Chapter 36: Chapter 36 – End of the Game
[Riddle Game]
[Time Left — 00h : 00m : 00s]
The timer struck zero across the hour, minute and second parts and started to gleam with blue light and the letters on the timer screen began to flicker.
Damon took a glance at it before returning his gaze to the Symhars.
Ding!
[The Riddle Game has ended]
The ding of the notification was loud enough but did not elicit any reaction from the player.
Damon was not concerned with the time anymore since he had already given his answer. He was more or less worried about the outcome of the choices he had made.
Even if he did react, it would not change anything. His answer was already set in stone.
Damon merely maintained his staring contest with the three floor guardians who glared back at him lazily and with no words said by either of these two parties.
He had made his final decision and offered his answer to the riddle. Even if he wanted to change it, he could not.
The ten minutes allotted to the game was up and the challenge was over.
It was now time to know the outcome of his decisions.
Was he wrong?
Was he right?
There were no in-betweens.
Will the hastiness he exhibited at the last moment finally deal him in?
Damon was going to find out sooner than later.
The Symhar in the middle was the one he chose as the Symhar of Both.
The one on the right, he chose as the Symhar of Truth.
Finally, the one on the left, he chose as the Symhar of Lies.
Damon exhaled and remained where he was standing.
He was unwavered in his thoughts and patiently waited for the Floor Guardian's decision.
The Symhar standing in the middle smirked and moved his feet two steps forward, placing himself at the edge of his platform.
The guardian tapped the tail of his iron staff on the ground and a second after that, a whirl of dark energy manifested around the other Symhars and engulfed them.
The dark energy revolved for a time and soon dispersed, causing the presence of the other Symhars to completely disappear along with their forms.
That was not all.
The entire hall transformed once again, returning the space to what it looked like when Damon first entered.
'As I thought,' Damon pointed out internally as he looked around him, watching the transformation occur, '...it wasn't real.'
Once the hall returned to its initial appearance, Damon realised that it was never tampered with in the first place and it was all the effect of the Floor Guardian's ability taking place.
"Did I pass or what?" he inquired of the host while taking measured steps forward.
Symhar sneered at the player, not for the guts to walk towards him but for the cockiness with which he asked his question.
Damon was getting complacent for a mere player that he was.
"You passed the challenge," Symhar announced, his voice slow and dragged like an aged person speaking.
Damon's mouth reflexively arched into an accomplished smile — an expression of the self-grandiosity and high esteem in one's self.
"Of course," he boasted. "I'm always lucky in this sort of thing."
Symhar raised his eyebrows. "Luck?"
Damon nodded and slightly raised his hand, placing it on the back of his head.
"Yes. Luck," he replied. "It was both wits and luck. Even though I deduced which of you was the Symhar of Lies, I couldn't make out the others because they both said the truth and knowing that both can say the truth, I could no longer rely on asking questions... as I have exhausted that as well."
Symhar laughed. "Impressive."
"So I was right about the unspoken rules and clues involved in this game. The limit of three questions was one of them, I suppose."
The guardian nodded in agreement. "You're correct. The enigma of the game isn't just the riddle itself but everything that comes together to make it the Riddle Game. Even we, the Floor Guardians, are part of it."
After Symhar had finished his explanation, Damon felt even more confident and impressed with himself.
A sense of self pride washed over him because of what he had accomplished.
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