by C. S. Harte
The metal doors slid open. A stiff, cold wind entered the room. A long, straight ice tunnel, laid before them. The tunnel was wide enough for each member to stand shoulder to shoulder. There was a gentle downward slope made noticeable by a small stream of water flowing down. The ceiling and walls were solid ice as if someone carved the tunnel through a giant glacier. Thick, wooden beams, placed every ten meters, acted as the support. Illumination came from dimly lit oil lamps, casting an eerie glow, highlighting dancing shadows. The floor was the only surface not made of ice, useful to the Geomancer in the group.
Kayla quickly zipped up her winter coat. It resized to fit her body.
No one wanted to be the first to enter. The traps in the tunnel have undoubtedly moved or changed since the last attempt at this simulation.
Jaime created a ball of fire in his palm and held up his hand. It significantly improved the visibility. “Poor lighting is not good for the eyes.” He winked at Kayla.
Naveed placed his hand on the hard, packed Earth. All the rocks below the ground within a meter radius of his hand vibrated to the surface. He picked a small spherical stone and rolled it down the tunnel.
About twenty meters from the entrance, the rock triggered the first trap. A barrage of ice arrows shot from the left wall and into pre-existing holes in the right wall.
“Typical Masa,” Haley said. She entered the tunnel first.
Victor grabbed her shoulder. “Wait,” he said to Haley. He turned his head to Naveed. “Roll another one, just in case the trap resets.”
Naveed nodded and threw another stone.
More ice arrows shot out of the wall.
“That’s new,” Jaime said. “I guess our boy Masa has been keeping busy.” He grins. “This should be fun.”
“Can’t you just melt everything?” Kayla asked.
“I tried that before. Masa’s talents are amplified here. The walls will grow back faster than I can melt them,” Jaime said.
“What a stupid question,” Emily said.
Kayla rolled her eyes at Emily.
24
“I could summon a stone wall to block the ice arrows. That should get us past the first challenge,” Naveed said. “Jaime, I could use your light, let’s go.”
Jaime followed Naveed to the second set of wooden struts. Naveed placed his palm on the ground causing a rock wall to ascend. The ice arrows were triggered by the wall and fired continuously but could not penetrate the stone wall.
A chorus of cheers erupted from the group.
“Sweet!” Jaime shouted. “Can’t wait to see what the Iceman is gonna do next.”
They continued their journey forward. The second obstacle in their path involved a giant chessboard on the ground. 64 squares, half were light blue and the other half dark blue. No chess pieces were present.
“How much you wanna bet that if we step on one of those squares, it’ll collapse and we’ll fall into a bottomless pit?” Jaime said, smirking.
“You think we have to beat Masa in a game of chess?” Victor asked.
“FYI, there’s a button on the wall that says ‘Press Me’ which could be a clue,” Kayla said pointing to the button.
“What if it’s a trick? We press that and a giant ice ball comes rolling from behind or something,” Jaime said as he contorted his body into a giant ice ball to visually demonstrate the danger.
Emily ignored Jaime and pressed the button anyway. She scoffed at Jaime. “Don’t be such a wimp.”
A pedestal rose from the ground in front of the chessboard. A monitor sat on the pedestal, flashing the words, “Touch Me.”
“Seems like a touch screen monitor,” Naveed said.
“Lots of geniuses in this room,” Haley said with venom.
Emily tapped the monitor.
The screen changed, showing a riddle along with a virtual keyboard to input an answer.
Victor read it out loud for everyone:
What comes once in a minute, twice in a moment, but never in a thousand years?
“Looks like we got serious Masa today busting out riddles. Welp! We tried folks. I guess it’s time to go home,” Jaime said. He walked over to a wall and placed his hand on it. “Port—“
Kayla ran to punch him. “C’mon. It’s not bad so far. This is fun!”
“If you say so,” Jaime said.
Emily’s eyes locked in on Kayla with a death glare presumably not liking how chummy they've gotten.
Maria squealed. “Oh hey! I've heard this question before when I was a kid. It’s the letter ‘M.’ My mom used to tell me riddles like this.”
“I’m OK with trusting Maria’s mom,” Jaime said.
Victor tapped the letter “M” on the virtual keyboard.
A faint rumble traveled through the tunnel. Half the squares on the chessboard fell into the darkness below.
“Was that the correct answer? I feel like the correct answer would’ve had a different effect. Like arrows indicating safe places to walk,” Naveed said.
“Well, you were right about the bottomless pit Jaime,” Kayla said.
“I’m sure that was the right answer,” Maria said.
“Guys the screen changed. There’s a new riddle,” Victor said.
What is the beginning of the end, the end of time and space? The beginning of eternity, the end of every place?
“Anyone?” Jaime asked. “Kayla looks like she might know. Either that or she’s feeling constipated.”
Kayla gave Jaime a cold stare. “I think I know the answer. I wanna say it’s the letter ‘E.’ I’ve heard that riddle before.”
“It’s your answer, you press it,” Victor said to Kayla.
“Sure. What's the worst that could happen?” Kayla shrugged and entered the letter E on the virtual keyboard.
The low rumble returned. Half of the remaining tiles disappeared. Only 16 square tiles left.
“I feel like if we were answering correctly, there would be more tiles, not less,” Jaime said scratching his head.
“The screen changed again,” Kayla said. “If the answers were wrong, the screen wouldn’t change.”
“But, I can see Masa doing reverse psychology on us,” Jaime said.
“What's the new riddle?” Victor asked.
Kayla frowned after reading it. “Um, you’re not going to like this. It’s a math riddle.”
There is a sinking ship with 20 people on board. It will sink in the next 20 minutes into shark-infested waters. There is one lifeboat that carries a maximum of 5 people at a time. It takes 9 minutes to go back and forth between land. How many people will survive?
“My guess, not all of them,” Naveed said.
“I never knew Masa was so morbid,” Jaime said.
“He’s foreshadowing that not all of us will make it,” Victor added.
“I think the answer is 15,” Maria said.
“Wait, that’s too obvious,” Kayla said. “I believe it’s 13. There has to be a person driving the boat back from land during the return trip. So 4 + 4 + 5 is 13.”
“It doesn’t specify that the boat is remote controlled,” Jaime said.
“Jaime, honey. You need to stop talking now,” Emily said patting Jaime on the head.
Kayla entered 13 as the answer.
Another eight tiles fell. The pedestal lowered back into the ground. Not one of the eight remaining squares were adjacent to each other. Each person would have to jump from one icy square to another. Slipping meant they would fall into the darkness below.
“I think we did it,” Victor said. “Naveed, stone test please.”
Naveed threw a rock on one of the remaining squares. It remained steady.
“Me and Brendan can go first,” Aida said.
Brendan jumped onto the first square. His body tensed as if expecting the worst. It supported his weight. “All good.” He continued jumping from one square to another, finishing on the other side. “It’s slippery, be careful.” He waved for everyone to follow him.
They all made it over the chasm without issues and proceeded forward through the tunnel. The gentle slope of the tunnel gradually increased as they progressed. After several minutes of walking and trap checking, they reached a new puzzle.
Eight red “X” symbols were etched into the ice floor, placed haphazardly apart. Below the closest “X” was the word stand.
“I think we’re supposed to stand on these Xs,” Jaime said.
“Why are there only eight when there’s nine of us?” Maria asked.
Naveed shrugged. “I’ll go stand on the first marker.” He walked to the closest “X” on the ground and stood still.
A loud click sounded, and a bullseye dropped from the ceiling above Naveed.
Naveed dodged the falling object, assuming the bullseye was going to fall on top of him. The bullseye stopped short of his head. The “X” he was standing on turned to dust leaving a large gap in the floor. The gap quickly expanded. Naveed was too slow to react. He fell into the hole.
Kayla yelled a terrifying scream.
The bullseye retracted into the ceiling.
Everyone else stood in shock at the suddenness of what just happened.
Maria hugged Kayla from behind. “He’s not dead. He’s back in the staging room watching us and cheering us on.”
“Brendan, can you create your mimics to stand on the symbols?”
Brendan nodded. He closed his eyes and pressed his hands together over his chest like a praying Buddha before extending his arms wide. Exact clones of Brendan spawned from his hand like human paper doll cutouts. The process repeated until he had seven clones, one for each remaining marker. Without saying a word to his clones, they stepped on the “X” symbols.
Nothing happened.
“Good try Brendan and Victor,” Maria said.
“Looks like each one of us has to stand on the markers,” Brendan said. The clones returned to their original creator and absorbed back into his body.
“That’s Masa — he thinks of everything,” Jaime said.
“I think what we have to do is make the bullseye drop and hit them,” Haley suggested.
“Agree,” Victor said.
“I guess I’m the one who doesn’t need to stand on a marker so I could shoot all the targets,” Aida said.
“That makes sense,” Kayla said.
Victor stood on the closest remaining "X." A loud click sound echoed throughout the shaft. His target lowered, stopping inches above his head.
Kayla went next, followed by Jaime until all seven markers had a person on top and there were seven targets on the field.
“Should I hit all of them at once or one at a time?” Aida asked.
“Shooting all seven would be harder, and my guess is that’s what Masa wants,” Jaime said.
“I agree with Jaime,” Kayla said.
“Seven shots at once. No problem,” Aida said. She placed her hands together over her chest. Swirls of green light surrounded her fingers. She pulled her hands apart as wide as she could. The light stretched between her palms, becoming thicker, brighter. A second light sparked from her right hand, white and skinny. It shot out in a curve, landing in her left hand. Aida had created a Chi-energy bow. The weapon pulsated in her hands, casting an emerald glow on the tunnel walls. She ran her right fingers along the bow string and plucked them several times. Seven arrows appeared where Aida plucked. Magically, the arrows attached to the bow until she was ready to fire them.
The sound of mechanical gears spinning filled the tunnel. The targets were no longer stationary. Some slid horizontally left to right, while others moved forwards and backwards.
“Did someone do something?” Victor asked.
“I didn’t move,” Kayla said.
“I think if someone moved, that person would’ve fallen by now,” Haley said.
“You probably took too long, and Masa has another ice sculpture to finish,” Jaime said.
Aida licked her lips. “This is a fun challenge. But I’m not confident that I can hit seven targets moving in different directions at once. I mean, I’m good, but this is a godly, one-in-a-million type of shot.”
Emily groaned.
“You can do it, Aida,” Maria shouted. Her hands waved in the air cheering her on.
“You’re the only person who can do it,” Victor said.
Aida turned her bow sideways intending to shoot it like a crossbow. She stood silently as if carefully studying the patterns of the moving targets. Her breathing slowed. She stopped blinking. After taking one big breath, she released all the arrows at once.
First arrow - hit.
Second arrow - hit.
Third - hit.
Fourth - hit.
Fifth - hit.
Sixth - hit.
The seventh one missed its target by a hair’s width. It was Brendan’s target. The ground beneath him collapsed. Brendan fell into the abyss.
Aida dropped to her knees. “No…”
The other six “X” markers disappeared, signifying that everyone else was free to step off.
In the heat of the moment, Aida tried to jump in after Brendan.
Victor stopped her.
A distant rumble came from behind them. It grew increasingly louder each second. Aida would not have time to dwell on the loss.
“Guys, this is just a hunch, but I think we should run,” Jaime said.
“I’ll go ahead and scout,” Victor said. In one breath he disappeared and came back. “I just came from the end of the tunnel. Good news and bad news. Which first?”
“Bad news,” Kayla said.
“There’s a giant cliff at the end and probably a mile long gap that we have to cross to get to the maze. There doesn’t seem to be a way to get across.”
“Good news now,” Maria said.
“The end of the tunnel isn’t far away and —“
The source of the vibration came into view. A massive boulder rolling down the tunnel. It was large enough to easily crush anything and everyone in its way.
“RUN!” Haley screamed.
They all sprinted as fast as they could towards the end of the tunnel.
Victor kept his speed to that of ordinary people. “There are human-sized cubby holes carved into the ice walls. Only one person can fit inside at a time. Each of us should take one.”
The rumbling of the boulder behind them was so loud that not everyone heard Victor’s instructions.
Jaime caught up to Kayla and Maria. “Can’t one of you use your talents to stop this?”
“Have you seen how big it is?” Maria said.
“You don’t want to trust me with something that important just yet,” Kayla said.
Haley jumped into the first cubby hole.
“Well one person is going to make it,” Victor said.
Emily jumped into the next one.
Victor sped away and returned. “More bad news.”
“You’re kidding,” Kayla said.
Victor shook his head. “There’s only four cubby holes left. One of us isn’t gonna make it.”
“I’m small, maybe Kayla and I can fit into one together?” Maria said.
“It’s a tight fit,” Victor said. “I wouldn’t risk it.” Victor grabbed Maria and disappeared with him. He immediately came back. “I just put Maria in the next cubby hole. Kayla, you’re next.”
“Wait—” said Kayla before Victor grabbed her and put her in a hole.
“I think you were meant to make it,” said Victor. He ran back towards the trailing Jaime and Aida.
“Take Aida,” Jaime said.
“No, I want to go with Brendan. Let me die,” Aida said.
“Fair enough,” Victor said. “Jaime, you and I got the last two cubby holes then.”
Jaime nodded.
The giant boulder chased Aida off the cliff. She seemed to prefer jumping to her death versus getting crushed.
Everyone walked to the edge. They waited for a collision sound indicating the depth of the chasm. None came.
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The remaining survivors — Jaime, Haley, Emily, Kayla, Maria, and Victor — all stared off into the distance at the ice maze on the other side of the vast chasm.
“When are we going to get a break?” Kayla asked.
“With Masa, never. The guy doesn’t know how to have fun.” Jaime said.
25
The grandfather clock in the office struck six again. Helen finished her tea and rose from her desk. Before leaving the study, she plucked a weathered book from the bookshelf opposite the fireplace.
With book in hand, she strolled to the bench in the center of the garden. The sun was out again with no clouds in the sky to compete against. The temperature was a comfortable 75 degrees. It was another day in paradise.
Helen repeated this ritual every day at six, ever since she became the governess at Eden House. Each time, she hoped the Creatore would grace her with a visit. He had yet to do so for nearly a year, but he visited Kayla yesterday, and the house portrait changed. Something was different, and she hoped to receive an explanation.
She sat on the old iron bench in the garden. Before she opened her book, she took the time to admire the beauty of her surroundings — so many lovely flowers, always in full bloom. The artistry of the display went beyond the flowers. There was a legion of birds and insects working tirelessly to preserve and extend the garden's life cycle, while also adding to the sum total of the overall beauty. Bumblebees flew from one flower to another, pollinating as they flopped on each petal. Petite hummingbirds zipped between blossoms, showing off their polychromatic underbellies as they fluttered.
“Marvelous. Truly spectacular. Sometimes I forget this is all an illusion. Your attention to detail has always been astonishing,” Helen said as if speaking to an unseen presence.
Helen waited a moment for a response, hearing none. She reached for her book and placed it on her lap. “David Copperfield” by Charles Dickens. Helen had read this book many times over, always the old-fashioned way — one page at a time.
A few minutes into her reading, a shadow casted over her. Helen closed her book and looked up. The boy from her office painting stood in front of her. His focus was not on Helen, but on his palm which was faced up and cupped. He was encircled in a bevy of butterflies, like satellites orbiting a planet. The butterflies paraded into his palm, imbibed a white liquid, and flew away. They landed on seemingly random flowers. Each blossom touched by a butterfly began to crystallize, physically changing from cellulose to colored glass. After the last butterfly had chosen its mark, all the newly transformed crystal flowers began to flash and glow. The crystal exterior of the flowers added a shimmer and sparkle to the light, creating a stunning and surreal visual showcase.