The Search for Knowledge: New Beginnings

Chapter 34

The party quickly set about examining the room, trying to find any clues or hints to solving the puzzle they had been thrust into. It did not take long for them to find the only clue in the room, a sign next to the gate that read as such: "All for One. One for All."

"Oh gods, this is one of those puzzles that you have to play with to figure it out, isn't it?" Sheeron groaned.

Kara rolled her eyes at him, "It's fine, let's just work it out bit by bit."

Toley and Feera were examining the pillars and, as usual, without much thought, Toley decided to push one of the buttons on the pedestal. Feera looked at him curiously and after a moment, the hand indent on the pedestal turned red, similar to the door to the portal they had entered. After a few more moments, the pedestal went back to its natural state. The boy then pressed down two buttons next to each other at the same time, however, only one of the buttons lit up.

"Wait! Be careful, you have no idea what could happen if we do something wrong here!" Kara said, panicked, while running over to the two.

"It's fine Kara, see? I've already pressed two of them and nothing happened." Toley said light-heartedly.

"Not that you can see! What if you pressed one of those buttons and it slowed our time down here so that when we leave several hundreds of years have passed or something? This is a puzzle from the primordial god of time, anything could happen." She gave an exaggerated example to serve as a warning. The primordial gods were generally benign beings, she doubted one would do what she said. However, the god did warn them that they either complete this puzzle or die and wished for time to be on their side. That could also be a hint or a warning.

"As much as I hate to agree, Kara could be right. Clearing a world dungeon has never been an easy feat, there's no way it's as simple as pushing a few buttons to finish this," Sheeron cautioned Toley, "Just like in a fight, keep your wits about you."

Toley nodded, with a look on his face like he had just been scolded by his parents. "Well, what do we do then?" He asked in a more serious tone.

"I think Toley had the right idea. The buttons aren't here for no reason, they have to have something to do with the puzzle and there's nothing here telling us to be careful with them." Feera chimed in, directly countering what the other two had said. "For all we know, we're supposed to solve this puzzle within a certain amount of time, otherwise we die."

Kara winced at the idea. It was certainly within the realm of possibility, especially given it was the God of Time and what it had warned them of before entering. "Fine, fine. Let's figure out what to do with the buttons, but let's take it in steps and be careful. I'm not losing anyone else."

This time, it was Feera's turn to wince. The wounds of Rox were still fresh in her mind, she partially blamed herself for what happened. If she had just not gotten greedy, not gone for the kill, she might have been able to stay in the fight long enough to prevent him from being stabbed. Feera forced herself to shake the thoughts from her head. No, it was too late. Regretting things now, wondering about 'what ifs' weren't going to help. The party member that she drank the night away mere days ago with, snuggled up to in her sleep with, was gone. Nothing was going to change that.

"So what steps do we take, Princess? Is that intelligence ability just for show?" Sheeron teased, trying to get her to take command like her usual self.

She glared at him, successfully galvanized into action she activated the ability. She took everything she could into account. The sign, what the god had said to them and what Toley had done with the buttons. She stared at the four pillars while playing with her long, lavender hair.