Miko:

Shuffling off to the side, I kept the Aeternae in my peripheral, trying not to make any sudden movements to spark the creature into action. Before I could focus on my surroundings, a roaring bleat that evolved into a blood-curdling howl rang out through the room, stopping the breath in my chest. I had seen animals plenty out in our fields and the woods. Animals could be reasoned with and traded with in a way. A horse exchanges its strength for hauling and its speed for travel, for food and protection. Bears will trade space, or your hunt, for your protection. Animals act out of fear or instinct and the most basic of needs; if a person can provide food, water, and cover from the warmth and cold — an animal can be tamed. However, beasts cannot be reasoned with. They are superior to men and are aware of it. In the calculative eyes of a beast, we are but simple prey who wields weapons instead of fangs or claws. This was a beast, and like the stories of our ancestors, the Aeternae was to be feared as such. A bead of sweat rolled down the side of my face, a feeling I was unfamiliar with. At first, I thought it was out of fear, but my skin itched in an uncomfortably hot manner, and I realized the room was increasing in temperature since there was nowhere for the heat to escape, too. I feared for Maleki’s safety, but this fight would have to happen now so I could start doing my part. Every minute matters, and we aren’t nearly as flame-resistant as our opponent appears, considering it shot out through a wall of flame unburnt and unharmed.

This will be a test of endurance. Will the room burn us up before this beast chews us up?

A deep roar, and the beast moved swiftly toward Maleki. Trusting him to take care of his portion — I rolled out of the way clumsily — limping back to my feet and going as fast as possible to the other side of the room. There were nine braziers, one for each platform that, like the walls, covered a circular disc cut out into the ground. Another design feature that mirrored the intricacy of the walls and doorways.

I studied the walls, the floors, and the ceiling as quickly as possible. We needed a way to shut off the fire, and considering it wasn’t there when we first entered the room, a way to return the room to normal must exist unless the room resets naturally after a certain amount of time passes. Hopefully, that’s not the case.

Starting with the murals, I inspected them closely. The fire along the other sections of the wall prevented me from getting too close or touching anything. Behind me, on opposite sides of our entrance, were two stone frames that covered a landscape cut of a male and a female. They were engraved to look at each other, one sitting comfortably on top of a tree’s branch looking down and the other on the ground looking up. Moving on, the left side of the room had three image sections. Engraved in the stone, an angelic woman with a warm smile stood alone. To the left and right of the depiction of the woman were the two cratered murals. From here, it looked like a fist formed in the center, cracking outwards in the shifted rock. Barely anything was left, but they both appeared to be men, one surrounded by water and the other by air. I hobbled to the front of the room, two more images in pristine condition: a woman with short hair, clothed in mud, and a man standing tall with his hands behind his back.

Behind me, Maleki had the Aeternae constantly circling him, its tail sneaking behind and dragging across the ground like a snake. The head of the beast bobbed and arced as it circled, lurching its neck occasionally to test my brother’s reactions.

Focus. The other murals. Two on the other wall, a woman and a man again. The man’s mural was very different; he was a shade with only some details to show his hair and eyes. To the right of him, a depiction of a woman with long, beautifully braided hair and orbs of different sizes hovered around her.

There weren’t any notches in the stone that could hide a mechanism from what I could see, but then again, I couldn’t get close enough to feel and confirm.

Maleki intercepted the first strike from the beast, stepping to the side and dragging his blade against its front leg. The Aeternae snarled in response with teeth as long as my fingers. The heat was getting more intense; I blinked my eyes to provide them a moment away from the burning sensation this room caused. Perhaps there is a weighted stone on the opposite side of Maleki? Limping with a quick pace, I found a stone similar to the one we had accidentally stepped on. Pressing hard with my only good leg, I held all my weight over the stone. Immediately, it clicked into place, and shifting could be felt as the whole chamber shook like an earthquake. The fire around the room soared higher, the heat intensifying directly around me. A flicker rose between the floor panels as they shifted, more distance being added between them. Each of the braziers opened up, creating a flat bubble of fire. The Aeternae raised its neck at the change, adapting to the drifting plates. Maleki grabbed the edge of his platform with his scythe to keep himself from falling backward. Well, something changed, although I’m not sure I made it better. This restricted Maleki’s possible combat areas so that if he needed to move to another platform, he would have to jump over a two-foot-tall flame that rose out between each large stone plate. If I got closer to the ground, I could breathe better, and my eyes didn’t sting from the heat, so I stayed as low as possible to the floor while still being able to move.

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The platforms fully widened, and I leaped over to the closest one in front of the pressure plate. These two platforms mimicked the size of the two directly across the middle platform that Maleki and the Aeternae were fighting on. I’d need to inspect the platforms now to see if there was anything different between each one, but time was not in my favour. When I looked over to the next platform, I got lost in watching Maleki fight for just a moment. His skills were that of our father’s, quick and gliding with precision. He would probably look clumsy with a soldier’s sword, but he has mastered his tool to the point it might as well be an extension of his being. There were no tricks nor confident swings. However, my brother’s skillset was refined by single actions repeated over and over. He was not used to quick, small bursts of movements, and this beast was catching on to the timing of the attacks and the time it took the scythe to reset back to a defensive position.

A jolt of movement shot out, and Maleki slammed the snath of the scythe downward, blocking the first attack. The second attack came in, and he pulled hard so that the head of the scythe would meet the beast first, blocking the second attack. Before Maleki could reposition, the Aeternae moved around the side, scooping a front paw out near him and clawing his back. “Augh!” Maleki yelped out in pain. He grabbed near the middle, above the top grip, to bring himself back to his feet, retaking his defensive stance. If we wanted to survive, Maleki would have to adapt as well…

I have to solve this quickly. Maleki is running out of time and being forced to stay close to the ground to avoid the intense heat. Pivoting my focus, I traced my eyes quickly over the closest platforms. Each was designed to mirror the background style of the mural they were closest to, using shapes and patterns that could distinguish characteristics of the mural’s subject. The key to solving this must lie in what is depicted on the stone walls and reflected in the interaction with the fiery circular sections on the nine stone plates around the room. Think, Miko! Your brother is fighting for both of you while you get to solve riddles. Be useful for once! The braziers. They separated earlier when the room fully closed, and what was left was a disc in a cylindrical hole. Within, there must lie a pressure plate similar to the ones I have stepped on twice now. If I were to design this, I would hide the mechanism in a single spot, requiring some risk to activate. The problem is — to activate the mechanism — someone would have to reach and place a heavy object through the flame disc. Deactivating is the whole point of this, so I don’t see a way to turn these fires off, and I didn’t bring enough water to put even one of these out.

Water! One of the murals had a man surrounded by water, but it was slightly destroyed. Maybe someone before us tried something on the murals themselves? I stood tall and began walking over to the side of the room with the three murals and found the man surrounded by what appeared to be waves. This brazier looked like all the rest, with an inset cut below the start of the hole where the fire shot out and connected into a full circle. My hand hovered above the top to test the heat; it felt the same as any flame I have ever been close to. I lifted my head to my brother’s predicament, looking to see if this next part was necessary. He had now gained another cut, and that horn was getting dangerously close to landing. The fear of pain surged within me, and I tugged deeply at my diaphragm. Three short breaths exhaled through my nose. I slammed all my weight into my good leg and pierced through the flame disc up to my thigh. Everything burned, singeing my skin for the brief second it took to hit the bottom. I waited, then screamed out in pain as the pressure plate activated. Pulling my leg out immediately, I covered the circular burn that formed around my lower thigh in an attempt to hide the pain somehow, as if that would stop it. I huffed and puffed, crying from the pain. The room shook after a slight delay of the pressure plate’s activation, and then the fire roared, soaring higher with a red hue at the base of the flame. My breaths shortened, finding it harder to get air. Damn it. That must have been the wrong choice! The oxygen in this room is getting removed by the fire, and there’s no way for it to enter from outside the room since every crack and seem is either blocked or lit aflame. We would soon pass out if this kept up.