House of Anubis: House of Pasts

House of Tablets/House of Lies

That night, while Nina tried her best to relax, she found herself falling asleep and drifting off into a nightmarish vision.

The atmosphere around her seemed pretty shaky. The room she was in had dim lighting with a bluish-green hue. The ground was smooth and emerald-colored, and the ceiling stretched up beyond viewpoint. She heard whispering in the back of her mind, but couldn't yet make out what they were saying.

Straight ahead from where she was standing, a statue of Thoth stood with dust and light defying physics and orbiting around it. In the right of the statue sat a tablet. Actually, piece of a tablet. It was an emerald color as well with writing on it.

"The Emerald Tablets," the voices in her head whispered distinctively.

Nina inched toward the piece, holding her hand out to grab it, but before she could, the scenery changed to another room. A familiar room. It was the main foyer of Anubis House, and she was there with Eddie. On the ground was the tablet which she saw a piece of before, but now it was almost complete. The last piece was in her hand. She looked up at Eddie who was waiting for her to connect the piece. She hesitated, but as she did, the door to Anubis house busted open.

Whispering grew loud in Nina's head, almost to some type of shrill, and it began to hurt. Black, sinister smoke came rolling in through the door. Nina looked back at Eddie, but he'd disappeared. Anubis house actually began to disappear, and before it was too late, Nina connected the last piece to the tablet.

Everything around Nina exploded into shattering bits.

She woke up with a start, panting. Even as jittery as she was, she turned on the lamp next to her bed and quickly grabbed her computer. Her fingers danced across the keyboard as she searched 'the emerald tablets', bringing up several results on Thoth's supposed fifteen tablets.

They were all made of emerald with hieroglyphics carved in them. His tablets had titles like "The Key of Wisdom", "The Seven Lords", etc. But what particularly caught her eye was "The Key of Time."

She clicked on that phrase to open the hyperlink which lead to English text of what the tablet actually said. It was written in stanzas but stretched on like a narrative. Even so, Nina read through it all.

What she gathered from it was that time doesn't change, nor do happenings in time, but external forces can change time. Also, Thoth aspires for all humans to be of light or good, but ultimately choose their own path, whether it be good or evil. Thoth also wrote about how he strived to understand time and to do so, he had to see it from a perspective not in time. Time is not moving, but rather things move through time and each thing is confined to its own experience.

Nina combed her fingers through her hair as she thought about this. Could it have possibly had something to do with what William and Amber were hiding?

~~~~~
Eventually, Nina called all of Sibuna over for their meet. Everyone showed up, and as soon as the last person arrived, they officially began.

Before telling everyone about her dream, which by Eddie's expression, she could tell he had the same dream, she confronted Amber and William about their issue.

"Eddie and I've decided that if neither of you reveal what you're hiding," Nina stated, "that Amber will officially be kicked out of Sibuna."

"What?" Amber gasped.

It also took the others by surprise, but they didn't revolt against it.

That was until Jerome argued, "Oh, come on, you can't kick her out. She's been a Sibuna member for the longest out of most of us. She came up with the name for god's sake; you can't do this to her!"

"Only if we don't get answers," Nina repeated.

All attention was on William and Amber, Amber more specifically. Even though everyone was already paying attention, Amber announced, "I have something to say!" She stood to her feet. She glanced around nervously, and before proceeding, her last glance was at William. "The secret..." Amber's voice faded out. She swallowed and recollected herself. "The secret William and I've been keeping from you is that-we're dating."

"What?" William whispered to himself so no one could hear.

In that moment, Jerome's heart dropped.

Amber continued. "Everything else you heard about not going back into the past and potentially destroying the world-that was just a cover up for you to think-" Amber's voice faltered as she slightly hyperventilated. "-to think we were hiding something that had to do with the mystery. It was all just a scam." Amber heaved a deep breath as she gulped and felt herself turn hot and red.

"But that doesn't make any sense..." Nina trailed.

Jerome was trying to comprehend what he just heard and if it were true. He began to ache and grow hot inside and had quicker breaths. Before he broke into tears, he sped out the apartment right past Amber.

Amber nearly cried herself as she stood there awkwardly, fiddling with the bracelets around her wrists. All eyes were on her, and she felt pressure growing on her. By lying, she just risked her and Jerome's relationship. All of a sudden, she felt so selfish. She felt if she told the truth, she'd be kicked out of Sibuna anyway. She just couldn't stand being kicked out more than she couldn't stand being with her own boyfriend.

She had to go explain. She spun towards the door and tried going after Jerome. Even in her heels, she scurried to find him, followed by everyone else. She fanned herself with her hands as she grew even more hot.

By the time she found him, Jerome was in the middle of the courtyard right outside the apartments.

"Jerome! Jerome!" she called as she approached him. The others kept a little distance away.

"How could you Amber?" Jerome asked, still not looking at Amber. "What did I do to deserve this?"

"Jerome, let me ex-"

"-plain?" Jerome finished, finally turning around to face her, revealing tears and a distraught expression. "You explained enough back in the apartment-"

"-no, no! Jerome, if you'd just listen-"

"-you said you were cheating on me with William!" Jerome wiped his face with his hand. "You don't know what it's like to lose things, Amber!" Jerome cried aloud, suddenly going on a frenzy. "You don't know what it's like to be abandoned and watch everyone you love leave you! You don't know what it's like-you'll never know what it's like, but I know it too well! Why does it have to happen to me again, Amber? Why do you do this to me?" Jerome's voice had dropped soft.

Amber began crying as she tried to make a response. She really regretted the lie she'd come up with about her dating William, and now she was confused on what she should do.

"I never want to see you again." Jerome turned around and hurried away.

Amber sniffled as she wept to herself. She brought this upon herself, and so she was paying the price. The cold, heartbreaking price. She watched as Jerome got in his car and drove away.

~~~~~
What a chapter! I wonder what's going on through your heads...

Anyway, before I start the discussion questions, I'd just like to say I spared you guys from a very long document with the tablet Nina researched. Trust me, it's very long, and there's fifteen of those things on different topics, so...yeah, it's a lot. But
if you'd like to read it, you can always look up 'Thoth emerald tablets', particularly the 'Key of Time' which is like the 10th tablet.

Besides that...

What do you think that emerald tablet actually does?

Should Amber have used that lie, in your opinion?

Do you like seeing Jamber apart, or were you heartbroken to see them split?