Battle Against Sphinx

Chapter - Three

Julia

I saw visuals from my childhood . Those were the best moments of my life. The times when I used to play and laugh with my twin brother Julian. He was the best brother I ever had. He used to take care of me just like an elder brother. Even though I was just four minutes younger to him , he treated me like I was four years younger. It used to feel stupid yet good .

I saw us playing in the sand with toys, sand and a bucket. We both were building a tunnel under the palace our dad had built for us. We were giggling so much. He was completely covered in sand and I on the other hand was dressed in sand up to my legs.

I suddenly jerked up and saw that I was sleeping on the floor and not my usual fur bed. Where am I? I sat up and grasped my surroundings. I was in a huge hall . It looked modern yet it had a tinge of traditional effect to it. That’s when I came to my senses and remembered what had happened. We were trapped by some guy who called us 'lovelies'. He made us unconscious by spraying some gas all over the place. And now , we are in the middle of a huge hallway.

I properly rubbed my eyes and then checked again to see the other people sleeping peacefully near me. I think he carried us here. I don’t even know if we are at the same place or did he ship us somewhere else. I thought of waking up the girl but then remembered the way she was crying. I don’t think waking he up is a good idea since I’m very bad at handling cry babies.

I jerked up the guy who came with the girl. He jerked up and saw me and the surroundings. He took his time to take in all the aspects and start remembering everything that had happened with us . I gave him his moment and didn’t utter a word.

Finally he opened his mouth to say something but no words fell out. He cleared his throat , “ I really don’t have any words to describe what I feel right now” he said and I nodded in agreement. “ What do we do? Should we wake them up too?” I asked and this time it was his turn to nod . I woke up the other guy and we did the same thing, gave them their time.

I knew it was a bad idea to wake the girl up since I noticed tears dwelling up again I’m her eyes. We didn’t know what to do but she composed herself and spoke “ What do we do now ? Where are we ? Does anyone have any idea what is going on?” she asked trying to keep herself calm.

“No but I think we should ….” He stopped mid sentence and started staring at something. All three of us traced his sight and saw a letter lying on the floor few feet away from us. We looked at each other and finally the guy went and picked it up.

He stood there and started reading it aloud.

' Hello my lovelies,

I hope you all have woken up fresh . Now, let me cut straight to my point. As I said earlier you guys are here to complete the tasks I give. If you successfully complete them then you are allowed to go back and resume your life . If not then you’ll stay here until you finish .

The task, or let me rephrase it. Your game goes about like this.

I’ll be giving you a riddle to solve and once you solve it you’ll be going into the next level. As a reward for your completion of the levels you’ll be getting food , water or any sorts of beverage and ONE SECRET OR AN INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR PAST OR YOUR LIFE.

It might help you connect your dots or ruin you , break your trust or rebuild it. This is a very big journey and I’m sure you’ll be making and breaking relationships.

Your first task will be given to you by tonight. Take rest and enjoy the luxury of the hallway because you’ll never go back there again.

Good luck my lovelies.’