Episode 3: Willow's Keep and Nithion's Crystal (Part 2 of 5)

"Got it!" Lil exclaims.

"Good catch," Locke praises with a smile as he puts his crossbow away, then asking as he motions to the door, "Why don't you do the honors?"

Lil does just that as she slips the key under the handle into the lock, turning it as the loud mechanism clicks. With a slight push, the door swings open easily and our Heroes enter the new room. As they step in, the door shuts slowly behind them, clicking once again and locking. Inside the room, they see nothing but a large looming marble pillar in the centre of the chamber. There are no doors, but a magical orb dangles from the ceiling, shedding its light into the room.

"My first instinct might be to climb this thing," Locke says, pointing up at the pillar.

Lil glances up at the pillar with a worried expression, "Even if you could climb the pillar, I wonder where it would go."

"Perhaps to the Crystal?" Locke suggests before he walks up to the pillar, allowing his hands to slide across the smooth marble of the pillar.

As Locke's hands caress the pillar, he feels a slight motion under his palm as a face begins to form in the marble. Its mouth widens almost snatching Locke's hand into its gullet as it emits a massive yawn before its eyes open and then blink in slight curiosity.

"Yargh!" Locke cries in surprise, snatching his hand away and gripping the wrist of said hand with his free hand. "This thing tried to eat me!"

"Humans," it slowly states in an old, wizened tone, "in my Temple? What a deliciously perfect conundrum."

"First of all, Caretaker, or whatever you are – this is a Half-Elf," Locke announces, motioning with his hand to Lil. "And we'd appreciate it if you skipped the pleasantries and told us where to go, and I don't mean in the rude way."

The face responds, its speech just as slow as before, "Human or Half-Human, you're human all the same to me. And there is no place to go. That is, unless you want there to be."

Locke looks to Lil and mumbles, "He sounds like a mentor that Akorinn once told me about. . ." Locke then turns back to the marble face and spouts, "Caretaker, we don't have time for wise old riddles or fancy sayings. We have come to help what I assume are your people and we need your Crystal to do it with. Help us, please."

The face simply yawns again before stating, "In my days, young men and women helped themselves. However, since you are so insistent, I will give you three riddles. If you can solve them, I will let you through to your next test. But, if you cannot solve them, then I am afraid you're quite stuck." The marble face then pauses as it smiles. “I could use the company, to be honest. It does get quite lonely in here on my own."

Lil, until now remaining quiet, frowns as she looks to Locke, "I was never very good at riddles – this could be bad."

"Well, you're the bookworm out of the two of us," Locke announces. "You're not very good, and I'm plain hopeless." He turns back to the face again as he says, "Caretaker, didn't you understand me? We don't have time for this. Esra told us those who are pure of heart are granted access to the Crystal. Your people are suffering and the longer you keep us here to play your silly games and keep you company is less time we have to help them! I'll ask you one more time; let us pass."

Mostly ignoring what Locke has just said, the marble face sighs, "A wise man once said that life is a stage in which we are all the players. Every play has its script – and today you happen to be following mine. I have three riddles, and if you can solve them, you may pass."

Locke growls slightly, clenching his left hand into a tight fist which he raises slightly for a few moments before dropping it and sighing; he looks to Lil and mumbles, "I hope you're at least not too bad at riddles. . . Okay, Caretaker, let's hear it."

The face responds with a chuckle.

"Very well then. First, as I like the look of you two, we'll start with an easy one. Give me food, and I will live; give me water and I will die," He finishes with a smile before asking, "What am I?"

"Ah, excrement!" Locke states before sighing. "Lil, think of something."

Lil, deeply in thought, rubs her chin as she states, "Well, think. What kind of things die if you give them water?"

Locke gazes at Lil with a blank stare before asking, "Is it a plant?"

Lil sighs in exasperation, "No, you dolt! Plants die without water!"

The face simply chuckles once more.

"Remain silent, Caretaker!" Locke snaps, not appreciating being the subject of a joke. "Lil, if you're so smart, and know what it isn't – then tell us what it is."

Lil taps her cheek with her fingers as she continues to think, "Well, obviously this thing can't be alive as all living things need water."

Locke thinks for a moment, before looking at the face and asking, "Is the answer fire?"

With a broad smile, the face responds, "Why yes! Fire is the correct answer. You're smarter than you appear, child."

"A-ha!" Locke cries triumphantly as he pumps his fist in the air. "You and your books, Lil. Ha ha, I read books, but everything I learned, I learned by being active outside."

Lil raises her eyebrow inquisitively, "And what part of being 'active outside' involved playing with fire?"

"Well, there was this one time Agnr and I, as little kids, got a hold of. . ."

"Agnr?" She asks, "Isn't that the boy who disfigured his face when he caught himself on fire?"

"Yeah, but that's because he found a baby dragon," Locke answers. "This was the time, just after Akorinn started teaching us, that I leaped in, seeing him in danger, and―"

The face clears its throat, looking strangely at Locke, "You humans are stranger than I remember. Have I been asleep that long?"

"I'm not sure, Caretaker," Locke replies, looking back to the stone face. "When was your birthday? Or were you just chiseled?"

The marble man laughs, "You're pretty good, child. Maybe you should take my place and tell the riddles instead."

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" Locke announces. "Were you a man once?"

The face smiles, "That is of no importance to you, my child. Weren't you the one in a hurry just but a moment ago?"

"Yes, alright," Locke says with a sigh of annoyance. "Next riddle, Caretaker."

The face simply begins, "What can run but never walks, has a mouth but never talks, has a head but never weeps, and has a bed but never sleeps?"

Lil mutters thoughtfully, "Well, water can run – but it doesn't have a mouth."

"A river?" Locke simply asks.

"Hahaha," he chuckles. "You continue to impress me, boy. This final riddle should be a piece of Elven shortcake for you."

"Is that tasty?" Locke asks. "My mother makes a good Swaghplant tart, but I never tasted Elven shortcake. Hey Lil, has your mother ever made that?"

With a smile, she responds, "Yes! It's delicious, and. . ." She then stops for a moment before punching him in the shoulder and crying, "Shut up, we need to get moving here!"

She then turns to the face in the marble pillar and asks, "What's the final riddle?"

With a smile, he says, "What falls but doesn't break, and what breaks but doesn't fall?"

"A voice?" Locke asks.

The face grins, "Not quite, my child."

Locke cups his chin in thought, scratching it before asking again, "The wind?"

Once again the face says, "No."

"Hmm." Locke murmurs as Lil averts her gaze down to her feet, thinking deeply and out loud.

"Fall. . . Waterfall? No. . . Um. . ."

"The sun?" Locke asks again.

The face simply smiles, with a mischievous look upon it's brow, "You're getting there.”

"The day?"

The face's smile grows even wider.

"The day and the night?" Locke asks again.

"At last!" The voice howls. "I knew you could do it, boy! You've got a very clever friend here, young lady."

Lil grumbles as Locke's lips creep upward into a grin. The face's smile is unceasing as there is a sudden sound – as if a granite block is being pushed aside. Indeed, our Heroes then notice a trap door in the ceiling slowly opening. As the sliding stops, a rope ladder suddenly collapses down to the floor on which they stand.

"Well, thanks for the brain workout, Caretaker," Locke announces as he places his hands on the rope ladder. "I guess we'll see you again on the way out."

"You're very welcome," The marble man chuckles. "Oh, I do hope you make it. And if you do, tell those old Elves to come visit me now and again, won't you?"

"I shall," Locke answers with a nod. "Do you have a name?"

The face smiles again, "Caretaker is perfectly reasonable, as I have no name."

"Well, you do now," Locke states before he begins to climb up the ladder towards the trap door in the ceiling, Lil following close behind.

As they complete their ascent up the ladder, Locke and Lilanei find themselves in a room containing four stone statues arranged in a compass-like formation. The statues appear to be elven, each draped in beautiful robes. Each elf has its left arm raised, index finger pointed at the respective wall it faces. In the centre of their formation sits a pedestal, a faded bronze plated embedded on the top.

Lil, upon seeing the statues scattered about the room, comments, "Well, these elves certainly have an interesting interior designer."

"Does your home have anything like this?" Locke asks as Lil gazes away in thought.

"Well, my mom keeps a statue of a cat on the shop counter for good luck―"

"Oh!" Locke acknowledges. "I always wondered what that cat was for, especially that time I snuck in and―" Locke stops in mid sentence as he remembers who he's talking to.

Slowly, her gaze directs itself back to Locke, a slightly irritated expression beginning to form on her face, "―What was that?"

"The one. . . Erm, the one. . . Ah. The one time I tried to sneak in to see you, my friend!" Locke says with a smile before murmuring, "Yes, that'll work."

His voice raises once more, "Your mother isn't my biggest fan, and I wanted to see you one day – so I snuck in! But she came out from the back of the shop and I decided to swiftly make an exit."

Lil's upper lip twitches very slightly; however she decides not to pursue the matter any further as she states, "A likely story. But anyway. I wonder what this room is about."

"Your guess is as good as mine," Locke announces.

"Well," she begins, "we have four statues to observe as well as a pedestal. Let's hop to it."

Locke and Lil decide to take a closer look at the southern facing statue. Locke looks at and raises his hand, brushing the face of the statue to see if it rouses any type of spirits. However, he finds it is quite inanimate. Locke decides to have an even closer look as he takes his hand away from the face of the statue. As Locke observes the statue, he notices that while the left hand is pointed outwards, the right hand clutches what appears to be a carving of a flaming torch in its right hand. As he looks up from the statue, he realizes that each of the other statues hold their own unique item in their right hands.

"Look at this," Locke says to Lil as he points to each statue. "They each have an item in their opposite hands. This one has a lit torch and the others – well, we'll need to look further."

"That's all well and good," Lil states, "but what do they mean to us?"

Locke decides to answer that question by taking a closer look at the west statue. As Locke observes the western statue, he notices that it hold a shard of ice tightly in its hand. Meanwhile, Lil decides to follow suit and observes the eastern statue in order to find a sort of connection. As she observes it, she realizes this statue is gripping the trunk of a tree. Locke and Lilanei finally meet at the north statue and note that it holds a bolt of lighting in its hand.

Lil speaks slowly as she thinks out loud. "A torch, ice, a tree trunk – and a bolt of lighting. I wonder what they could mean?"

"Something to do with the elements?" Locke asks. "I know elves are big on nature."

Lil nods her before stating, "Yes, that is true, but I wonder how they can lead us to our next room. Perhaps that pedestal holds the answer."

Locke walks over to the pedestal, along with Lil, to take a closer look at it. As Locke observes the pedestal, running his finger along the text on the bronze plate, he comes to realize he cannot understand a thing that it says, as it is written in another language."

"Damn," Locke states. "This text is foreign to me. Lil, do you know what it says? I assume it's elven."

Lil immediately peers down at the text as her eyes widen in realization.

"It is!" She exclaims, and after concentrating for a few moments, she begins to read it out loud, translated into common language.

“The North Wind lights our soul afire,
Ever growing the heat in our soul.
The South Wind is cold and dire,
Gently cooling the fury of our words.
The West Wind only fuels our desire,
Caressing the lush green of nature,
While the East wind truly inspires,
Gusting as a mighty bolt strikes the earth."

After reading the text, she looks up at Locke with wonderment in her eyes, "It's an ancient elven poem! Why, I haven't seen one of these in―" Lil's voice begins to wander off as she starts to ramble about the many books she has read in her childhood.

"So, it is about the elements," Locke announces, "but I don't understand how they will lead us out of this room."

Lilanei, finally snapping out of her literature fueled trance, gazes around the room and says, "Perhaps the statues need to point in a particular direction."

"You mean move them?" Locke asks.

Lil frowns as his words sink in, "I know what you're thinking, and I don't know how either. Did you notice anyway to move the statues?"

"Not off hand," Locke announces, "but let's look again, a bit closer this time."

Locke observes the statue but does not immediately anyway to shift it. Lil walks up to the statue next and observes it herself in hopes of finding something Locke may have missed. As Lil makes her own observation, she suddenly exclaims "that's it!" as she notices that the statue as well as the others in the room are each on a rotating platform.

"What is it?" Locke asks.

"The statues rotate," She explains, pointing down to the floor.

"Let's move them, then," Locke announces. "I'll move them, and you tell me which way they have to go."

Lil nods before she walks to the pedestal in the centre of the room and prepares to read the directions out loud; she calls over to him, asking, "What does the northern statue hold again?"

"A lightning bolt," Locke replies.

Lil begins to recite, "While the east wind truly inspires, gusting as the might bolt strikes the Earth. I think it has to point east."

Locke complies, pressing his hands and left shoulder into the statue before he exerts all of his might into pushing the statue so that it faces eastward. He then walks over to the eastern statue which holds in its hand the tree trunk.

Lil watches him, and remembering the tree trunk, she recites, "The west wind only fuels our desire, caressing the lush green of nature."

Immediately Locke begins to push the statue towards the west. From there, he runs over to the southern statue and wipes some sweat from his brow before he leans into the statue and looks towards Lil with a nod.

She reads once again, "The north wind lights our soul afire."

Locke pushes the statue, rotating it so that it faces north. He pants and now walks over to the last statue, which holds a shard of ice.

"Okay, Lil, tell me; this one is holding ice," He says as he leans into the statue.

She finally says, "The south wind is cold and dire, gently cooling the fury of our words."

Locke pushes the statue, rotating it south. Having successfully completed the puzzle, the room begins to rumble slightly. After a few moments, the finger of the northern statue begins to glow with a brilliant golden light as a sudden bolt of lightning shoots from it into the eastern wall it now faces – therefore creating a glowing doorway through which they may finally pass.

"Let's go!" Locke shouts towards Lil as he runs towards the door.

Excitedly, Lil follows, clearly amused by the many puzzles of the temple. As they step through the door and into the next room, the portal behind them disappears and our duo find themselves in yet another empty room. Nonetheless, this time each of the walls contains a peculiar painting. In the centre of the room stands a marble pedestal with a flat surface.

"I don't know art," Locke begins, "but I know what I like. . . I don't like this. What do we do now?"

Lil glances about the room before her eyes narrow onto the centre pedestal, "The last room had writing on the pedestal; maybe this one will too."

Lil and Locke then stroll over to the pedestal – Lilanei brushing the top of the pedestal with her fingers as she once again recognizes the elven scripture engraved into the marble. Without pause, she begins to read it out loud.

"Lives are destroyed,
And lives are rebuilt―
Such is the way of the world.

One word echoes through time,
An emotion holding these lives together,
Never to be destroyed."

"I'm lost," Locke states. "What does that have to do with the paintings and the puzzle of getting through this room?"

Lil once again glances around the room, "Perhaps these paintings will guide us to the mysterious 'word' this pedestal speaks of."

Turning, Locke walks over to the painting behind him with Lil at his side. He peers up at the painting and has a closer look at its content. This particular painting is of a massive size, coating the entire wall. It is of a lush green forest, a path running from the bottom of the canvas up into the horizon of the forest.

"Hm, a forest," Locke states. "More nature."

Lil frowns, "Well, this isn't very much help."

"No kidding," Locke replies. "Let's look at another one; maybe it will become clearer."

The duo then walk to their left to the western wall and observe the painting on it. This large painting is of a small elven village. Many elves, young and old, band together as they happily build quaint huts and tree houses out of massive leaves and other natural materials.

"Well, it's pretty," Locke begins, "but it tells me nothing. How about you?"

Lil squints at the details in the painting, "It sort of reminds me of Willow's Keep."

"It probably is since the painting's here," Locke thinks out loud. "But still, I'm no more enlightened. Let's check out the next one."

The pair walk to the southern wall, and once again they look it over, taking in the art before them. This medium sized painting is of an elven bard and a human bard, sitting side to side and playing flutes as smiles light their faces.

"Back in a time when these people and humans lived in harmony," Locke says, observing the painting. "My old man could do with looking at it."

Lil quickly changes the subject, "Maybe the final painting will piece together with the rest and give us our solution."

Finally, Lil and Locke walk to the eastern wall and finally look upon the last painting. This final painting is small, yet the most emotional. Tears flow freely from an elf's eyes as she bids farewell to a young half-elf man on a horse, three elves grasping the woman's arms and holding her back.

"Sad. . ." Locke whispers.

"This must be after Nithion banned all of the humans and half-elves from the village."

"Does it upset you that they banned half-elves?" Locke asks, to which Lil frowns.

"No," she quietly responds, “but I've come to accept that half-elves aren't the most popular race in town."

"I guess the world could do with more people like Akorinn," Locke says. "After all, he brought us together, despite our silly differences. I bet he could do the same for this village."

"Maybe when we see him again, we could talk to him about it, but in any case, we must think now. What one word connects all of these paintings?"

". . .Racism?" Locke asks.

Lil nods, "Good guess, but that only has to do with one of the pictures from what I can see." She then adds, "It also said it was an emotion."

"Hatred? Sadness?" Locke asks, throwing some suggestions out to which Lil shakes her head.

"No. Again, only one of these pictures is sad or angry."

"It must have something to do with the evolution of this village," Locke announces to Lil.

“Well, as the pedestal states, 'lives were destroyed and lives were rebuilt.' But somehow, our elusive word never died and continued to echo through time."

"Argh," Locke sighs in frustration. "This makes no sense. How can one word describe an emotion and also describe a sequence of events that occurred in this village?"

Lil sighs, "I don't think it explains the sequence, but perhaps it explains an emotion that thrived despite the sequence of events."

"Hope?" Locke asks desperately.

Lil pauses in thought before finally responding, "No, that can't be it."

"I'm running out of ideas!" Locke cries. "I'll tell you this. I really love that these elves love to play their little riddles and games. I also love how they would do this for an object that protects them, instead of using a simple lock and key. Oh, how I love it!"

Lil listens to his rant, but instead of instinctively flicking him in the forehead, her eyes brighten as she suddenly thrusts her finger into the air, exclaiming, "Love!"

Only this one word need be said, and without pause the large painting of the forest begins to glow in an eerie light. It is suddenly engulfed in a bright white light before the light finally engulfs the entire room. When the light finally dissipates, the pair realize they have been teleported to a new room. As they regain their composure after being teleported, they realize, not their surprise, that they are yet again in an empty room. However, a single mirror stands at the far end of the room. Locke, standing directly across it from his position in the room, sees his reflection clearly in the glass.