I started down the towel rope, muttering a silent thanks to Princess for her last-minute save.
It was decided that I would continue down alone. If anything happened to me, Princess could always reach out. And this time I would have Gelato, which I had secured to my waist with the same cloth belt that tied my silk robe together.
I was about to step across the threshold to Floor 5 when I stopped and realized I had no idea what I was walking into. The last thing I needed was to find myself in a situation where I'm being pulled in a window by a crazy lunatic again. Although, I guess most things shouldn't be able to move at all.
"Princess?" I called.
"Yeah?"
"What's Floor 5 like?"
"Hard to tell at any given moment. Floors shift based on magical density, which depends on a bunch of factors. The only consistent factor is which side of infinity they're on."
"But we know Dr. Ryebald's office is on the second floor?"
"The second floor is anchored, along with the first floor."
"So... you can't tell me what I'm about to walk into? Don't you have access to everywhere in the Hotel?"
"I am still trying to take a nap, actually," she said, "but okay... interesting... the next floor is Calypso's floor. And then the one after that...."
"Someone rents a whole floor?" I asked.
"Hotel rooms are part of Calypso's supply chain," Princess said. "She receives many guests. Beware, because there are many traps here. They are likely Mana-based and could activate even while we're in this Sugar Rushed state."
"Great," I muttered. "I still don't see how that's possible. I'm the one who's in Sugar Rush. I guess I see why you're around, but Matterhorn and his Sugar Babies? Bridgid? These traps?"
"The combination of orgasm and your large Sugar deposits meant that you and those you had an established Mana connection with shared in your Sugar Rush. That included me, which meant the activation of features all over the Hotel meant to counter it. Like an autoimmune response."
"I see." Understanding it didn't make me feel any better about it. "Here we are."
When I stepped through, bright sunlight made it tricky to see anything clearly. I stuck to the wall, eyes forward, foot checking for grip. The wall was tan and sandy.
I really should've kept those sunglasses, I thought.
When I had walked down what I think was about twenty or so steps, I noticed I had company.
On my right, held fast to the wall by arms and legs, was a man upside down in nothing but boxers. His cock was hanging out, dripping with semen.
He seemed half asleep, but with a face that suggested he's been having a really good time.
"Hey, guy," I said.
No response.
"Hey! Guy!" I yelled. I kicked him lightly. He stirred, eyes half-lidded, still smiling.
"What do you want, friend?"
"Do you... need help?" I asked.
"Nah, man," he said. "I love it here."
His face was almost glowing red. Upside down for hours, maybe days? He must have a massive headache.
"Are you sure? I can turn you around."
"Nah, man," he said. "I love it here in particular."
"Sure," I said. "Have a good day, friend."
"Hell yeah, brother," he mumbled, closing his eyes.
I wanted to get out of there as fast as I possibly could.
I kept moving, trying to ignore the increasingly bizarre wall-pinned parade of people. One who was held up simply by his head between a pair of strong, muscular thighs.
Calypso's iron thighs, I thought.
A morbid curiosity within me wanted to take a peek inside one of the windows. The morbid reality of the scene outside, however, overruled that sentiment. If I really wanted to know what was going on in there, I might be able to ask Princess later. But the longer I stayed there to chit chat, the longer I had a chance at triggering one of those Mana-based traps.
How did those people end up on the walls in the first place? And most of them in their underwear....
I had been walking down the side of Floor 6 for a while, so I felt that I must be getting close to the bottom. I kept my eyes clothed for quite a few steps to try and get into a sort of meditative rhythm to pass the time. It was a mistake. When I finally opened my eyes, I wasn't ready to be right in front of a window with a large, bloodshot eye staring right at me.
It was attached via a thickened and insulated optic nerve to something larger deeper in the recesses of the floor. The eye itself had the hypnotic lure of a predator.
I was instantly entranced. In my mind, the single eye became the eye of a beautiful cyclops. She was human in every way except for the one eye. That one massive, unblinking eye. She was naked, soft, curvy, and feminine. She rested in a bed of... in the mouth of a giant Venus flytrap.
Her large breasts swung rhythmically from side to side. She sat on her knees seductively and blew me a kiss. She was dark skinned, with nearly black nipples. Flowers decorated her hair, and vines wrapped around her wrists and legs.
"What are you waiting for, Teddy?" she asked in an almost sing-song voice. "We are all having a good time over here."
"How do you know my name?" I asked.
"You told me, remember?"
Of course I didn't remember. Except that I did. Memories flashed in my mind of spending time with the cyclops woman, of going on dates, of making love, of pillow talk on the Venus flytrap bed.
My leg brushed against something as I began to make my way toward the eye. I looked down, and there was another man's face with the top of his head red with the pooled blood and pressure.
The eye called back to me. I could feel something slip into my pants. I looked down, and there was a vine. It came from inside the Hotel. From the eye.
The vine caressed my cock, gripping it, and I could feel it grow large within the coil.
The eye cyclops woman hissed, and then bit her lower lip. "You are positively sweet and delicious, darling. Where did you get so much Sugar, darling? Did you remember you were bringing some Sugar to me?"
Again, my leg brushed against something, but when I looked down, which on its own took an incredible amount of willpower, I saw that the man had reached out and tried to grab my leg on purpose.
"Run," he said. "While you can."
I shook my head, clearing my mind. The eye that was looking at me tilted at a slight angle, as if confused how I managed to escape the trance. I didn't think I'd be able to do it a second time. I don't know how I was able to manage to do it the first time.
The bloodshot lines on the eye grew more intense as it jumped a few more feet toward me before stopping inches before my face. The bottom of the eye seemed wet, as if it was being filled up by tears.
I raised Gelato and stabbed the eye and let go of the rope. The vine around my cock instantly loosened and withdrew, along with the eye, back into the room.
I let go of the rope, not trusting myself to handle another one of those eyes, or any other body part this floor wanted to throw at me.
I must have done so at a bad angle, or I launched myself from the wall in fear without thinking, because I quickly lost my proximity to the towel rope as I fell.
The arms of the wall couldn't reach me if they wanted to.