Author's Note: So I have an idea for two more fics once my story Family Ties is wrapped. One I'm going to co-author with Plushchrome and another that I had the idea randomly pop in my head for the other day. So that means I'll be working on three fics at one time. Those two and this one. Not sure how well that's going to work, but we shall see.
Chapter 45: Potions, Statues and Music
Peter followed the others through the door after Davy had used the key to open it. His heart was still racing in his chest from Davy's stunt on the horse, but joking around with Micky helped ease his nerves a little. He still wasn't quite used to his enhanced senses, but it was getting better. He heard each individual footstep his friends took and even if he didn't see them, he knew exactly where they were. When he tried to focus on something in the distance, it was as if his eyes adjusted like a camera lens. It was weird, but it was indeed proving useful. Peter hoped there weren't many other tests they'd have to overcome in their journey, but he doubted they'd be that lucky.
As soon as they crossed through the door, they appeared to be in a room with a table in the center and another door at the other end. When the door closed behind them, purple flames engulfed it. At the other end, black flames engulfed the other door: the one they needed to get through. Everyone exchanged worried looks with each other, but moved toward the table. On it were seven different bottles filled with liquid. There was a piece of parchment paper sitting atop the table which Micky grabbed and started to read aloud.
"Danger lies before you, while safety lies behind," Micky started. "Two of us will help you, whichever you would find. One among us seven will let you move ahead; another will transport the drinker back instead. Two among our number hold only nettle wine. Three of us are killers, waiting in the line. Choose, unless you wish to stay here forevermore. To help you in your choice, we give you these clues four: First, however slyly the poison tries to hide; you will always find some on nettle wine's left side. Second, different are those who stand at either end. But if you would move onward, neither is your friend. Third, as you see clearly, all are different size. Neither dwarf nor giant holds death in their insides. Fourth, the second left and the second on the right are twins once you taste them, though different at first sight."
"I really don't like poems," Davy muttered.
"What do you mean, Davy?" Peter asked. "That's really what songs are; they're just poems."
"Yeah, well, this one isn't a song," Davy answered. "This one is a stupid annoying riddle that is impossible to solve."
"No, it's not," Piper said. "There are seven bottles of liquid. Three are poison, two are wine, and one lets you go through the purple fire. The one we want lets you go through the black fire."
"And we're supposed to know which is which how?" Davy asked.
"Well, the second left and second right are twins," Piper said. "So those are the wines."
"Right," Mike said.
"And the poison is always on the wine's left," Piper continued. "Meaning that the first is obviously a poison and either 3, 4, or 5 is poison."
"Right," Micky said.
"But since 3 is the smallest, it can't be a poison," Piper continued. "Because neither dwarf nor giant holds death."
"Right," Peter said following her logic a little.
"So that leaves 3 and 7 as unknowns," Piper finished. "But since it also stated that neither 1 nor 7 would take us through, that means 7 takes us back and 3 takes us through the fire. Make sense?"
"If you say so," Davy said.
"Ok, so we all take a sip of the third bottle," Mike said picking it up. He took the first sip and passed the bottle to Micky. Micky sipped and passed it to Davy, then Peter, then Piper. Peter felt a slight tingle through his body when he sipped the liquid, but nothing else.
"Shall we?" Micky asked walking toward the door with the black flames. Peter and the others followed him. Peter held his breath for the small second it took Micky to reach his hand through the black flames and open the door on the other side. Micky didn't hesitate to walk the rest of the way through it, but even though Peter understood the logic behind the riddle and he'd just seen Micky go through unharmed, when it came to his turn, he stood for a moment to stare at the flames. It was human instinct not to walk through a wall of fire, but here he was about to do just that. So he had to fight his own human instinct to push himself through the wall of black flames to the other side of the door.
This place was very different from all the other places they'd gone. This was a very large courtyard garden. In the center of the courtyard was a very large reflecting pool with a statue of the Greek god Ares on a horse holding a shield and in each of the four corners a statute of Ares standing and holding a shield. There was, however, nothing on the other side of the courtyard; it just ended. They made their way to the other end of the courtyard and peered down. It was a straight drop down and they didn't see the bottom. There didn't seem to be any way out. Peter glanced around looking for anything that be a puzzle. This couldn't be a dead end. Every other place had a way out.
"Now what?" Davy asked.
"I'm not really sure," Piper answered. Micky walked up to investigate the statue in the middle of the reflecting pool.
"I think this moves," Micky said. "There seems to be a track here." He pushed on the statue trying to get it to move, but it only moved a few centimeters.
"Let me help," Mike said joining Micky in pushing the statue back. They moved the statue back as far as it would go and it sunk a couple of inches into the ground. Behind Peter, a beam of red light formed from the abyss. It made its way to the other side of the courtyard near the door they'd come in.
"That's weird," Davy muttered carefully waving his hand in front of it.
"Well, it must be coming from somewhere and for some purpose," Micky said squinting to try and see the source of the red light in the distance. No one could see it, not even Peter.
"These shields are shiny," Mike said looking at the statues in each corner of the courtyard. "And they're all facing different directions. Maybe we have to position them so the light reflects and hits somewhere else. But where?"
"Here," Micky said pointing at the statute they'd just pushed. "There's something odd about the shield here. It almost seems like there's a mechanism behind it, but I can't figure it out."
"Well, let's give it a try," Peter said moving towards the closest statue. It was the statue that was in the northwest corner of the courtyard. He tried pulling on it, but it didn't move that easily for him. He wasn't strong enough, so Davy ran over to help him pull.
"I think the light will probably have to bounce off all 4 statues," Mike said. "So that one will have to turn and bounce the light directly to the east."
"Got it," Peter said pulling it out far enough to catch the light and turning it so that it faced east. It caught the light and once they turned it just right, the light bounced off the shield toward the next statue. Piper and Micky were already there moving that one into place.
"That's going to have to face south," Mike said as he looked at the other statues in the courtyard calculating a mental image in his head of what they'd have to do. Peter and Davy moved to the statue in the southwest corner while Piper and Micky moved to the statue in the southeast corner. Peter and Davy moved the statue so that it was facing the statue and in the center of the courtyard to reflect the light towards the center statue just as Micky and Piper moved the statue in the southeast corner to face west. The light bounced from each statue until it finally hit the statue in the center. When it did, the statue turned to face the edge of the courtyard where the light had come from and then emitted its own light. It seemed to light up a small path coming off the courtyard that was invisible before. Piper moved toward the newly lit up bridge which was still slightly translucent.
"Piper, don't," Micky called after her.
"It should be pretty stable," Piper said testing the bridge by placing one foot on it.
"Don't fall," Micky said running to the edge to join her.
"I won't," Piper said. "It's a bridge. The light made a bridge. We have to cross this."
"Is that safe?" Mike asked as he and the others joined Piper and Micky.
"It really doesn't look like anything's there," Davy said. "Just a slight distortion."
"It's an invisible bridge," Peter said also placing one foot on the bridge. It felt solid beneath him. "Made slightly visible by light refraction."
"Sure," Mike said looking warily at it.
"It's fine," Peter said fighting all instincts not to walk on it by forcing himself to do just that. "It's solid ground." Mike took one step on the bridge as well and realized that it was stable before standing completely on it.
"Ok, so just don't look down," Mike said.
"Don't look down," Micky echoed stepping on it as well.
"You guys are crazy," Davy said joining them. They walked very slowly down the length of the bridge and Peter could hear Micky muttering "don't look down" over and over again like a mantra. The bridge was narrow, so they had to walk in a line along the bridge. They finally made it to another clearing with another courtyard. In this courtyard, there appeared to be a very old looking instrument sitting atop a stone table. It looked like a very small harp, but Peter realized it was a lyre: an ancient Greek instrument. Behind the table was another locked door.
"This looks really cool," Davy said picking up the lyre to admire it.
"It's a lyre," Peter said.
"I'm guessing we have to play it," Micky said.
"Probably," Mike agreed. "Just have to figure out what the tune is we have to play."
"I'm sure we'll find out once we touch the door," Piper said walking towards it. She pushed on the door and a second later, the lyre emitted a noise. It was a set of 8 notes that sounded very beautiful together.
"Ok, so we have to match that," Mike said.
"Let me see that," Peter said taking the lyre from Davy. He strummed a few of the strings to get a feel for how each note sounded before deciding to give the melody a shot. The first attempt failed and the lyre played the melody for them again. It took about 7 attempts for Peter to get the melody right and when he did, the door finally opened.
"Well, onward then," Davy said. "I just wish we could take that with us."
"I know," Micky said. "That is really cool."
"Not sure taking magical instruments out of the Underworld is such a good idea," Mike said. "Even though I do like that instrument, too."
"If you take anything out of here, you'll probably be cursed," Piper said as the five of them walked through the door. "Best not to do anything other than what is necessary for these tests."
"So noted," Micky said.
Ending author's note: Ok, just for copyright's sake or whatever, these puzzle/obstacles are (mostly) not mine. The door puzzle is from the movie Labyrinth. The swamp is from Princess Bride. The horses I described are thestrals from Harry potter and I got the idea of chasing the key from that series as well. In this chapter, I have a riddle taken directly from Harry Potter book 1, and two puzzles similar to those in God of War video game. I don't remember where I got the idea for the invisible bridge. If there's anything anyone particularly wants to see as a puzzle or riddle from a video game or movie, let me know and I might put it in if I'm familiar enough with it.