The Final Task
It was another twenty minutes before Daniella found the yellow door. She had been walking down one of the many indistinguishable passages in the mansion when she looked out a window on the side. It was kind of rare to find a window in here, and so she decided to approach it and look outside. Expecting to see the bay, or the endless countryside, or the town of Dark Bay in the distance, she was somewhat shocked to see a courtyard. Surrounded on all sides by walls, there was an open area with grass and a bench, she could even make out a drinking fountain. It looked quite appealing to her right then, and she knew she could use a little fresh air.
"Poppy, come," she called, but still not very loudly. She was more paranoid now than ever of running somebody hearing her.
The dog walked to her side, and she looked for a door from which she could access the courtyard. She circled nearly all the way around it before she found the door, and opened it, stepping outside and taking a deep breath. It was a little bit cold, but she didn't mind at all. She just stood there for a moment, looking up at the ever-brightening sky and breathing the crisp air as Poppy ran gladly to a tree and urinated. She looked over at him, smiling. He'd probably been holding that in for a long time... and she saw it.
Straight past the tree, on the right side of the courtyard, was a yellow door. She could hardly tell, as the light was still pretty dim, but she could see the color. She looked around, seeing nobody, and no sign of a trap, and slowly walked toward the door. She approached it and, finding it unlocked, turned the knob and pushed it open. There was a hallway leading into what looked like an art gallery of some sort. She looked backward, calling Poppy again, and headed into the room. It was a circular room with a low ceiling, and all around the room were hung various paintings of people.
She looked more closely... and each one had a button and a carved message underneath. They were all equally spaced, except for a spot straight across from the hallway, which instead of a painting had a single bronze plaque set in the wall. She moved over to the plaque, and read the words that were inscribed there.
Life and death are but concepts of the mind
Eternity and balance are the only realities in the universe
And the Great Truth is the bridge between.
Daniella read it over many times, trying to make any sense out of it. This was no doubt another one of their sick puzzles, meant to confuse and terrify her. She looked around and saw that Poppy was already bored of this room and was heading back out toward the courtyard. She couldn't blame him... at least this way he could warn her if anybody was coming. She read the plaque once more, then began going around and examining the paintings.
Each one was different, but they all had buttons underneath, and a message in the stone. She walked up to a painting of a woman... a woman who had violet hair. She examined it more closely... who was this? Could she possibly be related to whoever it was? The woman looked older, more refined, and was wearing clothes that looked like they were from a long time ago, the sixteenth or seventeenth century. She was beautiful... Daniella looked below the painting, and read the words.
Azoth opens the way.
This just puzzled Daniella even more. Was any of this supposed to mean anything to her? She sighed, moving to the next painting over... It was a middle-aged man, balding, and... wait a minute... she'd seen this man before. Her dream flashed back to her, and finally things began falling into place. She'd had a dream about this man, although she remembered nothing about it. And that's why Riccardo had looked so familiar to her... it wasn't because of the stone pillars in the atrium, it was because of the dream. Whoever this was bore a striking resemblance to Riccardo. She didn't necessarily want to know why, she just wanted to get this over with. She bent down and examined the message.
Understanding the realities in the universe is key.
A similar message had been on the plaque... something about balance. She would have to keep that in mind. She looked at the next painting over, a painting of a man who was actually strikingly handsome, in a dark sort of way. The man had intense eyes, filled with fire, and had flaming red hair. He wore a long robe, and was grinning. She wished she knew who it was. Once more, she examined the message underneath.
Do not be fooled by concepts of the mind, for they are meaningless.
Again, Daniella remembered something similar on the plaque. She knew that it all had to tie together somehow... and then she got an idea. She went back to the plaque, trying to commit it to memory. She had to push the buttons in the right order... in the order they came on the plaque. That had to be it. Or at least she really hoped so. She went back to the painting of the young man with the red hair, and closed her eyes. She had that same familiar feeling that she only had one chance to get this right. Trembling, she reached out her hand and pushed the button.
Nothing happened. The button remained depressed, but aside from that there was no indication that it had done anything. She opened her eyes, everything appearing normal, and let out her breath. She hated being constantly scared, wondering every moment if it would be her last. All she could do was remind herself that she had to do it. Slowly, she walked over to the painting of the familiar middle-aged man. That would mean that this one is next... She pushed the button there. Still nothing. She had to find something about a great truth, or a bridge, or something...
She looked around for it, and it took her a while to find it. Most of the paintings had comments under them that weren't of any help to her, things about earth and alchemy. The last one she looked at was all the way on the right. It was a painting of an old man, who looked very frail and as if he could die at any moment. She didn't know if she'd ever seen such a sickly looking man. Hoping that the message would help her somehow, she looked down and read it.
It was the discovery of the bridge that led to the revelation.
There it was... the bridge. She knew that it had to be this one, and that if she was wrong, then so be it. She did it quickly, in one swift motion, nearly hitting the button. She just wanted it to be over with. Almost immediately, she heard the sound of grinding stone from the direction of the plaque. She instinctively stepped back against the wall, but soon realized there was no need. A stairway was forming, the floor in front of the plaque sinking down in tiers, making it possible to reach whatever might be down there. Daniella waited until it stopped, then walked to the top of the new stairway.
It led down to a torch-lit chamber. Taking a final glance back, she walked down the stairs. She wondered how torches in an underground room like this stayed lit, how they managed to burn forever. It was very strange... but there was no time for thinking about such things. There it was, just like the other two. On a plain stone altar in the middle sat the final crest. She walked over and examined the yellow stone medallion, shaped like a pentagon. As she had expected, the word "SULPHUR" was carved across it. She looked around briefly, looking for any sign of a trap, but to her eyes there was none. She took it out swiftly, waited for a few seconds, and seeing nothing unusual, hugged the stone to her chest, smiling with relief.
She had been waiting so long for this... she had no idea what it would do, but whatever it was, at least she would be satisfied. She ran back toward the stairs and back up into the painting room. She ran toward the exit, but then slowed down. Was Poppy still out there? Fearfully, she called him. She didn't hear any response, and tensed. He hadn't run off, had he? Suddenly, the sound of his feet on the leaves reached her ears, and she could have jumped for joy. She saw him running up to her, that ever-present stupidly happy expression on his face. She kneeled down, hugging him.
"Come on, boy... let's put this where it was meant to be."