Map: Part IX
Aaron stepped through the doorway and was met with a dark, descending stairwell. He flew down the steps, anxious to find the next puzzle and break Rosie out of her stone prison.
After a dizzying amount of twists and turns and a leg-numbing number of stairs, Aaron reached a landing. He couldn’t see much, even with his flashlight, just a vast amount of rock.
But then Aaron did a double take... a light switch? Tentatively, he flipped it, not even bothering to think about how it could be here.
Much to his disbelief and excitement, the space around him lit up.
Yellow bulbs flickered to life, casting a welcome but eerie light on the giant room Aaron stood in. It was cavernous, stretching on for what seemed like forever after being in the small stairwell.
The light sconces emerged boldly from the stone walls around him, and there must’ve been at least twenty of them around the perimeter of the room. The massive open space was broken up with columns which were carved into knights at the base then stretched up and up until they reached the ceiling.
Aaron switched his flashlight off and took a few steps forward in awe. In the center of the room there was a giant carving: a circle with an X through it.
He unfurled the map from his pocket, making sure it was the same symbol. It was. He had reached the second stage.
A pedestal rose from the floor just next to the symbol. Just like in the last room, a message was etched into the stone for Aaron, the explorer, to read.
“You have only one decision to make. Follow what you know; you may not undo your choice.”
Aaron cocked his head and stepped forward. On the pedestal was a strange contraption not unlike a wire animal cage. There were two compartments, the doors open, one with a wooden bird and one with a wooden telescope. Was this the choice he couldn’t undo?
After consulting the map and making sure there wasn’t anything else helpful in the room, Aaron felt he had to make a choice; Rosie was waiting for him.
Slowly, he picked up the bird, pulling it out of the cage. The cage doors slid down and locked with a click. Both compartments were closed. Aaron looked around, realizing that he had triggered something. A quiet groaning seemed to come from every side of the room.
His heart raced, and he wondered if he had made the right decision. If he could change it. But, strangely, all those fears were overshadowed by wonder. He still couldn’t believe this was real.
Read part I: https://theprose.com/post/243841/map