THE RISE OF RED: THE QUEEN MUST FALL

6 - BRAINSTORM

After about half an hour of catching their breath and talking, they got right to work on finding the scepter.

'Okay, so what do we do now?', Chloe asked, tip-toeing around the deck. She had NEVER been on a ship before and the whole thing was made of wood. Not to mention, there were a bunch of creaking sounds that made her uncomfortable.

Red turned back to the watch. 'Well, where do we go now?'.

The pocket-watch opened up, and glowed, showing them 4 keys: one was red, the other was turquoise, the next was light blue, and the last wasn't colored at all. It looked transparent.

Once again, the voice was familiar to Chloe, but she still couldn't grasp it.

'The scepter is trapped in an ancient box, and to open it, you need 4 keys. These keys are scattered across the world, and can only be touched by the one who resembles it the most.

The red key is fierce, and fast. It will be difficult to find, so you need to out-smart it.

The blue key is athletic and kind. Easily distracted though.

The turquoise key is passionate and cunning. It hides in plain sight and ALWAYS has a back-up plan.

And the last key . . . . . . . '. Suddenly, it stopped, and closed up.

'What?', Uma asked impatiently. 'The last key is what?'.

The  watch opened up again. 'The blue key is closest to you. It lies where weathers change in the blink of an eye. The Queen's ice-cold heart can freeze even the warmest of minds'.

Then, it closed up again, and they all looked at each other.

'Uhm . . . what?', Red asked herself. 'What is THAT supposed to mean?'.

'I don't know, but let's think', Uma replied. 'It lies where weathers change in the blink of an eye. The Queen's ice-cold heart can freeze even the warmest of minds. Know any place like that?'.

'No, but am I the only one who finds it weird that the keys each resemble us? Mine is probably red, Chloe's is the light blue one, Uma--'.

'PRINCIPAL UMA!', she interrupted, jokingly. 'I got the turquoise one, and I guess someone else gets the last one'.

'Who could it be?', Chloe asked.

'I don't know, but we better find them, but for the time-being, let's get back to the riddle. Obviously, we're looking for a kingdom, since it mentioned a Queen'.

'And I'm guessing she's mean since the riddle said she had an ice-cold heart'.

'Are we sure it's not my mom?', Red asked, humorously, but the mention of the Queen only irritated Chloe, since she was still bitter about what happened.

'ANYWAY!', she said loudly. 'The weather must also not be stable, since it changes constantly', she paused. 'I don't get it'.

The pocket-watch in Red's hands glowed again, and spoke, but it didn't open.

'The land of enigma is ruled by two, the cloud and the leaf. As they battle for the throne, the peasants are chasing their own demise'.

Uma sat down next to the steering wheel. 'Great, now I'm even MORE confused'.

'We can do this!', Chloe said, motivationally. 'Enigma is another word for mystery; something confusing. Peasants chasing their own demise must mean that the Kingdom is so terrible that they'd rather die than live there. The only thing I can't stomach is the cloud and the leaf thing'.