Battle Against Sphinx

Chapter - Four

Julia

We all sat bewildered as he finished reading it. He slowly took the paper again and came towards us. “What does he mean by we’ll stay here until we finish the tasks ? Can we never get back?” the other guy asked. I didn’t even know what to reply. “ We just can’t let him control our lives like that” she said.

“ Let’s search the hallway. I’m sure we will find a way out of here” I said and they all nodded. We started looking around and grasping our surroundings for a while. There was a huge, beige color sofa ahead of us. A tea stand beside it with some cactus. The walls were almost completely made of wood. Who uses wood for the walls ? Behind me there was a huge bookshelf with only a few books kept there.

We stood up and started walking . I noticed that we took up different directions. “ Let’s not go alone. Let’s go in pairs.” I suggested. “ Ok . I’ll go with you. Let’s meet up back here.” The first guy told. I agreed and we left towards our left.

“By the way, I’m Paxton” he introduced himself while looking straight ahead. “Julia” I said and he nodded. We walked up a while and then noticed that there was a door. We looked at each other and then bolted towards the door. We didn’t have much luck. It was locked and ahead of us was a wall restricting our path.

We turned back to the hallway. The other two were already there by the time we reached. “No luck , there was nothing there. I don’t even know why they have kept up a pathway when there is nothing” the other guy said. “Ours is almost the same , but we found a door. Not to our luck but it was locked.” Paxton explained.

“ For now, we don’t have an escape . We are trapped for real.” The guy said and the girl was already tearing up. I really can’t understand how she composed herself just as fast as she starts getting emotional. We just stood there thinking about what our next move should be. “ I think we should do this. We don’t have another choice. We don’t have an escape. Maybe after going to the next level we might get a way to escape.” The other guy suggested and even though I wanted to slap him and bring him back to his senses, I know he was right.

“I don’t know about you guys but I’m really hungry and will do anything to get food right now .” Paxton said and all our stomachs grumbled in response. “ Fine then let’s do it. But we should always discuss and take each and every step cautiously.” I said and they all agreed.

“Why not start by introducing ourselves. We don’t know when the letter will come” the guy said . We stood in silence for a while thinking who should go first. I decided I will. “Let’s sit down. I’ll start” I said and all of us sat down.

“So, I’m Julia Roberts. I’m 17 years old and I’m an aspiring photographer. I’m from Orleans” I started off. “Where is it ?” Paxton asked. “ France. So, I love photography and I want to specialise in nature photography/ landscape photography.” “How did you land up here?” the guy asked.

“ So, there is this contest called 'lens creative' which is conducted every year in France and the winners get a huge scholarship to got the most prestigious college for photography 'Lens School of photography' in France. The main topic for that was any far away landscape . No one would have visited or uploaded about it. The same time I saw on the net about this place and then immediately decided to come here . Frankly there weren’t any photos , only descriptions and reviews”

“ Hey look” Paxton said and pointed ahead. A letter was lying in between the cactus and the table. We all went and took it. This time it was Paxton’s turn to read it .

' Hello my lovelies,

As I said you have received your first task. Go left and you’ll find a locked room. There is a keypad opposite to it covered in paint. Just remove the top part and the whole thing will come out . The password is the first letters of your names going in the order your arrivals.

As soon as you enter the door another door will be awaiting you. It will also have a keypad and you have to enter you answer in there to enter. Enter all the answers on capitals .

Here is your riddle :- 

A TING THAT VIEWS THE SAME WORLD DIFFERENTLY

Good luck my lovelies.’

We ran towards the door and stood there. Paxton scraped off and brought the key pad to view. “So who among you two arrived first” he asked me and the other guy. “Me” the guys said. “Miles”. “ I came next , Julia” I said. He typed our first letter and turned to the girl . “Zara” she said and then he said his name aloud and typed the letters “Paxton”

We heard a loud screech and then the door opened revealing another silver door.