《Breaking Horizons: Book 1: Snared Origins》Chapter 26: Snared Origins Pt.13: A Quest For A Seed Part 4/?
Advertisement
Sweet stared at the current room. It had a hemi-spherical shape with many paintings and lights. It resembled a normal sky but with a green tinge. In this room's ‘sky’, many strangely shaped objects could be seen, similar to birds, planes, and machines. Apart from those, flashing fireflies surrounded fine strands of green tubes as if the whole sky was sewn. The mist that was released by the ends of those hollow tubes appeared to form clouds. A huge agglomeration of them also formed a huge sun that remained suspended in the sky.
The strange pair of stones hung from the sky in columns. One column was silver with many colorful neon-like signs with arrows pointing at it. It was like seeing the lights in Las Vegas or a similar city's signs. All of the arrows delivered an ‘It’s me’ type of message.
“It’s me!” - “Turn off the lights!” - “I need more cats and love!”- “Beep me!” “Everyone wants to talk to me!” - “I am the tree!” - “I need honey to work better!” -“Welcome, I added you to my memory!”
The other rock was in a black column with only one big arrow glowing blue signaling at it. The arrow had the words:
"It’s not me. I am just a normal rock."
Sweet didn't know the meaning behind this. Jasper and Cinna were also surprised at such a turn of events, but maybe they knew more. With such thoughts in mind, Sweet looked towards them and asked, "You guys should know which one is real, no?"
Jasper turned his head to the side as if avoiding Sweet's gaze. At the same time Cinna tried to answer, but then took the matter seriously and explained. "Sweet, we wanted to surprise you. The truth is after we got these powers, we...” Cinna sighed and then went for a more direct approach. “In reality, we never spoke with the real master. He used a helper to give us these suits, but now we are in his real abode."
"Wait, so you guys don't know?" Sweet questioned.
"We don't. It's a test he planned for the time the four of us were together. However, since Nick isn't here, I don't understand why he summoned us," Jasper commented awkwardly.
"So this is another test?" Sweet asked them.
"It is. We need to solve it. Seems like the Green-Pea Plains master wants to see our abilities and if we are truly skillful enough to be called heroes," Cinna spoke her thoughts, answering sweet.
"Well he gave you things for you guys to save me, so at least that shows some trust in us. We should search the room and find some clues then." Sweet suggested.
"Bruh, I think this is like to easy, don’t you guys see? The false rock is the one with the huge amount of signs." Jasper added.
"I think it should be the other one. I mean, I don't think the owner of this place would lie to us." Cinna gave her opinion to the group.
As the two bunnies were discussing their arguments, they both eyed Sweet from the corner of their eyes. It was a clear message; ‘You decide!’
'Why are you always leaving that to me? Do you know? I want to let others make decisions for me sometimes...' Sweet gazed at the two rabbits discussing while he examined his brown fur and compared it with their white clean glow. He felt different, but still, things seemed to depend on himself at this weakened moment.
Advertisement
“Okay guys, I think we should be careful about this. As I said, we should find some clues that show us the real answers.” Sweet suggested.
“I think we should just touch the-” Jasper tried to give his opinion but was interrupted by Cinna who made a sly wink towards him. “Jasper, we should hear Sweet out.”
“Oh, okay.” Jasper shrugged.
“So guys, how about we separate and find some clues for obtaining the right answer?” Cinna opined.
“…” Sweet sighed as he has already said that before, he didn’t know why both of them seemed to finally want to work together.
The bunnies started searching for clues in the current room. Since it was rather large, many of the stuff inside of it confused them. Add to this that there weren’t enough details as to what they had to do. Time passed and Sweet was looking at one of the signs with a thoughtful gaze. An idea surged in his mind as he turned around intending to share his findings with the others.
“Hey guys, did you find anything useful?” He asked as he turned. “Guys?!” But then he found no one apart from himself inside the room. He continued to shout, but what seemed a joke became reality; they weren’t with him.
“How the hell did this happen?” He murmured while searching for clues of their whereabouts
He looked around and found that some of the signs of the silver column’s rock had moved. With that, he arrived at a conclusion. ‘Damn, so this is why they worked together, they each touched a stone… But wouldn’t it mean that all of us would have lost? Is the guy giving each one of us a chance?” Sweet muttered as he gazed towards the different places in the room,
“I seem to be missing something, but what?” He murmured after the uneventful search.
The place was totally silent, which was somehow strange. Sweet looked at the signs again, then searched the dark floor or the images in the sky… Still, nothing. He gazed at the signs and the rocks, they didn’t shine as strong as the tree… It was like when he was rescued…
‘Wait why didn’t I look for the tree during the day?!’ Sweet asked himself as he realized something. Seemingly comprehending the hidden message in the signs, he looked for the room’s entrance. ‘I mean if it’s that big of a tree I should have seen it, but why didn’t I do that… Well, I was tired, but also the sun rays were stronger and the tunnel’s open area we arrived at could maybe block part of the tree… It doesn’t matter… If the sun blocked the tree's glow, then I need to do what these signs say…’
As he walked towards the entrance he searched scrupulously for something to turn off the lights. ‘Hmm, it should be here but there are only these threads… Hmm, is it behind them?’ Sweet tried moving a few of the strands. To his surprise, the strands moved and interconnected forming a rectangular green switch which wasn’t in that place initially.
“So I needed to know about it for this to work?” Sweet asked softly, yet nothing answered. He pressed the green button formed from those green strands.
The bunny’s action was instantly answered as many things started to change inside the room. The first thing to change was the sun turning dim. Its blinding light decreased as the green tubes which formed its green-yellow light unraveled. Afterward, the mist slowly declined to leave a clear roof – ‘sky’.
Advertisement
Sweet looked with interest but then became panicked. As the light decreased, the floor below his legs turned transparent, revealing a dark abyss with a fall similar to his distance to the ceiling. He trembled, for some time trying to overcome his predicament. Thankfully he found that despite being creepy, the floor held firm. Lights came from below as he looked at an astonishing wonder, the room wasn’t just a hemi-sphere.
The whole room was a sphere much like the one he saw when sentenced by the underground creatures. If that one was said to be a countryside stadium, then this huge-space was the real deal. It seems those underground creatures created theirs resembling the tree owner’s architecture. As expected from the original designer, this was a marvelous spectacle.
Many 'stars' started to shine in the sphere’s inner walls. They could be seen forming sparkling bridges between them, creating different styles of constellations. If you paid enough attention some stars shined brighter. Those were part of the most renowned constellations, like the zodiac, along with some additional ones that were usually forgotten. The plain dot-connecting drawings started to become alive in the form of holograms.
Sweet gasped and stared wide as if he was ‘A human doing a tour at a zoo or factory’. He found the Signs pointing at the rock shining stronger. There was one blinking nonstop in a strange rhythm with additional green lights.
“So this is why we couldn’t decipher the little game. Now it even tells you what’s supposed to come next.” Sweet started an introspective monologue while trying to understand the hidden message in the signs. These indications seemed to be in order as the blinking sign was exactly the next one after the lights off words.
‘This sign says it needs cats…’ Sweet scanned the different constellations in the spherical walls. Each of the holograms had some sort of territory in which they moved.
He spun slowly gazing at the different beasts until he found a strange cat above himself. The odd creature looked at him with curiosity. Then after a little lick of its paws, it opened its jaws. Sweet averted his gaze and incredibly found a little lion that started to run away. Still, the small cat couldn’t escape Sweet’s eyes as it arrived before a bigger lion. This lion seemed to protect its child. It roared at him as many cats blinked from the constellations. Some of them visible while others seemed to disappear as if they were being forgotten.
Sweet maintained his courage this time, he knew these were the ‘cats’ he needed. The Lion touched his heart and the word ‘Regulus’ appeared below it. This strange star-shaped object called Regulus arrived at Sweet and formed a crown. Sweet looked like a king now and he understood in little time what this crown gave him. An ability to ‘rule’ those holograms in the sky.
He couldn’t help but think about how easy this seemed. Sweet eyed the cat with his newfound ‘power.’ When he locked onto it, the lion stopped its usual roars, it gave curtsy and pointed towards another place with its left paw. All the other cats followed its pointing action while licking their other paw.
The Lion’s claw pointed towards the glowing signs. Sweet followed it finding that the blinking signs changed. The ‘I am the tree’ sign blinked. However, another one blinked alongside it. The ‘I need honey’ sign flashed non-stop, making the easy solution of following an ordered pattern turn a bit more complex.
“What does that mean?” Sweet asked himself, he continued his mumbling as he tried to find the tree in the holograms. “Is there some sort of association between both signs? Well between a tree and honey, a tree seems easier…”
With those thoughts in mind, he searched for a tree constellation. Sadly, Sweet’s search was in vain as the tree wasn’t easy to spot in the ‘sky’. He then tried to search for honey, but nothing served that purpose. He decided to use the crown he got. He ordered a strange bird to tell him where the tree was, but it shook its head. He tried again and asked where to find honey, and it shook its head again. He stared angrily at the dumb bird asking if it could tell him a clue or something. This time it made a cross with its wings.
“A cross?” Sweet asked and the bird nodded. Seems like the crown served to communicate with them, but not to order them as it was a test. He tried to do some tests before searching for the cross. The more he understood of these crown, the better.
In his intention to experiment he found the crown gave him two abilities. To move the constellations and communicate with them. The ‘move’ part was akin to making them switch houses. Like moving a person from one house to another. The talk was akin to the order towards moving or asking for information. But the communication needed the approval of the constellation. They won’t comply with every order he gave.
Following the bird’s previous suggestion, he confirmed the ‘cross’ was a clue. He couldn’t cheat and ask where the cross was located. Nevertheless, he found it in 10 minutes. It was below him and near it was a chameleon and a flying insect. The insect looked like a fly or a bee, almost indistinguishable. The solution was easily found when he asked the insect if it could produce some honey. It gave a buzz and flew towards a hidden triangle tree in a gaseous nebula. It was near a horse with a horn, and the horse was below a weird dog of the Procyon genus.
The current tree was in a winter background. Interestingly, seasons started to change when the insect arrived. The tree seemed to experience a time-lapse phenomenon as it entered summer and grew beautiful flowers which served for the insect to multiply. A huge honeycomb formed slowly until it started dripping with a golden liquid. The huge hexagonal comb structure grew. Its holographic patterns becoming more variegated, thus increasing the honey coming out from it.
Sweet watched as a waterfall of honey formed in the end. However, it all fell towards nothingness until it disappeared completely.
‘What to do? How can he use that honey?’ He thought while trying to grasp the next step. The signs didn’t change. He fused both of the sign’s sentences arriving at a possible idea. “Maybe that tree isn’t the true tree… Maybe the one that needs the honey is the real one… Wait, do I need to send honey towards one of the rocks? Hmm, how do you give the tree honey? Well, for now, let’s just ask or find something to hold the honey…” He muttered thoughtfully.
The constellations didn’t move when he asked about the rock. Instead, they gave a nod when he asked if the tree constellation wasn’t the one the neon-light sign was referring to. It made him happy as he’d finally found the next clue. He asked and additional question about the honey, the answer was tangentially answered. Though they didn’t help him find something to hold the honey with, they answered that he should.
While he looked at the falling honey, he remembered seeing a woman holding a vase at the opposite side of the big lion in the sky. With that, he walked towards her and pleaded to use the vase as the honey’s recipient. The woman agreed and used her vase to catch the honey as it was a perfect way to solve the situation. Well, it was until he saw the woman glare towards another beautiful woman in the distant sky. She seemed to have a change of attitude when she saw the sparkling diamond in which her ‘meditating opponent’ sat over. She angrily swung the filled vase while sending all the honey towards that place in the sky.
The other woman opened her eyes surprised by the action. She moved like a saint and evaded the golden liquid. However, a part of the diamond was stained. The honey slid over the diamond and entered a canal made by a plowman. The strange man had an ox and was plowing the ‘sky’ as if it were earth. The honey followed the made tunnel, its flow defied gravity and followed a weird arc to a higher point in the sky. Sweet watched with astonishment as this was all likely a planned movie by the place’s owner.
The honey went higher and higher. The plowman as a driver sent the honey towards a big bear that touched it with its claws. The big bear also held a big dipper, it growled and called a smaller bear while looking at it with care
The small bear held a similar but smaller pot which is used to grab a small amount from its ‘mother’ bear. However, it dropped the pot when it liked its paws with honey. A part of the little dipper it held pointed towards a specific direction as honey dripped from it towards a strange spot in the sky. With a pained expression, the young bear glowered at its mother.
The Huge bear pointed with her big dipper to the little dipper's handle which shone brightly. A line formed between each of those stars. The ending direction was towards a dark place in the sky that was not visible secondary to the glowing constellations. With the movement and pointing from the bears, he found what the sky was missing… The Moon.
There in the middle of the vault, was a round spot without a glow. It was formed by the different shadows from the other constellations. The ‘moon’ was dark because it didn’t have any stars or a Sun for it to reflect. It was something that delved into the background of the holograms and stars, yet didn’t seem to be recognized easily. Only if you maintained an obsession towards it, could you find it. The north, the path he needed to walk, was towards the Moon. It was what the Polaris star in this place represented.
When he saw the hidden moon in the sky, he understood something as if it was a previous experience. The big bear and little bear moved, following the path to the moon. The big bear represented the mother that showed her son the direction. The honey was the light that the moon needed to shine. That sweetness that came from the ‘bears guard’.
A golden moon appeared, it became a sphere that could now interact with the other glowing participants. The golden ball fell from the sky slowly. The lynx and two lions played with the ball throwing it towards another place like some game. After a big series of weird star interactions, the ball fell into the vase of Aquarius. The one filled with honey.
Sweet didn’t need to ask, the vase-holding woman approached him and gave him the vase. She pointed to the rock with all the extra sings. It was obvious by now, that the only rock participating in the game was that one. The other one didn’t seem to do anything additional.
While he held the vase with both hands, he found himself in the middle of a spot-light. As if he was a man doing a show in the middle of the stage.
“Err… I have the vase, this should be enough to beep you? Erm… Great Tree?” Sweet spoke with a nervous voice, but nothing happened. He looked at the signs finding three of them blinking now. ‘Seriously now I have to give you honey and beep you… Well, supposing this rock is the tree…’
The spotlight became a smaller circle just about the size of the vase’s base. Sweet understood and put it over the place. A strange green string appeared falling from the column where the rock with many signs was. Doubting at first but again realizing what it was for, he pulled the green vine with force.
(Beep… Beep… Beep)
The waves it made resembled those EKG green lines on healthcare monitors. The green rock started to glow brighter and brighter. The constellations vanished but the vase appeared to be real… No, it was real, he touched it, and it had weight… Sweet couldn’t even think why he didn’t look inside before leaving it on the circle.
The blinding lights became stronger as every small thread and strand in the spherical room vibrated with the same beeping pattern. It was until a big beep resounded like an explosion leaving a tingling sound in his ears.
“What the hell is happening with you?!” A voice sounded from above Sweet, but it wasn’t directed at him.
He opened his eyes and saw a floating rock speaking weird sentences. The glowing signs vanished leaving only the ‘everyone wants to talk to me!’ and the ‘I added you to my memory’.
However, the talking rock was attacking the other rock with an angry sermon.
“Normal, you should be the one receiving the guests and saying welcome, not me. This sign appearing over me is wrong! I am not the helper.” The rock turned red and had a green question mark sign inside. It was ‘bullying’ or doing rock things towards the other rock that was black with a blue arrow inside.
“Damn, let me tweak you a bit, yeah… That’s the way… See now, this is how it should work…” The red rock jumped over the other rock while expressing itself. It seemed to enjoy bullying the other rock as both rocks buzzed strangely.
Sweet gazed and turned around flustered. He was trying to evade the ‘bullying’ experience.
“Oh, hey kid this isn’t what you think. You shouldn’t mind this other rock much, it’s actually dumb. It only works if you give it enough orders…” The red rock used its strange floating magic and sent the black rock to a different space as it seemed to vanish completely.
“Ok, forget about that, it was a minor mistake. It won’t matter much.” The rock span in the air and arrived in front of Sweet. “Hey, I am talking to you! Welcome! As Normal didn’t add you I did it myself. Congratulations on being the first tester, you deserve a ‘First’ achievement. Also thanks for the offering.”
“First? Offering?” Sweet asked with a frown.
“First because you completed the test before I got to test it! I was going to be the first… Well, never mind that. The offering is inside the vase, it’s a honeymoon! The best thing you can give to those you value. It’s a bun filled with the sweetness of vacations and a partner to make them enjoyable…” The rock continued spinning around Sweet like the Earth around the Sun.
“With another rock?” Sweet asked.
“Eh! No, no, no… You are getting things wrong again. A person’s dream is to float in space like me. To touch the honeymoon needs special experimental subjects… Cough… We are going outside the boundaries here…” The rock did an abrupt brake in its orbit when asked that. It floated up and buzzed in the air while moving upside down. It was a funny scene with an angry rock arguing at what it thought was an erratically done deduction.
“Wait! Where are my friends, where did you take them?” Sweet interrogated anxiously.
“Oh, don’t worry they are in a special place for their own amusement. I made them some cozy spaces for them to have a nice time.” The rock spun again and then continued. “You are the puzzle solver and the one I can recognize to be able to talk to me… How about it want to help this land? I have a big problem you know? I need people that can help me think 'how to overcome this'… Do you want to hear?” The rock added and then moved its frontal facing side as if nodding. However, it overdid this nonverbal cue, as it was obvious it wasn’t expecting a ‘no’ for an answer.
Advertisement
Beautiful Wife And Genius Son
Interview (YGZ – Father, ZZ – Mother, ZW – Son)1. What is something you carry everywhere with you? YGZ: A gun. ZZ: I prefer being indoors, specifically inside a lab. ZW: Anything that has access to the internet.2. What is your favorite hobby? YGZ: Shooting. ZZ: Experimenting. ZW: Hacking.3. What is your worst fear? YGZ: My wife’s cooking. ZZ: My lab burning. ZW: No access to the internet.4. What is your spirit animal and why? YGZ: A Bigfoot – has hands to hold a gun. ZZ: An eagle – has good vision, useful for observing. ZW: A Spider – can spin a web.5. What is your biggest regret? YGZ: Letting my wife escape after our first night. ZZ: My son being a genius. I chose YGZ to be the father of my child because I thought he was a himbo. ZW: Not reuniting my parents sooner.
8 667My Passive Skills Are Invincible!
It was an era taken over by a single online game, the Second World.
8 193Thieves Thrive From Failure
A naive thief who avenged her father from the Crimson Guards is now a fugitive in the city of Yeverii. Set in the time of noblemen to peasants, Griem's only goal is to see the city built on blood, crumble to pieces. Overtime she attracts the attention of the local Thieves Guild all while being held in the grasp of a more experience female thief, Aylie. Can Griem run from the clutches that start to close their distance to her neck? The story of two female thiefs, young versus experienced. [Updates every 2-3 days!]
8 77Greenstern (A YA Novelette)
Laura Kemp is an ambitious seventeen year old attending Greenstern, a school for young witches. Laura is just trying to keep up with her studies when she unexpectedly overhears a mysterious conversation late at night in the library. Someone is plotting something, the whole school could be in danger. Along with her best friend Violet, they set out to save the school from dark and evil magic. Little do they realise the danger they are putting themselves in goes far beyond what they could have ever expected.
8 67A Festival of Fools
What would happen if you mix the driving in "Baby Driver and Initial D" The racing in the "Fast and Furious" and The Neo-Futuristic world building in "Ghost in the shell"? Without any of the cringe? (Kinda.) Well not this. But it is damn close. "No one here likes what I love, I might as well leave" These were the words Denzo said as he one day decides to abandon all expectations of him. His parents were the type to keep him reading the books all day and track his grades every semester but today was gonna be different. All his life he had been kept away from the things that he loves, with it being cited as a waste of time and effort as they wanted him to be just like everybody else. But in the days leading to his decision, certain events started to happen around the city that got him intrigued which leads him on a quest to find where these events were so he could witness, and maybe, find a way to join them.
8 228HERO CHRONICLES:
The world's first VRMMO [ Fantasy Online] have just begun. All the people couldn't help but felt excited beyond belief, dreaming new adventures and becoming heroes that fight monsters. However, when the game goes live, the elation of these people quickly turns to horror as they discover that it was impossible to log-out. Though an eccentric, self-proclaimed hedonist, Hero Stein, became one of these players. Gave his all to survive and protect the people he wanted to protect but it seems the women of fate have something in store for him. Involved in the fight between gods! Can he create a new myth that transcends all other existing myths? Is the world they thought really was nothing but a bunch of data? A fictional world? Just what and who is the real Hero Stein...?!
8 232