Post by kannon on May 31, 2005 10:32:41 GMT -5
I was unpacking the last of the boxes from the move up to Olympus, from my pagoda on Justice Island. Hammering was going in the background as workmen put the finishing touches on the fifth level. A sudden explosion tore through the air and white ceramic tiles came flying past the window. They were closely followed by a hammer and the shriek of a dolphin whom the falling hammer narrowly missed. The white oval in the corner of the room shimmered and Winston stepped through. I had turned back to filling my dresser, when I was distracted by a splash behind me. There lounging in the bathtub that filled most of the middle of the room, was my dog Winston. Winston lapped up some of the water with his tongue and shouted over his shoulder…
“So, hun, have you deciphered the scroll yet?”
Without a word I walked over to the tub. The look on my face would have wilted a steel rose. After a long pause, I heaved a deep sigh to calm myself.
“Winston…” I said with a forced calmness.
“Yes?” came the reply.
“You have exactly three seconds to get your nasty furry behind out of my tub….” I paused as Winston, sheepishly crawled out of my tub, shook off the water and laid down on the carpet. “…and just what is this ‘hun’ garbage?” I continued.
“Well I heard…”
I cut Winston off in mid sentence. “If you…or anyone else for that matter…ever calls me ‘hun’ again, I will turn whoever addresses me that way into a toad and leave them that way…permanently. Then they can join the dolphin in their new living quarters.”
“I thought you were the bodhisattva of mercy?” Winston asked quietly.
“It will be a mercy not to have to hear that again.”
Winston lay on the floor with that ‘thousand mile stair’ on his face. I lay on my bed reading a book. Quiet filled the long space that stretched on in the room. After what seemed like an eternity Winston ‘broke the ice’…
“Did you…”
“Yes!” I snapped back. “I decoded the scroll.” I paused. “well…part of it.”
“But I thought you if you hadn this 'grimoire of chaos' you could read the scroll…couldn’t your understand it all?” Winston asked.
“The book didn’t decode all of it.” I said turning back to my book.
“Well?”
“Well what?” I asked.
“Well what did it say? What is the scroll?” Winston replied.
“It was a riddle.” I tossed off without turning away from my book.
“A riddle!” Winston exclaimed. “A riddle? This scroll was guarded for a thousand years and all it has on it is a riddle? You mean like, ‘What is black and white and black and white and black and white?…a riddle? What is it some ancient joke book?”
“No of course not!” I said, staring right at Winston, trying my best to intimidate him. Then I continued… “ Apparently the scroll guards a secret so heinous that the contents of the entire scroll…or at least the way to understand it…where never entrusted to any one individual.”
“So what is the riddle for?”
“Well,” I said, turning and sitting on the edge of the bed, “The riddle is actually in six parts. Each part of the riddle was guarded by a different group and hidden in a different place, and different way. The only way to solve the final riddle and find the key to the next part of the scroll is by having all of the riddles. All the scroll has is the first riddle that leads to all the rest.”
“Well?” said Winston.
“Well what?”
“Well what is the riddle?”
I handed the book I had been reading to Winston. “This is the riddle.”
Winston held the book open with his paws. He was staring at the page with a look that said “Did I leave the front door unlocked”….either that or constipation. Suddenly another explosion ripped through the air and in the distance a voice said, “That’s it! I quit!” Both Winston and I turned toward the window.
Looking at each other, I said to Winston, “Ok, that’s it. What is going on up there?”
“Well…” Winston paused, “you know that blast furnace and power plant you are having installed on the fifth floor? Well the blast furnace is so hot they are having a hard time containing it…”
Winston paused thinking. Then turning back to me he said, “What in the world do you need a power plant and blast furnace for anyway?”
“You’ll see,” I said, “You’ll see.”
The Quest: The book with the first riddle in it will be posted on a pillar on the second floor of my temple. To win the quest, solve all of the riddles and bring whatever you find at the last stage to me.
“So, hun, have you deciphered the scroll yet?”
Without a word I walked over to the tub. The look on my face would have wilted a steel rose. After a long pause, I heaved a deep sigh to calm myself.
“Winston…” I said with a forced calmness.
“Yes?” came the reply.
“You have exactly three seconds to get your nasty furry behind out of my tub….” I paused as Winston, sheepishly crawled out of my tub, shook off the water and laid down on the carpet. “…and just what is this ‘hun’ garbage?” I continued.
“Well I heard…”
I cut Winston off in mid sentence. “If you…or anyone else for that matter…ever calls me ‘hun’ again, I will turn whoever addresses me that way into a toad and leave them that way…permanently. Then they can join the dolphin in their new living quarters.”
“I thought you were the bodhisattva of mercy?” Winston asked quietly.
“It will be a mercy not to have to hear that again.”
Winston lay on the floor with that ‘thousand mile stair’ on his face. I lay on my bed reading a book. Quiet filled the long space that stretched on in the room. After what seemed like an eternity Winston ‘broke the ice’…
“Did you…”
“Yes!” I snapped back. “I decoded the scroll.” I paused. “well…part of it.”
“But I thought you if you hadn this 'grimoire of chaos' you could read the scroll…couldn’t your understand it all?” Winston asked.
“The book didn’t decode all of it.” I said turning back to my book.
“Well?”
“Well what?” I asked.
“Well what did it say? What is the scroll?” Winston replied.
“It was a riddle.” I tossed off without turning away from my book.
“A riddle!” Winston exclaimed. “A riddle? This scroll was guarded for a thousand years and all it has on it is a riddle? You mean like, ‘What is black and white and black and white and black and white?…a riddle? What is it some ancient joke book?”
“No of course not!” I said, staring right at Winston, trying my best to intimidate him. Then I continued… “ Apparently the scroll guards a secret so heinous that the contents of the entire scroll…or at least the way to understand it…where never entrusted to any one individual.”
“So what is the riddle for?”
“Well,” I said, turning and sitting on the edge of the bed, “The riddle is actually in six parts. Each part of the riddle was guarded by a different group and hidden in a different place, and different way. The only way to solve the final riddle and find the key to the next part of the scroll is by having all of the riddles. All the scroll has is the first riddle that leads to all the rest.”
“Well?” said Winston.
“Well what?”
“Well what is the riddle?”
I handed the book I had been reading to Winston. “This is the riddle.”
Winston held the book open with his paws. He was staring at the page with a look that said “Did I leave the front door unlocked”….either that or constipation. Suddenly another explosion ripped through the air and in the distance a voice said, “That’s it! I quit!” Both Winston and I turned toward the window.
Looking at each other, I said to Winston, “Ok, that’s it. What is going on up there?”
“Well…” Winston paused, “you know that blast furnace and power plant you are having installed on the fifth floor? Well the blast furnace is so hot they are having a hard time containing it…”
Winston paused thinking. Then turning back to me he said, “What in the world do you need a power plant and blast furnace for anyway?”
“You’ll see,” I said, “You’ll see.”
The Quest: The book with the first riddle in it will be posted on a pillar on the second floor of my temple. To win the quest, solve all of the riddles and bring whatever you find at the last stage to me.