CHAPTER NINETEEN: The Mosaic Trap
Floor Four – Chamber of Light
The door sealed behind them with a heavy thud.
The room they entered was wide, circular—unlike the sterile designs of the past floors. Its walls shimmered with panels of soft, moving light. The floor itself was a massive grid—8×8 tiles, each glowing in different colors: red, blue, yellow, green, shifting like a living puzzle.
In the center stood a raised hexagonal platform surrounded by a shallow pit.
> TRIAL: Q♦ – FLOOR FOUR — "THE MOSAIC TRAP"
Players: 4
Objective: Reach the Central Platform
Rules:
– The floor contains 64 tiles, constantly shifting color every 10 seconds.
– Only a specific sequence of colors is safe. The correct path must be deduced.
– Touching the wrong tile = elimination.
– One player must remain on the platform to control the grid and relay data.
– If more than one player steps onto the platform, the trap activates.
Noah looked at the floor. The pattern was beautiful. Deadly.
---
The Setup
Each of them was given a small wrist-mounted tablet—only activated once inside the chamber. It showed:
A live overhead view of the board
A 3-second warning before tiles changed
A color legend:
✅ Green = Stable
🟡 Yellow = Warning
❌ Red = Fatal
🔄 Blue = Decoy (randomized logic)
Reina stared at the shifting pattern.
"There's a Fibonacci overlay," she murmured. "Color placements follow a spiraling number logic."
Marik nodded. "Sequence-based trap. Whoever goes to the platform can help guide—but only if they're fast."
Dylan turned to Noah. "You guide. You don't panic under pressure."
Noah didn't argue.
He stepped onto the platform.
The floor shimmered.
---
The First Sequence
From his elevated view, Noah saw the true logic: the tiles changed in repeating patterns—but the key was order, not color alone.
He tapped his tablet and called out.
"Row 1, tile 3—green. Then two down, left one. Then straight forward four."
Reina moved first, fast and precise.
The moment her foot landed on the third tile, it pulsed green beneath her.
Dylan followed. Marik hesitated. One tile ahead turned red.
"Wait for the cycle!" Noah shouted. "Red resets to green every third shift!"
They paused. Moved.
One by one, they reached the midpoint.
---
Complication – The Mirror Trick
The floor suddenly flickered.
> SYSTEM MODIFIER:
– Floor orientation has been mirrored.
– Player devices now display reversed coordinates.
Dylan cursed. "Left is right now?"
Reina muttered, "They're not letting us brute-force this."
Noah breathed slowly. "I'll re-map."
He flipped his mental orientation and began calling out reversed commands—left became right, forward became backward.
Marik nearly slipped on a blue decoy tile, but Dylan grabbed him.
Noah's voice rang steady. "Next: Yellow tile, then green, skip red. You've got three seconds—move!"
They did.
---
Final Puzzle – The Mosaic Lock
When the three reached the last tile, the floor beneath them halted.
The center platform lit up with a new instruction:
> "Final step:
Create a 3x3 pattern matching the core Mosaic Code.
Each player chooses 3 tiles to activate.
You have one minute. One mistake = reset and random shuffle."
A panel opened beside Noah. Nine symbols were shown—a 3x3 mosaic of colors in this sequence:
🟡 🔄 🟩
🟥 🟩 🔄
🔄 🟡 🟥
Reina gasped. "We've seen this sequence—on Floor One. The Fibonacci grid."
Dylan nodded. "We have to replicate it with our movements."
Each of them stepped into position, choosing which 3 tiles they would light up with pressure pads.
Noah watched the pattern match from above.
He tapped "Verify."
> ✅ Pattern Match Confirmed.
FLOOR FOUR CLEARED.
---
Post-Puzzle: Platform Collapse
The moment the puzzle cleared, the central platform cracked.
A bridge extended to the stairwell beyond, leading to Floor Five.
They crossed quickly—behind them, the Mosaic Trap began to erase itself, resetting the tiles to blank white.
Dylan looked back. "That was close."
Noah wiped sweat from his brow. "Next one's going to be worse."
Marik muttered, "Only one floor left."
Reina whispered, "If there even is a top to this tower."