A Call to Fate

Chapter 11 - Is not gold

Alf was trying not to panic. It was not the easiest thing in the world, since this was a very panic-worthy scenario. After all, Talani had managed to solve whatever it was he did on his own, and all it did was nearly kill the physically most resilient member of their group. He shelved that line of thinking - there was nothing in here to indicate any physical danger, aside from starvation. Honestly, this was probably something he might just have to sit out. It was clear he'd acted without much in the way of forethought, and this was the price for it. Most likely it was something that would have to be solved by the others now, and even though he didn't relish the thought of putting his life in their hands any more than he had to, it was his own fault, he supposed. He just hoped that when they solved it, he wouldn't be left behind.

--

In the treasure chamber, they were trying not to panic. The last they'd seen was a blinding flash of light, and then Alf had disappeared. A silence fell over the room, which lasted a few moments until it was broken by Reg. "What the fuck?" he exclaimed. "Does anybody have any idea what just happened?". There was only silence in response.

"I think", Gialli slowly started "that we must now be very careful about what we touch". Reg already had a snappy response on the tip of his tongue, but it died in his throat as he felt Tove place a hand on his wrist, as if restraining him. They let Gialli continue. He knelt down, carefully expecting the goblet that Alf had just raised, which had fallen to the floor. He got as close as he could, sometimes rolling it around using a tool of some kind, but making sure not to touch it directly. They could hear him muttering, occasionally catching words like "lustre" and "hue". Gingerly he stood it up on its base, then knocked it over again, where it fell with a dull 'clunk', a test he repeated a couple of times.

Apparently done with his examination, he stood up again, leaving the goblet on the ground. "What looks like gold, feels like gold, and shines like gold, but isn't gold?" he asked. After a moment of puzzled looks from the rest, he pointed somewhat obviously at the goblet. "That, apparently". He swept his arms in a wide gesture, encompassing the rest of the room "and I'd be willing to bet the rest of it as well". There was a low groan from those assembled.
"So you mean to tell us" said Reg "that in a room apparently full of gold with Freya's name on it, which we supposedly need to hold aloft, none of it is actually gold?"

Gialli merely shrugged. "Maybe?" he said. "It's possible that there is some real gold in here, but no visual or tactile examination will determine real from fake".
"In normal person speak please?" asked Tove.
"It all looks and feels exactly like gold" Gialli responded.
"Then how did you know it wasn't gold?" Teclis interjected.
"It sounded wrong". Gialli knelt back down next to the goblet, before pulling out his coin-purse. "This" he said, pulling a copper coin out "is what metal sounds like". He dropped it, and there was a familiar chiming noise of metal hitting stone, a noise which reverberated almost unnaturally around the room, sustained far longer than was expected, but at least providing a very clear demonstration of what metal sounded like. "And this", he continued "is what metal doesn't sound like". He picked up the goblet, careful to raise it no higher than his knees, before dropping it again, where it fell with a decidedly hollow, dead sound, like that of a wooden block hitting the ground instead. He repeated the demonstration a couple more times, alternating between the real coin, and picking up random bits of gold from around the chamber, before dropping them to create that same dead noise.

The others all got the gist quickly. It would be a pain, but theoretically, by testing everything in the room that looked like gold, they would find what they assumed would be the one real piece. As trials went it was irritating, and for anyone on their own, they would almost certainly have been whisked away as Alf had, never to be seen again. As it was, they couldn't really see a way to fail outright, so the only concern now was whether successfully completing the puzzle meant getting Alf back.

About 10 minutes in, they were already reflecting on how boring it was. It was painstaking, and the sound of 'gold' hitting the floor was grating into their skulls. One of the problems was making sure to sort each of the pieces to make sure they didn't end up checking the same item twice. They tried moving the coins out of the room, to see if anything about them changed, but they stayed resolutely the same. At least it provided somewhere they could move any checked items.

A new sound suddenly appeared; a gentle ringing noise that would have been unremarkable at any other time. As it was, they were all enraptured. Their eyes cast about, and Reg quickly spotted the coin he had tossed aside only a moment ago, expecting the same dull sound as before. It was still spinning gently, the final notes fading, but the sound distinctly metallic. Swift as an arrow, he leapt for it, triumph burning in his chest. He grabbed it tightly, and before he could even register the shout of "wait!" from Gialli, he held it aloft, a wide grin splitting his face.

There was another blinding flash, and then the sound of ringing metal again, as the coin fell once again to the floor.

Reg had disappeared.

--

When Reg had blinked the spots from his eyes, he found himself somewhere entirely new. Gone was the gold, the statue, and most disconcertingly, his frien-

"Hello there sunshine", a familiar voice called. Reg whirled, still disoriented, before his eyes alighted on Alf, slumped against one of the walls. "I'm not sure", he continued "if I should be relieved or despairing to see you here".
"What is this place?" Reg asked.
"Not a clue" Alf replied. "Got flung here just the same as you, and not much by way of explanation. I suppose it's the failure chamber".
"Funny".
"Do you prefer doom room? Idiot box? The square of despair?"
"You must be very proud of those".
"Well I've had a lot of time to think about it". That caught Reg out.
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"What do you mean, what do I mean?" Alf responded, somewhat acidly. "I've been stuck here for gods know how long, waiting for you lot to figure something out".
"Alf", Reg said, softly "how long have you been in here?"
"Well it's a bit hard to gauge, there not being much in the way of anything, but I'd say just short of a day?"
"A day?!" Reg cried, shocked. "Bloody hell, Alf, it's only been about 20 minutes for us".
"20 minutes? Now that is a bit unfortunate".
"So a minute out there is apparently about an hour in here, meaning that if they take an hour from here, or two..." Reg paled, his mind quickly running the numbers. "Alf, how much food do you have?"
"Left my bag in the last room", he said, gesturing aimlessly. Now that Reg thought about it, he could make out the slightly raspy tone to Alf's voice, no doubt from the lack of water.
"Well then let's hope it doesn't take an hour or two", Alf said, trying to convey some degree of positivity, slightly against his nature. "How was progress going out there?" Reg tried not to look ashamed.
"It's going... slowly" he eventually said.
"How slowly?"
"Well, we figured out why you ended up here at any rate", Reg said. Alf raised an eyebrow, signalling for him to continue. "The gold you picked up wasn't gold; it just looked and felt like it, but we think it's some sort of illusion. We figured out that if you dropped it, it sounded like stone instead of metal".
"So how did you end up here if you'd figured that out?" asked Alf.
"I dropped a coin, it sounded like metal, so I held it up". Reg shrugged, conveying that he had no idea what had gone wrong. "Maybe the others will figure out why I got flung in here".
"And then get us out?"
Reg shrugged again. "Sure. Why not?"