Chapter Eight, The Start of the Puzzles

And indeed, for the next few weeks, the four friends had been hiding, camping, eating, drinking, and traveling in real, actual forests. As in forests that were never explored before-- until now.

Even though they (at least Sophie and Emma) had been trying to keep their hair tidy, it still looked like a bird had built a nest in there. They all had dark shadows underneath their eyes, for they had not slept properly since they were "on the run," as Fred and George had put in. Even the Yearwoods' bright blue eyes and Sophie's hazel-nut colored ones lost some of their usual brightness. They were all paler than usual, since they had pretty much not seen daylight the whole time; the trees were so thick they had blocked out most of the sunlight.

This day, exactly three weeks and five days away from the night they had ran out (Sophie had a countdown calendar hidden in her backpack; she wanted to keep track of time) of the village, they had camped by a weird lake-slash-river like thing, and also looks like a waterfall for some very strange reason. They still had some trouble completely figuring out which berries are edible and what animal is completely safe to attack and which kind is the best to ignore or not run into its way. But still, they had mastered the basics of it.

They abandoned their horses at the edge of the forest, since the hooves might have exposed their tracks. Sophie made sure they went back to the Yearwoods' stables.

Not abandoning, she promised herself, we'll see them again.

"You know, if we didn't succeed in finding the Kingdom of Light," joked Fred once, "I'm going to camping class. Then I'll pretty much be on the top of every topic. For once, I'll be good at something."

They had already set down the campfire place and the tents and sleeping bags down. Something about camping here gave Sophie the creeps. But still, when it came to her nightly job of collecting firewood, she got up and went deeper into the forest, where there are usually better and more twigs to use.

As usual, she took out her white pebbles she had collected and started to make a route towards the direction she was going. That way she would not get lost. As long as no animal thought the pebbles were food and ate half of it.

Smart way, really. It's like in Hansel and Gretal, when Hansel made a path with pebbles in case they get lost in the forest (but then failed when he used bread crumbs the next time; birds ate it. And yeah, Sophie realized that she's a bit too into fantasies and stories).

Sophie continued deeper into the forest. She knew that it would be the most dangerous there, but for some reason she had a feeling there was something good over there.

As she bent down to pick up some more twigs, her bones suddenly chilled. She heard a sound. She stood up, trying to hear what the sound was.

And she regretted it.

It was a bone-chilling, bloodthirsty voice of a hair-standing, bone-chilling, bloodthirsty ghost. Or ghost-like monsters. Whichever the worst.

Sophie froze.

"Come here…" said the voice, "I smell fear, I smell human, I smell blood… are you one? Are you the one? Even if you are not, you will still die…"

Sophie ran back so fast she probably broke the world record for the fastest runner. She tried her best not to scream, but she seemed to take no notice of what she was doing. Her voice was out of control (hopefully not bussy screaming) and her body seemed to do exactly the opposite of what she told it to do. She even forgot to take the pebbles with her (though she can always find some more… hopefully).

She ran and ran and ran.

And finally, dropped down to her knees, panting, she threw the twigs into the campfire, and let Fred do his magical fire-lighting thing.

"What took you so long? You know it's freezing here." hissed Emma.

"There… was… something… strange… in… there." said Sophie, trying not to die of suffocation.

"Like a big fat monster chasing you around the whole forest?" snorted George, "Listen, Sophie, that is the lamest. Excuse. Ever. In the history of excuses."

"Well, Mr. Know-it-all," snapped Sophie, "it actually was a big fat monster that wanted to kill everybody in there, so go ahead and deal with it yourself."

"It was?!"

"Yeah, it sounded like he was speaking another language, but for some reason I seem to understand it."

"Now tell me, what did the language sound like?" said a voice so suddenly that the four of them all jumped.

Hey, if you've been spending about four weeks in forests and mountains alone with only a few close friends, you'll be jumpy about a sudden voice, too.

"Who's that?" said Fred in alarm.

"Down here, dummies." snapped the voice.

They all looked down.

"What in the world…" said George.

"Is that the scroll?" Emma asked.

"Duh, of course it's me." the scroll rolled its eyes-- if that was possible, "One with a half brain would have figured it out about a minute ago."

"And also," continued the somehow-can-talk-now scroll, "I'm not the scroll."

"Then who are you?" said Sophie automatically.

"I," said the scroll humbly, "am the King of the Fairies, Ziggerastica. I help the Kingdom of Light by teaming up, so, technically, I am here to help you."

"And who turned you into something like a normal piece of paper again?" wondered Emma.

"That is another topic. You haven't answered my question yet. No one does not answer a question asked from me."

"First you need to tell us your story."

Ziggerastica sighed dramatically.

"Kids these days." he seemed to shake his head, "Especially humans. Strictly speaking, guardians are human too. We fairies rarely ask this many questions. So, the Dark Force used dark magic to turn me into a paper, and made very sure indeed that I can not turn back or escape. I could still talk though. Then my minion, or as you say, the Fairy Guardian of the Water and Magic, got trapped inside of me because the Dark Force did not recognize who I am. Don't ask; they can be pretty dumb sometimes. So, that is the end of my story. Now can you answer my question?"

"Then where is the fairy now? What relation does it have with me, because I do not want to have a fairy-pet that bosses me around, and also why haven't you talked before?" asked Sophie.

"That is another topic. Will you answer my question or not?"

"What was the question?"

"What did the voice of the monster you are talking about sound like?"

"Something that is like a snake about to attack, and also like it's a bloodthirsty ghost."

"Like I expected," sighed Ziggerastica again, "it is speaking in the dark language of the Serpent's Tongue. But how do you understand it?"

Sophie decided that not all fairies sigh that much.

"Like I should understand why." replied Sophie.

"I see… the language of the Serpent's Tongue is the mother tongue of the Dark Force (which, in case you still didn't realize what it is, is the Darkness, more specifically, Demons. Ring any bells?), it was originally called "Snake Tongue," which is the snake language (duh), but then one of the Elder Demon thought that the Dark Force should not use the same language that a snake, a dirty animal, uses. So proud he was of his own dirty Kingdom he didn't even respect an animal! Therefore, this Demon had created another language, based on the snake language, except with a few changes. For some weird reason, the proud old Demon didn't want to rename his new language, but indeed it became the mother tongue of the Dark Force years after. We, citizens of the Kingdom of Light, do not want to put their dirty language with the name of the language an animal speaks, so we call it the Serpent's Tongue. The Demons really are dirty serpents, you know." explained Ziggerastica.

"Well, that explains why I've never heard a snake just talking to me," said Sophie, "but it does not explain why I can understand the language. I don't even know what language it is! Until now of course. Besides, I don't want to be Harry Potter."

"Deal with it. The force of the Light influences some particular humans and inspires some elements of stories that actually exist."

"Maybe the monster is a minion of the Demons." said Fred, who was stroking the fire, "Now we will finally know how good the Demons are."

"Either way, I didn't plan to go visit the monster with a basket of fruit." said Emma flatley, "Sorry, but we are looking for the entrance of the puzzles, remember now?"

"Yes, but what if the monster is guarding the entrance of the puzzles?"

"That is just totally untrue. The puzzles are for a Guardian of the Kingdom of Light, not for a demon, so what is a demon monster doing here?"

"Emma does have a point, you know." said George, straightening his back, "But still, we need to be prepared. No questions. Sophie, you lead the way tomorrow night."

"Why at night?" asked Sophie.

"In case you can't find your way back. Then we will have to track it down by sound. Also it might only do it's stupid moaning in the dead of night."

~

The next day, the four friends finally got to sleep in the day whenever they wanted, since they did not need to rush to the start of the puzzles anymore. And for some reason, after they knew they were near the trail to the Kingdom of Light, they felt somewhat safer and more confident that the police won't catch them back anytime soon. Surely the Guardians had some sense to put some protection, magical or not, around their precious ID-confirming puzzles.

Around noon, when Sophie and Emma were playing in a nearby river, they heard an air-horn-like thing blast not so far off in the distance.

WHOMP.

WHOMP.

WHOMP.

This is a rule Fred had come up with. Basically, each of the four friends carry a seashell that can be blown (no idea why George had those packed in his bag), and different numbers of blows means a different code. Sophie guessed that the shells had more magic in them, or else the shell shouldn't sound like an air-horn.

Three blasts mean an emergency meeting.

No.1 rule of traveling together with the four friends: when there is an urgent meeting called, drop everything, and go. So, Sophie and Emma hastily wrapped on their jackets (the only thing that remained clean and whole; they don't usually wear jackets), tossed on their shoes, and grabbed their bags (which had their clothes tucked inside) while running like two maniacs towards the camp.

"Do you think the others met trouble?" asked a rather nervous Emma. After all, Fred and George are her siblings, no matter how crazy and how much Emma dislike their actions.

"I don't think so," said Sophie, "or else it would've been four or five blasts. Three means they think we need to change plans. Or at least, make one, 'cause we technically didn't even make up a plan A before we decided to run off and greet the monster thing. Not to mention a plan B."

What Sophie said was true. They should've spent at least one more minute on planning this trip. They didn't honestly think of any freaking monsters guarding so-called puzzles that are probably secret codes and math equations (which is not true; the puzzles are actually far harder than they think). Either way, they did not have any experiment on coming up with a stunning-ly clever plan at the last minute. Or always having a plan B even if it is even worse than the plan A. Or how to deal with freakishly scary monsters. Or how to deal with super hard missions. So, if you sum that up, they basically have zero experiments on out-door adventures. Sorry, but it's true. They fought way better in later days.

Anyways, when they arrived at the camp (far quicker than they would have done before they ran out of the village; being chased by danger all day will definitely help increase your speed), they found out that George had went off to investigate in a farther place, and Fred was the one who blew the shell.

"So," said Fred, writing some very complicated math formulas on the ground, "what's the plan?"

"What's that?" asked Sophie instead, pointing at the formula.

"Secret code. I've googled some secret codes that could be used on some mission thing, and I've been trying to understand the formulas, so that we can use them. Also if we have to compete for the school. You know, math. That's something worth bragging about."

"I sure hope you don't. I don't want mom shouting about your bragging everyday. My ears are going to bleed. And I won't ask why you even bought an electronic device--that'll help them track us down."

"Anyways, why did you call a meeting again? Or did you just want to show us how awesome you are at doing math formulas? Because I don't feel like learning math right now."

"Just asking. How are we going to find the monster and when are we going to?"

"We follow the pebbles. Could go at any time, honestly."

"You mean the pebbles you use when you go collect firewood?"

"Of course."

"Well, then, Sophie, there are no white pebbles at all. At least, not around here."

"How come?"

"I walked around."

"Well, Mr. I-am-so-smart, I only place pebbles when I can only barely see the campfire, you won't just find it at your feet, dummy."

"But, there's probably not even a single pebble around this whole forest." said George, who had gone investigating in the direction Sophie went last night.

"How come?"

"It's true," said Ziggerastica, who, they had just found out, managed to help the other fairy to separate from him and returned him/her back to his kingdom.

"We saw some paw prints, though." added George.

"But they stop at a certain point." said Ziggerastica, "And it didn't look like a Demon's Ride or Pet. Or any normal animal or monster. And the prints didn't make sense at all."

"Like it wasn't connected." explained George, who decided to let Ziggerastica do all the main talking, he himself just adding some not-so-important details.

"Then what did it look like?" asked Emma in interest (you can't blame her; Emma was always fascinated by nature animals).

"It looked like an Angel's Ride." replied Ziggerastica. George nodded in the background, probably because Ziggerastica and him already went through all of this.

"Umm… excuse me, but what exactly is an Angel's Ride?"

"An Angel's Ride," explained Ziggerastica, somewhat a lot more patient than he usually is, "is the ride of an Angel. Usually of a Guardian, scout, or a ruler. It can be taken in many shapes, but the paw print is always different than all the other animals. But all the Angel's Ride's pawprints are the same, so the ones who know what they look like could easily tell them apart from an Arctic Fox paw print."

"Why Arctic Fox?" Fred asked, "Aren't they supposed to be scary?"

"They are riding dragons, but better and different. A riding dragon is, of course, a dragon, and for some weird reason, no one saw the real shape of a dragon paw print. Usually, it looks like an Arctic Fox's."

"How amazing. I've always wanted to see an Arctic Fox's paw print." said Emma sarcastically, "I'm sooooo interested, and this is sooooo useful."

"You know, it kind of is useful, if you are super afraid of fire-breathing creatures," said Sophie.

"Either way, this means this creature might not mean any harm to us, so maybe we could just walk up and solve the puzzle, totally ignoring the Angel's Ride, and boom, problem solved." said Fred.

"No it does not." said George, "In fact, this means that we need to be extra careful of it."

"Why?"

"Because," said Ziggerastica, "An Angel will not send an Angel's Ride to guard the entrance to the puzzles; the Demons will definitely cover that for them. Besides, the puzzles are already hard enough to test out the inner truth of the person who approaches it."

"Makes perfect sense." agreed Sophie, "The Demons will try everything they could do to stop another person joining the Angels, let alone an heir."

"Yes, so here's the question," said Emma, "what on Earth is an Angel's Ride doing here?"

"We cannot answer." answer Ziggerastica, somewhat carelessly.

"Aren't you in danger too because, well, you are with us?' asked Sophie.

"Yes."

"Then why do you look like you don't care about it?"

"Easy, because no Angel's Ride can harm me."

"Then what about us? Will we die or something?"

"Yes. Or maybe. Depends on how good you are at dodging or hunting."

"Well, then, do you care about that?'

"Do I look like I care?"

"No."

"So there."

"Did you ever care about anyone before? Also I thought you worked, or at least teamed up, with the Angels."

"Indeed, but that doesn't mean I'll care about their people. You see, I only care about my own people. And I only trust them too. But never with my life, because that's going to be really dangerous."

"Wow."

"Thank you."

"Can we concentrate on the plan now?" interrupted Fred, "now that we know that the 'monster' is an Angel's Ride, how do we find out its weakness?"

"That's actually rather hard to answer," said Ziggerastica, "an Angel's Ride can shapeshift, but it indeed is a dragon after all, but unfortunately, each dragon has a different weak point, and also when they shapeshift, their weak point changes a spot, and there is no pattern whatsoever."

"Can you speak to it?" asked Sophie, "Maybe, just maybe, it means no harm to us, so if we speak to it, it won't hurt us and will just let us do the puzzle peacefully."

"Well, I doubt that would work." said Ziggerastica, "But indeed it is a plan. An Angel's Ride speaks the ancient language of the Angels, and strangely a Demon's Ride too, but now all the Angels and Demons speak English most commonly, but they do know how to speak multiple languages, and some, as said, can speak all the languages that exist."

"Then what about the Dark Language?" asked Sophie, "Who speaks it now?"

"Only a Demon's pet, or more widely known as the Death Spirits, speaks it now."

"Well, then here's the point," said Sophie.

But Emma realized the point too, and asked the same question as Sophie at the exact same time:

"Why is the Angel's Ride speaking the Dark Language?"

~

After the meeting, everyone went to sleep, because everyone needs to have some sleep for more energy to run away. Just in case.

Soon, snores started to float around the camp. Strictly speaking, only three people's snores are sounding. Ziggerastica is because he never snores, and Sophie, because she couldn't sleep at all.

She was thinking instead.

Why could I understand the Dark Language? She thought, Ziggerastica said that some Angels can understand and speak all the languages that exist, but it definitely did not include the Dark Language. After all, he did say that no Angel could understand, let alone speak, the Dark Language. Does that mean… does that mean that I am a Demon instead of an Angel? Or some Angels indeed can understand, maybe even speak, the Dark Language?

She couldn't resist it anymore, though she did hesitate before acting. She poked the scroll-like-king awake.

"Huh? Is there an attack?" said the mighty King sleepy-ishly.

"Ziggerastica, can some Angels speak or understand the Dark Language? Or both?"

"No."

"But then why can I?"

"Sophie, this is a special gift."

"What? A gift to a Demon?"

"No. Only one Angel can speak the Dark Language, and that is you."

"Huh?"

"You'll understand it once you reach the Kingdom of Light."

"Ok, then…"

With that, the only Angel that can speak the Dark Language fell asleep.

But now, it is Ziggerastica who can't sleep.

He found a point in Sophie's worries; what if she really is a Demon instead of an Angel?

"Well, I guess the puzzles will solve it," he said to himself.

Meanwhile, Sophie was having a dream…

She was the smoke figure again.

She didn't want to finish this dream.

She was scared it would predict the death of one of her friends.

But she had to know, to at least try to protect them.

She was moving along the forest…

A very familiar forest.

The same forest they were camping in, the same one where Sophie heard the Angel's Ride.

"August!" said a voice that Sophie recognized as the Angel's Ride hidden in the forest, "Where is the heir? You promised me that there will be one arriving soon…"

The smoke figure… or rather, Sophie, spoke.

"The heir is coming, be patient… remember, the promise… freedom…"

The Angel's Ride thought about that for a second.

"Alright… you win. But remember, if the heir doesn't come soon… watch out, August, watch out."

The background fogged up, and Sophie woke up, suppressing a scream.

August… the smoke figure. What was he planning? Is he lurking around, in the shadows, stalking herself and her friends? And most importantly…

Why did he want to team up with an Angel's Ride?

She really couldn't worry less.

Well, so much for sleeping. Sophie stood up, yawned, stretched, and went into the woods to get berries, fish, and some sticks (just in case they run out of it someday) to prepare dinner, since it is her turn to cook tonight.

~

"Wow, I am seriously not liking this forest anymore than those brussel sprouts mom used to cook for us," said Emma, wrinkling her nose at the smell (yes, smell) of danger, "which, by the way, is what I absolutely hate."

A few hours later, when Sophie's friends all woke up (well, except for Fred, they took some time shaking him awake, and ended up sending George to splash a bucket of water over him to stop his airplane-sounding snores) and ate the delicious smelling food Sophie cooked (the animals would be happy; they were some serious messy eaters when they eat very fast), They packed up all their things (in exactly two minutes), and then made very sure the fire was completely out (the last thing they wanted was for the forest to burn and leave a trail of dust that will make them laughably easy to track down and get dragged back), then sat in silence, waiting for Sophie to pick up the track of the Angel's Ride.

And in case you missed it somewhere (or I did), Sophie has a rather keen sense of smell, and it especially came in handy for the track of danger. Or in this case, their route.

After what seemed like an eternity, Sophie's sleepy eyes snapped open.

"Hey guys! I think I smell it!"

George, who was just wondering off, snapped back to attention.

"Which direction?" Fred said, his hands shaking with excitement.

"Not exactly sure, because, hello, we don't have a compass."

"I mean just point it out or something."

"Oh, got it, follow me."

Behind her, Sophie saw Emma doing an eye roll that said, "way to use your noodles, Sophie."

"You know it would have been useful if you just hid your pebbles a bit better, Sophie," said Emma, joggling beside Sophie.

"Well, it would have been useful if I had a prophecy gift so I can just see this gigantic problem coming!" Sophie snapped back. To be honest, it was hard not to, especially when you're in a run-away-right-now-oh-no-I-am-so-scared situation.

George shrugged. Sophie highly suspected that it was because Emma gave him a "is that girl serious" stare.

Suddenly Fred, who was naturally a fast runner (or at least faster than Sophie), slowed down.

"What's the problem?" asked Sophie, who didn't see that coming and slammed straight into Fred, almost knocking the wind out of him.

"Do you guys feel something strange? As if we're being… watched?"

Sophie tilted her head.

"I wouldn't really say watched…" she began slowly, "it's more like… there's something invisible in front of us."

"Oh great, very comforting, Sophie." said Emma, not even bothering to hide the sarcasm in her tone.

"How far exactly are we from that thing, whatever it is?" asked George, elbowing Emma.

"Ow!" cried Emma, "What was that for?"

"I feel like we are standing right in front of it, and… you won't believe this, but I actually think it's some sort of wall thing and it is definitely not welcoming us in."

"That's part of the test," whispered Ziggerastica, "to test… well, to see if you can just get past it."

"How?" asked Sophie, "Because even though I can't see it, I definitely know that it is not in the come-in-and-be-my-guest mood right now."

"If only we had the Sword of the Water Spirits." said Ziggerastica slowly.

"How is the Sword of Whatever going to help?" demanded Emma, "how is any sword going to help us? What we need is a wall breaker, not a weapon!"

"The Sword of the Water Spirits," said Ziggerastica patiently, "is said to have shapeshifting powers, but only to turn into another type of weapon, at any time the user wants, but only it's true owner, the Water Guardian, knows how to use it. After all, it has been the weapon of the Water Guardian for as long as anyone could remember."

"So how do we find it?" asked Fred. He seemed kind of disappointed that it was not him who had a weapon.

"Wait," said Sophie, suddenly squinting, "I feel… heartbeats. It seems to be coming from the wall… wait a second, since when can I see invisible things?!"

"Well, that's rather impressive," mused Ziggerastica, in the shocked silence of everybody else, "I know that you can see this particular thing if you have the Sword of the Water Spirits, but without it… it is quite surprising."

Sophie closed her eyes. She feels like her heart is connected to this wall, and somehow… She knew how to deal with it, and even make it. An enchantment, said her brain helpfully, used to keep your enemies out. It is called the Wall of Invisibility. But how does she know all of that? Why doesn't she remember making and dealing with these walls?

It doesn't matter now, she reminded herself, right now…

Right now, we need to get through this.

She closed her eyes again. Harder. She felt a kind of power, a warm trace of energy, as if it was water trying to rush out of her body.

That's it. She opened her eyes. Water. My powers.

It was such a delightful feeling, as if she was swimming, diving, chasing in the water. Freely.

Automatically, she leaped. Much higher than usual. Her hand realized the water in her body, the water forming into a shape…

A sword.

She grasped the handle, and swung down with all her might.

Rushes of water came out. It formed the ghostly shape of a dragon, and she watched in awe when it sprang to the shimmering blue, invisible (to everyone else) wall, roaring.

The unbelievable happened. The wall disappeared the moment the dragon hit it, like a mist, clearing away.

She landed. And for the first time, she realized her clothes… changed. Blue mist surrounded the new clothes, and the shape of the water changed into a sword, thin, sharp, with a bit of a blue shimmer in there.

In a flash, all of it disappeared, except for the sword.

Sophie stood there, shocked. When, where, who, why, and how taught her all of this?

She felt there was something she should remember, but couldn't remember. She wanted to remember it, but should she?

Fortunately, she didn't get to finish that thought.

"How in the world did you figure that out?" said an awe-stricken George.

"For the first time in my life, I agree with you." said Fred, "No wait, I agreed with the joke shop idea too. Shoot."

"Can we please focus on the main thing now?" asked Sophie, a bit annoyed, "We are wasting a lot of time right now, and we don't know for sure that a Wall of Invisibility would be gone forever after it disappeared."

"The wall of what?" said Emma.

"Oh, sorry," said Sophie, "I forgot to mention; when I sort of remembered how to use my power or whatever it is, I also remembered what the invisible wall's name is."

"Sheesh, Sophie." said George, "That is definitely something you'd want to tell us immediately."

"Well sorry, sir," Sophie snapped back, "I was too busy saving your life, but if you want me to stop doing that, sure, I'd be grateful."

"Either way, we should continue on," said Ziggerastica, cutting into their conversation.

"Into the unknown." whispered Emma, with just a hint of shiver in there.

"Into the unknown." agreed everyone else.

And so, they took their first step towards their destiny.