Silveria was too busy and didn't notice Alex's comment. She continued thinking about the matter at hand.
"What does this say?"
"It means you've still got more to learn in the department of memorization."
Alex teased her.
"Look closer, you see it? The walls are moving and that moved the doors. Ignoring the horizontal alignments, focusing on the vertical alignments will reveal a disorderly pattern in every door…"
"Except this row!"
He pointed in a certain direction.
"This column of doors is very neat, it's like they never shifted positions."
Upon seeing this Silveria's eyes lit up too.
"You're saying."
"Yes, I am saying-"
Alex beamed at her while staring at the set of doors neatly stacked there.
"The correct door is over there."
Instantly all sounds died down and Alex's words echoed in this wide cave.
Silveria closed her eyes, she tried to sense the correct door but she didn't come up with anything. That was just a set of very orderly doors.
Even so, she was not mad that she couldn't find the clue. Instead, hints of praise, bliss, and pride could be seen in the windows of her soul.
She nodded while scrutinizing that set of doors.
"Can you ascertain which is the correct door?" She asked after taking a deep breath.
"I am sure, that's why I said we were fooled…"
Alex shrugged as he replied.
"Who told you the true door is one of those doors?!"
Silveria flinched.
Alex said the door leading to the last floor was over there.
She slightly frowned. She was waiting for Alex to explain himself.
"If I am right, the door leading to the last floor should be in that area.''
Alex chortled when he saw Silveria casting doubt his way. He looked at the set of doors over there before turning his attention to the tunnel that led them here.
"I was just like you, I assumed one of the doors over there should be the correct one. However, there are close to a hundred doors over there. It's kind of pointless to know the direction but not the exact location. The Guardian wouldn't do us dirty like that, I believe so." The last part was said rather inaudibly before Alex continued.
"Moreover, if the correct door was one of the neatly stacked doors then there wouldn't be a need to shuffle the walls. The Guardian could have made the doors randomized, yes?"
"Why move the walls around if it's not going to move the correct door away?"
ƥαṇdα-ηθνε|·ƈθm Starting from then on Silveria started catching on. She looked at the tunnel that led them here.
Alex laughed once more.
"Ah, looks like you caught my drift.''
He looked at the same tunnel.
"Right, why move the walls when it can just move the doors around?!"
He pointed at the tunnel. With his other hand, he pointed at the neatly stacked doors. His thunderous voice reverberated in the cave.
"The walls are moving because they can move the tunnel beneath the set of neatly stacked doors. That's the real reason why the walls, not the doors got shuffled.''
"I believe when the tunnel is aligned with the neatly stacked set of doors then we will find the entrance to the last floor..''
"That's what I am thinking."
Alex continued and shook his head.
"This is why I said we got played. That was the clue all along, the entrance. We had to find the entrance, not the door."
"Truly, the Guardian took us for a ride."
"Ah, of course, it's only my idea at this point."
He scratched his cheek. He shrugged somewhat unsteadily.
"As for the verification, it's still too early to say anything."
"No, I think you're onto something here."
Silveria encouraged Alex.
"With all the identical doors here, the shifting tunnel does give one a reason to suspect something fishy. Also, the doors closed immediately after springing their trap on us. There is no chance to go through before the door closes. The tunnel is the only accessible entrance here."
"I agree with your idea." Silveria agreed to Alex's proposal.
"Then, let's do it!"
Alex grinned while nodding.
"Yeah, let's try it!"
Alex and Silveria tried opening the doors once more.
To make the walls move, there is only one method: Opening doors.
The doors will close and the walls will shuffle around, making the tunnel move after Alex and Silveria dealt with the dreams and illusions from the doors.
After an hour, they opened about 100 doors. Alex settled the dreams and illusions that assaulted them. At long last, the tunnel aligned with the neatly stacked set of doors.
The couple looked hesitant for a moment.
It was all just a hypothesis at this point, that the aligned tunnel will be the true entrance to the last floor of this named dungeon.
The tunnel didn't look particularly special after aligning with the set of neat doors.
Alex inhaled deeply. He used a sharp gaze before ordering Silveria into mobilization.
"Let's go!"
The latter nodded.
They walked into that tunnel with Alex leading the way.
When they both entered the tunnel, ripples started spreading in the air. It was like multiple pebbles struck the surface of a lake. The ripples formed beautiful crests of light in the air.
It looked like they walked into a lake that was perpendicular to the ground. They disappeared beyond the spatial ripples.
The cave went silent afterward.
A strong flash occurred the moment Alex and Silveria entered the tunnel. They could only block with their arms. After a brief moment, the strong flash settled down.
When they opened their eyes, they saw a completely different scene compared to the dark and damp cave from before.
''Huh?! A garden?'' Alex voiced out his confusion. Indeed they appeared inside a garden.
Silveria didn't say anything, she curiously looked around.
A thick patch of grass was contoured by well-kept flower bushes and shrubs. A pagoda stands in the center of the garden, left barren, but still in balance with nature. The flowers and plants appeared to require some care and love, but look great nonetheless; they're a pit stop for bees. The flower bushes and shrubs reach 1.8m/6ft high, but they won't grow much taller than this. A few, short signs are scattered around the garden, guiding visitors around the garden, and showing them all it has to offer. Vines and roots eagerly creep and crawl their way beyond their allocated garden spots, each eager to take just a little bit more land for themselves.
The pagoda claimed this land first, as the garden was designed around it. The flowers and plants try to claim their share of the glory, and the flower bushes and shrubs are eye-catching in their own right, but the focus is just simply on the pagoda.
Just as Silveria was admiring the pagoda in the middle of the garden there was another flash of light forcing them to close their eyes and when they opened them again they were in an entirely different scenery.
It was a scene straight out of a fictional work.
There were no walls, no ceilings, and even the ground looked ethereal. They could only see ripple-like light formations around them.
Alex and Silveria looked like they stood on water, the smallest movement created ripples that cascaded into beautiful patterns. Thick roots shot up into the sky, forming a natural ceiling that shielded them from the waters along with the ripple barrier around them.
They weren't sure how wide this special area was, it looked big and small at the same time. Truly, a work of wonders.
In front of them were seven pools of different colors.
The pools were red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, and indigo, all the colors of the rainbow. Indeed, when these lights hit the walls, they formed a surreal environment. Calling it a magnificent scene would still be doing it a disservice.
After slowly recovering from astonishment, the couple exchanged a look. They confirmed they were in a different location compared to the dark cave.
Alex who was silent started laughing again.
"Don't tell me we are in another dream realm?"
"No, we're not."
Nyx denied.
"You are in a state of clarity, I can sense that much."
"Oh! I understand.''
Alex bitterly grinned.
He couldn't help it, the scene they saw was just too breathtaking. It makes one question the line between reality and fantasy.
He would be forgiven for thinking they were stuck in another dreamland.
"It's not a dream.''
Silveria also voiced the same thought as Nyx after a moment of silence to observe her surrounding.
"The scenes here might make one think we are in a dream realm. However, this sense of existence, it's not something a dream realm can replicate."
Silveria fell into countless dream realms. She was sure she could tell reality from illusions.
Although it was not convincing to hear it from her, Silveria won't say something unless she has a degree of confidence in it and Alex knew it.
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