Controlling Destiny - 15 The Shameless Bookshelf

Ultrix searched all the floors for the most interesting looking books.

Eventually, he stumbled across a bookshelf tucked away in the far corner of the library.

The bookshelf itself almost seemed enchanted, and it pulsed with magical energy.

As Ultrix walked closer and closer to it, he felt the hairs on his body stand up straight, like the sensation of lightning before a storm.

Ultrix trembled from fear and awe of how much magical energy was condensed on that bookshelf. Through his trembling though, his eyes were flashing from ecstasy.

His emotions were in bedlam, and embers rolled off of his robe like waves of volcanic ash.

Noticing that the ground around him had suddenly gotten quite warm, Ultrix caught himself and managed to calm himself down.

“Heh,” He chuckled to himself. [It would be funny if I burned down this room before I could even read any of the actual books.]

Walking up to the bookshelf though, Ultrix was instantly at a loss for words.

Before him, there were 16 questions, 4 questions for each row. The questions seemed to be in some ancient language because Ultrix could not read any of it.

Ultrix touched a row at random and instantly the equations faded and a single sentence flashed before him.

“Welcome strangers, from close and far,

On this bookshelf, this is marred

If knowledge and power is what you seek,

First four riddles, you must defeat.”

“Do you wish to accept this challenge?”

Ultrix instantly felt a little bit better. [Whew,] he thought to himself, [at least these are only riddles and not logic equations anymore.]

The four questions from earlier faded in again, except this time it was in a language that Ultrix could read.

[Wow, how considerate,] Ultrix thought to himself.

The first question went “If a red hat fell into the blue sea, what would become of it?”

“Uh.” Ultrix was already stumped.

“What kind of stupid question is this?” Ultrix cried out loud in confusion.

Instantly the board created a sound: “Please answer each question with one word. 2 lives remain.”

“WHAT?” Ultrix cried out loud again. Then he quickly clasped his hands as he remembered his previous mistake.

Unfortunately, it was too late.

The same voice came back on, this time slightly more stern than before. “Incorrect answer, 1 life remains.”

[Crap, crap, crap!] Ultrix thought to himself. He did not know what would happen if one’s ‘life’ dropped to zero, but he was not too keen on finding out.

Calming himself down, Ultrix thought hard about the question. [A red hat in a blue sea?] He thought with great confusion.

Sweat drops dripped from his hair and Ultrix felt as if his brain had stopped working.

Finally, after many minutes of thinking, Ultrix realized an obvious answer. [The hat becomes wet, right?]

Ultrix almost slapped himself silly on how dumb this answer was, but he thought it was probably the most fitting for such a derpy riddle.

“The hat becomes wet!” Ultrix declared.

A few moments passed as the runic circle calculated this answer.

“This answer works, congratulations on beating the first question, you gained back 1 life.”

Ultrix sighed in relief. [Thank the heavens!] He thought to himself.

Meanwhile, the second question was read out loud. “If an elephant laid a brown egg, what kind of animal would hatch?”

Ultrix thought about this question for a moment before he felt like he wanted to rip apart the runic.

“Elephants can’t lay eggs!” Ultrix declared.

The runic thought for a moment before creating a “ding!” sound.

“Congratulations, this answer also works. You are now back to 3 lives.”

Ultrix was about to tear out his hair at how dumb these riddles were, but he barely managed to calm himself down again.

“This next riddle is slightly different,” the runic said slowly.

“Please reply in a ‘whois’ format.”

“For example, if someone asked me: ‘who is the hottest runic circle alive,’ the answer would be “Who am I?” The runic ended this sentence with a bit more emotion, and it almost sounded very smug with itself.

Ultrix felt his face start burning in rage. [Who the hell does this runic think it is?] Ultrix thought in anger and frustration. [It almost feels like the runic is purposely trying to trigger me!]

“This next question is: ‘if there are 3 apples and you take 2, how many apples do you have?’”

Ultrix was absolutely at a loss for words.

[I- I what?] Ultrix could not help but exclaim in madness “How the hell does this have anything to do with the previous format?!”

The all too familiar “ding!” sound came back on at this moment. “Careful, you now only have 2 lives left, please answer the question.”

[To hell with it!] Ultrix thought angrily to himself. [I should just burn down this stupid bookshelf and go find a more reasonable one.]

However, once again sensing just how much magic energy was around the bookshelf, Ultrix managed to just barely cool himself off.

“I would have 2 apples because that’s how many I took,” Ultrix replied coldly.

“That’s correct!” the runic chirped happily. “Congratulations for not falling for the earlier format, that was simply a way of tricking you.”

Ultrix felt smoke trickling out of his nose and his ears popped, but he said nothing.

“Now then, the final question!” The runic circle said happily. It was in a very good mood.

“I am the fountain from which no one can drink.

For many, I am considered a necessary link.

Like gold to all, I am sought for,

but my continued death brings wealth, for all to want more.”

[Oh, finally a legitimate question,] Ultrix thought to himself.

Ultrix thought hard about this question. [What possibly could be something that is a fountain, but one can not drink, and precious like gold?]

After many minutes of thinking, Ultrix decided upon 2 final answers. It could either have been Maginite, or Mana. Both had a liquid form, which explains the fountain part.

They were also both sought out for and sold for quite a bit.

Deciding on a gamble, Ultrix chose to answer with ‘Mana’.

“Is the answer Mana?” Ultrix asked.

“Sorry, Mana is incorrect. While it is indeed a liquid that is sought out by many, it is also drinkable in purified form.”

[Well, that’s reasonable,] Ultrix thought to himself.

“Is it Maginite?” Ultrix asked.

The runic paused for a brief moment as if calculating this answer.

Finally, after a few moments passing, the runic chimed again with a lovely “ding!”

“Congratulations!” The runic said, “You have managed to solve all 4 riddles correctly!”

The glowing runic on the row promptly shook a bit, before completely dissolving.

On the shelf, there were 3 books. Excitedly, Ultrix grabbed a book at random, and read the title.

“How to be Patient, for Dummies.”

Ultrix’s face darkened instantly and his hands ignited instantly. “Is this some kind of sick joke to you?!” He shouted at the bookshelf.

Naturally, the bookshelf did not reply, but Ultrix swore he could see it shaking as if from laughter.