Fallen Towers, Silent Ruins | Dream Smp

9

Rose stopped when the passage turned a corner and opened up into a large room. The first thing that she noticed was how the walls seemed to be shining in the dim sunlight that beamed through thin slits in the low ceiling. The second thing she noticed was the black box sitting on a stone pedestal in the center of the room.

The third thing she noticed—after doing a double take at the room—was that the objects causing the room to shine were thousands upon thousands of keys. Silver, gold, copper, iron, stone, wood. They hung from the ceiling and along the walls. They cast slivers of shimmering light around the room.

"What the hell?" Rose whispered. She blinked quickly, almost not registering the room that stood before her. Techno was standing to her right and didn't say a word. Instead, he walked towards the box in the middle of the room.

The pigman tapped the knuckle of his hand against the box and then tried to pick it up. The box did not move. "Hm. It's made from a thick layer of obsidian, and it seems to be secured to the table."

"No sh/t," the girl deadpanned. She walked up to him and examined the box herself. Techno rolled his eyes. He hadn't expected the girl to return to her blunt attitude this quickly.

"We need a key to open the box." Techno had to force himself to hold back a grin when she gave him an unamused glare.

The male took a step back as Rose circled the pedestal. She was eyeing it closely, taking in every detail as she considered their situation. There was no way that the creator wanted them to try every single key on the lock. The purpose of these puzzles was to challenge—not torture.

Her eyes fell onto a series of carvings in the smooth, gray stone. Bingo. She pointed it out to Techno with a kick of her foot. "Look."

The pink-haired male slid to her side and squatted down to read the carvings. "The key you seek was carved from copper; rusted from years laid forgot; it has two teeth: one long, one short; the end is shaped into ocean waves."

"I suppose we would be stupid to not work together on this one, yeah?" Rose said as he stood up.

"Yeah," Techno replied in his ever-so-monotone voice, "we've got—what? Over a hundred keys to comb through? Oh, man. This'll be tons of fun."

"At least they gave us some hints," Rose huffed, "I can't believe we're about to do this. So we want to look for rusted copper keys that have two teeth and have ocean waves on them."

Techno grunted in response.

"I'll take these two walls and you can take the other two," Rose directed. The pink-haired male nodded and walked towards his two walls. The girl turned towards her own. She crossed her arms and slowly scanned the stone while releasing a long breath.

This was going to be a long afternoon.

- - - - - - - - - -

After much time had passed, the two adventurers stood next to the obsidian box once more. There was a pile of keys on the ground before them. It was still of daunting size—at least thirty keys between them—but much less than the amount they started with.

The walls around them were still lined with keys; however, there were empty spots from which the two had removed their viable options. Rose was thankful that Techno was tall enough to reach the ceiling, as she had occasionally needed his help to reach some of the higher keys.

"Now what? Just try them one by one?"

Techno shrugged. "I guess. We already chose these keys because they looked like what the words were describing. No use trying to be even more picky about it. Do you want to do it or do you want me to?"

"I'll do it," the girl responded, "you made it to the end of the maze earlier."

"Fair enough."

Rose leaned down and grabbed a handful of keys off the ground. She picked one from her palm and lined it up with the keyhole before pushing in. The key wouldn't even go in all the way. The girl sighed and set the key down on the ground next to her. She tried each one in turn, pressing them into the small keyhole and then wiggling them inside. However, none of the keys would turn.

As time passed, the pile of discarded keys grew larger and larger. Techno had taken a seat on the ground and was lazily polishing his sword with a cloth to pass time. Rose grumbled and threw another key at the pile. The small object clanged against the other metal keys before tumbling down the side.

There were eleven keys remaining. Rose was close to believing that none of the keys were the right one and that there was some secret compartment they had missed. Oh, if that was the case, she was done with this shit. She would kick that fucking pile of useless keys and storm out of the room.

Her senses were prickling at the mere thought.

She slowly picked another key off the ground and turned it over between her fingers. It matched the puzzle's descriptions—just like every other key. The copper had rusted over time and felt rough and uneven on her fingertips. There was a circle with the outline of an ocean wave on one end.

Rose pushed the key into the hole on the obsidian box. She wiggled it for a moment, expecting to feel some sort of resistance. But there was nothing. The girl held her breath and tried to turn it. The key followed her motions and she heard a soft click.

Techno's head snapped towards the box at the sound. He looked over at her in surprise. The girl grinned at the male as he scrambled to his feet and stood close beside her. Rose moved to the side.

"You open it. I'm sick of dealing with that thing," the girl told him. Techno chuckled at her statement, and then he placed his hands on either side of the box. Rose watched his arms lift and the top of the box flipped open in front of them.

She watched his expression drop. "It's empty," he announced in disappointment. He shut the top off the box and frowned.

"Noooooo!" She cried out miserably. Rose dropped to the ground next to the pile of keys and allowed herself to fall back until she came in contact with the cold, hard ground. She buried her head in her hands and groaned loudly.

"After all that time spent," Techno grumbled with a shake of his head, "ah, well. On the bright side, we're one puzzle closer to the treasure."

"How can you still be positive?" Rose responded in exasperation. She propped herself slightly upright to look into his red eyes.

The male shrugged. "It's better than being negative, wouldn't you say?"

"Hmph." The girl pouted as she dragged herself back to her feet. Her gaze fell onto the discarded keys and she felt the urge to kick it. So, she did. She kicked her foot into the pile and watched in satisfaction as they scattered across the room.

"Does that make you feel better?" Techno mused when she looked up at him again.

"Yeah, it does," she replied simply, "let's go. I don't want to be in here a minute longer." The male hummed in agreement, so the two quickly gathered their belongings and walked towards the exit. Just before they left the room, Rose turned back to it one last time.

Fuck you, room, she thought to herself, fuck you and your keys and that stupid ass box.

"Let's head back to the camp." His words broke into her train of thought. She turned her back to the room and nodded to the man. The two of them walked down the hall and out the door, back into the courtyard. The sun was close to setting and an orange-pink light had descended onto the world around them. They walked out the large stone doors and into the forest.

"Imagine if one of those keys was for the door," Techno muttered in amusement under his breath.

Rose gasped loudly. "I swear to God! I am going to murder you, Technoblade, if one more stupid sentence comes out of your fucking mouth!"

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A/n - hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, it was fun to write XD
Also thanks for 500 reads! :)
Love y'all <3
~Echo