Reimagia
Summary: Now a graduate of Ever Realm Academy, Sofia accepts Cedric's invitation to train in a secret realm called Reimagia, which is home to some of the most powerful sorcerers on earth. However, there's a dark force lurking in the realm, destroying conjurors one by one, all while offering cryptic clues to his identity. If Cedric and Sofia can't solve the mystery, they'll be next.
Disclaimer: I don't own Sofia the First or any characters affiliated with the show. However, I do own the Kingdom of Reimagia and many new OCs mentioned in the story.
A/N: All right, I'm calling on all my riddle and cryptograph experts here! After the completion of this chapter, I invite you to put your Cryptogram skills to the test, using what our murderer has provided, to see if you can solve the riddle before Sofia does. *le gasp* lol The message will be revealed at the beginning of chapter 8, and it will lead into a whole host of craziness. Mwahahaha! Ahem. Enjoy! 😊
PS: Here's how to solve a Cryptogram, for those who need to know and want to try to solve the mysterious message. You'll see what looks to be a mixture of letters in what appears to be a message. You have to solve the message by replacing the false letters with the real letters. Make note that the one-letter words can usually only be "a" or "I." So you can start off with that and replace all those other false letters with the real letters. If there is an apostrophe, usually there will be an 's' or a 't' after it. Double letters include ee, oo, ll, mm, rr, ss, and more. And so on… Here's a (very short) sample below. Good luck!
EXAMPLE: X PXWQ VEXRXMO.
SOLUTION: I LIKE WRITING.
Chapter 7: Mixed Messages
Saturday morning, Cedric was actually the one to wake Sofia up this time. He'd let her sleep a little bit longer than usual, since it was the weekend, but he knew that she now needed to be awake.
Sofia blinked open her eyes and looked toward her friend, who seemed rather serious for some reason. "Are you okay?"
"I need you to hurry and get ready for the day," he told her, ignoring her question. "We've received a summons to meet with Sir Leignton."
She nodded and, without asking any further questions, began preparing for the day.
Not much later, the duo arrived at The Galley, where Guillermo and Cataleya led them into Sir Leignton's meeting room. There, they saw the old man and his advisors sitting at their large table, peering over what appeared to be a few pieces of parchment.
"Sir Leignton, your visitors have arrived," Guillermo announced, ushering the friends inside.
"Thank you, Guillermo." Sir Leignton nodded to the guards, allowing them to leave. As they left and shut the door, the leader stood and beckoned the Enchancians forward, gesturing toward a couple of chairs across from him, where they sat. "Tell me… Would either one of you be good at deciphering puzzles or riddles?"
Cedric blinked as Sofia tilted her head. "Why do you ask?" he wondered.
"It seems our elusive sorcerer slaughterer has a way with mixed messages," one of the advisors grumbled as he slammed his fist on the table, startling the others around him. "He's playing games with us, Sir Leignton, and this is unacceptable."
"I doubt a murderer would care that he's doing something 'unacceptable,' Lord Cadigan," the leader sighed.
"What exactly are you guys talking about?" Sofia asked, feeling a bit out of the loop.
"A few days ago, not long after I'd dismissed you all, I went for a walk and, when I returned here, I sat down in this seat and closed my eyes for only a few moments." Sir Leignton gestured toward the envelope and parchment pieces. "I heard some small noise and opened my eyes, and before me was this. When I pulled out the contents, this is what I found." He slid the pieces of parchment over to the princess, who blinked in surprise at what she saw. "A cryptic note on this piece, and the second piece has, I suppose, some random letters. It makes no sense."
Cedric leaned over Sofia's shoulder to see what was in front of her.
The first page indeed had a literal cryptic message. The following was written on it:
P CO AJIM KPFG ZQJ. P KCJBW. P NXZ. P TCKK. P RKGGU. P UPG. ZQJ FYQD OG. P FYQD ZQJ. P CO COQYB ZQJ, RKGYUPYB PYMQ MWG UCXFYGII CYU MWG KPBWM. ZQJ NCYYQM IMQH OG. DWPKG ZQJ DGXG XGCUPYB, P WCEG CKXGCUZ FPKKGU CBCPY.
HWCYMQO QT IQJKI
The second page had the following information: "P subs I; G subs E. That is all you'll get from me."
The princess then glanced over at the leader, clear confusion written on her face.
"It seems impossible, I know," he told her, sighing.
"It's not that… You said you got this thing a few days ago?" Seeing him nod, she frowned. "Why didn't you tell us before then? We could have helped you. I assume you've at least tried to solve this thing?"
"Young lady, you are way out of line," the main advisor, Lord Cadigan, barked. "Princess or not, you should learn to respect your elders."
Sofia scoffed. "Forgive me, sir, but this isn't about respect. This is about solving a mystery to a horrible crime that someone is committing. So maybe you should set aside those old-school 'values' and 'expectations' and let someone help you solve this puzzle before someone else dies—maybe even one of us."
Sir Leignton raised his hand to the other man as he appeared ready to strike back with a snappy response. "The princess is correct. We were unable to solve this message, and perhaps we needed younger eyes to help us out. Our priorities now should be on working together to figure out what is going on. If we can determine this puzzle, then perhaps it will reveal the identity of the killer."
"Or maybe it's just taunting us," another advisor sighed. "Maybe it means nothing at all."
Cedric, somewhat annoyed by the other men's rather pessimistic attitudes, added, "We won't know unless we try, correct?" He looked toward Sofia. "Look at the second parchment. Assuming the idea of it is to hint toward a substitution of letters, then we already have two determined."
She smiled, nodding. "I think you're right, Mr. Cedric." She glanced around. "Does anyone have anything to write with?"
"Here," the third advisor insisted, tossing his quill to her and smirking in amusement as she caught it.
"Thanks." She set to replacing all the 'P' letters with 'I' before replacing all the 'G' letters with 'E.' By the time she was finished, she sighed, realizing just how many unsolved letters remained. "We still have a long way to go, you guys…"
To be continued…
Next Chapter: Unfolding
Ending note: So, what do you think? Can you solve the riddle before the next chapter, which should be up some time tomorrow? 😊 If it helps, I'll repost the cypher below, and I'll separate the individual 'words' with vertical lines to make it a bit easier to read. Don't forget. P=I. G=E. Look for double letters (most common in the English language are ee, oo, ll, rr, ss, etc.). Look for little words (be, me, am, the, you, etc.). Good luck!
P | CO | AJIM | KPFG | ZQJ. | P | KCJBW. | P | NXZ. | P | TCKK. | P | RKGGU. | P | UPG. | ZQJ | FYQD | OG. | P | FYQD | ZQJ. | P | CO | COQYB | ZQJ, | RKGYUPYB | PYMQ | MWG | UCXFYGII | CYU | MWG | KPBWM. | ZQJ | NCYYQM | IMQH | OG. | DWPKG | ZQJ | DGXG | XGCUPYB, | P | WCEG | CKXGCUZ | FPKKGU | CBCPY.
HWCYMQO | QT | IQJKI