That was a question in itself, because Mirae was pretty sure the creature wasn't alive to begin with.

"I think it should be dead," she replied, panting and resting her hands on her knees. Her chest rose and fell as the mana circled through her, recovering, if slowly. With some meditation, it would recover much faster.

"Are you okay?" Pippa asked, stepping next to her. She bent down and angled her face up at Mirae, who simply shrugged.

"I'll be fine. Just a lot more mana consumed than I thought."

"How did you do that, by the way?" Pippa asked, raising her eyebrows. She got back to her feet and then stepped away, moving towards the stone monkey. The two puppets, still standing by its side, were rigid but vigilant.

"Do what?" Mirae asked, straightening out, though she knew what the girl was asking.

"Those tentacles?"

And there it was. Mirae sighed. "An ability I've got." She raised a brow and then pointed at Pippa's forearm. "That tree symbol on your arm, remember? My family? It's got to do with that."

"I see," Pippa said, squatting. Her hands brushed across the back of the monkey, following the lifelike grooves that made up its skin. "I would think it were real if it weren't made of stone."

"Yeah," Mirae said. It was quite curious. Though her gaze moved around the area, she couldn't help but frown. Who had built this place? And why a stone monkey with no tail of all things? Was it alluding to something?

Suddenly, the monkey's back cracked, and the stone fell away, revealing another crystal, much like the one they'd seen at the door above. Pippa's eyes practically glistened as she reached for the stone and plucked it out. With a few pats, dust falling away, she got to her feet and held the crystal up in the light.

"I think I know what to do," she said, stepping away from Mirae, who paused before following behind the girl.

"What have you found, darling?" her mother asked, stepping over.

"You remember the pattern we just saw?" Pippa said as she inspected the door, bringing a finger to her lip. She dropped to her knees, holding the crystal as another column of light shone from it. "Well, I think if I follow the pattern, then it should open this door."

"What makes you say that?" Harry said, stepping over. "It looks exactly like the one upstairs."

"Well, for one," Pippa said, pointing at the stone door. The light bounced from glass shard to glass shard, but unlike before, when it reached the crystal at the top of the door, nothing happened. "It's not reacting," Pippa finished. "But if I do this..."

She raised a hand over the crystal, then moved it, then put it back again, following the rhythm of the light she'd seen. When nothing happened, Harry frowned and dropped to a knee beside her.

"Are you sure you did it right?"

"I think I messed up the last bit," Pippa said, frowning, placing a hand over it again and repeating the rhythm she'd seen earlier with one alteration.

A click then sounded when she'd finished, and the three of them stepped back. Mirae actually smiled at their reaction, though she was more intrigued by the fact that Pippa had such a strong memory.

During their time in the dojo, the girls hadn't exactly had an opportunity to display any abilities aside from cultivation, though a mana cultivator couldn't just depend on how fast they could absorb mana. Some things would always set people apart, and apparently, her friend was smarter than she'd realised.

Before them, the door, much like before, shifted backwards with a low rumble, moving into another corridor. It then sank into the ground itself, revealing the darkness beyond.

Great. Another room to enter. Mirae shrugged, sending the puppet in, its light body illuminating them all the while. This entire section would have actually been quite a pain if it weren't for the fact that the puppet's bodies gave off a continuous light. Had whoever made this place expected them to bring in torches? How was a normal person supposed to do this?

Cutting down the trees would have been beyond impossible, though her gaze drifted to her bracelet and the bead in its centre. Perhaps more people would have just bought supplies like torches and tents, making this much simpler for those more prepared.

The puppet then came back a moment later, and Mirae nodded. "Shall we continue then?"

All three of them let out murmurs of agreement and then filed in behind the puppet, the two other puppets bringing up the rear.

A few minutes later, they entered what Mirae could only describe as a gallery. Stone stretched out before them in a room at least twice as large as the previous one.

Pedestals dotted the area, and atop each sat a different animal. And thankfully, unlike the last room, none of them seemed like they would move.

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One held a bird that kind of looked like a crow to Mirae, though she couldn't be sure, as in its stone form, she could easily confuse it with a magpie. On the other side sat a bear, and on the one behind that a cow, each animal in various seated positions. The room held seven animals, each on a pedestal.

"What is this?" Harry said, stepping into the room and marvelling at the structures.

Facing Mirae, Pippa brought her hand to her chin and stroked it. "Alright, this one has me stumped. I don't see a door anywhere," she said, glancing around the room and past the animals. She shook her head. "Yeah, no door."

"Does that mean we're trapped in here?"

"I sure as heck hope not," Mrs Strongmail said, sounding uncharacteristically casual. As Mirae glanced at her, the woman seemed to remember her position, and the fright that had taken over her eyes shrank back as she got back some of her composure. "What I mean to say is, I doubt it, honey, though I worry about how we'll solve this one. I don't suppose you have any ideas?"

Pippa smiled—a smile that said she'd been validated, and that pleased her. "Now you seek my advice, Mother. You sure you don't want to—" Before the last words could come from her mouth, she stopped herself as she met her mother's withering gaze. "I'm sure I can think of something, Mum."

She then turned, stepping towards one of the many animals and scrutinising it. "There's a sentence at the bottom of this one." Pippa dropped to her knees, running a finger across the words.

But then suddenly, the sound of footsteps caught their attention, and Mirae turned. They all did, to find a man dressed in white battle robes and sporting slicked-back hair, stepping from the darkness of a second hallway. His blue eyes narrowed at them before widening a little.

"I didn't expect there to be others down here," he said, raising a hand and waving slightly, though a long sleeve covered that hand and made it seem like the sleeve was a giant, loose-mouthed worm that couldn't quite digest the appendage it had swallowed.

"Who are you?" Mirae asked, two of her puppets stepping forward in a protective stance.

The man smiled, flashing his white teeth, and shook his head. "No need for alarm, though I must say those are quite curious constructs. You can call me Brom. Brom Frostkeep," he said, bowing a little.

A noble, and a Frostkeep at that, given how proud he was. That meant he was quite significant, though there wasn't the usual arrogance Mirae had seen from the nobles so far. And Frostkeep—wasn't that Emela's last name?

"And what are you doing here, Brom?" Mirae asked, though she could put together the reason. Something had probably brought him here, much like the rest of them. He had stepped into a trap he hadn't realised was one.

"Um, you know, this and that. I was out there completing a quest, and the next thing I knew, I was being swallowed by some swirling void and spat out in an unknown location. And then, being the natural survivor I am," he said, with a flourish, "I figured my way out and stumbled down here."

Mirae's gaze narrowed slightly. Just stumbled down here. That was as unlikely as the sky spitting out daisies. But then, if the man didn't wish to explain himself fully, that was up to him.

Brom then let out a small sound as his eyes landed on something, and he stepped forward, his robes swishing all the while. "Isn't this cute?" he asked, dropping to a knee before the statue of a cat.

Pippa, who knelt in front of a cow statue, glanced towards him. Her gaze flickered to Mirae and then back to the man. "Yes, it is cute," she said, the words coming out as if asking what he was doing.

"And have you figured out the meaning of these words at the bottom?" Brom asked, apparently completely oblivious to the unease he was causing.

"No," Pippa said, elongating the 'o' before turning back to Mirae and raising her brow as if to ask what she should do.

Stepping over, Mirae readied herself. If he tried anything, she'd wrap him tight in vines before he could even blink. "We're still working on that," she said, her eyes flickering to Pippa and then to the words.

"Well, I have some speculations," Brom said, getting to his feet and moving to another statue. "The words at the bottom of the cat one read, 'I awake the world before the sun takes flight,' and now this one." He pointed at a dog statue. He then rested a hand on it and brushed its head. "'I greet the day with a joyful sound.' Do you get it?"

Pippa shook her head.

"I don't think we do, sir," Mrs Strongmail said, stepping forward with a smile. "Brom, was it?" she asked. "If you'd be so kind, care to enlighten us?"

Brom chuckled and then moved away from the dog statue, stepping over to the cow. "This one also says, 'Though I have no lamp, I bring the light.' I'm thinking," he said, crossing his arms and stepping back, "that this is a poem."

"It doesn't sound like a poem to me," Harry said. He then muttered the words to himself. "Doesn't sound like a poem at all."

"A riddle, then," Pippa said, getting to her feet and moving to the statue of a rooster. "'Announcing its arrival with all my might.' So what? A riddle? And then how do we solve it?"

"What I think we have to do," Brom said, "is pick." He then dropped to a knee, his hand sliding under the belly of the creature before him, where he plucked something free. "Just as I thought," he said, raising a coin in his hand. "There may be no door, but do you see that?"

Mirae frowned as she identified a pedestal at the back of the room.

"Now that is curious," he said, walking forward with the coin.

Pippa reached under the rooster she was standing before and also plucked a second coin free. She stepped over to Mirae and whispered, "I think I understand it now, actually. I think we have to put the correct animal that this riddle is speaking about onto that pedestal."

"And how do you know it isn't random?" Mirae asked. After all, it was one thing if all the animals together made a riddle, but what if the riddle was in the wrong order? How would that help?

"No," Pippa said, her voice quieting that much more. "I think they all point towards two things. What's been a constant theme while we're here? Light, right? And what do roosters signal?"

"The coming of the sun, which gives off light," Harry said, popping up between them.

The two girls stepped back, and Harry frowned. "What?"

"Can you try not to sneak up on people, please?" Pippa said, shaking her head. She then stepped over to a frowning Brom, who plucked free the coin that he'd put in the pedestal a moment earlier.

"It didn't work. I could have sworn it would have worked," he said.

"Maybe you selected the wrong one," Pippa countered.

"Perhaps."

The lights around the room maintained a steady glow as Pippa raised her golden rooster coin, its surface glinting a little. She then slotted it into the pedestal, and the room began rumbling slightly. On the wall at the far end of the room, just in front of the pedestal, a little crack opened and then a beam shot forth, slamming into Pippa's chest.

Mirae's eyes went wide. "Pippa!" she screamed, her sentinels charging forward, one sliding to a stop and grabbing the tumbling girl in its grasp.

Mirae, having closed in a few steps behind, grabbed her hand and helped her up. "Are you alright?" she asked.

"More than alright."

Upon meeting her eyes, Mirae frowned. They'd taken on a white lustre, almost as if the sun itself was coming from them, though that weird anomaly faded a moment later.

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