24 24. Grinding XP (2/2)
Green!
Yellow!
”Go, Granny!” The teenies hollered.
Orange! Flora didn't know where up and down was anymore.
Red! Finally! For the grand finish, Flora did a backflip instead of a roll.
Breathing heavily, she bowed to the clapping crowd.
”The grannies nowadays aren't what they were,” PsySam shook his head, but his friends celebrated Flora's performance.
”Yes, in my time, they wouldn't be free-running! Though my grandmothers wouldn't be caught dead knitting or baking. My whole family is a bit eccentric, as you might have guessed.”
Depressingly, the teenagers nodded in unison. 'And I'm not even wearing the potion guzzler!'
”That was so groovy, Mrs. Flowers!” A girl with a chessboard tattoo covering her face exclaimed, and a few more teenagers chimed in.
”Thank you, dears. You can call me, Auntie Flow or Granny Flow.”
Morty was excited, too, and Flora recognized that he was eager to give it a try.
”Come on, Morty. You can do it! I will cast Refresh on you.” Flora encouraged him.
He nodded rapidly and started rolling.
”Kill it, Morty!”
”Rollin' Rollin' Rollin'!” the girl, Anny Dunediver, screamed.
”Rollin' Rollin' Rollin'?” PsySam aked.
Blue!
”Rollin' Rollin' Rollin'!” The teenagers sang. To her astonishment, Flora knew the song from Blues Brothers.
”Rawhide!” Flora joined the choir.
Green!
”Move 'em on (head 'em up) Head 'em up (move 'em up) Move 'em on (head 'em up)! Rawhide!”
Yellow!
”Grind 'em out, flip 'em in, flip 'em in, grind 'em out, grind 'em out, flip 'em in, Rawhide!”
Orange!
”Keep movin' movin' movin'! Though they're disapprovin'! Keep them doggies moving, Rawhide!”
Red!
The crowd cheered, and Flora cheered with them.
The boy was breathing even harder than Flora, shakingly stood up with a red face and waved to the onlookers.
The teenagers had the same daily. Therefore they ran together to the XP-Rails. Flora felt like she was a ladybug surrounded by grasshoppers on sugar-rush. The youthful energy was intense!
On arrival, Flora had a good overview of the business below. The XP-Rails consisted of three rails in the middle of a 50-meter wide pit.
'A lava pit! Why is there a lava pit in a beach town!'
The first rail built the left-bottom to right-top stroke of the letter X. Near the end, the bar curled upwards. Flora watched gaping a skater doing a Japan Air to transfer to the second rail. The second one formed the left-top to bottom-right stroke of the letter X and passed under the first.
'At least you can't collide!'
At the base, the track curved into the upward stroke of the P. From there, you had to jump to the rail forming the belly of the letter P. Which ended in a swirl near the ground. There, only a narrow trail of earth parted the bubbling lava and led to the exit.
”Oh, dear!”
PsySam laughed and jumped on the first rail. ”Here goes nothing!”
”Kamikaze!” Anny followed.
”For glory and chicks!”
”Do you want to live forever?”
”Rainbow-Power!” That was Moerder.
”Mother Mary!” Flora screamed and jumped. 'When in Rome ...'
While grinding on a thin rail only a few meters above a fiery hell, Flora philosophized about the nature of fear.
Her normal anxiety while free-running was a learned fear. Years of being careful not to hurt herself were deeply ingrained. The terror she was now experiencing was different. It was a primal fear of heights and fire.
Nobody ever told her to be careful while grinding over a lava pit, not even herself. The terror was fresh and exhilarating. Adrenalin pumped through her veins and simultaneously anchored her in the presents and detached her from it.
At the end of the rail, she got catapulted into the air. Vectors appeared in her mind's eye, calculating acceleration, spin, and gravity and connecting her flight path with the second rail. Tranquil, she adjusted her body and perfectly hit the waiting bar, dashing on.
All thoughts vanished, and only the wind in her face and the track in front of her existed. Smooth and calm, she took the curve from the bottom of the X to the P and sped on. She did no tricks, she just slid on the rail with knees slightly bent, and arms spread.
In precisely the right moment, she transferred from the upper edge of the P to its belly with a piked backflip. The last stretch of the rail passed like a dream, and suddenly she stood on flat earth surrounded by lava.
She took a few steps forward, still not comprehending that the ride finished. Then it came to her.
'I ground XP! I completed it!' She laughed. But soon, the adrenalin vanished, and she started to tremble.
Notifications flashed before her eyes, but she couldn't read them. Tremors shook her body to such an extent that she had to sit down.
With her feet dangling above the lava, she concentrated on her breathing. Her heart was beating irregularly.
'Am I getting a heart attack? Log out!'
Everything grew black, and first, she thought that she was fainting, but then she heard a click, and the lid of the pod opened.
”An assistant will arrive shortly to help you leave the pod.” an automated voice message droned.
'I'm back in the real world!' She still felt her heart beating, but the rhythm was more steady than before. While listening to her body, old pains and arches came back like annoying relatives. You didn't miss them for sure, but they gave you a familiar feeling.
”Hello, Mrs. Fluss. I'm Lisa. Did you enjoy your stay in the Cetviwos?” a chirpy voice asked her. A hand came into her field of vision and retracted the mouthpiece.
”I did,” Flora answered with a raspy voice. She realized that it wasn't only a polite statement. She really did enjoy herself immensely. ”Do you have a cafeteria? I want to drink a nice cup of tea.”
Soon, Lisa had Flora out of the pod and into a bathrobe. Flora didn't feel as horrible as she expected. Sure, some joints were a bit stiff, but not to the degree you would imagine after lying down for several days.
After showering and cleaning, she recovered her good spirits. She had missed brushing her teeth! And taking a dump!
The cafeteria was nearly empty, and Flora savored the view on the smoking chimneys and industrial lights in the twilight and the hot tea.
A part of her couldn't wait to go back into the virtual world, and a part of her dreaded it. She laughed at herself. 'No need to overthink it! I have a quest to hand in!'