Chương 32: 31-The Puzzle Room

//BEGIN LOG TRANSCRIPT// Their journey was a surprisingly long one that did not begin with the entrance into the tunnel, but an unusually large, thick steel door that led to the actual ruin. It was open perfectly ajar, which seeped in sterile, white light before the opening. The lanterns the trio used were not needed, as the Akvamarin Ruins illuminated the path towards the great chamber of geometric riddles that puzzled those who came before Alice.

The walls were, of course, a sterile white, and the lights emanated the same color. Their guide, Martello, said the Pale Men invented torches that burned without flame, that could never be snuffed out, said to be powered by an unknown energy source hidden from view. One of the many technologies of the Pale Men, with many deeper inside. The interior was indeed confusing, made almost like a maze-which Martello insisted it was designed to be like that so that no one of an unintellectual mind reached the chamber.

Twists and turns, with a few bumps as well, disoriented Alice as she and Professor Bernard slowly descended the dull white maze. It felt almost as if they weren't even travelling to the Puzzle Room (a little joke Alice made during the descent), but going to the pearly white gates of heaven. Even though the maze went on for infinity, after an hour, they reached the chamber. Alice and the Professor were relieved as Martello, their guide, was unfazed.

He had descended to this place before, which made sense to the young Alice, as how else would the bright minds that failed the riddles of the Akvamarin Ruins reach their doom? And the Puzzle Room itself was vastly different from what Alice had imagined it to be. There were no pearly white gates, but two very thick sliding steel doors that opened into something that baffled Alice.

The Puzzle Room was pitch-black, with the only source of illumination being seven white globes-one in the center, and six at an equal distance away from the center globe. There were also six white veins going in straight lines to the outer globes, and a white circle going through six of the globes. Together, they formed a six-spoked wheel. They hovered over a black pedestal hosting a rectangular, glass "bookstand" that was very thick.

It was this pedestal that was of Professor Bernard's interest, as he whispered to Alice, "That is where the riddles of the 'Puzzle Room'-" The astute Professor broke out in brief laughter as he said that, right before clearing his throat and continuing.

"Sorry, that's where many before you have failed to solve the Pale Men's ancient riddles, which I'm pretty sure you can solve, Alice." Alice nodded while trying to contain her laughter and asked, "Are you sure?"

"Yes," he answered, with a soft smile on his face.

"The geometric shapes within the puzzle that stumped those brainiacs are something they never understood, but I know you will." Professor Bernard's smile faded as he thought of his fear as to what would happen if the guide, Martello, saw Alice solve the riddles within the Puzzle Room. He was very confident she would solve them, which made him even more afraid if he dared tell anyone else about what happened.

And knowing that the information about the contents of the most difficult riddle, he became horrified if those curious scholars learned of Alice's paintings. With a blank, stern face, he turned to Martello, saying to him, "What you are about to see, I do not want anyone else here to know, as I fear for this child's life. Do you understand?" The guide nodded and turned his back against the Puzzle Room.

Alice, of course, was nervous, but the kind professor, her father-like figure, kneeled before her and brushed her hair.

"Alice, whatever happens, I will be in that room with you." Professor Bernard smiled at her as he continued.

"I want you to, of course, take your time. Think of this as one of those jigsaw puzzles we do every Friday, except it will be more exciting." Alice relaxed a bit, but she was still nervous over the Professor's words to Martello.

"Professor, someone will notice me solving this…" she whispered to him.

"Alice, you have no idea how many connections I have with the scholarly world," Professor Bernard answered quietly, trying to keep a gentle smile.

"No one will know what happened, I promise."

"B-But, this place-" Alice panted as she struggled to form the words in her mouth.

"-This place was used for war by the Pale Men, right? Martello said it was once a military installation." The Professor's smile faded as he let out a gentle sigh.

"Yes, but I don't think it was for killing people; it was for keeping secrets" He tapped Alice's shoulder and pointed to where he thought the entrance to the Akvamarin Ruins was.

"Those machines outside, the Sentries, were to protect this place and the knowledge of the Pale Men. And I honestly doubt this facility has the capacity to kill people." The Professor's eyes widened a bit as the memory of some of the doomed travellers' brains exploding whispered into his mind.

"Minus a few people who did not understand what they were looking at."

"You mean the-?" The Professor quickly hushed Alice, turning quickly to Martello to see if he had any reaction to what Alice was about to say. Thankfully, he appeared oblivious.

"Whatever it was the Pale Men were protecting, if it was the secrets to their technology or the Shattered God, it must have been very important-which is the biggest mystery of the Akvamarin Ruins." He withdrew his hand and smiled at Alice.

"And this entire maze getting here, no one would make a winding labyrinth an hour long just to reach here as most people would go nuts after seeing nothing but white walls and lights…" The professor turned to the guide, and noticed Martello was taking an interest in their conversation. Though alarmed, Professor Bernard said to the guide, "And honestly, I think our guide is smarter than most of the people he led here." Martello snorted and laughed briefly.

"Thanks." He faced the Professor and smirked at him and Alice: "Yeah, and using my brain it's a good way to burn fat to meet God faster." The professor smirked and saw the guide turn away from the two. Relieved, he sighed before turning to Alice with a gentle smile.

"Just stay by my side, and I'll make sure that nothing happens to you." And then Professor Bernard dropped his smile.

"You'll be safe, and I would not bring you here if your life were in any danger, okay?" Alice nodded, and the professor rose. He reached his hand towards the prodigy, which she almost immediately grabbed as the duo headed towards the chamber together. Inside the ancient chamber, the sound disappeared as the two metallic doors behind them closed almost instinctively. Alice, in fright, looked back at the doors before Professor Bernard interrupted her thoughts.

"Alice, this is normal. Those doors will open when we go back, understand?" Alice nodded, and trembling, turned to the professor, saying, "Y-Yes professor!" Still terrified, she looked at the two closed doors.

"Why did they close on us though?"

"Probably to protect us," he answered. He smiled at her and said to her, "And I think whatever the Akvamarin Ruins host probably wants you safe here."

"I see." The Professor nodded in kind, and the two went towards the pedestal in the middle of the Puzzle Room. It was taller than Alice in height, and as she was walking, inspecting its odd architecture, the pedestal seemed to lower to her height, as if it were aware of her presence.

"I think the entity here really wants you to solve that puzzle, Alice!" The Professor chimed, keen for the child prodigy to solve it.

"No one else has solved it before, and I think it knows you're the only kid who can do it. You draw those patterns that shouldn't be too dissimilar to the riddles the Pale Men made. So, go on ahead; you've got this!" he said, giving Alice a gentle push on her back as she followed Professor Bernard's eager attitude. Approaching the pedestal, she paused as she reached for it. She was still nervous and turned back towards Professor Bernard, who was smiling.

Upon meeting his gaze, he gave both thumbs up in reassurance and excitement. The child prodigy smiled, relaxed, and turned back towards the pedestal, touching the glass. A white circle rippled from where she touched it. Curiosity then replaced nervousness as she touched the glass again to see the same result. She smiled, and the child prodigy giddily began touching the screen to form new ripples. Eventually, it stopped, as words appeared on the screen: "HUMAN USER IDENTIFIED".

The entity had become fully aware of her presence. Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. The letters disappeared, and the screen then showed an image of a man and woman holding each other's hands with blank faces. Text appeared below them, which said: "FIND THE ANOMALY". The instructions for the first riddle were clear: find the thing that did not make sense or fit the pattern to solve the riddle.

Thankfully, it was easy as Alice noticed the woman's nose was out of proportion and touched it. The images faded, and Alice said to herself quietly, "That was easy." A message then appeared, seemingly responding to Alice: "YES, IT WAS. GOOD JOB". The young child prodigy was confused and asked, "Can you hear me?" New words appeared on the screen that said, "YES, I CAN, AND I CAN SEE YOU WITH A MAN I'VE IDENTIFIED AS PROFESSOR WILLIAM BERNARD ACCORDING TO SEVERAL AUDIO LOGS."

Alice's eyes widened as she turned to the Professor and exclaimed, "Professor! The entity knows us!" The Professor smirked.

"I figured," he smugly answered. His smirk dropped, and he pointed towards the pedestal: "Alice, I think that entity has something to say to you." Alice turned back to the screen and saw new words on it that said, "DO NOT BE ALARMED BY MY KNOWLEDGE OF HOW I KNOW YOU AND YOUR FRIEND'S NAMES, ALICE." Those words disappeared, replaced by instructions that said: "FOR NOW, PLEASE FOCUS ON SOLVING ALL REMAINING PROBLEMS AS INSTRUCTED. DO YOU UNDERSTAND?" Alice nodded, and the words disappeared.

There was no response, save for a new image of a conifer forest. She took a quick glance at it, and almost immediately she solved it, noticing a maple seed, which was not possible in such forestry. The image disappeared upon the completion of that riddle. Then the next riddle came, which featured a collage of rabbits. While this riddle was a little more difficult, within a few seconds, Alice noticed one rabbit more resembled a cat. She touched the odd rabbit, and the image disappeared, replaced by a new riddle.

Time went by as Alice solved each problem with little difficulty. The professor was on the edge of his metaphorical seat as the prodigy flew past all the puzzles. On the second to last one, which featured a dense set of mathematical equations on a chalkboard in a classroom of hundreds of students, a message appeared from the entity, directed towards her:"GREAT JOB, ALICE. YOU HAVE SOLVED ALL THE PUZZLES IN THIS INSTALLATION."

Alice was ecstatic as she turned to Professor Bernard, jumping up and down with glee, shouting to him, "I did it, Professor! I solved the-" She was interrupted by the professor, nervously pointed back to the screen, which showed a new message had replaced the previous one.

"EXCEPT FOR ONE THAT NO ONE HAS EVER SOLVED BEFORE. GIVEN YOUR ACUTE DISCERNMENT OF VISUAL ANOMALIES, THIS FINAL PROBLEM FEATURES A COMPLEX, MATHEMATICAL PATTERN THAT MOST HUMANS CANNOT COMPREHEND, SAVE FOR YOU AS YOU PAINTED THEM." Alice froze and whispered to the screen, "You've seen my paintings?" The screen replied: "YES, I HAVE. IT HAS BEEN LONG SINCE I'VE SEEN SOMEONE PERFECT FRACTAL ART BEFORE; HENCE WHY WE GIVE THIS LAST CHALLENGE TO YOU TO GAIN AN AUDIENCE WITH ME."

The child raised an eyebrow as she whispered to the screen, "Fractal?" A new message appeared, telling Alice, "YES, THAT'S THE PROPER TERMINOLOGY OF WHAT YOU HAVE CREATED. THE PALE MEN, MY CREATORS, USED THEIR TECHNOLOGY TO CREATE FRACTALS AND UNDERSTAND MANY SECRETS ABOUT REALITY ITSELF. FEW EVEN BACK THEN KNEW HOW TO CREATE THEM WITHOUT THE USE OF THEIR DEVICES. THAT ART HAD BEEN LOST, UNTIL NOW." The Professor slowly walked up to Alice, suspicious as he tried to pry over the screen.

"What did the entity say to you?" He asked Alice quietly.

"That my art is something the Pale Men called 'fractals'," she whispered back to him.

"And it has seen my artwork." The Professor raised an eyebrow at Alice as she met his gaze.

"It has seen the paintings?" he asked Alice, before his eyes widened in fear.

"If that's the case, someone must have-!" Then a new message appeared on the screen, addressed specifically to Professor Bernard:"PROFESSOR, ALL SOURCES WERE NOT FROM ANOTHER INDIVIDUAL AS YOU THINK. ALL INFORMATION I HAVE GATHERED REMAINS CONFIDENTIAL FOR HER SAFETY." The duo viewing the screen relaxed, as Professor Bernard whispered to Alice, "Well, at least he isn't a stalker." New words appeared on the screen, addressed to the Professor:"AS FOR YOU WILLIAM, THIS TEST IS FOR ALICE ONLY.

PLEASE REFRAIN FROM BEING WITHIN 10 FEET OF THIS DEVICE, OR THIS TEST WILL TERMINATE PERMANANTLY. YOU WOULDN'T WANT TO RUIN A CHANCE SCIENTIFIC BREAKTHROUGH THAT WILL CHANGE HISTORY, CORRECT?" The professor froze, his jaw agape as he stammered with his words: "Y-Yes." He swallowed before continuing.

"This is Alice's test after all…" A new message appeared:"GOOD…NOW LEAVE." The professor did as the entity commanded, not before scratching Alice's hair, smiling and saying to her, "I know you can solve this. Just, pretend I'm not here, okay?" Alice nodded and smiled.

"Yes, professor…" Professor Bernard smiled in kind and walked halfway towards the metal doors before stopping. He sat on the floor, facing Alice in nervous anticipation of the last riddle. Alice turned back to the screen, which displayed a new message:"NOW ALICE, WITH NO FURTHER INTERRUPTIONS, FIND THE ANOMALY." The screen was replaced by a familiar-looking painting of an endless cyan spiral with magenta bubbles circling inwards towards infinity, with a yellow background.

Alice had painted this before, this beautifully intricate "fractal" as the entity called it. Almost immediately, she noticed one of the bubbles, the smallest one, was red, and touched it. The image disappeared, and the pedestal began to lower into the floor. Alice, of course, was confused. Did I solve the puzzle? She wondered. The prodigy turned to the professor, who was standing up with an ecstatic smile. He clapped his hands loudly, shouting: "You did it Alice!" He ran up to her and hugged her.

Alice joined in his joyful laughter and celebrated.

"I knew you could do it! You were always the smartest-!" In the blink of an eye, the professor disappeared, leaving Alice alone with only the lights of the six-spoked wheel that blinded her, making her fall unconscious. //END LOG TRANSCRIPT// {CLOSING FILE "SHATTERED_HEART_SWANT. TXT"… DONE} LYSANDRA: {You'll see more later, I promise. The later thing is uh… well, something I have a lot of mixed feelings about. My student hates it a lot. … Let's talk about something else. Now, as far as what I mentioned earlier about Ellie's sleep condition, it's a bit weird and alarming. You see, every time she sleeps, she wakes up in a different world than the one she is currently in. The reason she appeared in my world is that condition. Though I personally triangulated the odd data signal that produces the effect. But since she is about to sleep, I'm worried she'll end up in Nedri's hands again. … No, Lysandra, you made sure you isolated her signal in Hammerforge, and the only other world in my realm is- … I need to tell you. I do not like talking about this, but Carla is still technically in my realm, though on a different server that is a copy of this one. I do not like telling the full reason as to why, only that we are separated currently, and she's away. She's basically in a different reality from mine. I just hope she isn't too hard on Ellie and- … No… Carla cares about her. She probably saw what happened earlier. She most likely took precautions to prevent that from happening again. Though I don't hope she does anything to be an ass to Ellie. … I'm keeping an eye on Ellie either way, and I'm making sure what happened earlier does not happen again. So, if my wife tries anything to restore her memories too soon, I'm pulling Ellie out. … Oh, and she's most likely planning to change Ellie's formatting method and overriding my filters. Tough luck honey, they're there for a reason. And besides, her formatting style? There's a reason she was Ellie's physical trainer, but not her tutor. XD XD XD … Don't worry, I'll make sure that everything will be easy to read for you. I'll describe everything as Ellie sees it. It will be my perspective. Don't ask too much; it is very weird. So, you'll meet my wife soon…:) … Wait, before you go, let me give you a description of what she looks like.

Hopefully, those two assholes' filter won't cause a data backlash when Ellie sees her, which shouldn't happen as that filter is tied to memories, and- … It appears Carla has indeed made a little safeguard against another data backlash. Thanks, honey. … Sorry! I forgot about the description! Let me post it for you} {ENTITY: CARLA GEORGIA HODGES DESCRIPTION: A very rugged, muscular Caucasian woman with messy, chin-length, curly dark brown hair. She has sapphire eyes and infrequent freckles on her cheeks (2 on her right, 6 on the left). Carla has numerous scars across her arms from her constant construction work; she is above-average in height (5'-9") and wears torn, blue and white flannels, a stained white undershirt, muddy heavy jeans secured with a heavy leather belt, and very well-worn steel-toed boots with black socks underneath. Her somewhat torn wolf ears and single tail match her hair and tail color, and are very wild. She often carries with her several data cubes of her tools, but an axe on her person at all times} {SKIPPING FOOTAGE… DONE}