Chapter 35: The Princess is Dead
1433 Words
“T—Tristan, why? Have you known the clue already?”
The excitement that Tristan had exuded as he wrote the letters on the tables he made on the screen might have caused Tammy to look at him. After asking Tristan if whether he had gotten the clue, the other of his groupmates had looked at him as well. Wonderingly, they stared from his back. He was scrambling something through the screen as he grin—like how that mad man smiles while burying a Jester in the cellar; a classic story of Edgar Allan Poe.
“The mirror’s the clue.”
It was Rain who had answered Tammy’s question. Finally feeling sure that she had the right clue, she looked back to them from her stares at the domain of the fake mirrors. “There is a reason why our reflection in the mirror is with that manner.”
Caspian also looked at the domains of the mirror on his back. “You mean our upside-down reflection?”
“That’s the clue,” finally said Tristan. Still, he was writing the designated letters on each slot of the perfect box.
“But… how? Damn, am I being slow-witted here?” asked Timmy, a little bit frustrated.
“You see, the reason why we were not able to decode the message is that because we gave the usual approach to the Caesar’s box. But just like what Blaze said, it could have been modified. And it was. The upside down’s the clue.”
Hearing what Tristan said, the whole group started to froze. They felt the chill of excitement. Upside down. Little by little, they are now getting Tristan’s approach to this problem.
“That means we’ll have to invert the entries of the letters? Like our upside down reflection?”
“No. we’re going to put the arrangement of the jumbled letters as it is. Assume that the jumbled letters was our body. And then, the box was the mirror.”
“Okay… I’m getting it quite a hard way,” said Seven, still confused from what Tristan was doing.
“What we need to do first is to change the arrangement where the three blank slots could be located.”
“T—The blank slots located at the last three row of the box?”
Tristan nodded. “If it was on the last row of the box, then we will put those blank spaces at the first three rows.”
“Since it should be upside down,” said Caspian.
“Since it was upside down,” Tristan agreed. “Then we write.”
Tristan showed the final answer. Seeing the finished box with the correct allotment of letters in each slot, they have stared at it for quite a long time. And felt fascinated.
Written on the screen:
. S I S A U E
. I R U E O H
. S P A H N T
D S E C R W E
A E H E E O K
E C T B H R A
D N E D T C T
“Hey, there’s no message, man. Can’t see it,” said Timmy, tapping Tristan’s shoulder. Probably to comfort him from the false hopes he had acquired.
But peculiarly, Tristan’s grin was not being erased off of her face yet. Because his groupmates have missed the biggest clue that should be applied in the current problem.
“I told you the clue’s the upside down,” he said. Realizing that the clue wasn’t fully applied to the problem, it made his groupmates felt the frigid sensation of realization.
Without any hesitation, Rain was the one who went in front of the screen. She had switched with Tristan. She made a deep sigh first, then, she started to write the message that was decoded through the box—which was not easily found with a single, unthought glancing.
Seeing how she wrote the letters, other off their groupmates gasped in realization.
“H—Hey…”
She wrote the letters starting from the last slot of the box, then upwards. An upside-down way of reading the message. At first, she wrote it without any spacing between the letters.
TAKETHECROWNOUTHERHEADBECAUSETHEPRINCESSISDEAD
Then, when she was satisfied that she had gotten the message perfectly, she wrote it with its corresponding word.
TAKE THE CROWN OUT HER HEAD BECAUSE THE PRINCESS IS DEAD
“Holy s**t,” Timmy muttered.
“Yes, it was a holy s**t,” agreed Seven.
“Never knew we can arrange that insanely disorganized letter,” Blaze said, smirking and slowly shaking his head, as if in disbelief.
“B—But how… how did w—we get it that way? I mean… I can’t believe it,” Tammy said.
“No one could,” said Blaze. “Except of that two, of course.” His eyes landed towards the back figure of Rain and Tristan. Side by side, they stood, and stared at the screen, reading the message they have decoded.
“Take the crown out her head because the princess is dead,” read by Tristan. If his groupmates were celebrating their success of decoding the message, Tristan and Rain had another dilemma: what does the message mean?
Take the crown out her head because the princess is dead.
Was this a riddle? A poem? Or still another hidden message?
Tristan do not know. So is Rain. There were no existing other clue that could support the message, that is why it was still as vague as the mists sticking at the non-tinted windows during cold season.
“Hey, you two alright?” Caspian went towards Tristan and Rain, and then asked. He was concerned when he saw that their thoughts were flying away instead of celebrating for the successful deciphering of the coded message.
“Ah, yeah,” said Tristan, “it’s just that…” he contemplated, and then, “… nothing.”
“Well done, students.” Out of nowhere, a coarse, automatic-like voice had erupted behind the back of Tristan and his group. Quickly, they became alerted, and even made defensive stances. It was the black reaper who caught Amara defenseless, and made as the payback life if they fail to answer the ciphertext problem that was given to them. Luckily, they were able to answer it.
Remembering Amara, Tristan quickly scanned the place to find where she was. He found her on the same place where she was chained earlier. She wasn’t chained now, but she was lying on the floor and unconscious.
“Amara!” Tristan shouted. He was about to run towards her when Rain caught his arms and stopped him.
“Watch the reaper first,” she whispered.
Because of that, Tristan looked at the black figure on their front. He felt a compulsive weakening of his knees when he saw that its red eyes were looking at him; staring at him with undefined type of danger.
“Congratulations,” it said, once again. Its opened hands pointed at the hollow path that was blocked earlier. A snap of rolling sound emerged. As Tristan stared at the pathway, it was slowly opening.
“You can now rest and prepare for the second level of your quiz tomorrow.”
Tristan and Caspian quickly went at Amara. She was deeply asleep and could not be awaken. Because of that, Caspian decided to carry him.
“Are you sure? You still have your injury. And besides, you have deep wound,” Tristan said, concerned.
“I’m fine. Besides, with that frail frame of yours, do you think you could carry her?” Caspian joked at him.
“That’s not funny, but it has sense. Quick, we need to get out of here.”
The other of their group members were waiting at them near the exit path. Written on their faces was their extreme desire to get out of the place.
All that time they were moving, the black figure was just staring at them; observing their moves and actions.
“Hurry,” said Timmy who was waiting for Caspian and Tristan, carrying poor Amara. They were the last one who will get out of the room. The other, they had finally took the exit path.
“Remember…”
Tristan, Caspian, and Timmy stopped midway. The reaper that was still standing in the room had muttered something.
They looked at its figure—its red eyes, its skull head, its sharp scythe.
“Take the crown out her head because the princess is dead.”
- Writer
