Catty stood in the bathroom, the tiled floor cool her bare feet. The soft glow from the light bulb above the mirror cast a gentle light over the room, illuminating her nude figure. The girl gazed at her reflection—her body marked by the trials she had faced.
Her breasts rose and fell with calm breath, but her skin bore the telltale signs of the recent struggles—bruises blooming in shades of purple and yellow and abrasions that crisscrossed her slim frame like a map of her journey.
Catty's fingers traced the edges of a dark bruise on her ribcage, wincing slightly at the tender spot. Her reflection stared back, with weariness in her eyes. Each mark on her body told a story, a piece of the battles the girl had fought and survived.
She let out a soft sigh, her breath fogging the mirror briefly. Catty's gaze drifted lower, noting the graze below the navel that was beginning to heal. Her body felt like a stranger's—foreign and familiar all at once. The girl knew these injuries would fade in time, leaving only marks as reminders.
In the stillness of the bathroom, Catty stood, looking at her reflection. Her lips pressed, but then a smile formed as she squared her shoulders. Despite the pain and the fear, the girl was still holding on. She was still here, ready to face whatever came next.
Catty reached for the elastic band on the sink's edge, gathering her long hair with practiced ease. Soft and dark strands slipped through her fingers as she pulled them into a high ponytail. The girl secured it tightly, feeling the familiar weight rest against her back. The action was simple and routine—like donning armor before facing the enemy.
She took the lavender satin short pajamas folded neatly on a stool. Catty slipped into the shorts first, the thin satin brushing against her bottom. Next, she pulled on the top, the delicate material gliding over her shoulders and chest. The cool fabric was a welcome contrast to the warmth of her skin, soothing the aches and pains that lingered from her recent trials.
As Catty put on the fit, she caught her reflection in the mirror once more. The lavender hue of the pajamas highlighted the faint blush of her skin, softening the harsh lines of her bruises. The girl looked almost serene, starkly contrasting the storm brewing within her.
Taking a deep breath, she ran a hand over her ponytail, ensuring it was secure. Her fingers lingered at the base of her neck, feeling the steady pulse beneath. Catty exhaled slowly, a sense of calm washing over her. The world outside the bathroom was chaotic and cruel, but she felt a fleeting sense of peace in this quiet space.
With one last glance at her reflection, the girl turned away from the mirror and stepped out of the bathroom.
Catty opened the door into Rutger's room, and the scent of old books and ink wrapped around her like a familiar embrace. She crossed the threshold quietly, her bare feet slapping softly on the wooden floor. The space was barely lit, with shadows dancing along the walls as the light filtered through the curtains. The girl pulled it back, and the morning sun flooded the room.
The sturdy wooden desk stood by the window, its surface cluttered with papers. Her eyes were drawn to a leather-bound notebook lying atop a stack of books.
Curiosity piqued, Catty approached the desk and picked up the notebook. She opened it, and her gaze fell upon Rutger's neat handwriting, filling the pages. As her eyes scanned the lines, something strange occurred. The clear and vivid words began to blur and fade like ink dissolving in water. The girl was turning the pages and watching with horror as they became blank. Panic surged within her, and Catty quickly snapped the notebook shut, the sound echoing in the quiet room.
Her heart raced as she processed what had just happened. Catty set the notebook down gently, her fingers trembling slightly.
She spotted a piece of paper and a sharpened pencil tucked between books. Grabbing them, she sat at the desk, and the chair creaked softly. Catty inhaled deeply, steadying herself, and the text displayed by the bracelet in the tub stood before her eyes.
She began to write.
"Four guardians hold the key, standing tall," she whispered, her pencil moving swiftly across the paper.
"Round the circle, they await the dragon's call," the text flowed smoothly, and the girl continued.
Each word appeared from her memory, the child's words unfolding line by line. The soft scratching of the pencil was the only sound, a rhythm that steadied her racing thoughts.
When Catty finished the final line, she set the pencil down, and her eyes scanned the words.
"Four guardians hold the key, standing tall,
Round the circle, they await the dragon's call.
South breathes fire, fierce and free,
West weaves water deep as the sea,
East commands winds that heed no wall,
North bears earth, where secrets fall.
In their midst lies the heart, unseen,
Beneath the stone, where time has been."
Now, the mystery of the dragon's egg was within her grasp, and this riddle held the key to everything.
Catty headed to the old library, where the dusty scent of books was as thick as the shadows that clung to the bookshelves. The girl settled into an ancient armchair that creaked under her weight—a relic as the tomes surrounding her. The air was still, disturbed only by the rustle of paper on her lap.
"Four guardians hold the key, standing tall," Catty murmured, feeling the weight of each syllable like a stone in her palm. These words were a puzzle—a map leading to something hidden, something crucial. She knew the solution lay buried in ancient tales, but the answer eluded her yet.
Her fingers danced nervously along the edges of the paper as the girl whispered the riddle again. The elements—fire, water, earth, and air—taunted her with their simplicity.
Catty's impatience grew as she tried to connect the pieces. With a sigh, she glanced around the library. The bookshelves loomed like silent sentinels, their shelves packed with volumes holding the wisdom of centuries. Perhaps the answer was buried within the pages of these tomes.
She approached the nearest bookshelf, running her fingers along the spines. Titles written in faded gold script caught her eye, promising the secrets of Elemental Magic. Catty hesitated momentarily, then pulled out a thick, leather-bound volume that was particularly worn, as if it had been consulted many times before.
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The book creaked as the girl opened it. She flipped through the chapters, scanning for anything that might relate to the elements mentioned in the riddle. The text was dense, filled with archaic language and intricate diagrams, but Catty forced herself to focus. Her eyes darted from line to line, searching for anything to help her understand the riddle.
Finally, a passage caught her attention. It spoke of a time when the elements were not merely forces of nature but guardians of ancient relics, each hidden in a place that embodied their essence. The words hinted at trials and tests, at places where the elements met and where secrets were kept under stone. Catty's heart quickened as she read on, the descriptions eerily similar to the clues in her riddle.
Could this be the key? The girl carefully copied the passage onto a scrap of paper. It wasn't a complete answer, but it was a start.
Catty looked at the large, aged map that covered nearly the entire wall of Rutger's library. It was yellowed with time, and its edges curled slightly. The details of mountains, rivers, and forests were hand-drawn, each landmark meticulously labeled in faded ink. Catty moved closer to the map, and her eyes slowly slid over it, taking in the names, the distant and mysterious places she had only heard of in stories.
Her fingers touched the map as if the contact might reveal the secrets she sought. The riddle echoed in her mind as the girl tried to match the words to the places before her.
"South breathes fire, fierce and free..." Catty's gaze shifted to the southern reaches of the map, where the jagged outline of Furyforge Peak loomed. The volcano, marked by a fire symbol, seemed an obvious candidate. Its fiery nature matched the description.
The girl moved her attention westward, tracing the winding rivers until they settled on Sablemere. The western edge of the map was dominated by the lake's deep blue, its shores bordered by forests and mountains.
"West weaves water, deep as the sea..." The words aligned with the lake's mystical reputation! What's next?
Catty's fingers trailed eastward, skimming over plains and hills until they found the high, barren expanse of the Tempest Plateau. The plateau was marked with a swirling symbol, representing the relentless winds that tore through the land.
"East commands winds that heed no wall..." The description fitted the riddle, too!
Finally, her gaze swept northward, where the map depicted the Ancient Tree of Heka with twisted branches and deep, spiraling roots.
"North bears earth, where secrets fall..." The venerable tree seemed a likely place where secrets could be hidden. However, Catty couldn't shake the feeling that the simple connections she was making were too obvious, too easy. Something felt off as if the true answer was hiding just beyond reach.
There should be one place!
The girl stepped back, taking in the entire map at once, her mind racing as she tried to see the bigger picture. The locations she had chosen were distant from each other, scattered across the land.
"In their midst lies the heart, unseen..." Catty whispered, her eyes narrowing as she considered what lay in the center of these four points.
Her gaze traveled back and forth, mentally drawing lines between the volcano, the lake, the tree, and the plateau. Where did they intersect? What was hidden in their midst? Beneath the stone, where time has been... The words tugged at her thoughts, urging the girl to see what was hidden in plain sight.
The map offered no easy answers, only more questions. Catty knew she was close, closer than she had been before. She traced the paths with her eyes, connecting the dots, trying to uncover the heart of the mystery. The room around the girl seemed to fade, leaving only the map and the puzzle in her mind.
What if the answer wasn't a single location but a journey that would take her across the map, from one element to the next? What if the heart of the riddle was not a place but something she needed to discover within herself?
Catty shook her head, pushing the thoughts aside. She needed to focus, to find the one place that tied it all together. The girl leaned closer and breathed softly as if whispering might coax the map to reveal secrets.
Frustration began to bubble up inside her. "Enough," she said, turning away from the map.
At the moment, the only thing Catty understood was that she needed to clear her head. The riddle pressed heavily on her mind, and the vibrant city beyond the walls beckoned.
The girl wore a hoodie and a jogger and stepped out into the streets, leaving Rutger's home's quiet solitude. The sun was already high in the sky, casting short shadows across the cobblestones. The air was warm, filled with the scent of freshly baked bread and the distant sound of merchants calling out their wares. Catty let her feet carry her forward, her destination unclear, her thoughts tangled in the puzzle the girl couldn't solve.
Soon, the streets widened, and the buildings grew taller as she neared downtown. Catty wove through the crowds of people, occasionally looking at the sky as if the clouds might offer some hidden insight.
Before long, the path opened into the Grand Plaza, a sprawling square surrounded by grand buildings with towering columns. Fountains bubbled at the plaza's corners, their waters catching sunlight and throwing rainbows. Statues of long-forgotten heroes stood sentinel, their faces weathered by time, passionlessly watching over the people below.
Catty paused at the edge of the plaza, taking in the sight. The space was alive with activity—vendors selling trinkets, children chasing each other, and couples strolling arm in arm, lost in their worlds. But despite the liveliness, Catty felt a growing sense of unease. The answer she sought seemed further away with every step she took.
The girl wandered aimlessly through the plaza, the riddle's words echoing in her mind, taunting her with their simplicity and mystery.
"In their midst lies the heart, unseen..." Catty whispered to herself, but the words offered no new revelations. The vastness of the plaza only amplified her sense of being lost.
"Why can't anything just make sense?" she exclaimed, clenching her fists. "There has to be something I'm missing… something obvious."
The girl sighed, frustration and uncertainty weighing heavily on her shoulders. She stood in the middle of the bustling plaza, and the world around her seemed to blur, the noise fading into a distant hum. The riddle Catty couldn't solve consumed her thoughts.
Suddenly, a gust of wind swept through the plaza, tugging at her hoodie and rustling the leaves of the nearby trees. Before Catty could react, the wind snatched the paper from her hand, lifting it into the air. She watched the paper spiral upward, caught in the invisible currents.
"No!" Catty cried out, and her voice lost in the wind as the paper danced higher, twisting and turning like a leaf in a storm. Without thinking, the girl bolted after it, her feet pounding against the sidewalk as she raced through the crowd. The paper fluttered out of reach, taunting Catty as it sailed through the air.
The wind carried the paper toward the plaza's edge. Her heart raced as the girl chased it, weaving through the crowds of people. The paper veered sharply, slipping into the shadowed mouth of a narrow alley. It dipped and darted between the towering buildings.
Catty didn't hesitate. She plunged into the alley after it, her footsteps echoing off the cramped walls. The alley was dark and narrow, a world away from the bright, bustling plaza. Trash cans and discarded crates lined the walls, the air thick with the smell of damp stone and something rotten. The paper continued to flutter ahead of her, just beyond her grasp.
The alley twisted and turned, narrowing even further until the walls closed around her.
Finally, the wind lost its strength, and the paper began to descend, drifting gently toward the ground. Straight to the man who was peeing behind the trash can.
He shifted his gaze from the running girl to the swirling paper, continuing to do his job. Finishing, he buttoned his fly with one hand, and with the other, he deftly caught a white sheet.
The man looked at the girl. His clothes were worn and dirty, but his shoulders squared. He turned to Catty, holding the paper delicately between his fingers. A mischievous grin spread across his weathered face as the man read the riddle, then up at the girl.
"Oh! I know this place," he said, his voice rough but sure as if the answer had been clear to him all along.