Chapter 3

Jackson dropped down on top of the marching head. The clockwork head did not squish. Instead Jackson's foot slipped out sideways, twisting his ankle. He fell off and landed in an ungainly heap right in front of the advancing clockwork metal head. It did not stop. Heavy metal feet crunched down on Jackson, first breaking his legs, then crushing his vertebrae to powder, before finally shattering his skull like an egg.

It was as painful as it sounded.

The unseen figure slapped a scaly hand against its forehead.

"Oh my, you really are stupid," it said. "Looks like you're going to need some help."

It rummaged through a collection of items in a bowl on the table to the right of the cabinet and plucked out a small cross made out of bright red metal. It pulled out a tray beneath the screen and dropped the cross inside.

Jackson had just rematerialized back at the starting point, thankfully with his bones fully intact, when an object appeared in the air above him and bonked him on the top of his head.

Huh?

He looked down and picked up a metal gothic cross about a foot high. The metal was black everywhere apart from the edges, where the cross appeared to be picked out with a flame-red outline. Jackson wondered what he was supposed to do with it.

Oh crap, one of those clanking clockwork heads was already bearing down on him. More in hope than anything, he thrust out the cross as if warding off a vampire.

A fireball erupted from the centre of the cross and blasted the oncoming head into a shower of bolts, springs and shards of twisted metal. They faded away leaving behind a ruby as big as Jackson's fist.

Sweet!

The jewel was a piece of abstract treasure. Jackson couldn't even pick it up. The moment he reached down, the giant ruby vanished and 700 floated up from where it had been. A bonus to his score, although he had no idea what that score represented in real terms.

The other two heads dropped down from the level above. Jackson pointed the metal cross at them and blasted them into glowing shards.

All right!

Following a pause after the last monster had faded away Jackson was hit by a sudden bout of disorientation. It felt like he had been snipped out of the world. The room fell away like the turn of a fruit machine reel while Jackson stayed in place. Another room moved down to take its place. Jackson saw a pyramid structure with four of the clockwork metal heads sitting at the top. And then he was in the room and the clanking monsters were marching down towards him.

Jackson lifted up the cross and blasted them into showers of cogs and springs.

He did the same for the next three levels and was beginning to think the game might be a little too easy when the cross suddenly crumbled away in his hand.

Oh shit. What now, Jackson thought as he was forced to take hasty evasive action.