AFTERLAND and The Cryptic Prophecy

22: The Ogre Was A Math Wizard

The blue smoke that turned into bigger smoke spun like a tornado. It boomed with thunder, making it more terrifying. It violently rotated, touching the ground of Beaustall Forest, growing larger until the ogre changed in its true monstrous form.

"Oh-my-gadd!" I nailed up with Harris beside his horse.

"Now, that's what you called an ogre," Franco quavered, looking at the creature roaring like a giant disgusting expired gummy bear.

"So... What now?" Diordin asked, who obviously looked most frightened among us.

Dawn shouted, "Run!"

I rode with Harris to assist him, since Dawn was riding on my horse. The cute ogre who turned into a green disgusting gigantic monster chased us.

"What are we going to do?" Franco was catching his breath, as if he was the one running and not his horse.

"I think we need to fight now," Diordin suggested.

"Wow? You can't even look at it," Franco reacted, and he earned a hiss from Diordin.

"We can't beat that and it's against Ametisto law to kill an ogre," said Dawn, checking the giant monster behind us.

"Brillant!" I said aloud. "So we're dead!"

"That ogre will stop the moment we open the force field," she said. "We can ask the permission from the ogre, but since it doesn't want to talk and listen to us anymore, we need to try the Plan B."

"Plan B?" Harris said in a small voice behind me. I noticed his hands on my waist.

"What Plan B?" Diordin asked.

"Solving its math problem," Dawn replied, and I was like –What? Solve his math problem?! She didn't seem to be joking, so I tried not to laugh or even smile.

"That ogre is a Math Wizard then, huh," Franco said. "Sorry, but I only got 78% last quarter. I can't help you with that."

"Liar! You said you got 88%!" Dior shouted.

"Seriously? Are we going to talk about that now?" He snarled and Diordin rolled her eyes. I wanted to be entertained by their argument, but the ogre behind us was reminding me of my will to live.

"When Ametisto Guild learned about the concept of mathematics, they created it as a lock mechanism for their barrier. That helps them to prevent bandits from entering their territory," explained Dawn.

"Where can we see the math problem?" Harris asked.

"Throw a piece of gold on the force field and it will appear," she answered.

"We need to go back to the force field then," he stated, who looked confident in solving the ogre's math problem.

As Harris said, we went back to the place where we could see the force field. Dawn, Franco and Diordin made a way to distract the monster, who seemed had no intention of stopping from chasing.

We did what Dawn said as soon as we reached the force field. I threw a piece of gold on the barrier and a transparent blackboard came out of the ground. Everything in Afterland was becoming weirder as time went on. The ogre had a transparent blackboard emerged from the ground. Weird!

Harris and I approached it, and I noticed a golden frame with stand attached to it. Something in gold ink written on the board.

3x^2-7=5, Solve For X

"So it's true. It's a math problem." I rubbed my eyes. To be honest, I hated math, and I knew many students could relate to me. Puzzles and riddles were like candies for me, but when it comes to X and Y, I always had a feeling that it would split my head open.