Hello readers! Welcome to a new chapter!

Raguna: About time you came back…

Hey! I've been busy with school, that and practicing programming, catching up on games, specifically Story of Seasons: Trio of Towns (Marvelous). I also recently got into playing Fortnite Battle Royale.

Ivan: Gamer huh, make sense that you know about us from the Bokujo monogatari(Spelling?) series.

Matt: Previously known as Harvest Moon, then a split up happened and it became Story of Seasons.

Haha, funny thing actually…I learned about Rune Factory first, and then I learned of the Harvest Moon series. Rune Factory is also what got me into the RPG genre as well.

Everyone else: WHAT!?

*Clears throat* Anywaaaay:

"Speaking"

/thoughts/

((Telepathy)) ((Telepathy))

Everyone: Let's get started!

Chapter 10: Riddle Deciphered!

++++(Another Scene: Raguna's POV)

I was surprised that Ivan was calling. I picked it up to see what he wanted but…I never expected the conversation would turn into a case to solve. The riddle isn't that hard to figure out, for my people at least. What worries me is that these terms are from our kingdom. Hopefully none of the people went rouge, no, I don't think so, there's just something about the way they worded it. If they really wanted to make it a riddle, they would've made it seem like a paradox.

"You know what it means?" Ivan asked. I can hear he's curious, doesn't surprise me really, he must've spent more time than I did trying to solve this riddle.

"Yeah, I do, let me just read it aloud."

Healers, tanks, monsters, merchant, thief, and one unknown. One is useful but can't protect itself, the others a brute, one is needed, and the other uses any means. There are the ones against the others; the others die one after another. Starting by the needed, followed soon after by the useful, the brute goes next, without him their already dead. By any means the rest will stay alive, but low trust will be their downfall. The unknown will be feared, but depending on the others, the unknown will either be their hope or their demise.

War's coming, but not war, war, it will only affect the money here. The battles have started and your demise will soon follow!

"Now to break it down, you might want to get a pen and some paper."

"Alright, give me a sec'." Ivan responded. "I'm ready Raguna."

"Alright, first sentence is: Healers, tanks, monsters, merchant, thief, and one unknown, this basically means Doctors, fighters, enemies, Politician, thief, which can be taken in a couple of ways. For example; an actual thief or someone/thing that is sneaky and get's what they want/need. The last one is a bit more complicated since they named then as an 'unknown', which might mean that they could be an ally, enemy, ally by truce, etcetera."

"It sounds like it's naming some sort of team…" Ivan said. He's correct though, it is a team, which is why I'm worried about this riddle.

"You're right, it is a team. Let me see the other sentences to find out why."

One is useful but can't protect itself, the others a brute, one is needed, and the other uses any means.

"The useful but can't protect itself is usually said to be a healer, which in this case, would be the doctor. The brute is the tank, or the fighter. The one that's needed must be the merchant, or the politician, because they would have the power and money to make the team prosper. The one that uses any means is the thief; we don't know where that one could come from. Maybe one of Norad's outlanders? They are the ones usually portrayed as thieves."

"Yeah that last one is true, but why restate who the people are?" Good question Ivan, luckily, I have an answer for it.

"That's because they are naming the ones from the team. The doctor, fighter, politician, and thief, but notice how they left out the monsters, or enemies, and the unknown one." I said.

'Oh right! I get leaving out the monsters, which in this case are the enemies, but why leave out the unknown?"

"If we decipher it more, we may be able to figure that out."

There are the ones against the others; the others die one after another.

"The ones against the others are enemies, no matter which point of view you see it from. So they are talking about the monsters in this line. 'The others die one after another'." I stay quiet as the meaning of that line hit me harder than during the 'fast read' I did earlier.

"Raguna?" Ivan sounded worried.

"Sorry about that, Ivan. That line is exactly as it is written. It's saying that one by one the opposite side will die. Now even though it's simple, it has two meaning. The 'die' part may not refer to them actually dying, it could be that their reputation dies, but for some reason, I think it literally means 'die' as in death. The other meaning would be that it's a line that affects both sides. Since they aren't naming who exactly is the enemy."

"That's right…they didn't say it applied to the team! The monsters are the enemies of the team, so it could affect them. Then if you see it from the monster's point of view, the team would be the enemy so it could also apply to the team…That's problematic though, since we won't know which side it applies, unless it actually applies to both sides." That…that has to be the most logical thing I've heard outside of our kingdom. Especially from a Noradian…then again, I'm basing that on what I've seen of the people chosen to represent Norad. Those guys are idiots. End. Of. Discussion.

"That's right Ivan, it could affect either side, or both at the same time. On to the next line."

Starting by the needed, followed soon after by the useful, the brute goes next, without him their already dead.

"This is telling us in which order they would die…or would most likely die in, since these riddle are never 100 percent correct, 'starting by the needed', I believe that would be the politician, since they are the ones to provide for the team. 'Followed soon after by the useful', that means that the doctor would die after the politician. The brute, or fighter, would die after them. It ends it of saying 'without him their already dead', that basically means that without the fighter the remainder of the team has a 'close-to-none' chance of survival."

"Oh…well that ain't good. Though I can't help but notice that they keep leaving the 'unknown' one out of the things that mention the team…"

"Yeah, I noticed that as well." It also worries me, because I have a feeling I know what this 'unknown' one is.

By any means the rest will stay alive, but low trust will be their downfall.

"It's saying that the remainder of the team will stay alive by doing anything they can think of to survive. It also says that 'low trust would be their downfall', so I'm thinking that the team thinks that one of them may be working for the enemy, or that they don't trust the others of the team to keep them all alive."

"Those two ideas sound probable. It worries me that this could cause more problems to the entirety of Norad and not just the people mentioned in this." Ivan sounds worried; I don't think I can somehow alleviate that worry either. I've never been good at things that deal with feelings…that, makes me sound like a robot.

"Yeah, it could cause trouble for Norad, but at the same time, it could just affect the team alone."

"That's true…" Ivan trailed off.

"Anyhow…moving on."

The unknown will be feared, but depending on the others, the unknown will either be their hope or their demise.

"Again, this line isn't specifying who the 'others' are. They could be the team's hope and the enemy's demise, or the reverse; they could be the enemy's hope and the team's demise. It also mentions that the unknown will be feared, and that depending on the actions of the 'other', who are very vague in this sentence, they will be their hope, which might mean that they're going to be their allies and help, or their demise, which might mean that they're going to be the enemy's and destroy the opposing side. Unless of course, they don't end up joining either side and just do things that would benefit them in the long run, but I don't think that's the case for this one."

"The unknown will be feared and the actions of the others are what determine if they are enemies or allies…no matter the point of view. Makes them sound a bit mysterious but, they should have a reason to be like that right? I'm guessing they aren't either Noradian or Sechian." (AN: Pronounces ZZYYXZIAN, lol, I got from somewhere that 'sechs' was actually pronounced 'zzyyx'.)

It's official, Noradians aren't all idiots! It's only the ones chosen to represent the entirety of Norad!

"You might just be correct. The way this 'unknown' is described, they don't seem to have an actual side…yet." Just add one more thing to my theory of who this 'unknown' may be, why don't you?!

War's coming, but not war, war, it will only affect the money here. The battles have started and your demise will soon follow!

"War's coming but not war war, that means that it is going to be war but not in the commonly known sense of war. 'It will only affect the money here' could mean that it's a politics war, a war of companies, industries, corporations, organizations, etcetera."

"So it's basically a battle to see who the best entrepreneurs are?" Ivan asked, confused and baffled at the idea of something like that happening.

"It sounds absolutely ridiculous I know, but, there is a legend that I read about a year ago…I just need to find it. It said something about political wars, and I know for a fact that the last one was about a century ago. There might be someone alive from that time, considering that Noradians and Sechians don't age after 15. Ok, they do, but it takes a century for us to age just one year."

"Hmm, you're right, I think I'll tell this to my cousin, maybe he can find out if there is someone still in this world from that time period."

"Alright, for the next line, it says that the battles have started and your demise will soon follow. This can't get clearer it's saying that the battles, which I'm guessing they are referring to the political battles of the political war, have started. Then they say that your demise will soon follow. The problem with this line is that they don't specify who the 'your' is. Which leaves open the idea that if could refer to both side, which makes me wonder if they sent this same riddle to all of the ones mentioned in it." I finally finished off the riddle.

"Hmm, yeah, it could've been sent to other people as well and not just us. The difference would be that the others may not have someone to help them decipher it. Thank you Raguna, for all the help you've just given up." I could hear Ivan's sincerity in his voice.

"I-it's nothing really, I'm glad I was of some help to you guys."

"ay, don't be so modest would you? You've been a great help, Raguna. Thank you." Ivan repeated.

"You're welcome Ivan." I replied, with my voice lowered a bit, still high enough to be heard though. I really don't deal well with emotions, half the time I don't even know what I myself feel, the only two emotions I recognize are sadness, because I usually get teary-eyed, and indifference, because I start not caring what happens, this one usually activates when I'm in a tight situation. All the other times, I have neutrality or a 'fine' emotional feeling. I am happy the most when I'm with Kyle, Micah, or the kid that I still have to find. I just don't deal well with emotions or people trying to get close to me. I may let them try to do that one, but rarely do any of them succeed. The only ones that were able to get close to me are the kid, for being who he is, Micah and Kyle, for having gone through the same thing as myself. Now that I think of it, I'm close to a lot of people in our kingdom, maybe not as close as Micah and Kyle, but close enough.

"Anyhow, my cousin called for me, I've got to go, but one question. Are you doing alright over there?" Ivan said with concern lacing his voice.

"Yeah, I'm alright, Micah and Kyle are staying over for tonight, I have no idea when they need to go back home. No trouble has arisen either."

"That's good to know. *someone is heard in the background and Ivan says something to them* Sorry Raguna, I've got to go."

"It's alright, I hope you can work this out."

"Yeah, me too. Bye, Raguna."

"Bye, Ivan." I then hung up the phone. I sighed thinking about the conversation and the riddle. Ivan says things that sometimes throw me for a loop, but he's nice and I've sort of warmed up to him. It may also be that instinct that tells me that I know who he is and that I could trust him with my life if it came down to it, but, my own mind/insecurities don't seem to agree with the sentiment. I like spending time with him, yes, but do I trust him? Maybe a bit, not entirely though. I still keep myself guarded around him, which means that I don't entirely trust him, though I do enjoy being with him, which means that I trust him a bit. Ugh, why does this have to be so complicated!

I shake my head and continue doing what I was doing before the call, making space for Micah and Kyle to sleep in somewhere. Most likely in my own room, since we did that for quite some time. We never had more than a one bedroom flat back in the day, and the organization tended to throw us into the same cell together. It's sort of therapeutic really. If one of us has a nightmare, one of the others is bound to wake up and calm the other down. We got accustomed to it ever since the time of the organization, when we tried to sleep in different part of the house, we each felt unprotected. We can sum all of this up to being paranoid.

I then head outside to check my mail and I see a paper inside. I take it out and gasp when I read the note...It was a riddle, the same riddle that was sent to Ivan's cousin!

"No, it can't be, I thought it might've been possible, but, I never wanted my theory confirmed." Raguna whispered to himself.

((Well, poopy, that's not going to end well. By the way, the bracelet can show me memories and flashbacks. I was wondering why so I went hunting for some info, found out it was because of some brain waves that it picks up on. Then I came back to the bracelet room and peeked into the conversation you were having with Ivan.))

((Wow, you know, some of those things are really, uh, how do I say this…Stalker-like.)) I laughed when I felt Matt's amusement. Matt and I have been playing around with the bracelets and it seems that the bracelet doubles into a weapon; we haven't tried that out yet. We also haven't figured out how we could feel each other's moods, Matt searched for a bit and found out that it also had something to do with brainwaves but it was also mixed with transmitter wave. I have always been telepathic since I can remember which would be ever since I got kidnapped by that organization.

(Another Scene: Flashback)

"None-sense, you guys put in the same amount of work I did into re-building that kingdom. What I find funny is that the other kingdoms have no idea of our existence." Raguna retorted.

++++(End flashback)

((Huh, you really shouldn't have said that one line on that one day.)) Matt said.

((Shut it, Matt.)) I got lost in thoughts, getting this letter really confirmed my suspicions of who this 'unknown' is.

*Laughs* There you have it guys! Please excuse any typos, I spent 2-3 days writing this chapter. Got writer's block at some point trough it.

Besides that, what do you guys think of this chapter? Was it good? How about all of that insight on Raguna's past? Any comments on that. I also explained a bit more of the bracelet as well.

How was the interactions between Ivan and Raguna? Please comment about this, I'm a bit worried they might've been a bit robotic, but this is where most of Raguna's 'way of thinking' is revealed.

What about Raguna and Matthew there at the end?

Any questions about the story overall?

All of us: Please review, favorite, and follow.

P.S. The skits that I put at the top and bottom are usually for entertainment and informational purpose, also for some humor now and then. In case any of you were wondering that!