by Jared Stone
“Just leave it, then,” Lucian said, staring down at the black disk in contempt. “Come help me get Professor Schuntz to the next gate so we can all switch back.”
“I like the sound of that!” Blake said, coming to Lucian’s side. “I think we’re all a Hell of a lot better off as ourselves!”
Lucian nodded and began taking steps forward with Schuntz still cradled in his arms. Blake stayed close to his side, protecting them from what continued to fall from the sky, and Lucian made sure to walk slowly enough that Blake could keep up without difficulty. They had only gone a few paces before Lucian heard a whirring noise coming from behind them.
“Now what!?” Lucian exclaimed, turning around.
On the ground, the black disk had begun to rotate, picking up speed with every second that passed until it was eventually spinning at an alarming velocity. Laying Schuntz back down on the ground gently, Lucian prepared himself to fight off whatever might be coming next. He held his breath as he watched the top of the shield begin to disassemble itself, flaying off in long straight lines as it continued to rotate. Two of these segments branched off in either direction, rising up into the air before meeting again in the middle. There was a bright white flash as the two ends collided at the apex. Once this had occurred, the disk began to slow its spinning until it eventually stopped. What now stood it its place was a gateway which matched all those previous to it, only this time it glowed with a swirling vortex of white energy. The two boys standing before it could only stare at it in wonder and disbelief.
“You mean we were carrying it around the whole damn time??” Blake eventually screamed, throwing his hands into the air in exasperation.
Lucian just smiled and picked up Schuntz again, who still lay cradling his injured arm. He then began walking back toward the gate. Looking up as they came before the arch, Schuntz addressed Lucian.
“Well done, Mr. Aarden,” he said with a grimace of pain. “You have overcome the envy inside of you and reinforced its opposites: empathy and compassion.”
“I think we all did, Professor,” Lucian said, gazing up at the plaque above the gate. “At least now we know we never want to be in each other’s shoes ever again!”
Lucian chuckled at this, then stared at the foreign glyphs carved into the black arch above and tried to remember the name of the final realm.
“Mírsegín: Pride,” Schuntz stated. “This should be our final challenge.”
Lucian smiled broadly at that good news. “Come on,” he said, taking his first step into the gate. “Let’s go back to being ourselves….”
16 - Pride
???
As Lucian came through the portal, he experienced the strange sensation of a total change in position. One minute, he was walking through the gate, and the next thing he knew he was floating through frigid cold air. It took him a second to reorient himself, until he looked up and saw Blake’s face above him.
“Blake?” Lucian asked hopefully from his location cradled in his roommate’s arms.
“Yeah, man,” Blake affirmed, seemingly as confused as – if not more than – Lucian.
Looking at his arm, Lucian was relieved to see that it was completely healed once again. Glancing back up at Blake, Lucian said, “I think you can let me down now. I’m fine.”
Blake nodded. “Okay,” he said, lowering Lucian’s legs to the ground carefully and setting the blonde boy upright. Once Lucian was standing again, he surveyed their surroundings.
They seemed to be encased entirely by ice on all sides, in some sort of frozen cavern. Although no torches were lit, the ice all around them seemed to emit a light all of its own, glowing deep inside with a pale blue hue. Looking to the ground, Lucian was glad that Blake had set him down carefully, for he now saw that they stood on a solid sheet of ice as well. The chamber itself was fairly small, with only several yards between them and the closed doorway carved into the ice wall on the other side. Aside from the gate and themselves, it seemed otherwise empty. Lucian felt the cold, dry air around them creeping into his core, and he quickly untied the jacket that had previously been wrapped around his waist and put it back on. He would not want to freeze to death before even completing the challenge.
It's cold as Hell in here! Lucian thought to himself with some amusement.
Hearing a noise, Lucian turned to see Schuntz also come through the portal behind them. The professor paused for a moment, seeming to struggle with his alteration in perception in much the same way the boys had when they first entered. Finally, he looked up at them.
“Mr. Aarden? Mr. Valenti?” he inquired cautiously. Both boys nodded.
“Yeah, we’re all back to normal now, it seems,” Lucian reassured the man, who still looked a little flummoxed by having been carried through the portal by Lucian, only to emerge again behind him several seconds later.
“Well, that is a relief,” Schuntz said, examining his own body and noticeably grimacing at the untucked and disheveled appearance of his attire. “This is not a place in which one wishes to be entirely defense-less.”
Lucian chuckled. “Well, at least this should be the last challenge!” he announced with excitement. “If we just get through whatever’s ahead of us, we’ll finally be able to get out of here!”
“Good riddance,” Blake mumbled. “I don’t know how many more times I can almost die.”
“Then let us continue forward, gentlemen,” Schuntz urged after re-tucking his shirt and slipping his suit jacket back over his thin upper body. He turned his gaze down as he carefully placed one foot after the other on top of the icy floor. “And rid ourselves of these difficulties at last.”
Everyone in the party slowly made their way toward the door on the far end of the room, walking as if they were penguins so as to avoid landing flat on their faces on the slick sheet of ice below them. As soon as they stood before the door, it shot open vertically with a Whoosh! Lucian felt as though he had just boarded some kind of frozen alien spacecraft.
All three stared apprehensively at the open doorway. “After you…,” Blake offered to Lucian.
“Thanks…,” Lucian said softly, reluctantly stepping through. Although he certainly didn’t want to be the first to face whatever was on the other side, he reasoned that they had asked enough of Blake over the past challenges. Lucian felt that it was time to step up and be willing to put himself first into the line of danger, if need be – especially because he still felt guilty about his behavior in the previous realm. Once he arrived on the other side, he looked around at a room remarkably similar to the one he had just left, only this time a singular cylindrical pillar of ice stood at the center.
“It’s fine to come through, guys,” Lucian called to his companions. “Nothing to kill us in this one yet, either.”
Blake came through the door behind him first, followed by Schuntz. Once all three stood in this new chamber, the door slid shut behind them, effectively trapping them between the two sealed exits on either side.
“Well, that’s never a good thing…,” Blake stated.
Suddenly, all three of them heard a voice speaking.
“Welcome, travelers, to my test,
to determine who is best.”
Looking forward, Lucian saw that a human face had appeared in the ice. It was not actually carved onto the pillar, but rather floated faintly within the interior glow, almost as if it was a projection. As Lucian, Blake, and Schuntz stepped closer to it, it continued to speak.
“In these rooms, you shall be tried,
to see you overcome your pride.
First, I ask you riddles six,
and aim to trap you with my tricks.
If you succeed, you carry on,
for trials more, ere you are gone.
Yet, if this chance you do not seize,
you shall be trapped here, left to freeze.”
Once the face had stopped speaking, the three men looked at each other.
“Well, that was freakin’ weird,” Blake said.
“It appears that this disembodied head wishes to ask us six riddles,” Schuntz said. “If we answer them correctly, we are allowed to pass. If not, we will be trapped here forever.”
Lucian swallowed hard. “Is anyone here good at riddles?” he inquired nervously.
“I have quite a penchant for riddles, Mr. Aarden,” Schuntz stated confidently. “Do not fear. We will easily make it past this challenge.”
The professor then turned toward the ice pillar. “Ask us these riddles, guardian,” he said to it. “We are prepared.”
The floating face spoke once again.
“Four legs I use in morning, to walk around this place.
In afternoon, I use just two, and speed up my pace.
When evening comes, I walk on three, before in bed I lie.
Now tell me, weary travelers: what sort of thing am I?”
“You are a man,” Schuntz stated immediately, as if disappointed by the simplicity of it all. “Four legs when crawling as a child, two when standing as an adult, and three when using a cane in old age.”
“Awww, come on!” Blake exclaimed, throwing his hands up. “You didn’t even give me time to try and figure it out!”
“I certainly hope that you know more difficult riddles than that,” Schuntz said, addressing the face in the pillar and completely disregarding Blake’s protests, “for that is one of the oldest ones known to man!”
The face said nothing, but only smiled mischievously within his cylindrical ice prison. Without warning, the chamber was suddenly filled with the sound of scraping, and the walls and floors began to vibrate violently.
“What’s going on?” Blake shouted, holding his arms out to try and stabilize himself.
Lucian looked around them. As he did, he saw the doorless walls on either side of the room inching closer and closer toward him. “The walls are closing in on us!” Lucian exclaimed. “We gotta hurry up with these, or we’re gonna get crushed!”
Even Schuntz looked alarmed by this revelation, and he turned back to the pillar. “Ask us the next riddle!” he commanded sternly.
The face within seemed entirely unperturbed as it spoke the next riddle.
“Always wax, yet always wane,
air my friend, but wind my bane.
Tall when young, short when old,
head always light, feet always cold.”
The professor stood silently for a moment, clearly running through the words in his head.
“Well, what is it?” Blake yelled at the professor impatiently over the din of ice scraping against ice.
Schuntz glared at him. “I do not yet know, Mr. Valenti,” he responded sternly, angered by either the boy’s impatience or his own lack of immediate comprehension. “You must give me time to reason out the meaning.”
“We don’t exactly have tons of time here, man!” Blake shouted back.
“Wax and wane is the moon, isn’t it?” Lucian chimed in hurriedly, remembering vaguely something he had learned in middle school. “Is it the moon?”
Schuntz shook his head. “The rest of the clues have no connection with the moon, Mr. Aarden,” he said, as if it should have been obvious to anyone.
“What about a person?” Blake suggested. “Tall when young, short when old!”
Schuntz simply glared at him. “Give me a moment to think about it, boys,” he insisted. Lucian and Blake stood there without speaking, staring at the professor while their hearts beat fast and their ears rang with the sound of their impending doom.
“A candle,” Schuntz finally stated.
The two boys turned their heads toward the face in the pillar with bated breath. The face nodded once, then spoke again.
“Never I was, yet always will be.
When you make plans, it is me that you see.
Yet, when I arrive, I always do flee,
and still the foolish do chase after me.”
Schuntz remained silent after hearing this, pondering over options.
“Let us help you, professor!” Lucian offered, anxious to assist in saving them.
Schuntz sighed, as if it was a burden to allow others to join in. “Alright,” he said. “What never was, yet always will be?”
Lucian tried to think about this, though he found himself somewhat distracted by the very loud walls inching closer and closer with every second.
“Well, like, the foolish chase after dreams,” Blake suggested. “And dreams are like plans too!”
Schuntz weighed that suggestion. “No. Dreams do not flee when they arrive,” he finally concluded.
“Well, when you make plans, you see possibilities,” Lucian said. “Maybe something like that?”
“Focus on the arriving and fleeing, boys,” Schuntz said sternly. “If you are not able to consider every line of the riddle, we will never…”
Schuntz paused for a moment, as if he had had an epiphany. Turning to the face again, he announced, “The future!”
The face simply nodded, then spoke once more.
“I can be broken without being held,
put down a rebellion if it is not quelled.
By both beggars and kings, I am often arranged.
I am worthless if bought, but often exchanged.”
“Something fragile!” Blake shouted in a desperate attempt to contribute.
“That makes no sense, Mr. Valenti,” Schuntz scolded condescendingly.
“What about a marriage?” Lucian suggested. “It’s arranged by beggars and kings. Put down a rebellion. It works.”
Schuntz mulled over this. “Very close, Mr. Aarden,” he said thoughtfully. “Though I would not say it could be broken if not held….”
“What about wedding vows, then?” Lucian asked.
Schuntz’s eyes grew wide, and he turned back toward the face. “A promise!” he announced.
“We gotta hurry up, guys!” Blake urged, staring in terror at the wall which was now less than ten feet away from the center. “Or we’re gonna be pancakes here!”
To everyone’s relief, the face nodded and continued to the next riddle.
“Formless and weightless, I can carry a song,
be caught and be held, though not for too long.
People are thrilled when I am taken away,
yet, last I do leave them on their dying day.”
“Sounds kind of like a bird!” Blake said. “I tried to catch and hold one before, but couldn’t do it for long. Plus, they can carry songs!”
“Yes, but few would say that they are formless and weightless, Mr. Valenti,” Schuntz added.
“Maybe it’s, like, a figure of speech?” Blake said sheepishly.
Lucian watched as the walls beside them crept closer and closer. Okay, Lucian, think! What do you catch? A cold? But no, colds don’t carry a song. Catch, like, a baseball or something? But you could hold that forever. What else can’t you hold for a long time? Pee? Your breath?
Lucian’s eyes lit up. “What about breath?” he suggested.
One could see Schuntz running through the riddle again in his head, bobbing his head to each syllable as he went through the lines. “Yes, that seems to hold true, Mr. Aarden,” he finally said, almost proudly. “Well done!”
“Breath!” Lucian exclaimed to the face in the ice, excited that he had finally gotten one. He stood there, anxiously awaiting what might come next.
The face nodded. Lucian and Blake both cheered with excitement as the last clue began.
“I am loved more than life, feared more than the grave.
Misers do spend me, the prodigal save.
Poor men do have me, content men desire.
If you try to eat me, you surely expire.”
One wall was now right beside Lucian, and he took a step closer into the middle. But he found that there was not much room on the other side, either. He came to the sinking realization that only about four feet remained between the walls meeting and crushing them all.
“Okay, time to hurry up, everyone!” he an
nounced nervously.
“What do ‘miser’ and ‘prodigal’ even mean!?” Blake asked.
“Those who save and those who spend,” Schuntz clarified. Even the professor’s usually steady tone was now rushed and nervous.
“So, it’s money, isn’t it?” Blake asked. “Spending and saving?”
Schuntz shook his head. “No, you have flipped the combination,” he stated. “Say it to yourself again. It would be the opposite.”
Lucian attempted to come up with the answer while being slid ever closer to the opposing wall. What do people love more than life if it’s not money? he asked himself. And misers spend it? But misers don’t spend anything. Except maybe their time. Time!
“It’s time!” Lucian called out, feeling claustrophobic as the gap between the walls shrank to under three feet. The ice column in the center of the room was now squeezed between the two, and, as the walls continued their merciless march inward, the column began to crack and shatter. This appeared not to bother the face inside, however, who stared coldly at the three men stuck between.
“It is not time, Mr. Aarden,” Schuntz countered, flattening himself against one wall to take up as little space as possible. “The prodigal do not save time. And no one would attempt to eat it.”
Lucian felt stupid, but he found that he could not think very clearly in his last moments before he was pressed into jam by two enormous ice walls. He continued to try to focus on the riddle while he lined up standing sideways between Schuntz and Blake, all of them now doing their best to fit in a line within under two feet of space left in the chamber.
“Think, boys!” Schuntz commanded, sucking in his breath and turning his head to the side. Lucian did the same, feeling the cold hard surfaces now pressing against both his back and his stomach. He kept running through options in his head, but he took one last breath, fully prepared for it to be his last….
“Nothing!” Blake’s voice cried out right before being silenced forever. “It’s nothing!”
The sliding walls immediately came to a halt. Lucian didn’t dare breathe as he waited anxiously – not that he would have been able to anyway, even if he had wanted to. After a couple of seconds, the grinding noise returned, but this time the walls started sliding away from the center and back toward their starting points.
