They followed the long stone corridor until it opened into a small chamber. The walls were mottled and flaking, yet the one directly ahead shimmered faintly with light.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF1WJZYnT9f
Slowly, words began to form upon its surface—each stroke sharp and deliberate:
“Riddle:62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT4dxOK27kM
A house has four corners.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9ZpBjAZsrY
In each corner sits a cat.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI0UlYh8lSL
Each cat looks at three other cats.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPMrv2jAlDe
How many cats are there in total?”
Tamsin blinked, startled for only a moment before blurting out,62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm49psi5epx
“Four corners… one cat in each… so—four.”
Glen glanced sideways at her, his tone cautious.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqIzLDh6Hcz
“Four?”
At his word, the air in the room seemed to still—62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHMktzcAAGg
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd8W6a3EeeW
as though the stone itself was holding its breath.
Then, a deep voice echoed around them:
“Correct.”
Bang—!
The ceiling shuddered. Something dropped heavily to the ground before their feet.
It was a pair of small cloth dolls. Their button eyes were crooked, their stitched mouths twisted into eerie smiles—as if watching the two of them.
So this… was a “doll”?
They froze, breath caught, before each reached down to pick one up.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAi4gcG3EkF
Glen slipped his into the small pouch at his waist—62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7fwq8TF06T
and Tamsin, glancing down, realized with a start that a similar pouch now hung from her belt, though she had no memory of putting it there.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFDpv9shJv4
After a moment’s hesitation, she placed the doll inside.
At that instant, the iron door at the back of the chamber creaked open, its hinges wailing like something alive.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCCWih8CNM7
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdW9HQqUjNo
It was as if the castle itself was summoning them onward.
Tamsin and Glen exchanged uneasy glances—62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzgyoXZW4bw
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcV4mXkjdkM
then stepped forward together.
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmqU8ilgblB
They passed through crowd, then room after room,62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwqQmo17xD2
each one presenting a new kind of challenge.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA0D42DQY9v
Some were riddles of numbers, others puzzles of pattern and logic.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTND00iBepR
At times, they had to think fast, bend their minds in strange directions.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6t49mJrwQa
The tasks grew steadily harder—62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs5HaQcpqzC
yet together, they always managed to find the answer.
And each time they succeeded, a doll would fall soundlessly from above,62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMW4XVRV8TZ
landing before them with that same unsettling grin.
The dolls began to pile up quietly in their pouches.
“Five,” Glen murmured, patting the lump at his side.
Tamsin shuddered, forcing herself to look away.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0ftr8sZTj2
“These dolls… it feels like they’re watching us.”
“Don’t think about it,” Glen muttered back.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUvpyFiW9if
But his own eyes flicked uneasily away.
When the stone door opened again, they expected another riddle.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIT2nELdTO2
But it was the same chamber—62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRN63YgMiRy
only this time, the words forming on the wall were different.
“What are you most afraid of?62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxe39m3ESnO
Why?”
They froze, staring at each other.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSEdZre3Ku9
This wasn’t numbers.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQOQbFKMaRM
This wasn’t logic.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYbgIXtj1wM
How could such a question have a right or wrong answer?
Tamsin hesitated, then spoke tentatively.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiUh0mHBbsy
“I… I’m most afraid of insects.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5zAAavE4v8
Because they’re impossible to catch.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVtpn1daCLW
They move in the dark… silently.”
The wall remained blank.
Glen frowned, then offered his own answer.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYQ7LjkQfQ1
“I fear heat. When I sweat, when the air grows thick and suffocating—62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu8C25eV3lS
it feels like I’m burning alive.”
Silence.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7DaTczbdkY
Thick, waiting silence.
Then a shrill sound sliced through the air—62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ3u8XJINXI
like metal scraping glass, drilling straight into their skulls.
“That is not what you fear most.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcVAIlWRXlU
Answer again.”
The voice struck like thunder, so loud it made their heads throb.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDUXjHtAUlP
Tamsin clutched her ears, but the words still rang clear in her mind.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHWH4LFxf0n
No doll appeared.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK6LLA2t2zO
The wall stayed empty.
“How… how could it know?” she whispered, her voice trembling.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaYQHsMmjQ8
She was afraid of insects—terrified of the way they scuttled unseen through the dark.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIycR4XtWFf
So why… why did this place say she lied?
She turned toward Glen, who looked just as shaken. His brows were drawn tight, his expression raw with confusion—not deceit.
Unease coiled in her throat.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHnzZoClXno
“I… I’m afraid of death,” she said haltingly.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡErzfaCudVW
“Because… I still want to live.”
Glen drew a deep, trembling breath. Her words seemed to pull something loose inside him.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbo64WsaiXu
“Then… I fear fire,” he said softly. “The heat, the pain of burning—it’s worse than anything else.”
They held their breath.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPjOtAQ8zF2
The air seemed to stop moving.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAy6gFpNeAH
Their hearts pounded in their ears.
Then the voice returned—colder, heavier than before.
“That is not what you fear most.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEL3tK6n4Yv
Answer again.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoG0RjGfuhC
Last chance.”
Silence fell like a weight.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2cJ7paxLcv
The words last chance echoed through the stone chamber—62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjKUn3m1pRr
a curse, a warning, a noose tightening around their souls.
Only one chance remained.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡifpCkegKhW
If they failed again—62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0URxKICDCv
what would happen to them?
To be continued...
ns216.73.217.39da2
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