THE MOMENT
"You alright there, old timer?" Abby approached the elderly prospector. He sat alone on a stone boulder in the middle of nowhere. There wasn't another soul, nor building in sight; but, he was trying to catch his breath as if he'd just run a marathon.
"Yeah...," he heaved the word and nodded as his breathing slowly recovered. "...just..... escaped....," he huffed, and found the strength to point at the wide open, empty space behind him. It was nothing but a dusty desert. ".... El Dorado....," he said.
"Neat," Abby giggled to herself as the golden city took shape in the distance. Once he revealed where he came from it was like she had permission to see it too. It appeared as if it'd always been there, just invisible. But, the thing that especially caught her eye was the orange door that hovered above the golden bricks that now led to the city. It was a wooden door decorated with a hourglass, and it hung in mid-air without a frame. "Perfect, I got J.J.'s door," Abby was relieved her search was over.
"Could I visit El Dorado?" she asked the old man. He shook his head.
"Not unless you're willing to die first," he said. "The Court of Spiders have taken over the golden city. They can control spiders of all kinds," he made a gesture at the orange door. "That door belongs to J.J., if you want to visit the city you have to survive her first. Let me tell you, it ain't likely," he chuckled. "Even before she bothers to show up you have to survive against endless spiders for 20 minutes."
"20 minutes?"Abby asked as the designated amount of time flashed in her vision. "That's terrible," she said.
"It gets worse...," the prospector chuckled. At his words, the timer lost five minutes and she would only need to survive 15 minutes. "... the spiders can 'Phase' now and they're harder to hit," he said.
"Pfft," Abby giggled. "That's terrible," she replied with an obvious heap of sarcasm.
"It gets worse...," the prospector nodded as the timer lost another five minutes. Now, the goal was only to last 10 minutes. "...the longer you survive, the more variety of spiders are summoned. You'll be facing plenty of them with new abilities."
"Ehhhh..," Abby thought about it, then shrugged. "That's terrible," she said.
"It gets worse...," the prospector said. This time, he had a solemn tone with no hint of levity in his voice. "...some spiders can drag you into pocket dimensions temporarily," he said.
"Huh... I wonder if that counts as being 'out'...?" Abby wondered aloud. Unfortunately, that was a question the prospector wasn't ready to handle, and so he didn't notice it. "Should be fine," she decided with a nod. "That's terrible," she said.
"It gets worse...," the prospector said. The time to survive was now one minute on the hardest difficulty. " ...they can now mimic your abilities and use them against you."
"Oh, no thanks," Abby shook her head.
"Having second thoughts, eh?" the prospector grinned. "I would too," he nodded. The counter gained some time as the challenge reverted to the previous tier.
"I'm ready to face the challenge to visit El Dorado," Abby said.
"Just go on right in that door, and good luck," the prospector nodded as he indicated the orange door.
"Thank you," Abby waved at him and headed to the door.