I strode forward, setting my left foot upon the path. It was outlined by blue-white sparks. Then I set my right foot upon it, and I felt the current Random had mentioned. I took another step.

There was a crackle and I felt my hair beginning to rise. I took another step.

Soon the thing began to curve, abruptly, back upon itself. I took ten more paces, and a certain resistance seemed to arise. It was as if a black barrier had grown up before me, of some substance which pushed back upon me with each effort that I made to pass forward.

I fought it. It was the First Veil.

...Each raising and lowering of my foot suddenly required a terrible effort, and sparks shot from my hair.

I concentrated on the fiery line.

Suddenly the pressure was eased. The Veil had parted before me, as abruptly as it had occurred. I was well into the Pattern now, and the sparks flashed continually about my feet, reaching to the height of my knees. I no longer knew which direction I faced... the currents swept through me, and it seemed my eyeballs were vibrating. Then came a pins-and-needles feeling in my cheeks and a coldness on the back of my neck. I clenched my teeth to keep them from chattering.

I took six more rapid steps, reaching the end of an arc and coming to the beginning place of a straight line.

I set my foot upon it, and with each step that I took, another barrier began to rise against me. It was the Second Veil.

There was a right-angle turn, then another, then another.

Another curve began, and it was though I were walking in glue as I moved slowly along it.

One, two, three, four... I raised my fiery boots and set them down again.

It was tricky, so devilishly tricky... Instinctively, I knew that to leave the Pattern before I'd completed it would mean my death. I dared not raise my eyes from the places of light that lay before me, to see how far I had come, how far I had yet to go.

I emerged from the filigree and marched along the Grand Curve.

I walked three more curves, a straight line, and a series of sharp arcs.

Ten turns which left me dizzy, another short arc, a straight line, and the Final Veil

It was agony to move. Everything tried to beat me aside. It seemed that everything constantly pushed against me. I struggled, putting one foot before the other. The sparks reached as high as my waist at this point, then my breast, my shoulders. They were into my eyes. They were all about me. I could barely see the Pattern itself.

Then a short arc, ending in blackness.

One, two... And to take the last step was like trying to push through a concrete wall.