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1010 Words
Liz tapped her foot, but Susanne spoke up. “First rule of puzzles in Minkalla is that our AIs will either be shut down or ineffective at solving said puzzles, if they’re even allowed. Since our AI still work as much as they ever do, it’s either not a puzzle, or our AI won’t help.”
Aster offered up her idea, “What if we do a lap together?”
They all agreed, but before they left, they stacked a series of stones to indicate where the entrance was. This place was already warping space, so having a marker wouldn’t hurt.
What they found as they made another lap around the pyramid was disconcerting. Where Matt had found nothing on his first walkaround, they now encountered a new entrance. Their little pile of stones was also noticeably absent.
The entrance, while blocked off from this spiritual perception, was noticeably less dangerous than the last one, but all of them agreed that it was still noticeably off.
When they returned to the spot where Liz’s and Susanne’s entrance should have been, they once again found nothing but bare walls. No stacking of stones, and no entrance.
Matt paused and looked around for a long second.
He had realized something on his trip around the pyramid, and he didn’t like the implications.
Wanting to be proved wrong, he asked Susanne, “When did we get married?”
As he asked, he projected the thought, ‘Right before we came to Minkalla, in case something went wrong.’
It was something he and Liz had considered but discarded. They wanted a proper wedding with all their friends in attendance. That wasn’t even considering her parents, nor the fact that they would want to be there. But they were incredibly busy due to Emperor Emmanuel’s absence. As the Empire’s only two Tier 48’s, they were his second in command, and had their plates full with his attending of Sword Saint Hastor’s and Dicomaty’s Ascensions.
Dicomaty had ascended not long ago, and last he heard, they were just arriving at the Clans capital, but Sword Saint Hastor still hadn’t completed his ascension yet.
Susanne, as he expected, said what he feared. “Are you okay, honey? We got married right before we entered here.”
Hearing that, Matt crushed the talisman he had in his fist and summoned his sword, just as ice appeared around him and Aster.
He seemed to take the fake Liz and Susanne off guard, because his sword and Aster’s icicles took each of the fakes in the chest.
A wash of Genesis Energy hit him and Aster, and he sighed, looking at his friends’ mutilated corpses. Or at least, the copies that Minkalla had created.
It took returning to Liz and Susanne’s location for him to realize the issue. If walking around the pyramid brought you to a new location each time you turned a corner, he should have never met up with Liz and Susanne.
Either the rules hadn’t happened to work for them, as they were separated, or the two of them were illusions. Thankfully, Minkalla couldn’t read the past and didn’t even try, so simple tricks like projecting thoughts about one falsehood was usually enough to expose its lies. It was worrying that Minkalla could so flawlessly act as his friends, complete with their AIs. But if it was from the higher realms, even the most secure messages would be like child’s play to intercept.
The fake duo vanished in a second now that he had taken the Genesis Energy from them, leaving two-quarter circles of stone in their places.
Aster whined as he picked up the drops. “That was scary. Can we go back to where we were?”
Matt nodded, and at his fastest boosted speed, sprinted around the pyramid to their original landing spot. He was reassured by the fact that he encountered both false entrances and a stack of stones along his way.
When he and Aster returned to where they split, they ended up waiting for nearly half an hour before Liz and Susanne came around the corner.
Matt readied his sword and cast his strongest [Bulwark], keeping his mind as blank as possible as he demanded through their now established AI connection, “Report?”
Liz and Susanne both handed their weapons at the ready, which comforted him, and even though Aster kept her summoned ice at the ready, they were both fairly sure that these were the originals.
“Encountered false yous who tried to lead us on a trip around the pyramid, which was creating new sides or something.”
Matt hunkered down as he asked, “Did you get anything from the false copies? Two-quarters of a square?”
Liz’s answer reassured him slightly. “Half of a circle. When did you buy me the ring on your finger?”
Matt smiled as he answered the trick question. “We earned it together.”
Their paired teleporting rings weren’t in fact earned by the both of them; he had earned them himself. But if Minkalla was creating copies, the lie would hopefully be easily noticed.
A double lie about their rings was one of their preset answers that they had established before they entered Minkalla.
Liz didn’t approach at his lie and asked, “What city did we meet at?”
This time Matt told the truth. “A training planet hardly counts as a city.”
Liz lowered her weapon and approached cautiously. “What is your favorite ice cream.”
Aster answered this one. “Right now, bananas and strawberries. No…actually that was last week. Right now, I really want some apple fritters ice cream. Mmm, that sounds good. Did I pack any of that away? Oh, of course I did!”
Liz was reassured at the rambling answer and approached.
Dropping his guard, he and Aster met up with the real duo. Now that Minkalla had started to make copies, they would need to do this testing any time they left each other’s spiritual perception.
- Writer
