Edison's Dream ~ Chapter Four ~ Part Two

“The statue’s…mouth?” Edison pondered to himself. He looked up at the spot where Aequgus vanished, and then back down at the statue whose mouth continued to open and close. “Will this will help me find Angelica?” he asked, swimming towards the statue. He hovered over the top of it and waited for its mouth to open again. When it did, Edison quickly dove inside. He found himself faced with another tunnel. He swam through this one at a fast pace. The crevices were very wide, so Edison had plenty of room to move his body. As he progressed through it, he could see a ray of light shining at the far end, which got brighter as he moved forward. He soon discovered as he reached the other side, it was a dead end. He began to panic, and searched all around for an exit until he found a hole about the circumference of his body on the top crevice. He swam right into the center of the hole and emerged into another monstrous area. He could not believe where he was now.

Aequgus had lead Edison into a deteriorating underwater city, with buildings that lay all over the ground in ruins. Broken street lamps and cracked pieces of stone were scattered about, along with old spears, shields, and fish skulls. Ahead of Edison was a rundown palace that had tattered flags staying motionless at the very top. To the right of him was a sunken ship where the ghost of Aequgus was waiting. With a sneer on his face, he spoke to Edison, “Very good. You’re not as dull-witted as I expected.” Aequgus then turned his body. “Do follow me. What you seek lies in here.” he instructed, swimming into the ship. Edison took one last look at the underwater city, and obeyed Aequgus’ command.

The ship’s interior was in surprisingly good shape. Although there were torn paintings of pirates on each of the walls, there were treasure chests set up in straight rows, and a large rectangular table that was covered with a red cloth. At the far end of the ship was a silver treasure chest. As Edison approached it, the ghost of Aequgus appeared above it. He raised his hands, causing the chest to open. Edison then dove into the chest and noticed a strange looking key. It appeared to be molded, and it glowed with a dark shade of grey. The ground beneath the key then started to shake all of a sudden, and began to crack. “What’s going on here?” Edison shouted. He tilted his head to see if Aequgus was there, but he was nowhere to be found. The ground inside of the treasure chest cracked some more, and eventually created a hole that the key fell into. Edison let out a cry, and his stomach began to get queasy. The treasure chest then fell into the hole that was created, and ever so slowly, the ship went down with it. Edison fell straight into the hole underneath the chest, and after what seemed like an eternity, he somehow ended up back in the throne room with the two statues.

Aequgus was sitting on the throne between the statues with a sly grin on his face. His head was cocked to the left. “You didn’t think I would let you off that easy, did you?” he said while snickering. “What else must I do?” begged Edison. Aequgus slowly sat up from the throne and spread his arms out wide. The entire room filled with a white haze, yet faded away soon after. Edison and Aequgus were still in the exact same room, although things seemed very different to Edison. “I sure hope you memorized how the room appeared when you arrived.” Aequgus remarked, “In order for you to leave my kingdom alive, you must spot the differences between my throne room and the room you are in right now.” Aequgus’ sadistic laughter could still be heard as his ghostly appearance vanished from the throne.