Chapter 52 - Puzzles

Twelve by Twelve. 

Sun, Earth, Sky and Sea.

Each fish was unique. 

None of them could live in each others homes.

The Sun Fish sought out mountains and plateaus far above the lands of man, trying forever to reach for the sun.

Yet where the Sun Fish sought out the warmth of day to it's great extreme, the Sea Fish sought out only the coldest, darkest depths of the furthest oceans, living in absolute darkness and wanting nothing more.

Sun above, Sea below, yet the Earth Fish sought neither.

It was written that the Earth Fish had seen it's brethren, fleeing to the edges of known and hiding away from sight, and chose to stand fast, a steadfast fish that lives in the cold swamps and marshes, ferocious in nature and brave beyond most.

At last, there came the least known. A fish that fled, some say, or chose, some others might argue, to live amongst the clouds, their fins acting like wings, hardly ever spotted and little known, save for their beautiful multicolored scales that sparkle on rainy days, attracted by lightning clouds.

Only Sun and Earth, were ever properly documented, whilst Sky and Sea were completely rumor and stories, no one had caught one, and if they had, they had never disclosed it or studied them.

There were hardly records.

On the gate laid four directions, at the end of which, were four distinct biomes.

A Cloudy biome, where the ground was obscured and almost invisible.

A Mountainous region, where there were no plateaus, only sheer drops and vast ranges.

An Oceanic expanse, where light was devoured after only a few feet, frigid winds crawled over it's surface.

And at last, was the Plains, a plains that had tall verdant grass, shimmering against the sun that sat squarely above the mountains.

There were four distinct starting positions for each of the four fish.

The Earth Fish was in the Clouds side, floundering, trying to escape but with no way down.

The Sun Fish in the Ocean, yet no matter where it swam, neither down to the depths nor to that endless mirror surface, could it find it's beloved sun.

The Sea Fish sat in the Plains, flipping and splashing against the grassy sea, desperate to escape the sun, clinging to shadows for cold darkness.

The Sky Fish, resided in the Mountains, mostly unbothered, yet always looking to rejoin the sky, yet unable to fly for lack of clouds.

He had a hundred and forty pieces to play with, and though he understood the basics of each fish deeply, he didn't know what exactly this puzzle was trying to get him to do.

Some pieces were rivers, streams, hills, plains, mountains, forests and other distinct objects and natural phenomena, but their proper places were impossible to guess.

Would something like this even work, if it was a little off? 

There was no manual to the puzzle in sight either.

"Anytime now!" Constance's breathy shout came through as she deftly dodged a long arcing slash, reluctant to use her holy power, since it was unknown if those Masters above would be able to sense it or not.

His jaw tightened.

There must have been a hint.

His gaze flickered, investigating everything they laid upon.

Somewhere on the way perhaps? Had they missed it? Where was it? Where...

He turned around.

There was no way that builders as prestigious as those who made this place, and who had taken such care as to which way the Sun Fish were swimming, would leave an unsolvable puzzle.

The question was not if it could be solved, but if it could be solved by them, or if the hint that was left behind, was something only someone from thousands of years ago could notice.

The edges of each of the squares had connecting pieces, and some had no edge at all, and so, he quickly started placing them in a way where they could connect, giving at least the edge of the puzzle structure. 

But... there were too many pieces.

And some of the pieces had no connecting sides on any of the four sides, while others had seven sides, or eight, with too many connections, cross roads?

Were they crossroads? 

Where was it? 

Where was the hint?!?

He turned fiercely again and again, searching the whole room with his gaze amidst the desperate battle in the center.

It was a dark room, with pearl white stone, the path under them having changed. What was it? 

Where... was it? 

Devoid of vines or roots, this place was untouched by anything, and yet somehow some of these pieces were broken, how? How did they break? 

Where? ...His pupils shrank.

He slowly turned.

Yes, their armors were tattered, so ancient that they predated every civilization he could think of, but even so, the images, the crests on them, were still somewhat readable.

It required no language, simple sight would do.

But even that was not so simple for him in the state his body was in, the thick crushing headache threatening to burn a hole through his skull, or so it felt, he could only shout, "Armors!"

"What?!" Constance nearly had her ear cut off, her back muscles felt stretched by the exorbitant strain without her holy power to compensate her insane movements, she couldn't even look at him, only shouting.

Argo grit his teeth, his throat was raw, "Armors! What's on the armors!" 

It was too dark, and they were too fast for him to see, and he couldn't rouse any aura to help him, he was simply drained to the last drop.

Constance peered at her coming opponent, sliding past it's horizontal cut, she got an in close view of it, the clicking noises were loud and it was already moving, but she was able to catch it.

"Clouds! Clouds go North!" 

North? Argo turned around... North... North... Clouds... North...

He slid various pieces, onto the gear wheels on the door, Clouds go North, the Cloud Biome was in the South, Clouds migrate north, to where the Sky Fish was in the Sea Biome.

But once the Clouds have arrived in the Sea Biome, and the Sky Fish could go up, then the Earth Fish would be in the deep sea?

He looked at how many fish pieces he had. 

There were different amounts. He surmised that the number of Fish were the number of stops that needed to be made before they could find their way home.

"Mountains, West!" 

West? Mountains? 

Argo shook off his suspicions and put down the Sky Fish with the Clouds. There as no time to dawdle.

The Cloud Region in the South and all the pieces that he had slid into place for them to migrate, were thoroughly stuck tight, the edges around those pieces glowed with a powerful golden light! 

That golden light shone onto the walls of the room, more of those mechanical knights, amalgamations of gears and armor fell from the walls with their mighty weight, shaking the ground before dashing into the heat of battle.

Constance jaw tightened as her eyes narrowed from the sudden blinding light of these new golden knights, her throat was going dry as she shouted, "What the hell did you just do?!" 

"Next! It's going to get harder the closer to done the puzzle becomes!" Argo's eyes were already searching for the route from the Mountains, West, and getting all of the pieces together from the hundred left.

He was sorting through them like a madman, placing them down as soon as he found the ones he needed.

In the meantime, a blade had at least found it's mark, Constance's left arm had a long but shallow cut, but even that was a life threatening injury if she was not allowed to treat it, her speed significantly slowed down and her sword was not as quick to react.

Even so, her eyes continued furiously searching for the next clue, even in a hail of swords and steel, her eyes hadn't faltered as her own blood adorned the ground under her feet.

"READY!" Constance's ear twitched, and her eyes were turning bloodshot. She wasn't sure how much time she had left in her current condition.

She wanted to curse, but didn't even have time for that. Spinning through a storm of blades, her eyes searched their armors for the next clue.

It was there, she knew it. She just had to find it.

A deep brown color shone from the puzzle pieces, lighting up a new section of the room, the scent of tree roots and old dried leaves filled the room as more of those amalgamations fell from the walls to join the fray.

There were six to contend with now, and they weren't hindering one another, rather, their ability to move was beyond human despite their massively heavier forms, and their teamwork only grew as their synergies seemed to spiral!

And she couldn't use any magic or holy power.

She grit her teeth.

It was purely a test of skill... and she refused to lose.

She had not spent her whole life in the Church's isolation chambers, to fall here, to creatures of lifeless metals and soulless forms.

...Not here.

Elsewhere, Argo using the brief period of time she had bought with her stand, had finished organizing what was left of the pieces into piles that could easily be reached.

"West, East!" 

Argo's ears twitched and he looked up. His gaze darkened.

There was simply no way.

To go from West to East would overlap with another pathway he had already created, and there was no way to remove that piece, it was locked in already shining brilliantly.

It had to be something else? 

What was it? 

West had to go to East at some point? 

He went through it again. What had he missed?

The Sky Fish in the Mountains had been met by the Clouds which had drifted over from the South.

The Earth Fish which had come with the clouds was now in the Mountains, and needed to go West, to the Ocean, where the Sun Fish resided, but, if he went straight there, then the Sun Fish couldn't go directly to the Mountains.

However, it was said, and so he had done it.

The Sun Fish and the Earth Fish were now in the Ocean, and it had locked in, presumably correct.

Yet now the Sun Fish and Earth Fish needed to traverse the breath of the twelve by twelve east? 

He grabbed several pieces and started quickly making a pathway.

If the Earth Fish was indeed a fish of the marshes, than it would need to go somewhere close to the north, with the water to get under the clouds, and that was precisely what he did. 

Now on the other side, using hills and river placements nearby to make sure the ground was muddy enough, he started to move the Earth fish, which smoothly transferred over to the Plains, alongside the water from the Oceans rivers.

A verdant light burst from underneath the tiles, it was far more powerful this time, lighting up a big portion of the room as it seemed to blend with the existing lights! 

The Plains tiles flipped, turning into marshes.

The tiles pressed into the door, such that he couldn't grab them anymore. He turned slightly. The next set of amalgamations were already peeling off the wall.

At a glance, he understood that they were not normal.

These were different...

....On the bright side, he didn't need to wait for her to tell him what to do next.

The Sea Fish in the East, in what was now marshes, could move with some water present, and he prepared it's path North to the Mountains alongside the Sun Fish.

Constance caught a sword with the hilt of her own, it's blade cut her finger forcing her to drop the sword or lose the finger.

She could no longer feel her left arm, or move as fast nor as precisely as she wanted, though her mind was capable, her body was not.

Not after the bloodless.

And due to this... one of them had slipped by.

"Argo!" She screamed as she slipped a strike, now focused solely on dodging desperately as she was steadily overwhelmed by the synergy that the amalgamations showed in their assault.

He turned.

It was slow, the swords falling, and yet, he was even slower.

His pupils shrank.

Bloodloss? Hysteria? Exhaustion?

He could have attributed it to a thousand things, but regardless that sword was falling, and it was not in the slightest hesitant.

And yet, as it was about to meet it's mark, a pair of small hands pushed him with all they had.

The sword caught the back of his right arm, though shallow, it was a debilitating pain for his weakened mind to try and endure.

Even so, there was no time to waste. His body weighed the pain against his will to survive, and as he drew to his feet, the pain dispersed, though he knew the injury had not.

Charging it's back as it turned to cut the girl down, he sent it sprawling onto the ground, it's gears already severely damaged by Constance's relentless attacks only a few minutes ago, before the situation had grown so vile.

His eyes filled with malice, but he turned away, leveling a look on the girl for a split moment, he would have to correct her in the future, and so he noted it in his head, but threw it to the back.

There as no time to waste.

He finished the path from East to North, the Sea Fish piece moved along the path he had provided and ended up in the Mountains where it then descended down the path the Earth Fish had taken to the Sea.

The Sun Fish, grabbed that same pathway, rising up to the Mountains, and it locked in at the same time.

An ethereal multicolored light overwhelmed the pieces, the walls shook as more amalgamations peeled off! 

It hadn't stopped? Wasn't the door going to open now? 

Constance's injuries were growing. She was deathly pale, and her holy power was starting to manifest. She was about to take a gamble.

He had to figure something out, and fast.

But he didn't understand.

"...what..." He spoke on bated breath, his pale gaze searching for the answer.

Yet, he couldn't understand.

What was left?

He looked around, ripping up rubble.

But all the pieces were used up. There wasn't anything left and there was no space to place them, even if he somehow found something... Anything... His thoughts slowed.

The Amalgamation was slowly getting itself back up with difficulty.

As big as Awick... Giants. Giants. Mountains.... what about the mountains? What was everything with the mountains? 

He turned back to the gate, he took a deep breath and stepped back. It was a gamble... a very big gamble... he grit his teeth.

Constance had no more room to back up, another few steps and the battle would be on top of them.

It was do, or die.

At a ninety degree angle, he bent his back, lowering his head and raising his voice but not shouting, "My name is Argo Karlan de Moritorum. I humbly request passage for myself, and my companions."

"Argo?!" Constance took another three steps back in quick succession, her holy power was about to break out.

Had he finally gone completely mad?? Talking to a door? First it was being able to speak without words, then it was talking dogs, and now he was before a door, asking for it's permission to enter? 

She grit her teeth, almost wanting to laugh at the absurdity of it all.

She wanted to use her holy power, only a few more steps and there would be no choice, she couldn't bet on his insanity.

If there was no way out... then she simply had to make one, even if it meant destroying these Amalgamations and risking their positions being found.

The girl beside Argo bowed her head as well.

"She is a child who cannot speak. Constance, come here." Argo looked back at her with a calm persuasion, watching her with an even demeanor like a politician.

"Are you insane!?!?" She was not quite as composed, barely parrying a strike, she could hardly see now, but she was good enough to see that the more holy power she roused, the less options the amalgamations gave her, almost as though in response.

Her gaze darkened, and her jaw tightened.

...Talking dogs and wordless conversations. What was asking a door to open now? Was it really that strange?

She felt aggrieved that it wasn't, compared to everything they had faced so far, turning her back to the amalgamations, she ran the last few feet to the door.

There was no time to think of the long answer. And she couldn't even be sure that they would be beaten if she went all out.

Her heart was a complete mess, though, as she moved that short, yet seemingly endless distance to the door, she could only think back to her faith.

The Goddess had sent her here for a reason.

It gave her strength.

There was always a reason for everything.

She took those last steps.

She had to have faith...

Her voice was rough like a rake over coals, and her throat felt much the same as she spoke at speed, "...My name is Constance Evergreen. I apologize for my rude behavior. I am of the Plains."

Her heart was in her stomach, as she looked at the ground, sweating like a rain storm.

But the sword never fell.

The multicolored light surrounded them, as if a curious child, her bleeding stopped.

It was warm, cold, squishy, deep, vast...

...Her breathing grew smooth, and the rosiness in her face returned somewhat, as the bleeding came to an abrupt end.

She knew this sensation well.

Her head turned up, and her ears twitched.

The gate was opening, and the multicolored light was pouring through the crack, refreshing them. She hazarded a look backwards, where the Amalgamations had at some point fallen to their knees, stabbing their swords into the ground.

Their helmets were devoid of light.

...Click... Click... Click... Click...

She slowly turned.

...Click.