Legacy Of The Extra

The path became dark and narrow again, with no torches lighting up to pave the road before me. The blue glow of the lantern guided me through the shadows.\

[This passage is longer than before.] Dante remarked.

"Well, it is. The passages become longer after each puzzle." I said, dragging my palm on the hard surface of the wall, trying to find the other switch. "But we are close. The second room should be somewhere around here."

Click.

The sound of the switch echoed in the pathway. The walls rumbled before slowly descending to the ground with a noise as if stone ground on stone.

The entrance invited me to a new room, but this time the torches were already on burning with a fire brighter than the ones before. Tattered black banners hung from the wall with two curved blades that looked like Shamshirs crossed together—was woven into them.

I could tell by looking at them—they were old. Likely, this was here even before the Capital of Kaiserhelm was created. The Empire came into existence five hundred years after the Great Sovereigns' victory.

The Germainia Empire was established by the descendants of a Sovereign who fought alongside Aurelian. The second human Sovereign—The Sovereign of Steel, Germain Kaiserfalken.

His name was used later as the Empire's name—the Germainia Empire.

Well, enough of history. It is time for the second puzzle.

As my footsteps echoed inside the room, my eyes locked onto the two figures that stood ten metres apart from each other. Both of them wore a steel-plated armour with their faces—if they existed—covered by the helm. Both were standing in front of two wooden doors carved with intricate patterns.

The two of them were holding a long polearm with a broad, single-edged blade design for slicing or sweeping attacks. It looked like a sword affixed on top of a stick—Glaives.

My vision then shifted between the two—on the wall that glowed with a pulsating golden light, saying something in the ancient tongue.

"One says the truth, the others lie. Find the one that says the truth."

As soon as I read out loud the words, the two guards' bodies moved with a slow cranking noise.

"The door to the truth is the right path." The deep voice of the left guard reverberated in the room. His clunky armoured hands pointed towards the door on the right.

My gaze then shifted to the guard on the right, whose helm moved to convey his word. "The door on the left is false."

"Well, this is interesting..." I murmured, my gaze looking at the two of them. "Now, I have to find the liar between the two."

[Not going to lie—this seems easy.] Dante said with slight amusement.

"It is actually pretty easy," I replied with a smile. "If the guard on the left said that the door on the right is true, then he might actually be the one saying the truth."

"But there is a slight issue here..." I looked at the right guard. "He said that the left door is false, which is true if the guard on the left is telling the truth."

[It contradicts—because both of them cannot say the truth as the rules suggest.]

"Jackpot." My smirk deepened as I continued. "But if we assume the guard on the right is saying the truth, then the left guard must be lying?"

"But the guard on the left said the same shit just indirectly. Then the correct answer is..." I looked towards the pulsating light. "Both of them are lying. And it is I who is saying the truth."

[Wait, that is not what I meant...]

"What? It is the answer..."

[How?] He asked.

"See the rule first, 'One says the rule, the others lie'."

[Wait, I get it now.] Dante's voice rang with realisation. [The 'others'—it means that the truth teller is not only between the two but everyone present in the room.]

"Correct. I pointed out the lie, and hence, I told the truth." My gaze flickered to the wall, the golden light dimmed, and the wall rumbled, revealing the new entrance and the path to the last room—the last puzzle.

I tapped on the lantern again, the blue light now glowing brighter than ever. "Let us go to the final and easiest one of them all. 'The Sovereign's Place'."

—

—

After walking in the darkness for more than thirty minutes, I finally stumbled upon the switch that unlocks the door to the room of the third puzzle, and I clicked on it.

Once again, the path rumbled as the wall dropped, merging with the ground below. The room inside was already lit with seven fire torches, each casting a shadow on the seven statues present in the room—Six on the sides and the other in the middle, covered by grey rods with a small round table in front of it.

All the statues stood atop a small pedestal that reached to my waist at least. With eight of them being present—Seven stood below the statues while the eighth remained empty.

I stepped inside, looking at the humanoid statues on the pedestal in front of me. Approaching one of them, I smiled with recognition. "Long time no see..."

The statue I stopped in front of had spiked armour covering the man's lean body. He had a huge polearm in his hand with its sharp rear plunged into the stone of the pedestal. The front had a spear blade with a side of crescent-shaped blade resembling an axe.

The statue's face was accurate—sharp and handsome, framed by long hair cascading to his shoulder. But what stood out as the most recognisable were his long and pointed ears. It had not been too long since I had met him and almost died to him.

"Arvax Elvaron Frostmarch, The Frost Sovereign."

[Would you look at that? Even his statue is handsome.] Dante remarked, with which I had to agree.

My eyes then shifted below his feet onto the pedestal, where an empty square was present as if a piece was missing from it. Well, that is the puzzle after all.

Turning from Arvax, I looked at the statue that stood in the middle of it all. A statue that always remained a mystery. It was at least seven feet tall without the pedestal. His face was empty as if eroded by time.

He wore something like scaled dragon armour with a sword that looked like a bigger version of the Cinquedea, plunged onto the head of what looked like a person. The head that rolled below his feet wore a pristine white mask with no marks or sigils.

It was the item that I had come for—The Mask of Deceit.

But it was out of reach as the statue was surrounded by big grey rods which looked like nothing special, but they were imbued with a magic that could drain one's life force when touched.

My eyes then fell on the small round table, six square-shaped plaques that looked like they were carved out of stone were placed on it. Each had different ancient letters carved on it, glowing with a faint silver light.

A small smirk played at my lips.

"Time to get what I came for."