"But how does that help us?" Lorelei looked curiously at Francesco with her gaze slowly bringing discomfort to him. The three backed up towards the brass gates to examine the chamber once more, scanning its arrangement and intricate design.
"Damn," Waluigi remarked. "That is one fine tomb he got there."
Francesco wanted to call out Wal, but he couldn't seem to take his eyes off the place either. As much as he hated that last comment, he couldn't possibly disagree with that. It really was that good. Damn you, Wal, he thought.
"So," Lorelei said. "What do we do now?"
Unknowingly, he already started on thinking about the letters, why they were there, and where they should go next. "Well, we do know that this is the right place. That's one," he says hopingly. "The next clue should be right around here, that's for sure."
"That makes sense," she replies. "But where exactly? I mean, we already searched the place inside and out, and the only thing that we found were those letters."
"True. I ain't searching this place no more, man," Waluigi commented. "We already did, and found just those letters. There's gotta be something more that we're missing."
"That's why we hav-"
"-Nuh-uh man. There's something missing, but I'm pretty sure that it's somewhere we've never looked before," Waluigi intercepted.
Francesco managed a defeated sigh, admitting that what Wal said made complete sense. They've already scanned the place, and it's impossible to miss something after going around a few times.
"What do you propose we do then?" he asks.
"Uhmm," Lorelei says. "Well, we never really examined the angels though, have we? Maybe it's in one of them."
Wal immediately protests but got intercepted by Francesco half-way.
"It only had those letters, hon," he explains. "Nothing else was there." He looks straight into her eyes, sending a silent message to her, explaining their defeated status right now. Let's give it a rest for a while. He shakes his head slowly, signaling her to settle down. He then leans his hand on Wal's shoulder and whispered, "Don't give her a hard time. She's just upset about everything."
Wal immediately responded. "But you gotta face the truth, man. We already searched those things. It only had those letters!"
"I know, it only had those letters, bu-" Francesco stopped on his tracks, frozen mid-sentence. He finally realized the missing piece, the one that they were looking for. "It only had letters! You're a genius Wal!" He immediately dashed towards the statues and began examining the letters carved on it. He began looking around and feeling the memorial, until he felt the letter 'A' in Michelangelo pushed inwards slightly.
"Woah," Wal exclaimed.
"I know, right!" Francesco remarked. He began running to the next angel, feeling his hand across the sculpture until he felt the slightly elevated structure of the letters. "When you said that it only had letters, that's when I realized that the letters itself should be the key." He lightly pressed on the letter and heard a click - locking the letter in its carving. "These aren't just letters. These are buttons! These are the places that we never searched before!"
He felt the rest of the name and noticed many of the brass curved letters seemed loosely placed. Lorelei watching him, realized exactly what had to be done. Lorelei dashed towards the next letter and pressed it slightly against its edges - clicking into place once more. Wal took their enthusiasm as a sign to participate, and lodged the next letter into place. Together, in silence they spelled out 'ACCARDI' on the memorial, backing up towards the wall as they witnessed the mechanism unfold.
YOU ARE READING
Haereditas: The Lost Art
AdventureIt had been one odd life for Francesco. His family was very typical - one that bonds together every now and then, fights for just about everything, and ignores each other for the rest of the day until bonding day comes along once again. Everything's...