A Land Of Sea

Riddles of Past

"Hello Grian."

A familiar blond haired man faced Dream through the door. He gave a small grin, and Dream returned it with a weak smile. The circumstances he was here under weren't the greatest, after all.

"Dream! To what do I owe this unexpected visit?"

"Phil sent us." Dream replied, stepping aside slightly to show the others with him.

Grian's smile disappeared, and he turned back into the large building as if it were his home. He called out to someone unseen, motioning the group to follow him inside.

"Mumbo, open the vault! We've got company."

After a bit of shuffling a taller figure appeared, presumably Mumbo, who took one glance at the newcomers in the room before disappearing into a small door beneath a set of stairs.

Dream took the opportunity to look around. The door opened into a large, empty space. Benches of an unknown type of wood decorated it, piled with whatever wouldn't be stored in normal chests. It looked like in another life the open floor would be used as a dance floor, but here this was not the case.

Painting lined the walls, as well as item frames, shelves with pots, and more. The one final thing he noticed was a small contraption in the corner, maybe as tall as his waist and just as wide.

Dream couldn't make out what it was or what it could do, before they were pulled through the same doorway Mumbo had gone through earlier.

It was much smaller, more like a closet, but on one wall was it covered with buttons and levers galore. But when he turned around, that was when his jaw dropped.

A small doorway, empty of a door, led into a massive concrete space. Maybe the size of an entire house alone, it allowed for several hallways to open into it. At the back was another doorway, much taller and wider, showcasing a staircase that sloped downwards from here- the stairs alone could match the width of a small fishing boat.

By the looks of Grian and Mumbo, that was where they were headed.

Once Dream had finished marveling at the sheer obscurity and monstrosity of the place, he looked behind him to check that Ranboo, Fundy, and Ant were still with him.

Satisfied with that, he followed behind the pair; They looked quite funny up against each other: one standing taller than Dream himself, and the other looking to be nearly a foot shorter.

Ranboo walked beside him as they crossed the room and dove deeper underground, the scent of the air quickly becoming stale and dark in comparison to the grand building above.

"How do you know this guy?" Ranboo whispered, out of reach for anyone but his target to hear.

Dream replied bitterly. "We've met before. I don't like him much, but he's all we've got, and Phil says he's good. He bested me in a fight once, you know." He added the last part with a pained hesitance, not wanting to admit it.

As the stairs bottomed out, it led into what could only be an even larger room. It wasn't as bare as the one above, and it had a bit more coziness to it thanks to the light carpeting and softer light sources. Instead of hallways going through it, doors lined all four walls-save for the entrance they came from.

Now that Dream thought about it, he could hear voices, other then their own. As they passed each door, a variety of noises could be heard. Behind one: two voices, one male and one female. Another: some repeated clicking sound, and a frustrated man speaking to himself. He couldn't catch what any other door held, but he assumed it was more of the same.

Mumbo shuffled ahead of Grian, disappearing into a room on the right, as the shorter of the two continued on and led them through one of the doors farther down the left side.

They walked into a room that felt far too cramped for the large space it was in actuality. Shelves of books lined the walls on all sides, and where there weren't books, there was an assortment of maps, clocks, compasses, and other navigation tools. It looked much like the study they'd been in at Philza's, but grander.

Taking in the mess, Dream could only assume it was majority Grian's workspace.

Wasting no time with introductions and icebreakers, Grian gestured to Dream for an explanation, and the blond complied. He reached into the depths of his coat pocket, pulling out the same weathered parchment he had before.

"This, is the map to Merlin's treasure." Pausing to allow the engineer to take that in, he then went on. "Well, only part of it, I suppose. That's why we're here. We need your help."

This forced the short man to look up with something that could be described as perplexity. "And how do you expect us to assist you in this? Not to mention, this has been sought after for decades-centuries even-and no-one has ever come close to finding it!"

Ranboo chose to butt in here. "Ah, ah, ah, don't forget about the council. Rumor is they were close enough to find one of its guardians."

"Yes, and then they were never heard from again!" Grian countered.

"Look, all I need is a translation, alright? You can let us die on our own if you really want, but I for one can't read latin. Sure, we could use the translations people have made in the past, but I don't exactly trust random scammers who have nothing to prove themselves with."

After contemplating his options, Grian sighed and turned around to rummage through a drawer or two. Pulling out a magnifying glass, he hunched over the map and examined it carefully. Slowly, he read out the saying that splayed across the edges of yellowed, worn paper.

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"To find eth.. y- yoond? which points nirith the might not but seeketh the opposite! What does that mean?"

"Oh shut up Tubbo, you read it all wrong. Let me see it-"

"Hey! You can ask nicely you know!"

"To findeth yond which points n'rth thee might not but seeketh the opposite."

"Yeah, that's what I said!"

"So what does it mean?" Tommy poked at Dream for a response, but got no answer from the man lost deep in thought.

To find what points north, you have to seek the opposite.

To findeth yond which points n'rth thee might not but seeketh the opposite.

Grian couldn't have misread it, right? So what on earth did this mean...

Dream didn't have long to think, as the group approached the Silver Morrow Perfidia ahead. He could never help but smile when taking in the SMP's full glory, and this time was no different.

Frustrated with dissatisfaction of not understanding the riddle, but content with being one step closer (no matter how minute the step), he pulled himself aboard his ship.

Now all he had to figure out, was where the hell they were going next.

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Word Count: 1179
Date: 05/08/21

Haha heyyyyyyyyy totally didn't ignore this for however long cause I didn't know what to wriiiiiteeeee

Also yeah yeah 17 chapters in and no dnf, trust me, you'll get some soon I promise

Fun fact about me, you shouldn't trust my promises 😎

Okay byeeee