope instantly. Lucky he found a stone gargoyle three stretches above him. Tal sighed in relief and looped the rope around it.
Finally he was ready to jump. Tal hopped to the edge. As Tal reached the edge he found himself reminiscing about the last time he had done this. Tal had last jumped with a light rope in the spirit world Aenir from the top of Hanging Rock to escape detection.
At that time he needed to jump in a hurry and only had time to worry about being captured but now he had all the time he wanted and his thoughts seemed to come to one single thought.
"How messy would it be if I crashed on the floor?"
Shocked at his bravado, Tal stepped back from the edge of the walkway. Unconsciously he had moved towards the edge.
"What am I doing? This is potentially fatal. Where did I get all this bravery and confidence?" thought Tal.
As these thoughts ran through his mind he was unconsciously pulling the colours for making the light rope into his mind. Fatigue grew in him and the thought of the long trip down the walkway kept appearing in his mind as he silently debated with himself.
"Safe, long, tiring, walk down the walkway on one hand and dangerous, short fun freefall down to the bottom level on the other." thought Tal.
"Fun?" said Tal aloud.
Tal brooded over this thought and started with some quick calculations.
"If it is 1000 stretches to walk up the spiral then it should be 500 stretches of rope that I need to make plus more for miscellaneous uses. 530 stretches will do."
Tal started to make the rope. He went over the colours to make sure he wouldn't forget anything then he started to weave the rope.
"Red light for strength," he said aloud.
A red strand of light flowed from his sunstone.
"Yellow light for flexibility,"
A yellow strand shot out and started to twist with the red strand.
"Indigo light for binding,"
An indigo strand shot out from the stone and encased the other two strands. Tal stood in concentration for a few minutes creating the rope. Lights twirled and twisted together then coiled itself on the floor. When Tal had reached 520 stretches he made loops for both ends of the rope. On one end he fused a loop with indigo light to make a kind of restraint and then he tied it to his legs. As Tal got to the other end he found himself in a dilemma. He didn't have anything to secure the loop onto!
Frantically, Tal looked for an anchor and in his panic almost lost concentration which would have dissipated the rope instantly. Lucky he found a stone gargoyle three stretches above him. Tal sighed in relief and looped the rope around it.
Finally he was ready to jump. Tal hopped to the edge. As Tal reached the edge he found himself reminiscing about the last time he had done this. Tal had last jumped with a light rope in the spirit world Aenir from the top of Hanging Rock to escape detection.
At that time he needed to jump in a hurry and only had time to worry about being captured but now he had all the time he wanted and his thoughts seemed to come to one single thought.
"How messy would it be if I crashed on the floor?"