As Elona felt the water slip over her head, she stared intently at the gradually appearing riddle, pausing only when it went over her eyes. Then she shut them, allowed herself a split second to feel the sensations of her scales appearing. ‘Light enough to caress the sky’, and ‘Hard enough to crack rocks’, she mused. That couldn’t be the whole of it, yet still she struggled to wrap her mind around it. She had to. The weight of Sionn above her was a literal reminder of the responsibility she had on her shoulders. Elona had to keep him alive, and to do that, she had to solve this riddle the instant it fully appeared. The chill of the water faded from her mind as she focused on the glowing script.
The feeling of Sionn’s boot-clad legs beneath her hands grounded her, kept her mind from wandering. Circling the words through her brain over and over, Elona felt the seconds stretch out painfully as the water rose and, finally, incrementally, revealed the next line. For a second she felt relief, but upon reading the line, she was only more befuddled. ‘Gentle enough to soothe the skin’. Frustration and anger threatened to overwhelm Elona, and she ground her teeth together. How long would the full riddle be kept from her, how was she to be expected to solve a riddle in reverse? A whisper of sensation distracted her, and she spared the briefest of moments to figure out what it was. Sionn had twined his fingers through some of her hair. The connection calmed her, reminded her that there would be plenty of time to rage at the riddles later, if she could focus enough to solve them now.
The water hadn’t paused during her distraction, the room continuing to fill. She watched in resumed rapt attention as another piece of the riddle began to glow. As she read it, Elona was convinced. She had all of the riddle now. Unbidden, her spine straightened in determination. She had the complete riddle, the time to solve it was ticking away steadily. Shaking it off, Elona read the riddle in its entirety through once more.
Three lives have I.595Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEkAcFMepbE
Gentle enough to soothe the skin,595Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4mfZo5fTLT
Light enough to caress the sky,595Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRpJedUzvY2
Hard enough to crack rocks.
Elona stared intently at the riddle, thinking of and dismissing options almost instantly. Touch? No, you can’t touch the sky. Words? No, words don’t crack rocks. How literally am I to take this? How much of it is word play? The questions burst into her brain, distracting her from her goal, and Elona felt her mind spinning away. The intensity of the conundrum was pressing into her skull, dull thuds as each discarded idea bounced around inside. For the first time in her memory, someone else’s life was completely dependent on her. It wasn’t just her now, and Elona wasn’t sure she could handle it.
Elona shook her head, chasing away those pointless thoughts. Taking a deep breath through her mouth, Elona closed her lips and breathed out, watching the stream of bubbles flow from her nose. She wondered, distantly, how it was she got air from the water, but however it worked there they were, floating in front of her. Eyes widening in shock, Elona’s mouth dropped open. Three lives. Gentle. Light. Hard. The room. It was so obvious— Ow. Sionn was poking her head, and Elona batted his hand away reflexively. She had to be sure, who knew the repercussions if her guess was wrong. One final reread of the riddle, one second to be sure of herself, and Elona was ready.
Now came the truly difficult part. Letting go of Sionn. Closing her eyes, Elona released her grip on Sionn’s legs and lunged forwards. She felt him sink behind her, but Elona was already kicking her legs, pushing to the surface as swiftly as she could. How much air was left? She was so focused on swimming to the surface, Elona was there before she realized, and she headbutted the ceiling. As chips of stone fell into her eyes, she wasted precious seconds with an exclamation of pain. Before she could even draw in another breath, Elona forced out the words on the wisps of air she’d had left.
“Water! The answer is water!”
Without waiting for the room to react, Elona turned back towards where she’d dropped Sionn. She’d braced her feet against the ceiling, ready to push off and dive towards him, when the center of the ceiling fell out. The wave forced her against the wall, and she braced herself against that instead, ignoring the luminous opening. The water went back over her head, and she swam towards Sionn. The light soaked through the water, providing enough clarity that Elona found him with ease, wrapping her arms around him. Kicking with all her force, now, she dragged them towards the surface. How long could he hold his breath? How long had he held it already?
The sound of Sionn’s gasping breaths was perhaps the sweetest music Elona had heard. Next was getting him out of the water. It felt old, stagnant, like it had been sitting in a reservoir for this purpose for years, decades even. Elona didn’t trust it, didn’t want either of them to stay in it even a second longer. As she pushed him up into the next floor, Elona spared a glance back down at the room that had almost claimed Sionn’s life. There, she swore something to herself. She would do everything in her power to see that Sionn never had to experience the sensation of drowning again, not so long as she was allowed by his side.
Elona reached up, shifting her attention back towards the opening. She grasped the slippery edge, heaving herself up towards it. The water that clung to her clothes and filled her boots made her seem heavier than normal. Between that and the sheer mental effort the riddle had taken, when Elona finally hauled herself into the next room, she paused. Closing her eyes and bowing her head, Elona took a few breaths, enjoying the actual act of breathing air. She realized belatedly that Sionn had spoken and she’d missed it, and Elona lifted her head.
“What was that—”
His hands were startlingly rough as they grabbed her shoulders and hoisted her into his arms, and Elona was shocked to find her face pressed into the wet red fabric of his vest. His hands immediately gentled, and one of them rested on the back of her head. She angled her face so that she could breathe, but he still kept her firmly against his chest. At first she thought Sionn was craving comfort after nearly drowning for the second time in as many days, but that didn’t add up. Surely he’d have wanted her arms around him if that were the case, but instead it was his grip holding her squarely in place.
“Sionn…?”
“The room, it’s— I—” His voice was strained, like he’d swallowed a frog and was trying to talk around it. “Just… Just stay still a moment. Or maybe, until you’re dried off?”
“Sionn?” Her voice held an edge of warning now. Whatever he was trying to avoid saying, he no doubt had a reason, but she was going to hear it. Especially if it meant she had to stay in this half-kneeling, half-crouched position.
“The room is covered in mirrors.” Sionn’s voice was soft, almost guilty. “And… and you’re still… I think it’s beautiful, but I was worried that… maybe you… didn’t?”
“Oh.”
Elona’s limbs went weak, and she unconsciously pressed her face into Sionn’s chest. So he’d been trying to protect her. It had been some time since she’d seen herself in truth. It was different, seeing pieces of herself change as she bathed. Then, it was almost surreal, like she was inhabiting someone else’s body. Now, if she shifted away, it’d be real. On all sides, she’d see what she was. Who she was. Who I am… That was the question, wasn’t it? Elona was a hunter, a woman, someone who’s skin scaled over at the touch of water. She knew those things. She was someone who had by some miracle attracted the companionship, perhaps even the friendship, of the man who was currently hiding her from everything she was. Not because he thought less of her for it, but because he knew she did. But… Whatever it was she was, it had allowed her to save him. Both in the river, and just now. No matter that she had gotten him into both troubles, if she’d been human… Sionn would be dead.
Slowly, almost wishing she had made a different decision, Elona pulled her face away from Sionn. This time, he didn’t fight it. His hand fell away as she shifted, his fingers lingering for just a moment in her hair. At first, all she saw was Sionn. His hair, darkened by the water, was clinging to his face and sticking out in little spiky tufts. Water was even still dripping off of it, landing in little patters on his shoulders and sliding down to join the pool of water forming below them. His eyes, though, were what stole her attention. The wide amber-orange pools stared at her like he expected her to shatter at the slightest touch.
She’d spent every waking second being strong, learning and adapting to survive in this world she knew nothing about and had no one in. Denying every weakness until it ceased to exist, Elona had come to suppress her vulnerability until she no longer believed she had any. Those eyes, though, ripped her clean to the core. He anticipated, expected even, her to break down. He was prepared to be there. His instant acceptance of the weakness she rarely allowed herself was what gave her the courage, the strength, to turn and look into the wall to her left.
Her dark blue hair was slick from the water, and tangled around her face, sticking to her cheeks and neck the same way Sionn’s had clung to his. Her face was smooth, the scales vanishing and the blue-green skin just beginning to fade into her usual complection. Blinking, Elona stared deeply into the image. For the first time, she didn't see the monstrousness. She didn’t picture the screaming faces, but Sionn’s smile. Maybe I’m not… so bad? Pushing to her feet, ignoring the slight wobble in her legs, Elona glanced around with resolve. If this place had answers for her, she was willing to look for them. She might not be ready for the answers themselves, they might still be confirmations of her fears, but now… Well now Elona was ready to hope they might not be.
“Sionn, let’s find the next riddle.” He nodded in response.
Not only were the four walls mirrors, the ceiling was too. No place for the riddle, no exits to be seen. The reflections fed into each other, and Elona watched as Sionn pushed to his feet. He began to wring out the moisture trapped in his tail, and she saw the water drip onto the stone floor. The same stone floor that had been the imposing ceiling from their previous trial. To think that they’d been so close and had no idea. Hoping that there wasn’t some secret danger to this room as well, Elona attempted to speak to the mirrors.
“Well, creepy and mildly murderous tunnel place, where’s our next riddle? Or at the very least the next door.”
Placing her hands on her hips and glaring at herself in the mirrors for a moment, Elona sighed and glanced at Sionn. If the room wouldn’t reveal the riddle, she had to begin thinking about their escape plans. She wasn’t going to stand around and let the riddle take it’s sweet time again. The room they’d just left was filled with water, if she could break the door, would the force of the water through the tunnel be enough to force open the giant stone doors at the entrance? Turning back to the hole to gauge how much water she had to work with, Elona let out an aggravated huff.
“Elona?” Sionn finally spoke, responding to her irritation.
“It’s right here, we missed it.”
The riddle was etched around the opening, one part to each edge. Elona walked around until she found the one she believed to be the beginning. She bent down and touched her fingers to them, tracing the symbols. They began to glow, like the ones on the first door, and Elona realized that unlike that door, she’d been able to read the script even before it glowed. Running her fingers over the shapes again, she pondered why it was the strange symbols formed words in her eyes when they weren’t letters she’d ever been taught. She shook it off and pushed to her feet again, looping her thumbs into her waterlogged belt.
“‘You can see nothing else’,” Elona stepped around to the next edge. “‘When you look in my face’,” A few more steps and she was at the next edge. “‘I will look you in the eye’,” A final step and she was at the last edge. “‘And I will never lie’. Well what could that be?”
Though she had solved the last puzzle on her own, and held hope she’d solve this one, Elona was immensely relieved to hear Sionn humming in thought behind her. Peering out of the side of her eye, Elona watched him through the mirrors. Standing now, he had cupped his chin in his hand, and braced that elbow in his other palm. In tune to his thoughtful humming, he rocked back and forth. His tail even twitched rhythmically, either in excitement or an urge to get dry. It was such a relaxed picture, after the horrors they’d just been through, that Elona giggled softly. Belatedly, she made an attempt to muffle it with her hand, but Sionn had already stepped around into her line of sight.
“What?” Sionn tilted his head, and his ears swiveled, as if to catch the joke bouncing off the walls. “Something funny about the riddle?”
“No, no, it was just your… reflection.”
Elona’s voice trailed off as understanding struck her. She turned back to the nearest mirrored wall, stepping towards it. Almost hesitantly, she lifted her hand and pressed the palm against the smooth surface. “‘You see nothing else when you look in my face,’” Elona murmured, watching the words roll off her lips. “‘I will look you in the eye, and I will never lie’.” Staring deep into her own eyes, Elona’s lips twitched in the echo of a smirk. “Room, you’re giving us far too many hints. Thanks. The answer is ‘reflection’. ‘Your own reflection’, specifically.”
A moment passed, as had become the norm, before anything happened. It almost felt as if the ruins were taking their time deliberating over each answer before responding. With a loud creak, the mirror-wall Elona had had her hand pressed against began to very slowly open. The left seam of the wall detached from the others, and the entire thing began to open like a door, until the mirror wall had pressed itself against the right side of the room behind it. Now in front of them was a three-walled room, with the mirror acting as the right wall. The other two walls and the ceiling were made of smooth stone slabs, and the ground appeared to be of tightly packed dirt. The faint smell of the earth rising up was a sweet relief, after the dank stone and dead water. Pausing before she stepped forward, Elona glanced back at Sionn.
He grinned, and stepped forward, automatically reaching for her hand. Elona felt her breath catch in her throat for just a moment at the gesture, but this time she didn’t hesitate to wrap her fingers up in his. Holding each other’s hands, they stepped together into the room. Right away, the riddle appeared on the wall directly in front of them, the giant incandescent words taking up the whole of the wall. Elona gripped Sionn’s hand more tightly as she read it aloud.
“‘I have rivers without water,595Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSMfrPCO9vq
Forests without trees,595Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx45lzHvoNg
Mountains without rocks,595Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrz4mHmyd6Z
Towns without houses.595Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ4TLSL7MDs
What am I?”
“What could that be?” Sionn’s voice was perplexed, and Elona tore her gaze away from the words to look at him. “The moon?”
“No,” Elona chuckled softly, delighted with the fanciful nature of his answer. “It’s a map.”
“A map?”
Elona was about to elaborate, but the ruins were already reacting to her answer. The floor, or maybe the ruins themselves, shook violently beneath them. Thrown from her feet, Elona landed heavily on the ground with Sionn. There was no respite when the ground stilled, however, for straightaway the blinding light had returned. The words upon the wall emitted the light as the words upon the entrance had, and Elona felt a faint noise behind it, almost… almost like a voice. It slipped away as quickly as she had noticed it, and as the light faded, she was convinced it had been no more than her overstressed imagination. Lifting her head, Elona looked at Sionn. Their hands were still clasped together, despite the fall, but he was staring open mouthed up at the wall the riddle had been on.
“Elona… is that a map?”
Turning her head regretfully away from Sionn, Elona studied the wall. On it was a crude but detailed drawing, etched into the surface of the smooth stone. Elona braced her free hand against the ground and pushed to her feet, pulling Sionn up as well. Once he’d stood, Elona advanced towards the map. The markings were basic, swirls for trees and little arrows for mountains, but they served their purpose. It could have been drawn by a child, or perhaps for one, and still been understood. There was a star sitting not too far from a thick line she assumed to be a river, surrounded by trees. Easy enough to assume that was where they were. Elona reached up to touch a fingertip to the star, feeling the grit of the stone where it had been worn away. The markings all matched up with her knowledge of the area, and what they’d seen as they walked from the river.
“This star,” She lifted her finger from it, so Sionn could see it more clearly. “This is definitely where we are.”
“Huh. In that case—”
Sionn’s voice cut off as he pointed up towards what was presumably a town, based on the boxes cluttered together, crossing over the three banks of two intersecting rivers. Elona felt a shiver of dread as she saw the similar star that Sionn had noticed. Another set of ruins? Filled with more dangerous riddles? Near Kelthmar, of all places? Elona closed her eyes, willing the decision away. For at least another moment, she didn’t have to decide. For another moment, she didn’t have to accept that the answers, if this place even had any to provide, weren’t so easily gained. All she asked was another second before she had to choose between the safety of ignorance and the dangers of knowledge that might never be granted. But first, Elona opened her eyes. How do we get out?
“— this must be where we have to go next.” Sionn finished, voice calm and unaware of her misgivings. Elona realized that all her introspection hadn’t lasted that long at all, only the span of seconds it’d taken Sionn to lift his arm.
“I suppose… it is.”
Elona’s resigned voice, her acceptance of what came next, seemed to trigger something within the ruins. The mirrored wall to their right began to groan and creak, before detaching entirely from the other walls and rushing forward, vanishing into some secret cavity in the wall specifically for it. Behind it lay what it had been hiding, not a wall at all like Elona had assumed, but a set of stairs. The were made of crumbling, mossy stone, but at first glance they seemed sturdy enough. Had the ruins truly heard her acceptance, and decided to release her? Elona couldn’t help but wonder if the building would have let them leave if she’d decided otherwise.
Turning back to the map, Elona lifted her fingers and touched it to a tree-swirl. If she was doing this, she’d better memorize where they were going.
ns 15.158.61.23da2
