The four circles were arranged in a row on the floor. We had previously discovered that their activation depended on our standing in a specific alignment. The first person could not see anyone else. The second person could see only the first, and the third person could see both the first and the second. In contrast, the fourth person stood facing the opposite direction and could not see any of the others.

  We strategically placed Kaylie at the very front, utilizing her prowess as a powerful area-of-effect mage to hold back any forces while we regrouped. Jack, our strongest warrior, was positioned at the back, facing the opposite direction to provide robust defense against any threats approaching from behind. Given my skills as a healer rather than a warrior, I was positioned directly behind Kaylie, with Sana right behind me, completing our formation.

  Instantly, we were paralyzed, and the ambiance of the purple cave transformed. The uniform color shifted to a scattering of two colors, like light refracting off a disco ball, casting shades of red and blue throughout the cave. The colors enveloped everything, even lighting up walls that had previously been shadowed.

  Directly in front of me was Kaylie, bathed in a blue light, as immobile as I was. I waited for any further changes, but nothing else happened. After two long minutes, I began to grow restless, and then, instinctively, I ground my teeth.

  Wait a minute. If I were paralyzed, how could I grind my teeth? Experimentally, I moved my jaw, opening and closing my mouth. It seemed I could still use it, which meant I could speak. But why could I speak and not move?

  As I pondered this, my thoughts turned to the riddle we were trying to solve. The riddle stated:

  Two and two, the eyes will shine red and blue

  If you say the wrong hue, it will spell doom

  Two will know, and two won’t

  Two and two will be divided

  The time to act is when the eyes of heaven are upon you

  Once entered, it can only end in separation or termination

  I read the riddle line by line, having already deduced that the ‘eyes’ referred to the red and blue moons. The following line, however, warned, ‘if you say the wrong hue, it will spell doom.’ I assumed this referred to the only colors present in the cave: red or blue.

  Immobile, I could only see Kaylie in front of me, bathed in a blue light. I presumed this meant she was supposed to declare ‘blue’ as her color. However, like me, she couldn’t see the color illuminating her. Presumably, Sana, positioned where she could see both Kaylie and me, knew our colors. Jack, behind us all and facing the opposite direction, remained unaware of the color cast upon anyone.

  Telling Kaylie what to say crossed my mind, but the riddle suggested dire consequences for speaking any color other than the one assigned to me. I didn’t think it was worth the chance to say my thoughts out loud and get us killed.

  I was assuming Sana had at least figured out the same thing. The others might have understood from the lights all around the cave, but maybe they hadn’t. I’d guess I would have to say my color, yet without seeing it myself, how could I be sure? I knew Kaylie’s color, but the others remained a mystery to me.

  “Rabbit, I need some help,” I thought, hoping to get someone to bounce ideas off of. This was a perfect puzzle for him.

  “Oh, now you’re paying attention to me? I thought you were ignoring me?” Rabbit said.

  “What are you talking about?” I asked.

  “About ten minutes ago, you said you figured it out, and I started to talk to you about violet, but you chose to ignore me. Now you want my help,” Rabbit said, hurt. Darn, it was true. I did ignore him, but I had to get the others up so we could act. “I should just leave you alone until time runs out, and you all die.”

  “What?!” I yelled in my head, alarmed. Who said anything about dying?

  “The puzzle said you either leave in separation or doom. You didn’t think those moons would stay in position forever. You better hurry up and figure it out, or you will be dead,” Rabbit said with a small amount of glee in his voice.

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  “You shouldn’t be so cheerful about this. If I die, you go down with me,” I reminded him.

  “Yeah, yeah. Everyone dies eventually. You’re always so worried about that,” Rabbit replied nonchalantly, as if the concept of mortality was merely an inconvenience. It was challenging to convince someone without self-preservation instincts that they needed to help themselves survive.

  “But if you died, you wouldn’t be able to figure out all the mysteries of this world,” I tried, appealing to his curiosity.

  “True, but then I’d get to find out what happens after we die. Oh, I’m dying to figure that out… literally,” Rabbit said with a hint of glee in his tone.

  “Okay, what do you want?” I demanded.

  “You know that book Sophia gave you?”

  “The primer about this world and magic?” I replied.

  “No, the other one. The one that teaches you how to sleep fast,” Rabbit corrected.

  “That one? You want me to read that? Fine, I agree,” I said hastily. I didn’t know why I was slowing Rabbit down with questions when my life could be on the line any moment.

  “You read it? Why would I care about that? No, I want to attempt what they describe in the book.” I hesitated to agree immediately. There was always a downside with Rabbit, and I needed to know what it was this time.

  “Is there a risk to me?”

  “Certainly. You’re thinking about combining the conscious and unconscious mind. Worst-case scenario, you could end up insane or living a real-life nightmare.”

  “Then why would we attempt it? Why would anyone attempt it?” I asked, acutely aware of the time slipping away.

  “If Elves don’t do it at some point, they will gradually lose their minds. It won’t be as severe as if you mess up, but it will be something akin to Alzheimer’s.”

  Why was the world like this? Why was I always presented with two terrible choices? Couldn’t I have a good choice and a better one?

  Rabbit had backed me into a corner. Either I died here, or I accepted his offer and risked losing my mind eventually. Dying was easy, but losing my sanity seemed far worse.

  I considered that the risk was equally significant for Rabbit because he was stuck with me. Becoming insane might be worse than death for him, too. He might not be directly affected if I failed and lost my mind, but then he’d be stuck with a lunatic for company.

  In the end, though, it wasn’t just about my life. I had to consider everyone in my group. They were here because of me, here to help me, and if they were killed, that would be on me.

  “You need to give me more details later, but I agree,” I replied in my mind, resigning myself to be his test subject once again.

  “Perfect,” Rabbit said cheerfully. “Your problem is that you’re trying to figure out what you don’t know, rather than what others see.”

  “Wait. Do you already know the answer?” I asked.

  “Of course, it’s simple. You just need to go through all the possible combinations. There are only two sets of colors, so it should be easy,” he replied.

  “How do you know everyone isn’t blue? Or that only Kaylie is blue and everyone else is red?” I pressed.

  “Simple. The riddle states, ‘Two and two will be divided.’ That means there are two blue and two red. If everyone had random colors, it would be impossible to figure out. The only logical way to figure it out is if it’s divided as two having red and two having blue.”

  “Okay, what color do I have?” I asked.

  “Not that simple. I’m not going to tell you. Like I said, think about what others see and what they’re thinking,” Rabbit insisted stubbornly.

  With no other option, I followed his logic. “Okay, Kaylie sees nothing, and neither does Jack. So they’ve either figured out the color thing or they haven’t. They’re in the same boat as me and can’t glean anything. The only one who can see the two of us is Sana, and once she figures out the two red and two blue, she will declare her color. But that doesn’t leave anyone else with any ideas.”

  “Wrong,” Rabbit countered. “Let’s assume Sana is smart. She hasn’t said anything. Why?”

  “Because she can’t see her color and doesn’t want to get us killed,” I replied.

  “Wrong, the riddle repeatedly mentions two and two. I know for a fact she’s aware there are only two pairs of colors. Why hasn’t she said anything?” After I remained silent, Rabbit continued, “What is she seeing?”

  “Kaylie and I. Kaylie is blue, and I am either blue or red,” I stated confidently.

  “If we know Kaylie is blue, what color would you have to be for Sana not to say anything?” Rabbit prodded.

  Thinking it through, I realized, “If I were red, then Sana wouldn’t know what she was. But if I were blue, she would have known immediately that she was red.” It was self-evident once pointed out. I just had to figure out why Sana hadn’t said anything. If she had said ‘red’ at the beginning, I would have known I was blue. Her silence meant that I must be red. That also meant Sana and Jack wouldn’t know their colors.

  If Kaylie went through the same line of reasoning that Rabbit just put me through, then she would realize that she was blue because that would be the only reason that I would have spoken first. Then a line in the riddle came back to me: ‘Two will know, and two won’t.’ Considering that only Kaylie and I could know, it was the only possible solution.

  “Thanks, Rabbit, you’re awesome,” I praised internally.

  “I know, but you should say it more often,” Rabbit replied, as humbly as he could.

  I then said out loud, as clearly as I could, “Red.”

  At that, a chime sounded, and the circle beneath me glowed red, the earth below my feet breaking, and it started to move down slowly. I could not move or even speak anymore, but I could see the ground slowly move up as I descended into the ground.

  After only a couple of instances, I heard Kaylie say, “Blue.”

  At her word, another chime sounded, and her circle turned blue, wrapping her in light as she began to descend. I sank faster, the earth rising around me until I could only see her torso above the stone. Just before the ground closed over my head, I glanced back and caught sight of Jack and Sana released…left behind while the earth closed over me.