Rise from the ashes

Chapter 3 - The Maze of Traps

What lay ahead of me was incredibly constructed. Reddish brown laser lights covered the floor of the cavern as far as I could see angling in all different directions. No doubt about ready to trigger some sort of booby traps. The wall was covered in tons of tiny little holes and the celling had some stalactites.

So I was in a cave and those tiny holes would probably shoot poison darts or something of that nature. The stalactites looked about ready to fall. I didn't know if that was due to age or if it was some kind of booby trap. My guess was the ladder.

I decided to go, just to get out of here and put this all behind me. Yeah cool, I found a secret passage way. Awesome, I opened a door with a ring. The coolest part was what it leads to, a room full of traps, but I was not going to die.

I turned to go when the fireplace shut, sealing me in. I put the lamp I was holding on a nail in the wall meant to hold lamps when I heard a whoosh. I looked up, startled and found fire running along the wall to the far side of the room, allowing me to see the whole cavern.

It was actually a pretty small room with a narrow walkway leading to a door on the other side of the cave.

What I saw there made stop finding a way to get out and walk to the edge of the laser lights. On the door was a picture of my family. My true family. There was my mom, how I always pictured her long, curly, black hair with brown eyes, and my dad with his blonde hair and green eyes. They had a bundled little baby in their arms that I guess was me. My family.

I started to walk to them when I stopped short. The lasers. I had to get passed them. I was about to go all ninja on them when I realized some of the lines where darker than some of the others. What would cause that?

I picked up a rock and through it at the lines, carful to stay really far back. The rock hit a darker line, but nothing happened. Weird. I through some more rocks and still nothing happened. On the fifth throw I accidently tossed one to close and it hit a lighter laser. As soon as the rock touched the lighter laser a dart shoot out of one of the holes in the wall and hit the rock dead in the middle. Instead of shattering the rock, the dart exploded in a puff of light blue and black smoke. When the smoke cleared the rock was transformed into an ornate swan vase. Now I was scared. I didn't want to be turned into a vase. I through more rocks at some more lighter lines and they also turned into different things. There was a can, a boot, and a stick. I hate to say it but I was starting to believe that magicians was real

I looked at the other side again, at my family. I had to get across. Gathering up my courage I decided to cross the room.

~******~

Halfway across I noticed my mistake. The fire on the walls was so bright in this dark cavern that it was getting hard to see the lasers.

I remembered watching a movie with one of my first foster moms. The movie was about a spy trying to steal a diamond, but when he got in the room with it laser lines came on. The spy sprayed stuff in the air to make the laser line stand out more so he could see them better. I realized that is what I needed to do.

I didn't have any spay but on the ground there was loose dirt. I grabbed a handful and blew it toward the door. Much better. Now I could see the line more clearly.

The room was smaller than it looked; it only took me about four minutes to cross, going slow of course. Once I got across I noticed the door was blank. There was no more picture of my family. In its place stood a stone alter made of black obsidian. On the alter was a message scratched on top.

To enter the room
Choose a door
They're not what they seem
The may hold more
Choose what you see
Not what you don't
Keep following what you've done
And to death you sure won't

My first thought was, what in the world does this mean? Then it was, I can do this, for my family.

The first sentences, to enter the room choose a door. I looked up and saw that the one door behind the alter had turned into four doors spread across the back wall.

The first door opened into a forest, tall green trees lay inside. The whole forest was covered in mist. The second door opened into a white sand beach with a view of the sea. The water was a clear blue, so clear in fact I could see a fish swimming close to the surface. The third door opened into a dark cavern like the one I was standing in but the fourth door opened into a child's room full of rocking horses and building blocks and it had a small bed tucked into the corner with a name carved on the headboard. I looked closer and saw that the name was mine. Seth, was this room mine when I was little.

I was about to walk into it when I remembered the second line, they're not what they seem they may hold more. I stopped. Does that mean one could hold my family or does it mean there could be a cougar hiding in the mist or a shark in the water?

I went over the next line in my head, choose what you see not what you don't, that was easy, it meant choose one of the doors, right? The last line was the hardest, keep following what you've done and to death you sure won't. Keep following what you've done could mean to keep solving this riddle or to turn back and keep living on the streets, but I had a feeling that wasn't it.

The last line, and to death you sure won't, probably means if you choose the wrong one you'll die. So forest, beach, cavern, or children's room was my options. This one line kept coming back to me, keep following what you've done.

Then it hit me I've been walking in this corridor for a while now and the third door opened into another corridor. I knew right away that was the answer.

As I walked through the door and into the other cavern I felt a cold chill on the back of my neck. I turned around and found that the way I came in was solid rock. I looked forward and standing in front of me was not my family, but the magician that froze the teenager. He spoke with that crackly voice of his, "How would you like to be my apprentice" he asks.