Author Note: This Chapter takes place apart from Nancy's current plight,
don't worry though, I'll get back to her as soon as I can.
Linda and Wendy looked on ahead, the muddy path leading them into a stone-tile room, colored in green and black tiles. The walls were covered in a strange purple slate-like material, which felt very cold to the touch. "Wow, this place looks so old..." Wendy said as she looked at the tiles, and then to the ceiling, which was still muddy and dank.
"Oh please..." Said Linda, looking around the hallway, "This place deserves to be buried where it is now, it's so disgusting here..." Linda looked down at her shoes, which were now covered in thick mud, she gagged a bit, taking a small cloth and began to wipe herself off with it, though to no avail. "Aww, not only is this place disgusting, now I'm going to have to buy new shoes!" Linda scoffed as she threw the cloth behind her, deciding to stomp on the tiles to try and knock the rest of the mud off.
They continued down the hallway, and found something they weren't expecting, a dead end. Wendy looked at the wall closely, finding some writing inside the purple slates. It read...
"Claws like a cat, crooked as a snake's hiss, patch together your guesses, you won't guess this..."
Linda read the inscription, rubbing her head. "Well, we finally find the puzzles, but now what does it mean? 'Claws like a cat, crooked as a snake's hiss?' What does it want us to do?" Linda asked out loud. Wendy calmed her down, and began to think very deeply. "Claws like a cat, that means it's sharp. Crooked as a snake's hiss, that means it's unbalanced and jittery. Patch together your guesses, patch is obviously the emphasized word. And you won't guess this, meaning it's something out of the ordinary." Wendy asked herself in her mind. "I got it!" she then said, taking out a piece of chalk, she went to the wall and began to write down a word on the wall under the writing.
Linda looked at what Wendy was scribbling down, it read...
"Briar Patch"
"Briar Patch?" Linda said to Wendy, at the moment she spoke it, the wall where the writing was, immediately vanished! Linda jumped as soon as noticed this, but was also filled with excitement. "Well, one puzzle down, nice job wiz kid." Linda said to her jokingly. Wendy smiled, giving a playful pose, and they both continued down the hallway.
"Yeah, a Briar Patch is one of those little burrs that get stuck in your pants at times when your out in the woods, sometimes it takes you like, five to ten minutes just to get an entire patch out of your legs. They also stick to your skin too if they're sharp enough." Wendy explained to Linda. Linda was completely perplexed by Wendy's explanation, but understood what she meant, in a way...
The next part of the hallway was decorated with walls of copper, studded with shining gems in each of the crevices. Linda seemed to be admiring the room a bit, while Wendy was unmoved, just wanting to get through the hallway. Once again, they approached another dead end, and this one too had another inscription on it. It read...
"It is sought by the courageous, awarded to the winner, truly earned by those who deserve it."
Wendy scratched her head at this one; even she didn't know this perplexing riddle. "Umm, to me, it could be a lot of things, so I really don't know what to say..." Wendy said. This almost obliterated Linda's morale, she was hoping that Wendy would know the answer to this one, but obviously she didn't.
"Oh great..." Linda said upsettingly, "How are we supposed to get by now? Guess?" Wendy shrugged; obviously she was confused on how they were going to pass this one. "Umm, I suppose a guess is in order..." Wendy said, shuddering. Wendy then took out a small slate and began writing down the riddle upon it, pondering to herself for what seemed an hour, but was actually 10 minutes. "I think I got it." Wendy said, taking her piece of chalk and scribbling the word "Treasure" under the riddle on the wall. "Yeah, treasure..." Wendy said.
Something different began to happen, something, very, VERY, different...
The ground shook violently, and a dark voice boomed out, "You are so very wrong!" the voice cackled as the floor opened below the two kids, dropping them into a moldy, filthy chute!
The two screamed loud as they slid down the chute, they saw things etched into the sides of the chute that frightened their very wits even further, corpses of other treasure-seekers, symbols of hopelessness and as they neared the end of the chute, a large, oblong room yawned before them, a mural of the struggle of greed and reward dominated the northern wall of the room they entered.
As the chute ended, they landed firmly upon a concrete floor. Linda rubbed one of her knees that she damaged from the fall, while Wendy was busy fussing with her glasses that had been damaged. "Sorry..." Wendy said, looking down. Linda clutched her knee, in obvious pain, the impact of the fall had taken a toll on her, she landed directly on her knee, basically causing it to pop backwards, and she thusly could not move her leg without feeling pain. Linda was already shaken by the fall, the visages and etching along the chute had chilled her to the bone, she had not been able to endure the horror that had been shown to her, causing her to be frozen in sheer fear.
Wendy finally finished doing some minor repairs to her glasses, and approached Linda. Linda groaned, trying to get up, but failing, she fell back down with a loud, "oomph!" and went back to covering her knee. "Darn it, I'll never be able to board like this..." Linda said as he again tried to stand up, but ended up falling again from the awkward bending of her knee.
"Easy Linda, you popped your kneecap." Wendy said as she helped Linda up, giving her support with her back. Linda limped as she walked, obviously in immense pain. "We better find a way out of here, I hope that wrong answer didn't totally get us lost..." Wendy continued.
The dark voice again roared to the two girls, "The door you had just failed to open, though it was the door to help you leave for the next area, you can still find your way to the exit. I give you one last chance to answer the riddle previous, fail again, and terror will ensue..."
Wendy scratched her head, still baffled. "Oh no, not the name riddle..." she thought to herself. She again took her slate out and began scribbling on it.
Linda though, had begun to think logically, she looked about the room, finally noticing the mural on the wall, it showed both an army of greed, and an army of reward, both were fighting what seemed to be a never- ending battle, but something strange was happening among the mural, it looked as if they actually WERE fighting!
As she looked on, she found the battle passed after a good 5 minutes, and the army of reward stood as the winners, Linda then realized something...
"I get it..." Linda said, "Fought for, earned, and deserved, I know it!" Linda then looked to Wendy. Wendy looked back to Linda, scratching her head again. "Get what? The answer?" Wendy said. Linda nodded, and yelled out into the room...
"VICTORY!" Linda screamed. As she yelled the word, the voice replied quickly, "You speak great wisdom young woman! Victory must be earned by the courageous, and they are deserving of it." The room then slowly began to be engulfed in a white glow, Linda began backing away from the light as it finally engulfed both her and Wendy, they looked into pure white light for what seemed hours, only to finally see the light fade and reveal...
A door, she looked to see herself in a room with a single door, and the room she was in was as large as a broom closet. A small window was evident in the door, she peered through to see Wendy in a room of similar liking, small room, one door, one window.
The voice boomed out once again, "To advance to your friends, this last test is for you. You are both sealed within your rooms, prisoners to the catacombs itself. There is a small button in front of you, on your door. Here is how this little game works..."
The voice began to instruct the girls, "Your friend will not be able to hear you during this, just so you know. If you press your button, your partner will die, but you will go free. If your partner presses the button, you will die but your partner will go free. If you both press the button at the same time, you will both die, and if you both do not press the button, you will both remain in here, and eventually die. You have one turn of my hourglass to choose your fate, kill yourself, or kill your friend, the choice is yours..." With that, a large human-sized hourglass appeared between the two doors, and began to drop sand to the bottom column of the container.
Both of the girls looked at each other, and began to sweat, who would die, and who would go...?
Linda and Wendy looked on ahead, the muddy path leading them into a stone-tile room, colored in green and black tiles. The walls were covered in a strange purple slate-like material, which felt very cold to the touch. "Wow, this place looks so old..." Wendy said as she looked at the tiles, and then to the ceiling, which was still muddy and dank.
"Oh please..." Said Linda, looking around the hallway, "This place deserves to be buried where it is now, it's so disgusting here..." Linda looked down at her shoes, which were now covered in thick mud, she gagged a bit, taking a small cloth and began to wipe herself off with it, though to no avail. "Aww, not only is this place disgusting, now I'm going to have to buy new shoes!" Linda scoffed as she threw the cloth behind her, deciding to stomp on the tiles to try and knock the rest of the mud off.
They continued down the hallway, and found something they weren't expecting, a dead end. Wendy looked at the wall closely, finding some writing inside the purple slates. It read...
"Claws like a cat, crooked as a snake's hiss, patch together your guesses, you won't guess this..."
Linda read the inscription, rubbing her head. "Well, we finally find the puzzles, but now what does it mean? 'Claws like a cat, crooked as a snake's hiss?' What does it want us to do?" Linda asked out loud. Wendy calmed her down, and began to think very deeply. "Claws like a cat, that means it's sharp. Crooked as a snake's hiss, that means it's unbalanced and jittery. Patch together your guesses, patch is obviously the emphasized word. And you won't guess this, meaning it's something out of the ordinary." Wendy asked herself in her mind. "I got it!" she then said, taking out a piece of chalk, she went to the wall and began to write down a word on the wall under the writing.
Linda looked at what Wendy was scribbling down, it read...
"Briar Patch"
"Briar Patch?" Linda said to Wendy, at the moment she spoke it, the wall where the writing was, immediately vanished! Linda jumped as soon as noticed this, but was also filled with excitement. "Well, one puzzle down, nice job wiz kid." Linda said to her jokingly. Wendy smiled, giving a playful pose, and they both continued down the hallway.
"Yeah, a Briar Patch is one of those little burrs that get stuck in your pants at times when your out in the woods, sometimes it takes you like, five to ten minutes just to get an entire patch out of your legs. They also stick to your skin too if they're sharp enough." Wendy explained to Linda. Linda was completely perplexed by Wendy's explanation, but understood what she meant, in a way...
The next part of the hallway was decorated with walls of copper, studded with shining gems in each of the crevices. Linda seemed to be admiring the room a bit, while Wendy was unmoved, just wanting to get through the hallway. Once again, they approached another dead end, and this one too had another inscription on it. It read...
"It is sought by the courageous, awarded to the winner, truly earned by those who deserve it."
Wendy scratched her head at this one; even she didn't know this perplexing riddle. "Umm, to me, it could be a lot of things, so I really don't know what to say..." Wendy said. This almost obliterated Linda's morale, she was hoping that Wendy would know the answer to this one, but obviously she didn't.
"Oh great..." Linda said upsettingly, "How are we supposed to get by now? Guess?" Wendy shrugged; obviously she was confused on how they were going to pass this one. "Umm, I suppose a guess is in order..." Wendy said, shuddering. Wendy then took out a small slate and began writing down the riddle upon it, pondering to herself for what seemed an hour, but was actually 10 minutes. "I think I got it." Wendy said, taking her piece of chalk and scribbling the word "Treasure" under the riddle on the wall. "Yeah, treasure..." Wendy said.
Something different began to happen, something, very, VERY, different...
The ground shook violently, and a dark voice boomed out, "You are so very wrong!" the voice cackled as the floor opened below the two kids, dropping them into a moldy, filthy chute!
The two screamed loud as they slid down the chute, they saw things etched into the sides of the chute that frightened their very wits even further, corpses of other treasure-seekers, symbols of hopelessness and as they neared the end of the chute, a large, oblong room yawned before them, a mural of the struggle of greed and reward dominated the northern wall of the room they entered.
As the chute ended, they landed firmly upon a concrete floor. Linda rubbed one of her knees that she damaged from the fall, while Wendy was busy fussing with her glasses that had been damaged. "Sorry..." Wendy said, looking down. Linda clutched her knee, in obvious pain, the impact of the fall had taken a toll on her, she landed directly on her knee, basically causing it to pop backwards, and she thusly could not move her leg without feeling pain. Linda was already shaken by the fall, the visages and etching along the chute had chilled her to the bone, she had not been able to endure the horror that had been shown to her, causing her to be frozen in sheer fear.
Wendy finally finished doing some minor repairs to her glasses, and approached Linda. Linda groaned, trying to get up, but failing, she fell back down with a loud, "oomph!" and went back to covering her knee. "Darn it, I'll never be able to board like this..." Linda said as he again tried to stand up, but ended up falling again from the awkward bending of her knee.
"Easy Linda, you popped your kneecap." Wendy said as she helped Linda up, giving her support with her back. Linda limped as she walked, obviously in immense pain. "We better find a way out of here, I hope that wrong answer didn't totally get us lost..." Wendy continued.
The dark voice again roared to the two girls, "The door you had just failed to open, though it was the door to help you leave for the next area, you can still find your way to the exit. I give you one last chance to answer the riddle previous, fail again, and terror will ensue..."
Wendy scratched her head, still baffled. "Oh no, not the name riddle..." she thought to herself. She again took her slate out and began scribbling on it.
Linda though, had begun to think logically, she looked about the room, finally noticing the mural on the wall, it showed both an army of greed, and an army of reward, both were fighting what seemed to be a never- ending battle, but something strange was happening among the mural, it looked as if they actually WERE fighting!
As she looked on, she found the battle passed after a good 5 minutes, and the army of reward stood as the winners, Linda then realized something...
"I get it..." Linda said, "Fought for, earned, and deserved, I know it!" Linda then looked to Wendy. Wendy looked back to Linda, scratching her head again. "Get what? The answer?" Wendy said. Linda nodded, and yelled out into the room...
"VICTORY!" Linda screamed. As she yelled the word, the voice replied quickly, "You speak great wisdom young woman! Victory must be earned by the courageous, and they are deserving of it." The room then slowly began to be engulfed in a white glow, Linda began backing away from the light as it finally engulfed both her and Wendy, they looked into pure white light for what seemed hours, only to finally see the light fade and reveal...
A door, she looked to see herself in a room with a single door, and the room she was in was as large as a broom closet. A small window was evident in the door, she peered through to see Wendy in a room of similar liking, small room, one door, one window.
The voice boomed out once again, "To advance to your friends, this last test is for you. You are both sealed within your rooms, prisoners to the catacombs itself. There is a small button in front of you, on your door. Here is how this little game works..."
The voice began to instruct the girls, "Your friend will not be able to hear you during this, just so you know. If you press your button, your partner will die, but you will go free. If your partner presses the button, you will die but your partner will go free. If you both press the button at the same time, you will both die, and if you both do not press the button, you will both remain in here, and eventually die. You have one turn of my hourglass to choose your fate, kill yourself, or kill your friend, the choice is yours..." With that, a large human-sized hourglass appeared between the two doors, and began to drop sand to the bottom column of the container.
Both of the girls looked at each other, and began to sweat, who would die, and who would go...?