Highway 35: Sand and Symbols
As the orange and pink sky dissolved into the purple night and the sun sunk below the horizon, basic foundations for the construction of a home base finished. Tomorrow was the day of the race, but Will wanted a head start on a proper base instead of the tents. After talking with the Acceleron, Will discovered that their total number of drivers was 7, so he planned for the large central area to have 7 'spokes'. Each spoke would have living quarters, a garage, and a large runway. In his conversation, Will was also told that their goal in Highway 35 was to find 'The Wheel of Power'. He wasn't told what it looked like, but he was told that it would give them access to more tracks once Highway 35 was complete.
Aidan had taken his time looking at their racing footage and looking at the internet to understand the world they were in. According to Ethan, this world was similar to his own and by proxy Connors' world. Kana spent her time trying to construct a digital body, even if she couldn't use it yet. Strangely, the music coming from Aidan's tent today sounded very western. Luke seemed to enjoy it, though, and hung out by Aidan's tent most of the day because of it. Luke was either taking a nap or probably thinking of something.
Connor had put up their most recent race online, and it had become even more popular than the first video. Maybe it was because of the multiple paths? Regardless, it made Connor want to race even more, seeing how popular their footage was. Will said he'd make high-quality cameras after he finished their building. Meanwhile, Ethan had been playing a game most of the day, and the others would join him occasionally. It was called QuickSprinters. The rounds were very intense, but they were mostly fair.
Everyone knew the race was tomorrow. Will and Ethan were hoping that they would have beneficial terrain this time, while Aidan was hoping that he wouldn't come in second again. Connor was simply excited to race anywhere, and Luke hoped there wouldn't be a lot of intense turns. All the drivers were as prepared as they thought they could be, so they turned in for the night, all hoping that they would be the one to win.
Day of the Race
Everything was set. As the sky was blue, breakfast was eaten, and last-minute checks were made, nobody knew if this was the last leg. Rolling up to the starting line, the Beacon lit up, projecting red into the sky with a beep.
As engines rumbled and rattled, everyone grew restless, eager to start today's race. There was only one thing the drivers could focus on, and that was the space ahead of them. Nobody's focus could match Aidan's flow state, but even he couldn't see everything. As the beacon let out another beep and changed color from red to yellow, everyone pressed their gas, making their engines flare up. Waiting for the light, everything fell silent.
…
A beep was heard, and the light turned green. All 5 drivers rocketed forward into the vast desert, picking up speed to reach their otherworldly destination. Kicking up the dust beneath them, their speedometers climbed to 200 mph, triggering them to press their red buttons.
All 5 cars began to glow light blue, and their engines sparked with light blue electricity as they shot forward, creating flames and accelerating up to 300 mph. Upon reaching the threshold, the space ahead of them began to distort, bringing forth a purple and green portal, their ticket to the race. Speeding toward the portal, they entered and disappeared with a flash of light, ready to take on whatever faced them.
–
A bright orange track sat above tan sand, and bones scattered throughout the unstable hills. The space above the dusted track warped and opened, unveiling a purple and green portal and launching 5 vehicles onto the track.
After being flung out of the portal, a problem immediately popped up, namely that the track ahead was completely covered by dunes of sand, and that only 3 of their vehicles were equipped to handle that problem.
Will continued to drive like normal, as the chains on his tires gained proper traction for the first time. Ethan reached to his right and turned the dial on his console to 'sand'. His tires grew spikes and scoops, letting him glide across the sand without issue. Connor reached to his right and flicked up a small switch. His tires grew spikes from the grooves, giving him enough traction to move across the sand. Luke and Aidan slid into the sand and were trapped. They were still moving forward slightly, but they would lose for sure at this rate.
Aidan thought fast, looking at all his options before remembering his jump jets.
"Kana, switch jump jets to hover and deploy the joystick." Aidan commanded, his mind working fast to fix the present problem.
The x-shaped jets on the bottom of his car activated, the small flames from them propelling his car up and off the ground. A joystick popped out of the center console, and Aidan grabbed it with his right hand. Tilting the stick forward, his thrusters adjusted their output to shift the chrome car ahead. Smirking, he began to navigate across the sand, catching up to the off-road trio and leaving Luke in the dust. Luke was making progress forward, but he knew he had already lost at this point.
After making it across the dunes, the orange track emerged from the sand. Will continued to drive onto the track but had lost his traction again. Ethan hit the orange road next, switching his dial back to 'normal' and the scoops and spikes on his tires vanished. Connor made it across in 3rd, flicking the switch back down to hide his spikes in his tires once more. A bit behind them, Aidan hovered above the sand majestically, like a magic carpet with rockets. After he was above the orange track, he cut off his jets. His car bounced some after hitting the track before he began to speed toward the trio ahead of him. Luke finally made it to the top of the dune.
The track passed through a small lull of sand, many bones of unknown origin on either side of the track, all partially buried within the sand. Turning right under a set of ribs, the track turned gently left, now hiding from the intense sun behind a large hill of sand. Banking right and gently turning right around the sand pile, Will found himself holding onto the lead, while Connor was stuck behind 2 trucks as Aidan started to appear in his rear view mirror.
Snaking gently left then right, before turning left again, Connor could tell that if he took the right lines, Luke would catch back up before long. As the 4 drivers went almost vertical over a dune of sand, Luke reached the other side of the sand. Pressing his Nitrox button, he lit up, his rear booster spouting flames while he rocketed along the track, desperate to catch back up.
Snaking left again, Aidan couldn't make use of his speed behind the other drivers, but he would have to wait if he wanted an opening. An opening that was being made by Will. Seeing that the track was straight for a bit, he reached back and pulled the lever behind him, dumping sheets onto the front of Ethan's Beast and Slider, making them spin while stopping and inadvertently letting Aidan pass them both. With the Chrome car on his tail, Will decided that he would just block first for as long as he could. As Ethan and Connor began to accelerate, Luke could be seen behind them, approaching rapidly. Looking back at the track, something loomed on the horizon.
A huge stone T-rex stood tall over the desert, creating an intimidating presence across the barren land. Getting back up to speed, Luke, Connor, and Ethan were not deterred by the beast. The track turned right gently and moved over a dune, before turning left down the back of the slope and turning right before dipping into a small sand valley. The gentle turns and straight track worked in Luke's favor, letting him catch up to his competitors with haste.
The track moved straight, going up and down with the dunes like a serpent until turning left with the valley. Turning banked right around the side of a large dune, the track led onto the stone dinosaur's tail. The surface gave Will better grip with his chains, and up ahead Luke could see that this area would force him to slow down. The drivers sped up the Dino, moving side to side in an effort to dodge the spikes in the ground and turning on their headlights to see inside the dark space. Upon reaching the mouth of the Dinosaur, Aidan could tell that the jump from the tongue was comparable to the huge loop from the first leg, and made the decision to use Nitrox to pass the gap. Seeing his car glow light blue, the other drivers followed suit, creating a symphony of roars, as they sped out of the beast's maw.
After being airborne for a grand total of 8 seconds, everyone's cars crashed upon the road on the other side of the chasm, though some were luckier than others. Aidan, Connor, and Luke all spun out after landing. Ethan's suspension saved him from the same fate and Will had the first lucky thing ever to happen in his life, landing smoothly. Recollecting themselves, Aidan, Connor, and Luke all sped after the trucks, before everybody spotted the large pyramids in the distance.
The track moved down and slightly right, letting everybody stage at the marvelous architecture of the pyramids. They seemed to be segmented, and parts of them even glowed. Strangest of all, they seemed to be covered in symbols, but none of them could be made out at their distance.
'Note to self, get cameras for all angles!' Connor thought, slightly mad that he couldn't record this view. The track then made a gentle banked left turn, facing the drivers directly towards the triangular structures. Moving up and over a dune, before giving them a front view of the structures, the track simply moved straight towards the right side of the closest pyramid, moving up toward it before spiraling up around it counter-clockwise.
After the loop was completed, the track was released from its orbit, as it continued to move left but no longer around the pyramid. Even while on this banked left turn, it could be seen that the largest pyramid was missing a pointed top, possibly indicating that something was atop it. The track evened out, before banking and turning gently right. Exiting the turn, more pyramids could be seen through the gap between the pyramid to the driver's left and the large one to their right.
Turning left, the drivers now spiraled down the other small pyramid, slightly banked. Around 270° of the way through the loop, the track turned right instead, breaking the cycle, before turning left straight toward the large pyramid. Sloping up to the top, a strange object was floating in the center of the flat area. Will came skidding to a halt, his chained tires not agreeing with the sudden change of speed. Ethan sped by him, before the rest of the drivers followed suit, spiraling down the large pyramid counter-clockwise.
"What is this thing?" Asked Will, ever curious. It appeared to be a large silver wheel, with 4 spokes to a central silver circle. All 4 quadrants were glowing light blue. The center circle was filled with unrecognizable symbols, there looked to be about 50 unique symbols.
'Is this the Wheel of Power?' Will wondered as he took the object in his hands. Deciding that he wanted to study the strange thing, he walked back to his truck and put the wheel in the space to his right side. Closing his door, he sped down the spiral track, his mind no longer focused on winning the race.
Ethan sped down the huge spiral, determined to hold onto first place. He wouldn't let his win be taken. As the track broke off of the pyramid and moved onto the final small pyramid, it spiraled clockwise up and around, before finally moving away from the pointed set pieces. Gently moving to the right, large rock formations could be seen just ahead. Heading straight towards the tallest one, the track split into 2. Ethan moved left, with Luke behind him, while Aidan and Connor took the right track. A slingshot mechanism on either side shot the drivers forward onto the vertical track.
With their cars completely sideways, moving incredibly and spiraling in opposite directions around a huge rock, everybody present was filled with adrenaline. This was the closest race so far, with 4 potential winners all very close. Upon the driver's third revolution around the rock, the track broke away, moving forward before reconnecting and moving through the huge rocks on either side of them. Moving with the sand again, Ethan still had the lead, his size and diligence making it very tough to pass on either side.
Moving down the dune before moving up and left, the track straightened out, revealing a slingshot mechanism and a ramp. It was the end of the track. Everyone floored their gas pedals, desperate to claim victory for themselves, as a red truck touched the slingshot first, sending him toward the recently manifested portal, before disappearing in a flash.
–
A purple and green portal burst open in the empty desert, bringing forth a red truck, followed shortly thereafter by a Chrome car, then a rat rod, and a blue rally car. Ethan had won! All it took was some good fortune and favorable terrain. Aidan took silver yet again, truly living up to his nickname. Luke was surprised he even placed 3rd, as he fully expected to be last. Connor thought he would have done better, but he knew that the lack of tight turns meant he didn't hold the advantage. Will finally emerged from the portal, looking like he just won the lottery.
"What's got you so happy?" Asked Luke.
"Is it that silver wheel thing?" Ethan asked, knowing Will stopped at the strange item.
"Yea it is. I don't think it's the Wheel of Power but I wanted to try deciphering the symbols on it." Will explained, showing the Wheel to everybody.
Looking at the wheel, none of the symbols made sense. However, a few resembled things. One of them looked like how a kid might draw wind. Another looked like a lightning bolt. One looked kind of like fire. Several were just dots. One looked like a gear. However, none of them seemed to mean anything.
"I've got nothing. Maybe ask the Acceleron. I bet he knows." Aidan suggested, confused as to what any of the symbols could mean.
"Alright. Well, good race, but next time I'm not stopping." Will said, feeling confident that he would have won if he didn't stop
"We'll see about that." Aidan replied, driving back to their camp.
'Soon drivers, all will be unveiled.' Thought the Acceleron, satisfied with the driver's progress.
–
Aidan's Music Playlist:
This chapter's music choice is: SUPER-REFLEX from Megalomachia2. Enjoy!
–
That was shorter than I thought it would be. I literally wrote this in a day. Just sat down and did it. I need to remind myself to learn to use the Distance level editor to make some of the later tracks cause running on pure imagination is nice and all, but I'll need something concrete to reference. I plan to add 2 new segments later too to compliment Aidan's Music Playlist so expect to see those in a few chapters. We'll be reaching the realms shortly so once I do I'll add a skip option to the start of the story if people are impatient like me sometimes and just want to see realms. I'll try to do the next chapter fast, expect it around the 4th of July. Until then, have a good day, and I'll see you in the next chapter!
Next Chapter: Highway 35: The Wheel of Power