Xiara took Xopil for a tour around the mansion. The massive exterior paled in comparison to the actual interior.  The main entry was adorned with expensive looking wood furniture made of mahogany, clocks and cabinets of all sizes. Extravagent chandeliers cast their light to every corner leaving the entire place completely illuminated. Xopil's eyes almost popped out of his sockets when he saw the long hallways filled with paintings, tapestries and most importantly, the doors. "Each of these doors leads to a town?"

"That's right, each one has something we need to do to get closer to solving the final puzzle." replied Xiara.

"There's at least a hundred doors..." noted Xopil.

"Do you still insist on travelling to each town on foot? There is a time limit, after all." reminded Xiara.

A time limit you tightened for me... Xopil retorted in his mind.

"Where shall we start?" Xiara ignored the irritated look on Xopil's face. "It would be best to start with a hallway and do all the doors in that hall before moving on."

"Speaking from experience?" Xopil asked, and headed from the main lobby to the west hallway, "I don't suppose we could split up either?"

"We could, but I'd be taking away from your fun. Are you okay with that?" Xiara asked.

"I don't know how much time is left before this is a failure, we may have to do that before the end." replied Xopil as he opened the first available door and stepped through.

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The city that greeted the pair was massive. In the central square was a fountain large enough to be seen from several miles outside of town, the buildings of the town were all low-risers, so they wouldn't obstruct the view of the fountain no matter where it was observed from. There were two main roads leading directly up to the fountain and circling around it, travelling straight North/South and East/West. There were four mansions in this city, each located at the end of a main road. There were numerous side streets wrapped around the city parallel to the fountain, with staggered streets connecting them seemingly randomly.

"I could get turned around too easily here." Xopil commented as he admired the city, while trying to find mental landmarks.

"If that happens, just find the fountain; it's easy enough to spot from anywhere in the city. I know you'd never stop and ask for directions." Xiara suggested.

"...Not fair telling the truth." Xopil started to walk away, but stopped when he noticed something was missing. "It's not a matter of wanting to ask for directions or not... There's no one to ask."

"Early afternoon and no one's about? Should we just start knocking on doors... or knocking down buildings?"

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

"Scary." Xopil backed away from her slowly, "Doors."

"So, no one is home out of the dozen houses I checked." Xopil reported.

"Hmm, I had the same success you did." Xiara replied.

"Let's try the mansions next," Xopil suggested and they walked through the empty main street.

Xopil knocked heavily on the door, even after several minutes passed no one answered. Seeking the path of least resistance he tried the door and it opened effortlessly.

"In an empty city, locks would be meaningless?" mused Xopil as they entered the building.

The pair thoroughly searched the mansion one floor at a time, starting with the ground floor before moving up to the second and finally the third floor.

"I came across nothing of interest, you?" asked Xopil.

"I found some beautiful dresses, but they wouldn't fit." Xiara replied.

"...No comment. Maybe there's a hidden basement? Or at least a cellar somewhere on the grounds?  One more look before we head out.  If we don't find anything here, I doubt the other mansions will be any different."

"In that case... should we even look for a basement?  But where else can we check?"

"One thing comes to mind actually.  Let's go check that fountain." Xopil answered.

"I knew you were more than just a handsome face," replied Xiara.

"..." without another word the pair rushed to the central square.

The pair circled the fountain checking for anything out of place.  It took nearly three hours before the two met eachother on the opposite side, just due to the sheer size of the fountain.

"That takes care of the exterior.  Now just to get up into it.  The supports should be sturdy enough for us to climb up."

"I had expected that some people would appear given the passage of time," Xiara replied.

"Let's climb up the fountain.  There may be something at the top."

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One long and arduous climb later... "We finally made it... aren't the stars beautiful in the night sky?" Xiara asked.

"...And only more so since we're standing on a fountain, look how they're mirrored on the water's surface." Xopil responded putting forth effort to sound interested, and failing.

"Speaking of the water surface..."

"You see the staircase in there too?" Xopil asked cutting her off.

"Huh? Oh yeah... of course."

Xopil looked at her doubtfully, then jumped into the fountain without a word.  With a sigh, she turned her attention back to the top of the fountain.  In the basin of the fountain, Xopil encountered a thick sheet of glass separating him and the water from the stairs.  At around the same time, Xiara ran her hands over the intricate design of two statues sitting back to back.  The statues seemed to break off the fountain, but they weren't connected in the first place.  A pair of splashes behind Xopil scared the crap out of him and caused him to look up at Xiara.

One way or another she will be the death of me.  Xopil thought.

Xiara took another look at the fountain now that the statues were gone, there wasn't much to see, so she ran her hands over the stone just to make sure.  She found nothing useful, so she dove in the water.

"Well, now what?" she asked.

"There's a thick layer of glass, if we can get rid of that...hmm?" Xopil looked down at the statues under the water. "That might do it, if we can drop the statues on the glass a couple times.  It appears that first impact caused some cracks anyway."

Some effort later, some spiderweb cracks had spread over the surface of the glass.  The water level had dropped considerably, as some of the cracks went straight through the glass allowing the water to pass through.  Xopil and Xiara pulled the statues over the glass towards the staircase, and repeated picking up and dropping them until the glass finally shattered.

They descended the stairs inside the fountain, coming to a landing at the bottom.