Warfang [(Book One)]

Chapter Nine

The air in here seemed different this time. Less choking. More light, which was calming. I approached the pedestal once again and laid my hand upon it. It shimmered slightly and I reached into my bag for the notebook. Ah shit.. I forgot to grab it didn't I. Great. I facepalmed myself and closed my eyes trying to remember it. What exactly did the spell say?
"Miran, Odek, Uroth, phaeda". The words slid off my tongue almost like I knew the language. That must've done something I thought as the pedestal lit up with blue light filling the room. I shook my head to keep my bearings and laughed triumphantly. The pedestal opened, and a smaller brick rose out of it. It looked kind of like a box. I reached out to it, putting my thumb on the lock, and it practically fell off. I brushed the dust off the top before slowly opening it, the creaking hinges the only sound in the cave. I reached inside the box and wrapped my fingers around some paper object. I pulled it out and it looked like some sort of scroll. Pretty rustic huh. I thought as I attempted to unroll it. It was held by some sort of locking mechanism. Weird shapes and slots as if it was a puzzle of some kind. I pulled at it, and it popped off, transforming in my hand. The metals shifted around rapidly with clicks and whirring before becoming a full sized puzzle cube.
"Really?! A frickin puzzle!" I threw it across the cavern and it slammed against the wall, clattering to the floor.
Get ahold of yourself. I grumbled and trudged over to it plucking it off the ground. I examined it again, and it didn't look too difficult. All I had to do was line up the shapes. Kinda like a Rubiks cube. I grinned and tossed it in the air once before putting it, and the scroll, in my bag. I had what I needed, Now I just have to solve the damn thing. I thought to myself as I walked briskly out of the cavern into the afternoon sun. It was hotter than usual. I pulled out my phone and checked the weather. It's 20° hotter than usual. That's freakish.
"And I skipped school didn't I. Heh.. "
I jogged off towards the road, hoping to catch Emily on her walk home.

"I'm just saying, that kid is weird. Be careful he's not some kind of murderer or anything." I heard the voice of Kate, One of Emily's friends.
"He's not weird Kate. People avoid him because of things people like you and Ollie say about him." Emily retorted and shut Kate up.

I walked out from the woods and Kate shot me a look of disgust before walking off muttering something like freak.
I scoffed and walked over to Emily.
"Hey, sorry I was gone. I was looking into something cool I found." I pulled the cube out of my bag and she looked at it confusedly. "Very steampunk-ish" she commented and took it from my hand, observing it herself. "Fancy craftsmanship. What is it?"
"Some sort of puzzle cube I found. Im thinking if I solve it, something will be inside."
"Sounds exciting! Can I help?"
"Yeah sure, two minds are better than one. This thing is confusing." I took it back and tried to move some of the squares but they were locked in place.
"Hey, I don't have to be home until later, I can tell my mom I went to Kate's, maybe we can figure this thing out."
"Okay, cool. Sounds good to me." More like sounds awesome! I smirked to myself and dropped it before she turned back around from texting.

"Alright! Well, let's get code cracking." I laughed and poked at the cube.

"Indeed."