Chapter 5:Mega Man

I wasn't exactly thrilled to have to jump through another hoop for this guy, but at least this time around, Proto was with me. That Voice really ripped me up inside with that last one, making me think that Proto had turned against me again. I could tell that the Majere brothers were happier too, being together to get through this thing.

This time around, it wasn't a maze. I think I might have flat-out refused to take another step if that had been the case. No, this time it was something out of Raiders of the Lost Ark or something.

We found ourselves stepping into a long brown stone hallway with doors here and there along it, and an open room at the other end. Beside me Proto whistled.

“Well, at least its a change of scenery,” he joked, getting a grin from me. Always with the witty remarks, that brother of mine. Raistlin peered around.

“Feels like back under the Temple, doesn't it Raist?” Caramon asked.

“Most certainly. And if our previous experiences are any proof, our unknown keeper could have any number of surprised waiting.” Proto looked at me, and I knew what he was asking. I nodded, and we took the lead.

“If that's true,” I explained over my shoulder, “then we'll be able to handle it better.” They just nodded, and Raistlin stepped up next, with Caramon bringing up the rear. Carefully, we approached the closest door, which was on the right hand wall. Proto, slightly ahead of me, reached it first and darted to stand on the opposite side of the door. He looked it over, and made a motion with his hand that I understood meant 'swings in.' I paused to listen, and shook my head, hearing nothing. Proto shrugged – somehow I knew what was coming – and sure enough he simply kicked the door in. All of us braced for whatever would happen...

Which was, incidentally, nothing.

I couldn't help but laugh, partially in relief, earning a small scowl from Proto.

“Sorry, bro,” I apologized, as we all peered in. He just gave me a small swat on the back of my helmet, his version of an affectionate gesture.

The floor of the empty room was covered in a thick layer of dust, so thick we could actually tell it was a thick layer. For a brief moment the thought of our sister, Roll, flashed through my mind and what she'd think of this mess before I shoved it out. No time to daydream. We turned to go when suddenly Caramon went back in.

“Caramon?” asked Raistlin.

“I thought I saw something, Raist, under the dirt.” He gently scuffed his foot around, which kicked up quite a bit of dust. Raistlin quickly backed around the corner and pulled his sleeve up over his mouth and nose. I blinked, a little confused, but then Caramon came back out, holding a small key on a chain.

“Found it!” He was smiling.

“A key?” Proto asked incredulously. I had to admit, I didn't see what was so important about some old key that was rusty to boot.

“Well,” the big man replied a little carefully, “I saw the chain peeking out of the dirt, and it doesn't seem like whoever brought us here would leave it for no reason. This is a test, right? Well, what if we have to bring him certain things, like that old Kender Pretender game we used to play as kids, remember Raist?”

“You played them, my dear brother,” Raistlin answered. “I on the other hand was too ill to play.”

“Oh yeah. Sorry, Raist. Anyways, what if we left it, and it was something we needed, and we failed the test? What would happen to us, or to the others?”

“Hmm...” Proto thought on it for a moment, as was I. “You know, you might have something there.”

“Yeah,” I agreed. “I've had to find things when running Dr. Wily's fortresses before, and since this guy knows so much about all of us, he might be playing on that.”

“Well spotted,” Raistlin praised his twin, and by Caramon's expression of pure delight, I got the distinct feeling that such sentiments weren't often given to him. That confused me even more.

“Aw, Raist,” Caramon continued as we walked on, “you would've seen it first, but with all that dust in there it wouldn't have been good for you to look in too long. Would've made you start coughing.”

Coughing? That must be what he meant by Raistlin needing some sort of drink. He was referring to medicine. But what's up with them? Caramon dotes, and Raistlin acts like he wishes his twin didn't exist? I guess I could relate. For a long time, years really, Proto had wished I didn't exist... and had tried to make it so. Though then we'd experienced that one Christmas together on that other world, K'Tal they'd called it, and I got my brother at my side for real.

All this flashed through my robotic mind in the time it took us to reach the second door. Again, it was empty, though Proto gave me the pleasure of opening the door. I opted to try to knob first. Unlocked, wouldn't you know it. Inside this room was less dusty, and the object within wasn't all that hidden: a shortsword, leaning up against the wall. Proto retrieved this one, though he didn't really look like he knew what to do with it. I barely hid a grin.

The next room proved to be a little trickier. The knob was glowing a soft blue, and Raistlin wouldn't let any of us so much as look at it hard until he'd done some magic on it, and I for one listened. Now, if you had asked me before my little world trip, I would've equated magic and David Copperfield. But now, I knew it was real, even if not on earth. If he said magic was involved, then I knew to back away and let an expert handle it.

With Caramon standing nearby, just in case, Raistlin began speaking in a kinda 'spidery' language, was the best way to describe it. The knob glowed bright blue, then turned bright red.

“Umm... is that supposed to happen?” I timidly asked... right before Caramon gave a yell, grabbed his twin, and yanked him away from the door as it exploded with enough force to lift all of us off the ground and send us flying. Caramon twisted midair, quite a feat for someone so heavily armored, so he was on bottom and cushioned Raistlin's landing, as Proto and I dived to the ground. For a few long moments, none of us moved. My ears were ringing and I could still feel the tremors of the concussive force making my internals shake. Then, Proto raised his head and looked at me.

“You okay, Mega?” I pushed myself up to my hands and knees and nodded. Raistlin carefully rolled off of his twin, and Caramon sat up, rubbing his head. I looked their way. “You guys okay?”

“Been through worse,” Caramon answered. “What about you, Raist? You hurt?”

“No, my dear brother, I am unhurt.” Raistlin was the first standing, and that was to glare at the door. “A spell, hidden under another spell.” He sounded frustrated at himself for missing it. The rest of us stood.

“Not your fault, Raist,” Caramon reassured. “This guy's pulling lots of dirty tricks on us.”

“Caramon...” Raistlin's tone said it quite clearly: Be quiet. He seemingly didn't want anyone trying to make him feel better about missing the second spell. Caramon just sighed softly and went silent. Proto and I looked at each other, our expressions, even his hidden by his visor, clearly saying the same thing: They had a strange relationship with each other.

Trying to stay on task, I went carefully into the room, and looked for some item or another, and found a sphere of crystal about the size of a bowling ball. I picked it up and headed back out to hear Proto asking Caramon,

“So, how'd you catch that the door was gonna blow?”

“Umm...” Caramon had to think a bit so sort through Proto's way of talking. Between the slang, and his slight accent (which would be really foreign to Caramon) I could understand. “Oh, I saw the knob start to shake, and I heard this high pitched soft ringing like I did once before when a black robe was about to cast an explosive spell at me and Raist.”

“You probably saved him.” Tact was never one of Proto's strong points, either before or after his change of heart. When he wanted to make a point, he made it, in one move. Sometimes exasperating (like now) but it was one of those things I wouldn't change about him for the world.

“I got what we needed,” I said quickly as Raistlin glared at my brother, trying to forestall any arguments. Proto could give as good as he got, and he didn't take well to someone with a similarly harsh personality clashing with him. “Lets go.” In silence we continued on.

None of the rooms contained anything remotely hostile, just a few more traps and items. All in all, we collected the key on the chain, the sword, the crystal ball, a shield, an empty box (nice for holding all the stuff), and a metal circle something like a flattened hula-hoop. All of these we carried into the room at the end, where we saw a pair of rings drawn onto the ground and painted on. One, on the left, was split red and blue, and the one on the right had an emblem on it like a rose in a drinking mug. Before we could even begin to sort this out, the Voice spoke again.

“You have all the items from each room I see.”

“Yes,” I called out. “What do you want us to do with them?” A rectangular pillar about two feet high rose from the floor.

“Simple. Take all of them, and balance them on the pedestal.” We all looked at each other.

“There's no way!” Proto protested. “They won't balance together. The sphere alone makes it impossible.”

“That is your task. Complete it, and you will be allowed to continue onto the nest phase. Do not, and you will never leave this room.”

“Harsh,” I commented, then turned to study the items we had. Some were easy to figure. The box was first, and most of the others could perhaps be balanced after that. But the sphere would roll off.

“Maybe if we put the ball in the box,” Caramon suggested helpfully.

“Then the rest won't balance on what's left,” Raistlin countered. “The ball is just big enough to fit in the mouth of the box, and it leaves no room to hang anything else on the edges.” Just to be sure, we tried it. But it seemed everything was suddenly determined not to stay steady. Things placed in ways that should have stayed – and I've got a computer for a mind, so I know – wouldn't stay where we put them.

“This is insane!” Proto grouched, trying to pretty much tie the chain into the sword's handle. It promptly fell off. “Nothing will stay.”

“This is a trick.” Raistlin scowled darkly. “It's not a challenge, it's a riddle.”

“A riddle?” Caramon echoed dismally. “I'm no good at riddles.”

“Ok, a riddle.” I thought. “Well, most riddles where we come from have rather obvious answers. That's what makes them so tricky:You never think of the blatant answer as being right.”

“So what should we do, glue them?” Proto snapped. And oddly enough, he gave me an idea.

“Not glue,” I replied, grinning. “Ok, follow me here.” I gave out my instructions for each of us to take an item or two and simply hold them in place, in effect balancing them. Then I looked up. “Okay, there balanced.” The Voice chuckled.

“Well done. You always were one to think outside the box. “ The circles on the ground lit up. “You may let go.” We did, and impossibly, the items stayed just as we had them. “Please step into the circles, and we'll continue.” Shrugging, we did as asked, Proto and I stepping into the red/blue one, the Majere twins into the other, and we vanished.

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Author's Post-Note: My husband threw that same riddle at our DnD group once, and we gave up on it (my charrie lost several points of intelligence as a punishment for failing it). He's good with that kinda thing. Oh, and I made up the Kender Pretender game. For those not familiar with Dragonlance, think of halflings that are endlessly curious, overly friendly, have no idea of 'personal space or belongings,' and are born kleptomaniacs (though don't ever actually call one a thief,it's insulting. They're just 'borrowing' something you 'weren't using,' with full intention of returning it if they didn't forget). Simply put, it's a scavenger hunt.