I walked over to the eastern wall once more. And there it was, more writing lit up.

'I am fire and air, yet i live... earth' it was coming together. I finally had a handle on this puzzle. Earth. What represented earth?

I walked around for around 5 minutes. Nothing. There was nothing that hinted at earth. What the hell is this. The closest I got to was bones. I mean earth had life and some life had bones. Listen I know that was stupid but it was all I got.

And what else to do but work with whatever I could think of? So I collected the bones. I came to a total of five. Four of which looked like fingers, very sharp and deadly fingers. And the last one was a circle well not really but that was the closest shape I could think of. What was I looking at? What human had four fingers? A disabled one?

'Oh. I'm an idiot' as realisation hit I thought to myself. Where was i? A dragons lair. How many claws does a dragon have? Four. What was the circle? A palm. Why was i so slow to this.. it was weirdly simple.

Now another issue. What do i do with this information. I carried the bones in my endless bag and walked around trying to find a hint at how to use them. Not surprising but somehow slipped my mind was going to the eastern wall.

However I did naturally pass it. And when I did, below the writting something new appeared. And it was clear to what it needed. I removed the bones.. they were heavy each bone requiring all the strength I had. And then matched the bone to the shape cut into the wall. I had to make a dragons claw in the wall. An easy puzzle.. well actually all of them had been easy I was just stupid.

But why was it that when I placed all the bones nothing happend. What was i missing? Did I do something wrong? I must've have but what was it.

Careless. How and why did I leave my guard down to think about how to solve this block I faced. In front of me the very claw that I created took shape merging together.. it looked like a necromantic spell coming alive.. then it faced me. I looked back at this razor sharp ancient bone. As if to punish me for looking too long it swiftly moved in a vertical manner. A slash.

I just brought this damn fossil back to life and how does it pay respect to me? It slashed me in 3! Another quick and painless death but there was a moment where I could feel the separation into three parts. It was.. off putting.

Just like before, I found myself above the altar. One less flame before me. What went wrong? I tried to move but my body refused to listen to me. A shiver went down my spine. It was like.. my connection to the rest of my body died. Well, it did for a moment. I stayed absolutely still and had to focus my utmost attention into forming these bonds again. I needed to feel the rest of my body and regain command over myself. I couldnt allow myself to crumble like before, every life counted and losing one to suicide from mental trauma was not something I could allow.

Only 5 flames remained.

Why did every death have to be different. First I was driven mad with noise. Then I was beheaded and now i get cut into three. It took a moment before I could move again. But before hastily moving off I sat down and meditated. I couldnt afford to lose control over my body randomly. Meditation also gave me time to think about the issue. What was it that went wrong?

A thought came to me, I placed the bones directly into the wall.. maybe I was supposed to replicate the design on the floor. In which the claw would come to life and insert itself into the wall like some form of a key. It made sense. Afterall the hint was 'earth' it only made sense that the claw was directly connected to it when being made. It was a strong lead and nothing else was coming to me. Left with no other choice I went around snd collected the bones again.

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Standing in front of the eastern wall, I had tk mentally rotate and transform the design on the wall to recreate it on the floor. It took a few minutes but it wasn't the end of the world. I stood back. I removed my bag and held it in front me as a makeshift shield. It was a futile attempt, I knew, but I had to try. It made me feel safe even if i knew deep down it was false protection. Just like before, the claw came alive.. it was going according to my suspicion. I observed with tension brewing, was i right or will I die once more? It faced me, the deathly claws of this fossil. I would be lying if I said I didn't start panicking. I fell back. But as if to tease me the claw flipped around and embedded itself into the wall. Like s key. It turned in a circular motion then vanished entirely.

I looked up and the final words had lit up.

'I am fire and air, yet i live in the earth' nice. How does that help me? To answer a shadow of a dragon emerged from the wall and ran across. My eyes followed and it disappeared after hitting the north wall.

Ah. The north wall was next. Traumatising, i started shaking remembering my last attempt. But.. but this time i was right.

I walked in the direction of the northern wall then my foot felt like it was lowered. I just pressed something. A pressure plate. My heart sunk. It only took a nano second after those thoughts before a massive hammer connected to a rope which was connected to God knows where came speeding at me and slammed against my bag. The blunt force easily shattered every bone in my body but more then that i was launched into the wall.

Where I splattered. Like a bug. My entire body literally exploded. The pain didn't last long since I died so quickly but in the second which I could register the broken bones I was in immense pain.

-hisss

4. I had 4 more tries. Walking around perfectly fine but feeling as if I was internally broken into pieces was weird. No pain just as peculiar feeling. I was discombobulated, feeling like flattened mush was not a recommended experience... trust me. Looking around it seemed like i had a checkpoint. The first puzzle was lit up. But processing any thoughts caused great strain. My mind was a mess. I guess I wasn't so perfectly fine..

It was like my skull was being squashed like orange being drained for juice. I fell to one knee. It was bearable, compared to the previous pains this was nothing. Following a strategy that seemed to work, I sat down and closed my eyes. Yes, i meditated. Meditation helped soothe my soul amazingly well. A method I was going to engrave into my life after this cursed experience. I'm not sure how much time passed but I found myself in a stable state. I stood up once more with renewed passion and observed the room.

What was new, however, was the the traps. That was not there before.. I'm certain. That's great. I now had to be careful of every step I took.

Good news was i knew what to do. The gong. I still trembled at the thought but I was all but sure it was the right decision. I just did it in the wrong order.

Going down the stairs carefully I looked at the wall.

'My voice shakes mountians.. bring' some of the writing was lit up. And it just helped reassure me of my next move. Watching every step I took i slowly but surely made my way back to the gong.

'Here goes nothing' i picked up the mallet and slammed it into the gong. This time though. There was no sound. It was weird since it asked for a mountain shaking noise but did this mean I did it right?

I traced back my steps since I knew it was a safe path and more writing was lit. The white hue of the northen wall was a pretty sight.

'My voice shakes mountains, my wings bring mirth'

Following the previous success, a shadow dragon rose where it previously fell. It marched over to the western wall before vanishing once more.

'I guard the treasure... mine' Hmm this was the sword that beheaded me. Now here's the question.. was that even the right item? It stood out to me but that doesn't mean it was right.

Before me the few words that lit up had a green hue. Green. Ofcourse it had to be green. Planting stupid thought in my mind. What else was green? The bloody gem on the sword. 'Dammit' i hated these little hints it suggested because when I trusted them I ended up dying in a horrifying way.

And then it leaves me with no other choice. I had to try and so I walked over to the sword once more. Carefully and cautiously trying my best to avoid traps. I picked up the sword and placed it in my bag.

Then I head back to the western wall. What? The wall was fully lit up in green. What did I even do???? I was immensely confused. Then I read the writing.

'I guard the treasure, yet it is not mine'. How damn stupid. I just had to take the treasure back? That was all? I had to store the stupid sword for this. No need to kneel and say some stupid shit at the altar. I was pissed. How embarrassing.

Again, the shadow dragon emerged and ran to the final wall the south quarter. But this time. It was already glowing. The text was complete. Why?

It stated:

'What am I and what must you do to make me yield?'

What. Well let me start with putting it all together.

'I am fire and air, yet i live in the earth.

My voice shakes mountains and my wings bring mirth.

I guard the treasure, yet it is not mine.

To pass me, you must grasp my sign.

Tell me: what am I, and what must you do to make me yield?"

I mean it was obvious. The first part anyway. It was a dragon. Didn't take a genius to figure that out.

But how am I meant to make it yield?