Walk A Mile In Your Shoes
Chapter 11: The Two Challenges of Ankorbak
The cave was pitch black thus requiring Jingle to conjure some glowing spheres just to enable them to see. The three glowing spheres conjured by Jingle spread out along the line of adventurers helping them all to see in the dark but it wasn't bright enough so Mara and Neteru had to light up their staffs to provide enough light. The cave didn't seem at all spectacular to look at. The cave did appear to be man-made (or hamster-made in this case) but it wasn't really smooth or fancy. There was no other indication that it belonged to any civilization. As they got farther into the tunnels, they realized that the tunnel was growing smaller and smaller. It was beginning to get so small that Oxnard was having troubles squeezing his dumpy body through the tunnel.
"Is it my imagination or are we getting bigger or the tunnel is getting smaller." said Oxnard.
"Yeah, this is starting to get uncomfortable." said Boss who was having even more troubles walking through the cramped tunnel than Oxnard. Boss actually had to lower his head just so he could walk through, the roof of the tunnel scraping his helmet.
"Wait, I see a door in front of us." said Neteru who was in the front of the line. In the light of his magic staff, Neteru could make out the details of a wooden door with a simple bronze handle. Neteru turned the door knob of the door and pushed the door forward revealing the room behind it.
Upon entering the room, Neteru was surprised to see a large rectangle shaped room that had a ceiling about two feet from the floor but unlike the cave, this room had smooth walls and ceiling. Along the walls were lanterns who provided light but how the lanterns remained lit was not apparently obvious. In front of them, along the floor, was a tile floor decorated in black and white squares. What is strange that the tile pattern is only decorating the center portion of the room leaving the rest of the floor to be made out of solid stone.
As Neteru stared in awe at the tiles, everyone began to squeeze out of the small door starting with Mara, Hamtaro, Nin-Ham, Jingle, and Soshi. Oxnard, who was right behind Soshi, got himself stuck in the door.
"Ugh, I can't move." said Oxnard. Boss realized that Oxnard must be stuck so he gave Oxnard a good shove through the door forcing Oxnard out with a small pop.
"Are you all right, Oxnard?" asked Mara.
"Yeah, I just wish I hadn't eaten so much this morning." said Oxnard. Just then, Boss tried to squeeze through the door but he was larger than Oxnard so Boss ended up stuck as well.
"Hey, a little help here." said Boss. The former humans were right behind Boss with Laura in front.
"Uh oh, Boss is stuck." said Laura. "Everyone, help me push." Travis, Kana, June, and Kylie placed both paws against the back of the person in front of them and they all applied their strength and weight against Boss and with a loud pop, Boss and the others tumbled out of the door.
"Are you guys all right?" asked Neteru.
"Yeah, we just had a nasty spill, that's all." said Laura.
"Why was that door so small, anyway?" asked Boss.
"Perhaps they were shorter back then." suggested Neteru. "Or maybe it is just a security precaution." They all managed to straiten themselves so they could get a good look at the room they were in.
"What's with the floor?" asked Boss. "Did they forget to finish putting in the tiles, or something?"
"I doubt it." said Neteru. " I suspect this is deliberate." They all got closer to the tiles to examine them.
"Lets just walk across." suggested Hamtaro. "There doesn't appear to be anything dangerous about them."
"But no one sets up a trap if it looks like a trap." said Neteru. "It is rumored that the ancient ham-hams that lived in Ankorbak had built traps to keep intruders out and this could be it. Perhaps the map might provide us with a hint." Neteru pulled out the map and sure enough, right on the map was the same square pattern and next to it, was a message that Neteru read out loud to the others:
If thou wishes to cross the floor of black and white,
thou must cross the floor like a knight.
"Cross it like a knight?" said Hamtaro. "What does that mean."
"I think we need to cross the tiles the same way a knight would." said Neteru.
"But how do knights walk?" asked Boss.
"Maybe like this." suggested Travis and to demonstrate what he meant, he walked in place while holding up one paw as if he was holding up horse reins.
"They only walk like that in 'Monty Python and the Holy Grail." said June sarcastically. Travis blushed a bit.
"Well, we could give it a try." said Boss about to walk onto the tiles.
"No wait." said Neteru grabbing Boss's arm.
"If this is a trap, that means that if we get it wrong, we could die." said Neteru.
"But how are we going to figure out how to get across?" asked Hamtaro.
"Can you use your magic to get across?" asked Laura.
"I wouldn't risk it." said Neteru. "Odds are, the ones who made this trap must have some kind of security to prevent cheating. I think this is a riddle and if we put our heads together, we should be able to find a way across."
They all stood there looking at the black and white tiles. Neteru observed the pattern of squares and suddenly, an idea came to him.
"Wait a minute, this square of tiles are not only black and white but it has exactly eight tiles on each side starting with a white tile on the far right corner." said Neteru. The others looked at the tiles and confirmed that the tiled floor was indeed "8 tiles X 8 tiles" and the tile on the far right on their end of the tiled floor was white.
"So, what are you getting at?" asked Boss.
"I get it." said Mara. "It looks like a giant chess board."
"Exactly." said Neteru. "I don't think the riddle meant a knight in shining armor, it meant a knight from a chess game which means that we have to cross this board like a knight piece would."
"I think you may have a point but what if you're wrong?" asked Mara.
"There's only one way to find out." said Neteru and before anyone can say a word, he stepped onto a square in the first row. Nothing happened. Neteru knew that a knight is capable of moving in an "L" shape which is created by moving two spaces vertically or horizontally and then moving one space to either the left or right side of the line created. Taking another breath, he stepped over to the next spot a knight could move and...nothing happened. Feeling more confident, Neteru walked across the tiled floor with ease and nothing happened to him as he walked all the way to the other end of the board.
"It's okay, just walk in the same way I did." said Neteru. One by one, they all carefully walked across the board until they all managed to reach the other side of the tiles. Once they managed to get to the other side of the room, they found a wooden door. Neteru turned the knob to the door and the adventurers all stepped inside the next room and towards their next challenge...
Neteru was surprised to see that the next room contained what looked like a glass grid hovering over a deep and dark fissure. Like the previous room, this too was lit by lanterns who were lit by a continuous flame but it didn't provide enough illumination to enable them to see down into the bottom of the fissure. The glass grid had white lines across it and it was rectangle in shape.
"What is that grid supposed to be?" asked Oxnard.
"Well, we are not going to find out by standing here." said Neteru. "Lets get a closer look." They all walked towards the grid and suddenly, glowing numbers appeared on their chests. How the numbers appeared was not clear but right on their chests were numbers. Some of them had red numbers while others had blue numbers. Once the numbers had appeared, four triangle shaped buttons appeared out of the ground and suddenly, little symbols decorated the grid. The symbols included arrows, arrows with picture of an "E", "O", or red or blue dot, and symbols that looked like a swirling vortex.
"What is this all about?" asked Boss examining the blue glowing number one on his chest. Neteru pulled out the map and saw a picture of the grid on the map. Next to the picture of the grid was a clue which Neteru read out loud:
Step on a button and out comes a disk
That will fly you across the grid at your own risk.
The arrows point where you go unless you don't fit the picture
But be careful or else be sucked into the vortex like fixture.
"E" stands for "Even" and "O" stands for "Odd."
Use your skill or trust your god.
"I hate riddles." said Boss.
"But what does all this mean?" asked Mara.
"It said that if we step on a button, a disk will come out." said Neteru. Experimentally, he stepped onto a button and sure enough, a large yellow disk came out of the cliff and hovered just right in front of Neteru.
"I think I see what this is all about." said Neteru. "If I stand on that disk, it will fly me across the grid."
"But it can't be that easy." pointed out Soshi.
"Yeah, there must be a catch." said Nin-Ham. Neteru looked at the hovering disk before him and wondered if the disk will fly across the squares like a track. As he followed his eyes across the track, he realized that he would reach an arrow that directed him towards the left. It occurred to Neteru that if he hit that arrow, that must mean that the disk will change direction to where the arrow is pointing so Neteru followed his eyes towards that direction and realized that he would hit another arrow. But then he noticed that the arrow had a red spot on it. Neteru remembered a line from the poem, "The arrows point where you go unless you don't fit the picture" which must mean that if the number on Neteru's chest was red like the spot on the arrow, then Neteru would fly in the direction of the arrow. But the number on Neteru's chest was a blue five which means he would go past the arrow and hit a space with a vortex picture which was obviously a trap.
"I get it now." said Neteru. "We must select which one of these disks will enable us to get across and it varies depending on the numbers on our chests and the color of those numbers. Each disk follows a different path and those arrows direct where we are going but some arrows require you to have a certain number or color in order to cross." Neteru then explained how if he had gone on the path he was on, he would have been sucked into one of those vortexes. "Since I can't go down this path safely, I must choose another." said Neteru.
Neteru stepped off of the triangle button and the disk vanished. Neteru then stepped onto the next button and another disk came out. Neteru followed his eyes along the path the disk would follow and noticed that it would hit an arrow with an "O" on it meaning that Neteru required an odd number on his chest in order to move in the direction the arrow was pointing or else go on past it. But Neteru had an odd number which meant that the disk will veer him out of harm's way. As he followed his eyes along the path of the arrow, he realized that he would hit an arrow with no symbol causing Neteru to move towards the cliff's edge. Bu along the way, he would hit an arrow that had a red spot on it and if the arrow directed him towards away from the cliff, he would be led towards a vortex trap. But the number on Neteru's chest was blue which meant that he would go past the arrow.
"Now if I'm right, this path right here will enable me to cross safely." said Neteru. While taking a deep breath, Neteru stepped onto the disk and he felt his feet glue to the disk as he slowly flew over the glass grid. Once the disk reached the space with the first arrow, it directed him towards the left and when he hit the next arrow, he was moved towards the cliff and heading towards the arrow with the red spot. Neteru nervously watched as he approached the arrow and to his relief, he went by the arrow because his number was not red like the spot on the arrow. The disk finally reached the cliff's edge and the disk disappeared causing Neteru to land on the cliff.
"It worked, come on everybody." said Neteru. One by one, the others flew across the grid being careful to choose the path that would safely ride them across the board. Once everyone was across, the symbols on the grid vanished and so did the numbers on our heroes' chests. Now that they were across, Neteru opened a large wooden door to the next room.
As they entered through the door, they came down another dark tunnel. They all walked wordlessly down the dark tunnel single file while heading towards a light at the end of the tunnel. As they came out of the tunnel, they all gasped with astonishment at what they saw. They all were standing on a stone balcony that was high enough to enable them all a good view of the city of Ankorbak. Although Ankorbak was nothing but a ghost town, Ankorbak still was breathtaking as if its beauty had not faded, even after thousands of years in desolation. The entire city seemed to stretch for what seemed like half a mile or more in diameter. The city was absolutely glorious with its rows upon rows of buildings who all appeared to be carved out of white stone. Empty streets divided the buildings giving the city the appearance that it was made out of several pieces glued together. Yet the city had its own style whose shapes of buildings and physical design was mathematically put together in an artistic fashion as if the entire city was designed to be a work of art. There was a slight glow within the city as if even though its inhabitants were long gone, the city itself still had a life of its own. On the ceiling, the adventurers realized that the ceiling reflected a large moving picture of a cloudy blue sky and a sun as if the ceiling was just one large TV screen giving the citizens of Ankorbak a sky to look at.
"Fascinating." said Neteru in awe. "They've managed to find a way to use magic to create a replica of the sky. No magic user has ever accomplished a feat to this magnitude before."
"Now that we're in Ankorbak, what are we going to do?" asked Laura.
"We must look for the Ankorbak Pylons." said Neteru. "That is the artifact that we have traveled to find." There were some stairs attached to the balcony so the adventurers walked down the stairs towards the city below.
As they entered the city, they were now more capable of seeing the real splendor of the city. Although the city was mainly white, the city had some small painted patterns all over giving it an artistic feel to it and giving it cultural significance. The buildings had glass windows that enabled Neteru and the others the ability to see into the buildings and seeing all the items that were inside, such as furniture. But amongst the beautiful buildings and the remains of all the antiques, there was a morbid sight amongst the beauty of the Ankorbak. The streets were littered with old hamster skeletons. Everywhere the eye could see, they could see hamster skeletons littering the ground. Some were in positions that indicated that they had died while going about their daily business. At what looked like a restaurant, there were several skeletons sitting at tables decorated with plates that contained mummified half-eaten food. Skeletons littered the stores indicating that they were all shopping when they died. Everyone was disturbed by the sight off all the death.
"What could have killed all these ham-hams?" asked Soshi.
"I don't know but whatever it was, it must be why they all died all at once." said Neteru.
"So how are we going to find the pylons?" asked Laura in an attempt to change the subject.
"I honestly don't know for sure where those pylons are so we will have to search for it." said Neteru.
"Not until I find it first." said voice somewhere behind Neteru and the others. They all turned around in surprise and they noticed six hamsters coming out of nowhere. They were all white and identical and they wore matching purple robes. But the one who was in front of the six white ham-hams was the one who spoke. They all gasped as they recognized the ham-ham they were looking at...
Author's Note: The second challenge was inspired by the "Bubblewonder Abyss" level from the computer game entitled "The Logical Journey of the Zoombinis."