First of all I wanted to give a big thanks to The Chaotic Queen of Madness for helping me on this chapter and the following two! You're a great friend Queen =)
Second, I have finally taken my other story, TLoS: Soul Savior, out of hiatus! So please check it out if you want ^_^
And third, please enjoy this chapter! I don't own any Spyro characters!
The Ripto Chronicles: Ripto's Games
Chapter 13: Puzzle One
Another day is here… thought Cynder, which means yet another 'game' to play… how many of these is this psycho going to put us through? She sat in silence along with the others, mentally preparing themselves for whatever Ripto had in store for them. They expected to be teleported outside at anytime, just like the previous days. However, Ripto had other things in mind today.
The small riptoc walked casually down the musky hallway, humming a tune to himself. As he passed by the dragons' cell, he stopped and looked at them with a smirk on his face. "Well good morning my soon-to-be-slaves. How are you?" he greeted them. All five dragons snapped their necks to notice him standing there, surprised looks on their faces.
"What are you doing down here?" asked Relisan, getting up on his paws.
"I just came to tell you about the next little game I have planned for you. Tell me, do any of you enjoy solving puzzles?" Before any of them could respond, Ripto waved his scepter as it released a thick cloud of smoke into the cell. The dragons chocked and coughed as the smoke began to fill their lungs, suffocating them. Their eyes burned as they tried desperately to gasp for air. One by one though, they each fell into unconsciousness.
Once they were all down, Ripto cleared the smoke and smiled wickedly. "Have fun."
Relisan groaned as he slept, a smile on his face, enjoying the dream he was having. "Shelly…" he mumbled, "I love it… when you do that…" A giggle from a dragoness caught his ears, but it wasn't the one he had fallen in love with. It was an unfamiliar little laugh and, being a light sleeper, it awoke him from his dreams. He groaned again as he opened his eyes, blinking them until they got used to the light of his surroundings. Once they did, he saw Spyro, Cynder, and Zakroz all looking at him with grins on their faces, as if they were trying to suppress some laughter. "What's going on?" Relisan said, followed by a big yawn. "Where are we?"
"I'm not sure," Spyro replied, "but are you okay?"
"Umm… yeah?" Relisan said with a quizzical look.
"You sure?" asked Zakroz. "Cause to us it looks like you've got some… morning wood there." The brown dragon couldn't help but chuckle.
"What do you mean mor-" The red dragon's eyes widened and he looked down himself. Sure enough, he was exposed. It seems that the dream he had was rather… arousing. With a yelp of embarrassment, he quickly rolled onto his stomach, effectively hiding his dragonhood. "You guys are perverts!" he said angrily as his face became even redder. The other three only laughed a little.
"Aw come on Relisan!" Cynder said as she calmed down. "We were just poking some fun at you! I can't even begin to tell you how many times I've caught Spyro like that."
Now it was the purple dragon's turn to blush. "Cynder…" he said with a sheepish smile. After another short moment of laughter, the four dragons got serious. "Okay, so where exactly are we?" he asked.
They all looked around. Wherever they were, it was nothing impressive. They were in a small room that was completely empty save for a wooden table and a door on the other side. Zakroz went up to the door to test it but it was locked. "Looks like we're stuck in here… but what are we supposed to do?"
"Didn't that little freak say something about puzzles before we were knocked out?" asked the black dragoness. "Maybe there's a puzzle we gotta solve in order to move on."
"I think you're right Cynder," said Spyro, "come here and look at this table." Everyone gathered around the table and saw three coins on top and five holes about the same size as the coins. One coin had the picture of an old dragon engraved into it and was labeled 'Elder'. The second had a picture of a snake and was labeled 'Snake'. The last one had a dragoness on it. It was labeled as 'Prisoner'.
"Seems obvious to me that we have to find the right order to put these coins in the holes… question is… how?" stated Relisan.
"There's gotta be a clue somewhere," said the brown dragon, "let's look around." The other three dragons nodded and began their search. After a few minutes of nothing, Cynder found something interesting.
"Hey guys! Look here at the side of the table! Something's written on it!"
Once again everyone gathered around and looked at the inscription. It read:
"Like coins in the hazy
aether tossed
Our souls must by
their sinful weight
Descend to earth
with lightness lost
To right the sins
that they hath laid
When thrice in falling they intone
The Happiness shall be thy own
The first note be not by
the Horned One rung
Though it be there that
all sins be sprung
The Bringer of Life and
the Bringer of Shame
The sins of the latter be
even more tame
Though coming
in the Aged One's wake
The Formless One's soul
in fear doth quake
The Needless One, silent,
with hungers all sated
Is least then in sin
with his lusts all abated
For the gravest of sinners
His place be appointed
And if he be lucky
May his soul be anointed"
"What in the realms is that supposed to mean?" asked Zakroz.
"I don't know," Cynder spoke up, "but it's the only clue we've got… lets try to decipher it… it may be the only way outta here."
All four dragons began to work together in order to figure out the poem's hidden message. As time passed by, they unconsciously split themselves into two groups, Spyro with Relisan and Cynder with Zakroz. While the black and brown dragons were working diligently on the task at hand, Spyro and Relisan became distracted and began to talk about other things.
"Hey Relisan I've been meaning to ask you," began the purple dragon, "Why do you have that cloak on?"
The red dragon looked behind himself, "Well, the village where I lived was close to Dante's Freezer, so this helps keep me warm."
"Oh okay. But why don't you get a new one? That one seems really old and tattered."
"Yeah it is. I've had it since I was born. My dad made it for me back then and every time I would outgrow it, he would add a little more at the end. You see, he was the master tailor at the village and this was the first cloak he made successfully. And he gave it to me… it's my most treasured possession."
"I see," Spyro sighed, "I wish I knew who my father was… my actual father I mean because Ignitus-"
"Hey guys!" Cynder called out excitedly, "I think we've got it!" The two males quickly got up and moved closer to Cynder to listen. "It was pretty complicated but we both think that we got it."
"Well, let's hear it," said Relisan eagerly.
"Well," Zakroz began, "the sentence 'Our souls must by their sinful weight; to 'right' the sins that they hath laid' means that the more sinful the dragon or thing is, the further to the right it belongs. 'The first note be not by the Horned One rung; though it be there that all sins be sprung' determines that the Snake is not the biggest sinner, but is the cause of the sins, as it's represented as a devil. 'The Bringer of Life and the Bringer of Shame; the sins of the latter be even more tame' says that the dragoness, which is the bringer of life, is more sinful than the snake, which is the bringer of shame. The word 'latter' means the second of two things mentioned, and the word 'tame' determines that the 'latter', in this case the snake, is less afraid, therefore less sinful. 'Though coming in the Aged One's wake; the Formless One's soul in fear doth quake' mentions that the snake is afraid of the elder dragon, thus they cannot be together. 'The Needless One, silent, with hungers all sated; Is least then in sin with his lusts all abated' states that the elder dragon has put an end to his eagerness, or if you will, craving for qualities such as power, life, and so on. Thus, making him the least to sin."
"Whoa, there's no way I would have been able to figure all that out…" admitted the red dragon. "Well now that we know this, lets see if we can get the coins in order. Relisan went to the table, everyone following him, and moved the coins so they were in front of the holes. "So according to what you said, the elder dragon is the least sinful, therefore, belongs furthest to the left." He moved the 'Elder' coin and positioned it in front of the left-most hole. "Then the snake is supposed to be the next one in line, but it's scared of the elder, so they can't be together. Which means the snake must go in the center." He moved the mentioned coin in front of the center hole. "And finally, the dragoness goes to the right of the snake because she's the most sinful and nothing mentions that the snake is afraid of her so…" He moved the 'Prisoner' coin and placed it right next to the 'Snake' coin. "You think this is correct?" The coins were set up as: 'Elder', then an empty slot, 'Snake', 'Prisoner', and another empty slot.
"I guess that's right…" said Cynder, still rather unsure.
"Only one way to find out," said Spyro, "go for it Relisan."
The red dragon nodded and picked up each coin. He dropped them one at a time into their respective holes, hearing a small click with each drop. After a moment of silence, a louder click was heard and the drawer in front of the table opened. Inside were two items. One was a key, which they figured would unlock the door that blocked them. The other however was a very odd thing. It was a music box with a dragon on the top.
"A music box?" questioned Zakroz. "Why is there a music box in here?"
"I'm not sure but I think it's best we take it with us," said the black dragoness as she picked it up with one paw. She took a closer look at the dragon on the music box and gasped slightly. "Spyro! Look! This dragon it looks like Volteer!"
Spyro took a closer look at it and was just as surprised as his mate. "Wow! You're right! But why would there be a music box with the lightning guardian on it?"
"I have no idea, but I have a feeling we'll find out soon," said Relisan. He picked up the key and went to unlock the door. "Come on, let's keep moving."
With a turn of the key and a shove of his shoulder, the door swung open, granting the four dragons access to the next room… and the next puzzle.
Hope you liked it! Again big thanks to The Chaotic Queen of Madness for helping me!
And a shout out in the next chapter to the first person who can guess what this is a reference to!
Till next time!