The Tower's Secret

15. [Part 2] Unsolvable Mysteries

Thias rubbed his chin nervously, attempting to focus on the third puzzle before him. But couldn't, not with those eyes watching him. The eyes that belonged to the strange old woman who was currently sitting behind him next to Thaisa. His neck prickled; he knew worrying would do him no good, but his persistent skittishness nonetheless lingered in his mind.

The old woman's wispy grey hair was gathered in a fray, decorating white shriveled skin stretched across a small nose and high cheekbones. And those strange red eyes possessing an almost prescient quality...seemingly all-knowing eyes capturing any gaze in their depths.

Thias sighed. He and Thaisa had come upon the old woman when they first had entered the new terrain with the six doorways. The character was standing in the middle of the wide room, calmly gazing around, an atmosphere of serenity hanging around her. Like a statue, she made no move to attack. Uncannily strange—her demeanor—as though she was looking at everything through a veil.

Surprised at first, Thias had instantly stepped in front of Thaisa, bracing himself for danger. However, after waiting for a while, he noticed that the woman seemed to make no moves to harm, maintaining her ever-so-nonchalant expression.

Thias was nonplussed, having no idea how to deal with the old woman, for she was just standing there. However, at that time, the prickling the on back of his neck warned that he did not want her as an enemy. Thus, albeit his muddled uncertainty, he attempted to talk her into joining him and Thaisa. It was the strangest and hardest task he had ever done. As if he was speaking to a brick wall, his words seemed to go in one ear and go out the other. The woman had just stared at him, her eyes focused yet unfocused. Unattached. .

But in the end, maybe his efforts were not completely fruitless, for the woman did speak one word when he had asked for it. Her name: Agnes. She possessed a strange voice, imbued with both an aged tremor and a childlike quality.

And in the end, Agnes had followed Thias and Thaisa to their puzzle rooms. Since her first utterance, she still had not said anything else, but he thought that maybe—in her own conveyance—she had agreed to become their ally. Well, hopefully, her implied actions matched his conclusion.

Thias shifted his weight, brushing away the gaze he felt on his back and focusing intently on the puzzle in front of him. He could not afford to fail. A simple sentence lay before him, engraving on the wall in glowing letter.

A riddle:

"I am the beginning of eternity and the end of time. What am I?"

Thias was at a loss. Silent stretched onward, permeating the air and enveloping his body until the surge of blood in his ears became uncannily loud; he could almost hear the liquid clicks of his eyelids. This riddle did not make sense. How could the beginning of eternity also be the end of time? The question was just too ambiguous.

Frustration trickled in, building further as he attempted to make sense of the question. The previous two puzzles had been easier to solve. Now this... Thias knew there was an answer, but his mind was blanking.

Thias exhaled, glancing at Thaisa. "Have you figured anything out, Thaisa?"

Her wide eyes found his, looking uncertain. "I-I, um, no. I do not know the answer." She bit her lip, gazing at the ground below. "But I think you will figure it out," she added hastily. "You always have."

Thias's eyes swept to the old woman to ask next, but he paused. I think you will figure it out, Thaisa's voice echoed. She had told him that he would find a solution; she believed in him. Thias turned away from the old woman. Maybe his pride was affecting his judgement, but he regardlessly did not want to rely on another for help. He clenched his fists. He needed to solve this puzzle by himself; he needed to protect Thaisa.