Fan Fiction ❯ The Weaver Telarius ❯ The Veritas Enigmatus ( Chapter 14 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

It was cold down in the war room. I had made such a room for us to meet in more comfortably during the month's time I had. I called it the war room because its first intention was to discuss the implications of this war that might yet happen. There were no complaints from my comrades, though. There was perspiration on my brow, and it was mimicked througout my body. It was a sign of nervousness, for I was certainly that, if nothing else. Perhaps that is why it seemed cooler than usual in the war room.

They were rather pleased with the layout of the attachment to my facility. It had a circular table with thirteen chairs on it. One was signified as my own, and each person's chair was tailored to them, letting them know it was their place. Each place directly in front of the person had their personal colours and symbols. The chairs were comfortable and capable of turning completely about. In the center of the table was a circle swirling with colours. Upon magical command, it would give a visual reference to any subject matter that a person programmed into it. It employed a combination of magic and technology which took me a grand portion of time and research to do. However, since everything was constructed magically, I was saved from the hassle of production time.

I moved to take my seat and the others followed suit. Their positions were scattered about the table, with vacant locations in all other spots. As to what inspired this, I cannot say. I simply felt as though it was the best thing to do for the future. Everyone looked at me as though they expected me to speak first. I permitted myself a mental sigh, then reached into my robes and removed my glasses. Upon putting them on, I looked at everyone present carefully.

As I stated previously, there are thirteen chairs about the table. If my chair was labeled as the first chair, and the one to my right as I am sitting the second, making the one to my left the thirteenth, then it can be firmly established which chairs they sat in. In the fourth chair was Phillip, and he was thinking heavily on what he learned about the young Harry Potter. I was certain the information given between him and Deanne would be substantial enough to assist me greatly in my failed plan. Deanne was pondering over the need for any of this. My thoughts were with her. She sat in the sixth chair. Cordelia sat in the tenth chair, her thoughts unreadable to me merely by observation through this tool. I suspect it was due to her understanding of the workings of the mind, which she would need to possess in some degree in order to make her psychic talents useful for more than just communication. Meriam was giving off her usual glow directly next to Cordelia in the eleventh chair. It seemed unflattering to Cordelia to have Meriam sitting next to her. It wasn't that Cordelia was struck by the ugly stick at any point in her life. Far from it, in fact. Moreover it was indicative of the raw appeal that Meriam radiated at every moment. She might never be useful for a confrontation, but behind the scenes she was our greatest asset. She was thinking of home.

I had placed those two next to each other intentionally. A person of Cordelia's talents could easily become an adversary if not dealt with properly. The more she knew about us, the more dangerous she would be to us if she turned. She did require eye contact for her deeper probings, though. That meant that, if given enough distraction, she would never be able to deeply probe anyone's thoughts. With Meriam so close to her, everyone's eyes will be slightly diverted, whether they liked it or not. The sooner everyone realized this, the sooner they will realize just how important Meriam is to the group. I just hoped that Cordelia would never suspect this placement to be intentional.

"Are those glasses what I think they are?" Phillip asked, breaking the silence.

I smiled. It caused a few gasps, his statement coupled with my smile. Phillip could be this side of bloody brilliant sometimes. "Indeed they are. Dumbledore's. They give unto their wearer a form of true seeing. With enough focus, one can gather information through the body language of another. Telling when someone is lying whilst looking through their lens is second nature."

"Why don't you wear them all the time, then?" Cordelia asked.

I turned to face her directly, though my eyes drifted partially to her right. "Don't think that I've not considered it," I said unto her, "But doing so might prove to undermine everything I've worked for."

There was a pause as everyone digested this information. I had a feeling that Phillip and Deanne knew, or at least had an inkling, of what I spoke. There were certain bits of tactical strategy that I was employing that, without knowing the information I knew, would be foolhardy. Meriam and Cordelia were in the dark.

And so Meriam spoke. "What do you mean by that?"

I stood from my chair at that point, proceeding to walk about the table as I spoke. "I mean that I've been consulting and apparently working for the enemy," I paused while that sank in, "This is both a ruse and a feint. Mister Riddle believes that I am working for him because I wish to get home. I do wish to get home, so the remainder of the ruse is not difficult to maintain. I am well versed in the arts of being a sneaky, deceptive, and cunning bastard, though there are times when I am certain I'm missing crucial information as well as times when I'm certain I've computed something incorrectly."

My strides had taken me to behind Deanne's chair. Everyone had turned theirs to face me throughout my walk. I stopped walking then, and took a pause in my explanation at that time for the purposes of keeping everything in tempo. "In doing this, I've been able to obtain useful information about his intentions. He wishes to take on the Ministry of Magic directly. If he can pull a tactical powerplay, that being a euphemism for conquering, he can gain control of the body which creates the laws of the wizarding world, and shape them as he sees fit," I paused again, for this was a song which needed interludes of silence for the music to fully impact the audience, "He has decided on this because it was my recommendation."

I started walking again, continuing around the table, letting them know that I was not finished and to not interrupt. They understood and were silent as I continued on. "If it were to actually come to the day of the conflict, many lives would be lost. To prevent this, I struck up a secret dialogue with Professor Snape, who works against Riddle from the inside. It seemed natural for us to join efforts, since we had a common goal. We decided to arrange for Riddle's assassination at the hands of Harry Potter, the only person we know that had the capacity to take him out," I saw Phillip and Deanne nod at this moment. It made me glad, for it meant that they now understood why this was. Hopefully, it was something I could use to my advantage.

I had reached my chair by this point, having come full circle. Instead of sitting down in it, I chose to prop my right elbow on top of the high back of the chair. Well, high for me anyway. "I open the floor to discussion on this matter," I made a simple declaration.

There was silent consideration, which I was always happy to see. Cordelia let her guard down in order to think more clearly about something. She was the only one with a truly pressing question. Meriam was the one to chime in first. "I still don't understand. Why can't you wear those glasses at the school? Surely it would help you immensely."

I smiled at her. I knew that question would come from her if anyone. She was an exceptionally bright individual, but was not trained in the finer arts of deception and intrigue. "Think about it for a moment. If I were to wear these in the presence of say, Malfoy, who I am on good terms with, then he might eventually figure out whose they are. Once that happens, I'm an owl's-flight away from being eviscerated by our good friend Thomas Marvolo Riddle. It is a risk I cannot afford to take."

At that, she understood and was silent. Naturally it was Cordelia's turn to chime in. "Wait a moment... if the entire premise behind siding with Voldemort is that he can send us home, and you intend to betray him, then that means that we'll not ever return," her words seemed as ice, for I knew what was coming.

I shook my head. "Not necessarily. We have a long time to learn how to do so on our own, and the resources of at least four incredibly bright individuals," I spoke, then gestured to those seated.

"But if he can send us home, then why bother with any of this?" she asked. That was it.

My gaze met hers for a moment. I threw up every mental barrier I knew so that she could not read me. I felt as though I needed the eye contact for effect. "Why bother?" I repeated her question, "Indeed. Why bother with any of this? We can side with Riddle, help him overthrow the whole bloody world with one swoop, and then be merrily on our way home. Does this sound good to you?"

"It's not our world, Telarius."

"It could be, Cordelia."

She paused. "What do you mean by that?"

"Think on it a moment. If a group of people got dimensionally transported into our world by a group of religious fanatics that would make us all their slaves, how would we deal with it? I am most certain that we would believe them wrong and unjust, especially if their only price was return to their home. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't want the amount of deaths this war would cause on my head, let alone the subsequent events to follow Riddle's rise to power."

"It's still not our world. Our first priority should be getting home..."

"Enough!" I shouted. It shocked them, I think, for it was the first time I had ever raised my voice to them. "I don't want to hear another word out of you on this matter. I have made the decision and you will support my efforts in it. All of you saddled me with the responsibility of leadership. If I am to take on the responsibility, then I claim the authority!"

The room was silent for a long time. Then, as my senses returned to me, I spoke once more. "I will give all of you one option, though. If the majority of you would vote towards Cordelia's action, then I will consider myself overruled and serve in the best interests of the group," at this, Cordelia seemed a bit excited. It annoyed me. "Before the vote is cast, though, let me say this: What are we? Are we human beings? Most tend to think so, and therefore we should follow our human nature and go towards the path of our preservation. This path is what Cordelia recommends," I shifted my posture, allowing my gaze to sweep to each individual directly, "Personally, I like to think of us as more than human. Oh, you can attribute this to ego if you wish. Many do at that. However, the only reason that I believe this is because we strive to be more than we are. Each day we are presented with challenges and, instead of taking the path most beneficial to ourselves, we take the path that will harm the fewest and help the most, even if we are not among that majority. We would sacrifice ourselves for the benefit of another without a second thought. If everyone in the world put others lives before themselves, then the world would be at peace. Avarace, pride, even envy would be things of the past. Even if we are human, how are we to eventually ascend beyond thus if we constantly allow ourselves to be dragged down by our own selfish desires and ambitions? If more are to be harmed then helped by an action, and this is known before the action takes place, then performing that action with that knowledge is inexcusable," I stopped, closed my eyes, and bowed my head, "That's all I have to say. Now, all in favour of betraying Riddle, knowing that in so doing we may condemn ourselves to live here forever in these bodies which are not ours... please raise your hands."

I waited a moment, then raised my head and opened my eyes, slowly.

I exhaled a sigh of relief. Three hands were raised high, each owned by a different person. "Everyone has had their say, Cordelia. It seems as though the interests of the group do not lie where you thought they did. As such, since you've challenged my authority, I hereby declare that, amongst our ranks, you are the last in line. No one shall take commands from you, and you shall only lead this council if all other members are deceased or absent."

Everyone's eyes widened at that. "That's not fair!" Cordelia protested.

"It isn't? You claimed to know what was in the group's best interests, and challenged the leader of this council along those lines. I called it to a vote. If the vote had passed, then your recommendation would dictate our action. I gave you the power of leadership, and those you would lead stood against you in the vote. It can be inferred that the council would mutiny if you permanantly held that position. It seems only logical to place you as far from it as possible."

"But you got to make a speech to sway them! That's not fair!"

I smirked. "I never pretended to be fair, Cordelia. This is not a democracy. This is an enlightened dictatorship. I still wield supreme power unless those who I rule over all stand against me. If you wished to make a motion against one of my decisions for the benefit of the council, then you should have spoken with them to ensure that it was the course of action they preferred. Since you didn't, I can only infer from the data I'm presented with that you were attempting to direct the course of action for the council solely from your personal desires. That kind of decision making is the last thing this council needs, Cordelia," I let my last sentence bite into her.

And thus was the occurances of the first vote of the council of The Second Round Table.

I could tell that Cordelia hated me for what I had done. I didn't give a shit. We had more important matters to attend to than her licking her wounds. In order to be recognized as an authority, the person chosen to lead The Second Round Table had to maintain a strong position. Opinions could not be thrown out, and should be addressed. That way, the leader had the favour and intentions of the council. However, if something was in direct contravention to a decision made by the leader, then the council member with the suggestion would be given the option to call a vote. Since success in a vote means that, for that moment, they were leader of the council, then failure must be devastating, else decisions would get challenged at every turn. Of course, one would not be permanantly stuck on the bottom rung. If another's suggestion got shot down in the vote, then they would become the bottom rung, and the previous offender would be above them, and thus in line for promotion once more. It was a system I had worked out at some length, and I enjoyed the fact that only one of them knew the entirety of it at the moment, being my second in line, and my Queen.

"If there are no more outbursts at the decisions made at present?" I paused a moment to allow everyone time to get their two bits in, "Anyone? Good. Then let us begin."

I sat down in my chair at that moment. It was a powerful gesture, I knew, for I had tossed the right of my cloak to the side so that the back landed on the chair before I sat upon it. People were used to seeing figures of power, such as Kings, do this. The method I had decided for organizing this specific group called for such flagrant gestures of power. It was just the proper thing to do.

"I'll start with the most important business," I began, turning to Deanne and Phillip, "What did you find out about our good friend Mr. Harry Potter?"

Phillip and Deanne exchanged glances, and Deanne nodded to Phillip, telling him to speak first. "It took extensive research," he began in a proud tone, "But we found what you wanted us to find. It seems that his mother was possessed of an ability that, in death, she transferred to her son."

"It is an ability rarely talked about in texts," Deanne chimed in, "Mostly due to its need to remain a secret. Such texts were supposed to be blank to any with this power."

"This is because the power will not work if the owner becomes aware of it," Phillip spoke again, "And there are three different forms of this ability, which has never been documented enough to give it a name."

"The details are not important," Deanne spoke, "The point is, Avada Kedavra will not work on Harry Potter because of this."

"Is it something we can harnass?" I asked hopefully.

The two looked at each other a moment, then Phillip shook his head to me. "No. No, I don't believe it is."

"Well shit." I cursed simply.

"However..." Deanne started once more, suddenly seeming excited, "I've just thought of something which might save us after all!"

I looked to her and arched my eyebrow.

"You already have a way to defend against the Killing Curse!" she said, her eyes beeming as if she knew something that I did not. Had it been anyone else, I would have been annoyed with them for this dancing about the point. When she did it, though, it was cute and I was more than happy to allow her to continue on.

"I do?" I asked, dumbfounded.

"The X spell!" she said, triumphantly.

I opened my mouth to poke a hole in what she said, then thought on it a moment. I had weaved a spell that would only allow one spell in, so long as the spell named was dreadfully harmful or incapacitating. "And because the Crinos are already immune to all other spells, then it doesn't matter what I put as the qualifier," I got out of my seat, amazed, "Magic won't harm them! Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant!"

I thought on it a bit more. Two projects, completely independant of each other, worked to make an almost invincible defense against magic. This is what I had attempted to avoid when creating the x spell in the first place.

"Is it possible to place that spell upon all of the units?" Meriam asked.

I chuckled. "It'll take some doing, but if I make the spell accessable to all of us temporarily, we'll have it done a lot quicker."

"Why don't you just make the spell available to all present permanantly?" Phillip asked.

I looked him directly in the eyes. "I have my reasons, Phillip. Trust that they are good ones?"

He nodded. I liked that in him. Regardless of how much of a bastard I could seem to be sometimes, he trusted me. That kind of loyalty can't be bought. I looked to everyone after that. "Would everyone be willing to stay late tonight and ensure that the army is fully prepared?"

"Wait... they're all out of their incubation chambers already?" Cordelia asked.

"Indeed," I made certain my response was direct and short.

"Then why don't..."

"...I just use them now as is to take Riddle off guard?" I finished her sentence. She looked as though she admired me in that moment. Perhaps it was envy, "They still need to go through their training regimen. That's what the rest of the time is for in my calculation. However, they are living enough to have spells cast on them."

Cordelia nodded and smiled. She shot Deanne an approving look. The idea, after all, had been Deanne's.

"And you two?" I turned to Cordelia and Meriam, "What did you find out about the next challenge, scheduled for Monday?"

Cordelia sighed. "Not much, I'm afraid. We know that it is some kind of mental test, but we're not certain as to what, exactly."

"That is," Meriam interjected, "We know what it's called... but we've never heard of it before."

"Wouldn't be the Veritas Enigmatus, would it?" Phillip asked, his interest suddenly piqued.

"You are familiar with it?" Meriam asked him.

He nodded. "The unsolveable puzzle. The true enigma. I heard about it once at Beauxbatons used in a joke among the students. I inquired about what it was, and was given a bit of information. It did not satisfy my curiousity, so I went on from there to the library and learned an awful lot about it."

I smiled approvingly at Phillip. "You've done us all a great service without knowing it, Phillip. I applaud your scholastic ambition," I sincerely told him, "Go on."

"Well, it's a mental test, as they said. Someone by the name of Mariatus Mosaic created it a very long time ago. He was quite a crackpot from what most say. At any rate, it's a puzzle which magically is planted in your mind. Everytime you solve one part of it, another part becomes more complex or unsolves itself. The puzzle involves riddles, enigmas, and your standard jumbled things which need to be sorted back into their proper order. It's said to tax the mind more than anything else ever devised. The most intelligent wizards of all time used it as an exercise, as it stretches the limits of your mental speed and cognitive capabilities. Whenever you cease being able to keep up with it, the spell expires," Phillip was incredibly informative.

"Has anyone ever solved it?" I asked, idly.

He shook his head. "Never. The current record as of one year ago, when the previous record was broken, is two minutes. You're supposed to suffer damage to the nervous system if you go much beyond that, because of all the energy that would be required for the brain to function at that level. It's quite like overclocking a computer, when you get right down to it. A friend I made at Beauxbatons went through it once. He said that it's wonderful afterward, like one hundred times better than a runner's high after a big race. He said you get flashes of insight for hours afterwards," Phillip smiled at the concept of being able to test himself with this, "He was a bright individual. He lasted thirty seconds."

I blinked. "I believe training is in order for the days before this challenge, Phillip."

He nodded. "Yes, I think so too," and he looked at Meriam and she smiled, "Put our minds to the limit as best we can to put on a shining performance."

I smiled. "Yes, but not training like you might think..."

They both looked at me a moment, but I just laughed. "If there is nothing else pertinent... and there isn't on my end, as I regret to tell you my plans have had a huge monkey wrench thrown in them... I call this meeting to an end. Let's go down and prepare those Crinos for the potentially inevitable battle."

And so we did. It was a long night, but every last one of them got the x spell cast upon them. Once they were done training, they would be formidable adversaries to anything Riddle might throw out at us. After we finished with that, we broke for the evening and I set up a time early the next morning to meet with Phillip and Meriam. We had some training to do.

* * *

The next morning I woke up fresh and early. I hated it. My head pounded and nose was plugged. Still, I found my way to clean myself up and put some clothes on before I headed down to the Great Hall for some breakfast. I was beginning to enjoy the meal. It gave me a reason to get up early as opposed to lazily staying in bed all morning. Today waffles met my fancy, and I piled them on my plate with butter and real maple syrup. Normally my teeth would have revolted at such a barrage of sweetness, but I had discovered a way to weave a spell which cleaned and protected teeth better than any mundane method I'd ever known. Weaving had practical uses, after all.

After a hearty helping of bacon, sausage, and hard boiled eggs to get my protean fix for the morning, I left the table in search of Phillip and Meriam. Meriam was just down the table from me, which was convenient. Phillip had not gotten up, so I resolved to badger him. I knew where he slept, see, and where the window to that place was. Add to that a levitation spell cast on oneself and...

"Phillip!" I shouted through the now-open window at the top of my lungs.

I laughed as he leapt out of bed and then, once he had come to his senses, lunged after me. I moved a bit back from the window, just out of his arm's reach. "We have an appointment, mon ami," I reminded him.

"Yeah yeah yeah... I know..." he yawned, "Just a moment."

Some time passed, and then he was down where Meriam was. I allowed myself to gently descend down toward them. "Sorry about that... but this is important," I said, sounding not at all apologetic.

Phillip grunted. "I don't know how good my brain is going to be this early," he said.

"Good," I replied, "You shouldn't be needing most of it."

He looked quizzically at me as I led them toward the lake. I turned when we got to it and sat down cross-legged in front of them, gesturing for them to follow suit. "Now, I want you two to relax and breathe. That's it. Keep your eyes closed, relax, and breathe. Remain concious. That's all I ask."

They were outright perplexed by this, but did as I instructed. We sat there, meditating for about an hour when Meriam broke the silence. "When are we going to get to the practicing?"

I sighed. "This is the practicing."

"I don't understand," Phillip said, "I thought we'd be training to think better on our feet. Get our minds sharpened, as it were."

I smiled. "Yes, we are. Tension, Phillip, is what causes most errors in calculation or judgement. It is the devil which begets second guessing oneself. If you can get your mind clear and focus on one task... namely breathing... without losing conciousness, then you will improve your focus. I have no doubt of how well both of you think on your feet. I know enough to say that you've both got wits about you sharper than a diamond-edged saw. We need not train that. What we need to train is taking that level of fast thinking and focusing it all on one objective."

They seemed to understand, smiling, and we continued. Seven hours later, I snapped my eyes open. "It is time for dinner," I said, serenely.

The both silently agreed and we walked and ate dinner. The rest of the night was normal, fun, carefree stuff. We sat around and cracked jokes at the lab and drank hot chocolate. This was part of the training regimen, I explained later to Phillip and Meriam.

The next day we repeated the process, only our meditation was uninterrupted for eight hours total. I was pleased at their level of concentration. They caught on really quick. The challenge was tomorrow, so maybe that was part of it.

* * *

The day was there. I cannot say that I was totally looking forward to it. I had no idea how the people running this show had planned on organizing this. They would need to make a spectacle of it somehow, I knew, else it wouldn't be interesting for the students or the press.

I made sure I was fed well and dressed for the occassion. Deanne told me I'd do just fine. I doubted it. Despite Xorlempt's assurances that all would go well for me during this challenge, I had a feeling that I'd drop out first, even with the two full workdays of solid meditation. My mind still had way too many things stressing it. Xorlempt told me in the morning that it would no longer be able to manifest physical form. When I inquired further on this, he told me that he'd go over it all later. This served only to place another train of thought in my mind which had no end.

They led the four champions into the arena again. The crowd was enourmous. I had always enjoyed performing for crowds, but today I felt quite inadequate. I cursed myself at that thought's moment. I had just told Meriam and Phillip last night to avoid such negative thoughts... to approach this with calm, serene thought as though they were meditating. How good of a teacher to them could I have been if I wasn't even following my own advice?

Still, Phillip and Meriam looked quite serene, and that served to calm my thoughts a bit. I was certain that their performances today would be exemplary. Vincent was the only one I was uncertain of. He had good grades, but was he a fast thinker as well as a smart one? I guess this was the time to find out.

"Ladies and gentleman!" came a voice I recognized as Lee Jordan. He should honestly consider a career in M.C.ing these things, "Wizards and witches and assembled students here today! We have got a treat for you! The second challenge is here, and as our champions stand ready for any test, the tension builds throughout the crowd and soars towards them as everyone asks one question: 'what is the second challenge'?"

I arched my eyebrow at Jordan. He was attempting to create tension in the champions. He was Vincent's house, so undoubtedly he'd let him in on this act. Meriam and Phillip retained their composure, though, and I was damned if I was going to let mine sag.

"Many of you have heard of the Veritas Enigmatus before... but never has it been witnessed as it is going to be today! Using the combined efforts of many on our own Hogwarts faculty, we're going to give you visual representation of each of the champion's progress in this mental test. This will serve to entertain you as well as show which champion holds the higher ground and which ones can't think on their feet... or their scales, for certain champions..."

There was a wrestling match for the mike, but I paid it no mind. That kind of slurring against me was so commonplace in Hogwarts that it did not even give me pause nor make me blink.

"At any rate," Jordan continued, "And without further ado... we bring you the Veritas Enigmatus, second challenge of this year's Triwizard Tournament!"

The crowd certainly was reactive. Dumbledore came out with an aparatus that looked much like an old chest, save for the glowing rectangles, squares, triangles, rhombusi, and other assorted odd and unnamed shapes strewn about its surface. "Each champion must look into this chest as I open it in order for the Veritas Enigmatus to properly take place for each of you at the same time," he said in a calm, explanatory voice.

I thought on this a while. I wondered if I would still have my perceptions in order to see the other's progress, or if I would become so introverted that my senses were closed off. I pushed the thought aside as a distraction and fixed my eyes on the chest.

"I wish you all the best of luck, and please be careful. Only you can remove yourself from the Veritas Enigmatus. If you remain in it too long, you could seriously injure yourselves, and there is nothing we can do during the process to help you... nor can we repair whatever damage you might incur," he seemed most displeased that this was one of the challenges. I liked Dumbledore a lot, I suddenly realized. He truly cared about the students beneath him. That was a quality I had rarely found in my educational experience.

"Your overall score for this challenge will be based on how your performance compared to that of your fellow champions as well as your ability to realize when you have gone too far. Therefore, points will be deducted if a champion needs to visit the hospital wing," and Dumbledore looked directly at me in a kind, caring way for which I could not possibly bare him anger.

"With that said... the challenge may begin!" and he opened the chest.

The first thing I was aware of was that I was aware of other things. I could see the visual representations, crude though they might be for what was going on, as well as hear the shouts of the crowd. Still, I found that most of my focus needed to be directed toward the problems which assaulted my mind.

The Veritas Engimatus is difficult to describe unless one has undergone the process. Imagine being asked to answer a complicated riddle whilst playing Tetris (a Muggle computer game... never mind) and attempting to decide on what to have for dinner. If you can imagine that, then you're part of the way to understanding the Veritas Enigmatus. Now, throw in a confusing book or movie plot, a garbled sentence, a crossword puzzle, an entire deck of Trivial Pursuit questions (another Muggle game), and, for good measure, a philosophical argument about the meaning of life. If you can wrap your mind around that, then you've got about half of it.

Needless to say I was overwhelmed. It was exactly as Phillip had said. I no sooner solved one problem when all of the others became more complicated and two new ones came out of nowhere, each being a completely different subject and type of enigma. My mind was racing as fast as it did on a good day for me, which was astonishing. With all the stress I had, I would have thought that I wouldn't last ten seconds. Still, I was holding my own, though not keeping up with it too well.

All sense of time was lost to me. Even though I could see the images and hear the crowd, my mind was too focused on solving the enigmas to run its usual internal clock. My eyes told me that Vincent was the first to drop out. Meriam dropped out moments later, but had suffered numbness in her legs which had caused her to fall and lose concentration. She would be docked points for that, and I flared a bit thinking on the injustice of that. After all, shouldn't a valliant effort with injury be worth more?

That thought cost me. I fell behind Phillip, and was being bombarded with riddles and puzzles faster than I could concentrate on them. This was problematic. If I didn't solve one of them, then I would be out quite soon. I attempted to focus on one of the problems, but there were too many, and all of them too challenging. It would take me too long to calculate the solutions to each of them in turn. The others, in that time, would grow more difficult than any mind could solve. Well... at least more difficult than I could solve at the time.

I resigned myself to the fact that I would lose this challenge. After admitting the personal defeat to myself and preparing myself, mentally, for congratulating Phillip later, I decided to attempt something radical. Instead of focusing on one of the problems, I tried focusing on all of them at once.

Comets showered inside of my mind. Everything went blank for a moment. My mind was clear, but a different kind of clear. A moment later, I saw the puzzles again, more complex and numerous than before. This did not overwhelm me. Something had just snapped inside of me. It was as if I had been rebooted and upgraded all in one fell swoop. I assaulted every last puzzle before me, solving each of them as if I had devoted my entire attention to it, but all in the same moments.

I felt myself conciously telling my ears to turn off. The noise level was too distracting. Certainly enough, my brain stopped receiving signals from my ears, instead using those neurons to solve the engimas I was presented with. I saw Phillip's results before me. Our images matched. I smiled, but it cost me nothing. I continued to solve the enigmas as fast as they came to me. Suddenly all of the answers were simple. Every puzzle, riddle, and enigma was merely a computation waiting to have the numbers crunched. I was always good at arithmatic... but I still was cursed as everyone always was with making little mathematical mistakes here or there that threw the entire answer off. I no longer suffered the burden of being incorrect in any computation.

Phillip dropped out soon after my reboot phase. I entertained a notion of ending this shortly thereafter. I didn't want to look like I was showing off or anything of the sort. Something inside of me told me to keep going, and I had no reason not to comply. I understood my stresses. They were still there, but they no longer hindered me. I felt as if nothing hindered me in these moments. It was extrodinarily liberating.

I took my mind a step further, finding it more than willing to comply. I felt as though my thoughts had been in a cage all my life and were finally able to get out and kiss the land, shout to the sky, and feel the rain upon their face. Now I realized that each problem presented to my mind by the Veritas Enigmatus had the answer contained within it. In order to solve the problem, the data to do so had to somehow be contained within it or within my mind and common experience. Before I had been keeping up with the problems as they came. They still numbered over my care to count, even in that state, but I now, after that cognitive leap, I was able to solve them faster than they came at me.

I was aware of myself fatiguing. I have no idea how long it was after that revelation. I still had no concept of time. All that concerned me was solving everything that my mind was presented with. I felt like I was fighting a war as the Veritas Enigmatus attempted to adapt to the new speed and capabilities of my mind.

I'll save you the rest. It didn't.

After some time of which I am not aware, I shut off my eyes. I needed more resources to adapt to the faster pace the Veritas Enigmatus brought before me. Every last portion of thought was dedicated to beating the unbeatable puzzle. I knew not whether it was stubbornness, arrogance, or ego that drove me beyond losing my sight. I do not lie, though, when I say that I spared enough thought to consider those possibilities and was still gaining ground.

After a time, I fell to my knees. I knew this because I purposefully sagged at that moment. I was exhausted. I turned my hearing and sight back on. My eyes could see the ground before me, so that told me nothing, but my ears heard gasps and murmurs. It was quite a change from the last, quite loud noise I had heard.

"I... I don't know what to say... I'm utterly speechless," came a weak voice over the mike that I recognized to be Lee Jordan.

I slowly tilted my head up. My eyes were graced with the image of a perfect diamond, shining brilliantly for all to see. I was breathing heavily, my head was pounding, and my back and neck were incredibly sore. Still, I forced myself to my feet, gracefully. I turned and looked all about the arena. Each face that my gaze met was dumbfounded, in awe, in fear, or some mixture of these aforementioned states.

They had reason, of course. I permitted myself an incredibly loud laugh. At that moment, a wall of sound hit me and nearly knocked me over. I was feeling quite weak at the time. The applause was deafening.

As well it should have been. After all... I had just solved the Veritas Enigmatus.