Garinor took the path behind the man, thinking he was lying. He approached it with caution and then met a familiar darkness as he passed through the portal. It was the same kind of darkness he had felt walking into the last room. It seemed like he was floating in air until he released the door and it closed behind him. As before, the room came to life when the door closed and when he looked, he saw that the doorway had also disappeared. He couldn’t possibly return that way even if he wanted to. This weighed on him, for it meant each choice he made was permanent.
The landscape that opened in front of him was like nothing he had ever seen. It was a hilly expanse with trees scattered about, but it was entirely frozen. Beside him was a nondescript shield propped into the snow, waiting for him.
The field before him maintained a constant slope downward. He could certainly walk it, but the shield was too tempting to pass up. He set the shield on the ground and then climbed on top of it, gripping the armbands within for support. He urged himself forward and as he did so, the shield drifted over the snow and his descent began in earnest.
Down the hill Garinor cascaded, cold wind whipping through his hair. He found it was hard to breathe travelling at that speed, but it was purely exhilarating. Holding onto the straps and leaning to the side, he could steer one way or another. This proved to be a vital skill, for the further down he went the more things cropped into his path. A few trees stood up, defying him; some boulders, too. He dodged them, determined not to lose his momentum on this perilous slide. Low branches caused him to duck his head, which set him off course. He drifted to the left and he didn’t correct his way before clipping the trunk of a tree. He remained propped on the shield, but he was sent spinning madly about.
Garinor reached his hands into the snow to steady himself, but he was going too fast for it to be effective. He tried whipping his head around in order to follow the landscape for moments at a time, but even that wasn’t helpful, as he couldn’t steer. But it did give him a warning when a steep embankment of snow rose up before him. There was nothing he could do to avoid it and he hit the fluffy wall with a dull thud.
Garinor extricated himself from the embankment and dusted himself off, laughing as he did so. It had been a fun ride, even with the dangers that had appeared along the way. After stretching and looking around, he saw a woman in a white dress lingering over by one of the trees, plucking frozen leaves from its branches.
She turned when he approached and spoke before he could offer a greeting. “You did well to come this way. The man before you lied about your path. You will see that the snow that stopped your fall does not extend through the entire horizon. You may take that path on its left side to exit this labyrinth immediately. Or you may take this path on the right side and face your doom.”
The thrill of the ride kept his heart racing as he paused to consider her words.