Chapter 19 Founders

Max

July 21st, 2017

8:31 AM

Rome, Italy

Colosseum

Bryan, Rachel, and I had to lift some fingers for each other to move some fallen debris away from the stairs to get into the Reality Shard's secret passage. After all the heavy lifting, the path was clear enough for us to walk down the stairwell opened for us from ringing all the bells that half-deafened me and the collapsing debris that destroyed half the tower's staircase afterward. Security isn't going to be too pleased to what we've done when the tours open, but we get that Reality Shard and nothing else matters for us. Sucks to be everyone else.

We walked down the secret stairwell into Ezra's secret lair. Fingers crossed for the Reality Shard at last. Bryan's phone vibrated in his pocket and pulled it out to pick it up. Alex got our voicemail.

"Alex, finally, are you okay?" Bryan asked on the phone.

"Just searched the Ludus Magnus with Frank," said Alex. "We got nothing."

"Yeah, well, we're definitely in the right place. Make your way over here."

"Are you serious? Okay, we're on our way."

Bryan hung up and put away his phone.

"They're coming," he said.

"Good," I said.

The whole stairwell was lit with candelabrums. All the way down, this lair still looked nice for something over a century old. There was a door at the bottom of the stairs. My uncle and I open them ahead of me to reveal Ezra's secret lair before us. And lo and behold, a luminous chamber lit by a flaming chandelier on the ceiling and decorated by a statue of Ezra Prescott and Jeremiah Blackwell.

"Wowser," I said.

"Hey, are those our boys?" Rachel asked.

"Yup. Ezra Prescott and Jeremiah Blackwell: partners in crime."

Jeremiah's statue certainly resembled the statue seen on the courtyard fountain at Blackwell Academy. Ezra's statue was all new to me. In the middle of the room, stood a table of some kind facing our eyes instead of the ceiling. There were tablets of some kind attached to the table with herd symbols marked on them. The three of us approach the table and I come close enough to observe the two tablets in the center. A whale and a bigfoot. The sigils of Ezra and Jeremiah. A way for Jeremiah's sigil to become Blackwell's mascot.

There was also something dusted on the table that seems to be covering a word. I wiped the dust away with my hand and the word read: FOUNDERS.

"Founders of what?" I thought.

"Worst scavenger hunt ever?" Bryan joked.

I chuckled.

"Here are Ezra and Jeremiah's sigils," I said. "These are a little different though."

"Yeah," said Rachel. "They got those star patterns on them."

The two sigil tablets were able to turn when I rotated one of them. They appeared to be pieces of a puzzle. Question was, which way are they supposed to go? Best guess was that they were supposed to match the star patterns as seen on the tablets. I rotate them both to the correct pattern and then they attach themselves to connect the dots and then other tablets on the table move around to replace the first two with three others in the center.

Then a door opens to our left. It must go without saying, but this is yet another Rubik's cube puzzle for Max Caulfield to solve. And it starts by going where the left secret door just opened.

"Okay," said Bryan. "Should we go look?"

"Yeah," I said. "Just a second."

The three new tablets were printed with sigils of two skeletons, a Pegasus, and a dragon. I knew who these sigils belonged to from Ezra's diary.

"Adam Baldric, Anna Laurie, and uh, Christoph Carter," I said.

All three of Ezra's people who belonged to the Herd of Whales. This time, it was impossible for me to turn the tablet anywhere since there were too many dots around them to connect. Maybe that room could give us the hints.

"I mean there's too many permutations," I said.

"I say we see where that door leads," said Rachel. "Still hoping for a shard here."

"You and me both."

The three of us enter the secret room to our left and find three portraits of Baldric, Laurie, and Carter. With a plaque of their names printed above. Three of the founding members of the Herd of Whales. The room was lit with candelabrums for us to see inside.

"Hey, look," I said. "I was right. Baldric, Laurie, and Carter."

"Splendid," said Bryan. "But why are they here in the first place?"

"Well let's find out."

I step towards Adam Baldric's portrait who was a man with a black beard like Uncle Bryan's. Pretty much looked just like him if he had anything to do with it.

"Wowser," I said. "That beard. It's almost as impressive as yours, Bryan."

"Eh, it's alright," said Bryan.

When looking closely at the portrait, I spotted a square shape printed on the painting. One marked with stars like the ones on the table were marked with. That's one clue found already.

"Hey, look at these stars," I said. "They're just like the ones on the Ezra and Jeremiah sigils in the other room."

"Hey, you're right," said Rachel.

If I was going to remember this piece of the puzzle, I would need to write it down somewhere to memorize. Since Alkaline took Fernando's journal and Ezra's journal was booked, I would need to use my journal I write and draw on every day to figure out this puzzle. To do that, I drew the sigils of Baldric, Laurie, and Carter and marked them with their star patterns. I marked the patterns down for Baldric and moved onto Carter's.

Carter had facial hair similar to Baldric's. Also had an iron hand built for a prosthetic right hand. I can remember a nickname he was given for that when reading Ezra's diary. Carter's star pattern was printed on his portraiture just like Baldric's

"Ah, that's right," I said. "Carter went by 'Chris One-Hand'. Guess he had made one. Here's another one of those star patterns."

"Yeah," said Bryan. "But this one's different than the first one."

"Oh, yeah. Good catch."

"Thank you. See, I'm not just a pretty face."

"You got that right," said Rachel.

I mark down Carter's pattern and the portrait next to Carter's was Laurie's. A redhead woman wearing a straw hat and dark clothes.

"Huh, Laurie was a redhead," I said.

"Yeah," said Rachel.

Laurie's pattern marked in my diary and the three patterns from the three portraits were set for the puzzle.

"What do you think?" Bryan asked.

"Those Ezra and Jeremiah sigils," I said. "The stars on those lined up, remember? I bet these line up too."

I analyze the patterns for a second and I believe I'm on the right track. Line up the sigils in the correct direction so the star patterns can connect to one another. I return to the table with the sigils with Bryan and Rachel and line them up in the direction I calculated. The two skeletons (Baldric) leftward, the Pegasus (Laurie) rightward, and the dragon (Carter) rightward. And viola.

As soon as the sigils are in order, another pair of sigils come railing over for the next piece of the puzzle. Along with another secret doorway opening on the right. Leading to another room with more portraits and patterns guarantee.

"More of them," said Rachel. "And another doorway."

"Yeah," I said.

"So…who are these guys?"

"That's…um…they are ah…"

"You don't know do you?"

"Hey, they were a lot of herd members out there, you know."

"So we're stuck?"

"No, we're not stuck. Here, I'll use my phone."

"What, you're gonna phone a friend?"

"Close. Text a cousin."

I pull out my phone and use the camera to send a picture of the sigils to Alex. Before I do that, I take a quick funny photo of Bryan and Rachel standing next to the table.

"Bryan, Rachel, say cheese," I said.

"Max, c'mon," said Bryan.

"C'mon, say cheese."

Bryan sighed. Rachel rolled her eye. The two said cheese and I took the shot. I laughed.

"Say hello to my little friend," I said.

Then I turn my phone camera back to the sigils, snap the picture, and send it to Alex's number. Rachel, Bryan, and I walk down to the room on the right to find three more portraits with the names Willem Hayes, Richmond Need, and Joseph Barrell above them. Lit with candles between them. One of the portraits had fallen on the floor and would need to be set back on the wall again by the three of us.

"You know," said Rachel. "These are some actually nice paintings. Reminds me of Mark's work."

"Who's Mark?" I asked.

"You know who's Mark."

"Let's find those patterns."

"Okay, just saying."

For someone who knew how Mark worked as I did, I didn't think her of all people would bring it up to compare. There's a difference between a century-year-old portraiture and nineties to modern portraiture. And not for good.

I step toward the portrait of Willem Hayes to find his pattern. Hayes was an older man with white hair and had a seventeenth-century hairstyle to him.

"Willem Hayes," I said.

"American?" Rachel asked.

"Yeah, from Oregon. Just like Jeremiah Blackwell."

As soon as I find Hayes' pattern on his portrait and mark it down in my diary, my phones buzzed in my pocket. I get a call from Alex and answer it.

"Hey, you still at the Magnus?" I asked on the phone.

"Yeah, we just got out," said Alex. "What's with the picture you just sent?"

"I'll fill you in later. For now, just tell me who's who?"

"Well the dolphins are Richmond Need, the trident is Joseph Barrell, and the two hands with the pearl is Willem Hayes."

"Alright, great. Stay where there's good reception. I might need your help again."

"Wait, Max. Did you find the shard?"

"No, not yet. But I got a mechanism to solve here. I'll let you know."

I got off the phone and turned to Richmond Need's portrait to mark down his pattern and so on. Need was a man painted in a room with books, maps, and globes. Must've been a scholar, professor, or astronomer of some kind.

"Book, globe," said Rachel. "This Need guy looks like a scholar."

"Hey, Richmond Need," I said. "He was the Captain of the Dolphin regiment."

"Whoo, looks like he and Baldric were in the best wig competition."

As soon as Need's pattern is written down, I had one more to jot down. But before that, we needed to get the fallen portrait off the floor and put it back on the wall. Bryan and Rachel give me a hand with it and the three of us lift the heavy portrait back in place. The portrait we set back up is the one of Joseph Barrell. The painted with an uptight face in his portraiture.

"God, look at Barrell's face," said Rachel. "Looks like he'd rather be somewhere else."

As soon as Barrell's pattern is drawn, I return to the table with Rachel and Bryan to get the sigil tablets in order. Dolphins (Need) upward, Trident (Barrell) leftward, two skeleton hands (Hayes) downward. As soon as the three are in are, they connect the star patterns and switch to one last pair of sigil tablets. This time four tablets instead of three. Then the last secret passage door opens in the center between the other two. Taking us to our final step in taking the shard as a worthy traveler.

"Oh, goddammit," said Bryan. "Okay, so who do we have here?"

"Ah…", I said.

"You know," said Rachel. "I'm honestly shocked the two of you don't know this stuff."

"Oh, we do. I just want to make sure Alex knows. You know? Because she likes to feel useful. That's all."

"Aha. Of course."

The four tablets showed sigils of a scale, a snake, a monkey, and a tiger. I snap a picture for Alex to see and send it to her immediately. The three of us step inside the last secret room and find the last portraits of four men with the last patterns. Two of the portraits were half burnt. Someone tried to burn them down but only crisped most of the wall between them. The burns looked pretty ancient. A century-old maybe. One of the candelabrums were burnt out and maybe that's how the burning was caused.

"Shit," said Bryan. "What happened here?"

"A torch probably fell or something," I said.

"Or one of those candelabrums could've fallen," said Rachel.

"C'mon," I said. "Let's see what's left."

I turn to one portrait unburnt and see one of Ezekiel Blackwell. Jeremiah's eldest brother and finding fathers of Arcadia Bay. As well as a notorious member of the Herd of Whales.

"Ezekiel Blackwell," I said.

"Stout little fellow," said Rachel. "I've seen a statue of that guy once at the overlook in Arcadia Bay."

As I draw Ezekiel's pattern, my phone buzzes again and I get a text from Alex.

"Oh," I said. "Alex texted my back."

Alex: Left to right: Ezekiel Blackwell, Tariq bin Malik, Yazid al-Basra. I've never seen the monkey guy before.

"Ah, you see there Rach?" I asked. "Turns out Alex doesn't know everything either."

I turn to one of the unburnt portraits. One of the Indian herd members.

"Huh, Yazid al-Basra," I said.

"Looks Indian," said Rachel.

"Close. Mughal."

"Wait, aren't the Mughals the ones Ezra opposed?"

"Enemy of his enemy was his friend."

"Huh, yeah, like that's ever the case?"

I move onto the other burnt portrait. One of the Arabian herd member that was a man with dark skin and wearing Moorish looking clothing. The name plaque was burnt as well. So I couldn't read who he was. But it had to be Tariq bin Malik.

"Huh, no name," I said. "This guy's getup looks Moorish."

Once Malik's star pattern is drawn, I move to the next burnt portrait with the unrecognizable face. Whoever he was, he was painted with a monkey on his shoulder and looked a bit younger than the other founders of the herd.

"I don't recognize this guy," I said.

"Looks a lot younger than the other members," said Rachel.

"I believe I recognize this young man," said Bryan. "He's Martin Prescott. Ezra's youngest brother."

"Another Prescott in the herd, huh?" Rachel thought.

"So we have two Prescotts, two Blackwells, and two peas in a pod," I said. "I think I remember those guys from the story Alex told me. Not sure why Alex doesn't remember."

Every time I think of the Herd of Whales, it takes me back to going into Nathan's dorm room when Chloe and I searched for Rachel four years ago. There was a sound system in his dorm that made whale noises. Could it have been because he too was a descendant of the herd? No idea why I'm thinking about this just now. Probably because I was seeing a portrait of his ancestor perhaps. But it didn't matter what prompted me.

I draw Martin's pattern in my diary, the three of us return to the table mechanism, and I set the four sigils in order. The scale (Ezekiel) downward, the snake (al-Basra) leftward, the monkey (Martin) downward, and the tiger (Malik) downward. Once the star pattern combination is set in place, the four sigils combine their patterns and boom. All sigil patterns are a complete set and table flips to the other side.

Once the table rotates backward, a compass-like design is shown. With three other tablets shown as well. This time not of sigils, but rather of landmarks set on three sides of the compass like a Flux Capacitor. I laughed.

"Would you look at that," I said.

"Here we go," said Bryan.

"What do we got?" Rachel asked.

"Ah…not sure yet," I said.

"Maybe send it to Alex?"

"Really?"

"Hey, you're the one that said her and Bryan are the herd experts. Just saying."

But before I could reach my phone to snap more pictures for Alex, the lighting in the room suddenly darkens. Candelabrum burning out with a flick one at a time. And before we knew it, the chandelier goes out with a poof. The room is so dark, I cannot see Bryan nor Rachel's faces. This only told the puzzle we solved allowed us to meet an old friend of the Herd of Whales and Order of Saint Loomis. And I trust I knew who.

Note: This must go without saying, but I did say before my writing schedule would get slower due to my junior year in art school starting next Wednesday. Plus, I decided to relive the glory days of the Mass Effect franchise with Mass Effect 2 before continuing to write this chapter. I make no more excuses for procrastination. It's not like my stories are homework, but I'd like to make them so. Lol.

Until next time, stay tuned and golden!

P.S. Today marks the one year anniversary of Before the Storm!