Like this?

Its very strange how u go from bright to a dark, then a bit brighter, then dark again.
Definitely try to loosen up as mentioned.
Such a high concentration of energy should appear as difficult to contain and trying to escape rather than such geometric shapes.

Where the 2 beams collide would be the strongest concentration of energy yes?
So that area should glow brighter (whiter) than anywhere else and perhaps emit purple energy bursts.

Not sure on the details but i think ur going to want a sprite for the waist down and another for above the waist so he can strafe.

When back pedalling, u could try playing the normal run cycles in reverse in engine and see how it looks.
If it looks too weird like that and u need a back pedal cycle for each direction, at least it might be less work to adjust that animation then starting from scratch.

First i wanna say welcome and i love this mockup its great 

Some ideas.?

Gil makes good points on readability that is obvious to many of our eyes but im torn about the idea of darkening the pillars as i think they add great intensity to the scene.
Instead how about restricting that brighter gold colour to the lower areas where they dont cross the playable area?
And u can maybe fade to much darker near the top and experiment with another hue such as purple-blue (orange's compliment).
I do like the strong vertical element though so good to try to maintain that imo.

Re watery lava an idea is that we can't see so much detail of the framework through the liquid.
Instead we see vague lighter areas blurred by viscosity.

Cute chicken but he doesn't come across as very "super" to me.
Have u considered puffing his chest out?
Perhaps make him a little more bipel looking so u can add some human characteristics such as muscles?