Activity

Good Friday: Happy Easter castle version 2.0.    =)

(there are legends in my world of Kaphar that our world came from another – from a bet/challenge (wrong word, but, think Job…) between the Maker (God) and the evil one. So even though it is a fantasy world, there are legends of this original world, called Maaterra (or literal translated as mother earth) and of the Maker’s son (Son of God) who died to save the people from their sins.)

 

 

Abirami

We were moving. I opened my eyes. Two men were dragging me along. One was the one I healed, the other the large armored man who had let me pass.

Ku was leading us, and there was a good number of people. Some I didn’t recognize.

A shiver started from my navel and traveled up my chest, followed by a twinge of pain. Where was my garb? Had anyone picked it up? Where were we, and why were we on the move? Had something happened?

I stood shakily to my feet and pulled my arms from the two men. They looked at me out of concern, the big man holding a hand out to make sure I didn’t fall, but they didn’t say anything as I walked forward, coughing to clear my hoarse throat.

“Ku.”

She stopped and turned.

I looked around. Nothing seemed familiar. Were we still in the castle?

Ku’Aya pulled my garb from her pack and wrapped it around my shoulders. “You good to walk? We have to keep moving.”

“What happened?” My voice was raspy and the pain in my chest was still a bit overwhelming, but I pushed through it. The wound was scabbed over, and I was confident it would heal up completely in a few days.

“Poison gas. We fled to the second floor. I’m searching for a means to go higher now. Haven’t found any yet.”

I peered at Ku. She wasn’t acting like herself. Had she really led all these people up here?

She caught me staring. “What?” She turned away, the tips of her ears turning red.

“You really led all these people?”

She tucked her chin in, trying to avoid eye contact. “So.”

I grinned at her. She was growing up. “Someone had to.” She elbowed me in the gut, the pain expounding as it reverberating through my chest.

I grunted, one hand to my stomach, the other to my chest.

“Who else could make up for your stupidness.”

“He was injure-‘

“You know I could have done it painlessly.”

“But-”

“Yeah, yeah,” she interrupted. “Save it. Your brand of stupid is contagious, and I don’t want to catch it.”

Ku opened a door and led us through it to a long hallway.

“So, where are we going?” I asked.

“Away from the stairs,” she said. “Don’t know if there’s a third floor, but if there is, I haven’t found it yet.”

The walls had intricate paintings of landscapes and scenery – some of which had things I’d never seen before. One world had two suns, another was a picture of a cave with man-like creatures I had never seen before.

The pictures were placed in intricate, golden frames, and some of them were so intricate, that their designs were, in fact, three-dimensional.

One frame had the faces of wolves carved into the corners, their snouts sticking out, with teeth flaring with such realism, I could see the wetness of the tongue and the shine of their teeth.

I reached out to touch one, when Ku struck my hand with her staff.

“Don’t-” she cried, then relaxed as she saw she had successfully stopped me from touching it. “Not unless you want to plummet to your death. That lever is a trap.”

I looked at the wolf’s head. A lever? With a shrug, I moved on.

Ku turned and opened the second to last door on the right.

I followed her in, the rest filing behind us, when I about ran into her.

She had stopped just a few feet into the door, her mouth wide open, and she stared straight ahead.

We were in a small room with no exit, and in front of us was a large throne with a man sitting in it and a large hare resting beside him.

While a giant hare would normally have been the astounding creature in the room, my eyes couldn’t stop gravitating toward the man. Something about him was different. Regal, ascendant, captivating… I couldn’t put my finger on it. He was petting the rabbit, a thin smile on his face. His deep, tan skin was unblemished, but he wore a crown of thorns upon his head. How very strange. Yet, he seemed unharmed by it.

As the last person entered the room, the door closed behind us, and the man raised a hand.

I gasped. There was a hole through the middle of his hand.

“Rest easy, my children,” the man said, his voice as soft and smooth as mothers. Something about it made me trust this man. I couldn’t help but relax, the tensions in my muscles melting away.

“You have faced much death and hardship in this castle, and I imagine, much confusion. Although I cannot give you the answers to the riddle that is this castle, I have come to grant you a gift.”

“A gift?”

“Who are you?”

“What do you mean the castle is a riddle?”

The people behind me all began to speak at the same time, but I was too enthralled by this person before me. He looked like the Maker’s son. He even had the marks on his hands and feet. Could this be the one that was spoken of in the ancient legends of Maaterra?

“It is not my place to save you from this castle, nor is it the right time to reveal why you are here,” he said. “However, in celebration of salvation’s sacrifice, I have been granted to opportunity to come and grant each of you one wish.”

“What’s the catch?” asked one of the men behind me.

The man smiled. “The catch is, this castle has some strange rules to it, so I cannot just gift you a wish without you first proving your worth for it.”

“So we have to earn it,” said someone else.

“No, you cannot earn it,” he said. “It’s a gift, but you need to prove your commitment to the castle before I am allow to gift it to you.”

“Okay,” I said. “How do we do that?”

“The castle has already set up the event,” said the man. “Around this room, there are hidden small eggs. Crack them open, and inside you will find a riddle. Answer the riddle, and I shall grant you one wish.”

“What?” the group’s confusion rose in the room as everyone tried to talk at once.

“My friends,” said the man, quieting them in an instant, “if you look closely, you shall see that this room is not all that it seems. Now, one last thing, you are only allowed one wish each, so I suggest you each find one egg, and leave the rest for your fellow travelers. I wish you luck.”

The people behind me immediately began arguing. Some didn’t trust the game, while others debated over the identity of the man. Some argued about whether the game was legitimate, while others whine about how we were supposed to search an empty room for hidden eggs.

Suddenly tired, I sat down. I could find contentment in just sitting here, gazing into the face of the Maker’s son. For who else could it be? I had so many questions for him, but something told me that now was not the right time.

A bump in the floor under my hand caused some discomfort, so I moved my hand. While I did, I felt something move. Looking down, I was surprised to find a small handle, like a drawer. I pulled the handle down, and a small section of the floor slid down, revealing a hidden compartment just large enough for an egg to fit in.

I picked the egg up. It was incredible. It had a golden glow, with purple grooves swirled all around it in a dazzlingly intricate design.

Ku squealed, “You found one!”

The others rallied around me.

“What exactly is it.”

“Open it.”

“Ooh, it’s so pretty!”

I slowly stood up and approached the throne, kneeling before it. “Is it really alright, sir, to break this?”

“Abirami,” the man smiled. “Your heart, as ever, is true and honest. You have my permission to break it. The riddle lies beneath.”

Bowing my head, I then crushed the egg upon the ground. A slip of silver paper lay within the ruins of the egg, and I gingerly picked it up and examined it.

One the back side, it said this:

I speed you up, when you have no time, a thrush in a bush makes no rhyme. I cause mistakes when I’m by your side, but I push you back behind the line. What am I?

After reading it aloud, everyone fell silent, thinking of the hints.

The second part of the first line was the first thing that caught my attention. A thrush in a bush makes no rhyme. Perhaps the answer rhymed with thrush, or bush? What rhymed with bush? Sush, tush, cush… not sure that’s a word, really… whoosh. No, none of those are helpful at all.

What rhymed with thrush? Crush, rush, hush,

Oh, rush. When you are in a rush, you’re in a hurry. That matched the first part, and people tended to make mistakes when they are in a rush. But then, what about the last line? That didn’t really make sense. How does a rush push back, and what’s this about a line?

After telling the group my idea, the big man cried out.

“Oh, it’s football,” he said.

“What’s football?” I asked.

“It’s a sport. A game,” he said. “If you rush the quarterback, you can tackle him behind the line of scrimmage. It pushes the entire opposing team back for the next play. It’s called a QB rush.

“I guess I’ll take your word for it.” Nothing he had just said made any sense to me, but if that last part made sense to him, then I guess I had my answer.

I turned to the Maker’s son. “The answer to this riddle is rush.”

The man smiled at me, and I felt so content with that, I never wanted to move. “That is correct,” he said. “What is it you wish for?”

I looked down. What should I ask for? I could ask for the reason I came here, directions to a Tannink’esh. But what about all these people here? Would that not be a really selfish wish? I could always find a Tannink’esh on my own. Would that not be a waste of an amazing opportunity of a wish from the Maker’s son? What about protection? The man said the castle was dangerous, and we’d seen as much from it. Surely the Maker’s son could provide us with incredible protection, could he not?

“Be careful how you phrase and ask your wish, young Abirami, for the wish shall only be in accordance to how your wish is worded.”

Oh, so asking for protection is too broad. Protection from what, for how long, and to what degree… If I just asked for protection, it could be interpreted as anything. It could be we are protected from sunburns, and that would suffice to be a granting of my wish. I needed to be specific.

“If possible, sir, would you grant each of us an elixir that will fully heal us, even from the brink of death.”

The man smiled. “You wished one for each of you, although you are strangers?”

I bowed my head. “Yes, I do, sir.”

“Your heart is your strength, Abirami, and your love and trust in the goodness of others and for that which is right shall bless you with dividends. It is a hard and difficult path you have chosen for yourself, but stay true, and your hardships shall produce diamonds along the path for you to walk on. Your wish is granted.”

A vial of crystallized, golden liquid appeared at the feet of each of us in the room. Gasps and aw’s echoed around as each person stooped down and picked up their vial.

Soon after, a voice called out, I found one! The others crowded around the person, so I could not tell who it was. The riddle was read aloud.

“The more of me, the higher I go. The higher you go, the less of me you see. About everything moves by me, and never can I be slow.”

 

(good luck with the riddle. =) and just like the first riddle, you unfortunately won’t be able to look it up on google… I created it =) don’t worry, I’ve checked with many professors and teachers. It is an accurate and valid riddle that only has one valid answer… hint: has to do with science, and it is not tangible. Feel free to message me your guesses… and then make a riddle for the next person. =) doesn’t have to be long… have fun!!! and HAVE A BLESSED GOOD FRIDAY AND A HAPPY EASTER – – –  – THE LORD IS RISEN!