Olympia was confused as to why there was no response from the trapdoor. She looked at Brad and asked, "What"s wrong, Master?" "I can sense something, but can"t point it out what it is." His eyebrows scrunched in concentration again. He tried to sense his surroundings with his consciousness, but was unable to do so.
"Master, this is important for us. How do we know what to do?"
"Aren"t all legacy(1) accompanied with some ancient texts?"
"Should be."
"Let"s search for it together since we don"t have much time left.."
Olympia nodded and walked towards the eastern corner of the room, while Brad moved towards the North.
They searched through various items as their eyes searched for some ancient battered text. There were many items in the room - mostly junk. Searching through them was hard. Broken items were scattered across the floor and they rummaged through all the nooks and crooks of the room, but nothing caught their attention.
"Master, how can this be?"
"Is there no way to enter it?"
"There must be a way. Let"s do this together." Brad suggested.
"How?"
"Even I don"t know, but something inside me says that if we do it together, we will achieve success."
"Where to start?"
"Let"s do one thing."
"Wait, what is that?"
"I"m sorry. What is what?" Brad asked.
"That thing over there. Look!" Olympia pointed at a brand new book at the corner of the room. As they were looking at all the dilapidated things, they overlooked this book.
"Hmm? Let"s go and see what that is."
Olympia and Brad went to the farthest corner of the attic, and picked up the brand new book, and tried to open it, but no matter how much they tried, it didn"t open. Olympia went as far as to insert her fingernails(claws) to pry it open, but to no avail. It did not open.
They looked at each other and a fleeting thought crossed their mind together. They looked at each other and then placed their hands onto the other and then focussed their energies onto their palms and placed it onto the book.
Under the element of Ice, Fire and Darkness and Light, the book opened. A blinding flash of multicolored light illuminated the entire attic. It was so mesmerizing that instead of covering their eyes, they opened them wide.
Among the myriad of colors and auras, there was a saintly semi-translucent figure floating inside a halo.
"So you found me?" The saintly figure asked.
"What do you mean?"
"I am Boyd, the protector of Demiden Legacy. No one other than the rightful owner of the legacy can spot this book." Boyd pointed at the book lying in Olympia"s hand.
"What is this Legacy?"
"Ha ha ha ha ha. I won"t tell you that. Rather, I can"t. You got to find it out yourself, and there is a time limit of 6 hours only. You need to find the legacy before the sunrise, otherwise, it will vanish for another 1000 years."
"But…"
"Aha, boy, there are no ifs and buts. You have to make sure to find the legacy, else, you have to find the backlash of knowing about the legacy."
"What"s with so many rules?"
"Hahahahaha. There are more. Would you like to hear them? Hahaha." Boyd gave them a creepy smile.
"Give us some clues, at least."
"Ah, clues. Let me think. It has been thousands of years. Hmm…"
"See yourself in the medieval times and return with the only thing you are afraid of. Choosing light or darkness will the bearer decide. Choices lead to glory, and choices lead to doom. Think before you make choices."
"So, we just have to make choices?"
"Who knows? But remember, you have to return before the sunrise. Otherwise, you will be trapped there forever."
"Okay, Boyd. But, we can"t seem to be able to enter this place either. How do we enter?"
"That is why I am here. I shall help you pa.s.s through this door only if you correctly answer three of my riddles."
"What are those?"
"My first question is: The man who built me doesn"t want me. The man who bought me doesn"t need me. The man who needs me doesn"t know it. What am I?"
"My second question is: I am greater than the G.o.ds, more evil than the devils. The rich need me, the poor have me. What am I?"
"And my last question is: I bring back the lost as though never gone. I shine laughter and tears with light long since shone; I am a moment to make, a lifetime to shed; I am valued then but lost when you"re dead. What am I?"
"Answer them and I will let you pa.s.s. If you can"t answer them, there is a way and that is to find the way on your own. Hahahahahaha."
"But, that is not an option at all. We need to get there as soon as we can. But the questions that you asked are pretty hard to answer. How can you do that? Is there really no other way?���
"No, this is the only way. Either this or that."
"Master, we can choose to answer his questions. Who knows, we might be able to answer them?"
"Okay. Let"s do that."
"But what is the thing that is not needed by the one that builds it or buys it? And, the person who needs it doesn"t know. This is hard. "
"Master, I think I know. Wait a moment. It is Coffin. The person who builds it wouldn"t want to die, neither would the one who buys it will use it for himself. The one who will actually use it is already dead. So, the answer is "Coffin"."
"Greater than the G.o.ds, more evil than the devils. The rich need it, the poor have it. What is it?" Brad repeated the question so that they could think of it.
"Isn"t that nothing. Nothing is greater than G.o.ds, nor is it more evil than Devils. Rich needs nothing and the poor have nothing. So the answer is "Nothing"." Brad answered himself before Olympia could think of anything.
"All left now is the last one. I can"t think of anything Master." Olympia told Brad. It seems too hard. Can"t you give us another one instead of this one?" She directed the latter part of her question to Boyd.
"No. Answer that, and the door opens. Don"t answer and face the consequences."
"Wait wait. It is a "memory"."
"Aha, so you managed to answer them. There you go. Now you have to face them all alone. Go on." Boyd waved his hands and the trap door opened.
*******************************************************
(1) The legacy mentioned here is the legacy left behind for Olympia, not the one for which Brad has to go for a quest.