The base approach took longer to walk than its length suggested.
This was not a function of his pace. He was walking at a consistent speed, the same measured stride he had used since leaving the estate's eastern gate. The path itself did not lengthen. The mountain did not recede. The First Gate remained at the approach's end, visible and fixed and not moving further away.
What made it feel longer was the pressure.
It began at the approach's entry point, which was where it had begun yesterday when he had stopped at the midpoint. Today he did not stop at the midpoint. He walked through it, and the pressure that had been present at that point as a reading became something more structured as he moved into the closer range.
The mountain was assessing him.
