The Mansion of Trials and Trials

Trap Activation

A quarter later, Keira stared at the holes on the bronze gate. She touched the metal surface and tapped her feet. It was the only sound in the silence.

"Can't you stop tapping your feet? It's annoying," Haddie complained. She sat down with legs crossed, reading a book.

"I'm just worried! How long will they come back? If they get eaten by the Skeldos, what should we do?" Keira scratched her ears.

"If you're really that worried, why didn't you go with them in the first place?" Haddie grumbled and closed the book. It was certainly too noisy for reading.

"I just choose the path that is safer. The circle on the Tooth Entrance is near the paths I went before. Even if I encounter the Skeldos, it is easier for me to find the Stars. Besides, I am defenseless against those Skeldos. I don't want others to get killed because of me."

"You're really funny. Why do you care for other Wanderers so much? Why don't you just abandon them just like you abandoned Reed?"

"..........There's no choice. I DIDN'T mean to do that. If I could, of course, I would help him. But at that time, I only had one obol. I really can't help him."

"One obol?" Holden tapped his way through and interrupted, "I thought I heard Reed said he saw you have two."

"......last night, my obols got stolen by someone. Luckily for me, I got an obol from someone so that's why I'm still here," Keira explained.

"I see," Haddie opened the book again, "Someone gave an obol to you. That's unexpected. I never thought you got your obols stolen like me."

"Huh? Oh, Haddie, your obols are stolen too?" Holden asked, "You're already the third person I know who got their obols stolen. What a coincidence!"

"Come on, it's not an uncommon thing. Humans are not born to be good. If we are, our lives will be much more easier," said Haddie.

"Holden!" I shouted and waved my hand. He smiled back. Keira escaped from my eyes.

"Is this everyone? Looks like we're early, Levi."

"Yeah. It appears so," he agreed.

"Did you find anything?" Haddie walked forward, putting her book inside her jacket.

"Yeah. It's good news. We found the parts to open the gate," Levi passed a bag to everyone. Keira unfastened it and gazed inside.

"Oh. So these are the parts. They're rather beautiful. It's a shame we have to give these away."

"Sis.........can....I have a look?" Luna ducked her head out. The pieces were sparked with all sorts of colors.

"Five different colors.....that's interesting. There must be a combination in them. Have you figured something out yet?"

"Yes, according to this book, the order of the colors are red, purple, yellow, white and brown. All we have to do is to put these pieces in the same order. Then, we can get out of this maze immediately."

"Good grief. Finally we can get out. I'm sick of this bloody maze," Keira complained.

"Yeah. I'm glad we can leave here safe and sound........what's wrong, Haddie?" Holden asked.

"Nothing......I just thought it's much more easier than I expected. Will the Residents give us the answer so easily?" Haddie wondered.

"Oh, come on. What's the matter between easy or hard?" Keira rolled her eyes, "Shouldn't we be happy we got easy puzzles? Besides, how can we understand what those nasty Residents are thinking? They are just trying to kill us all." Keira inserted the parts in the holes. The gate didn't move.