Welcome to Gaia! ::

For one last time, Erytheia walked alone with one thing in mind. Like a bird of prey, he was circling in on the answer, one gyre at a time.

When you have overcome what only might,
It is then you will see the true light,
And in that moment, you shall take flight.

As if passing by each line of the riddle, he paced, long forgetting he was also supposed to be on the lookout for youma and other forces of chaos on this old, lonely street.

He now knew the answer to the first and second lines. The first was about his doubts; the second about his heart. But what of the last line?

”... And in that moment, you shall take flight.”

The squire said it to himself, but nothing happened. What was the secret to the last line?

✪

Erytheia could feel a familiar aura. It was that strong yet soothing feeling that accompanied those who had transcended. It had been a long time since he had felt such a signature.

And this was one he recognized!

”Hyperborea!” Erytheia’s voice was cheerful again as he ran over to her, momentarily forgetting his troubles. He hadn’t seen her in a long time, but he was indebted to her for taking him to her wonder back when he was a page. She had explained so much to him back then that he had needed to hear.

”I have been doing alright. I...” There was quite a bit he wanted to tell her. He had been to his wonder on more than one occasion since they last talked. Yet there was one thing on his mind larger than the others. It was the riddle that was on the lock of the cage he now held in his hand.

”There is something troubling me. I have been to my wonder and it was a lot like you said, but also different... I met my ancestor there, but he’s been rather... cryptic.”

Erytheia seemed quite excited as he spoke quickly and in hurried breaths, but then trailed off suddenly trying to figure out how to explain the last part.

✪

”Thanks!” Erytheia said as he looked down at his squire’s uniform. He had started to become more comfortable in it as of late. Yet, as he looked back at her, he couldn’t help thinking that another change was to come.

He shook his head as if to shake his thoughts. There was something he wanted to ask and he wouldn’t be distracted from his goal.

”My ancestor tasked me with solving a riddle...” He said as he held up the small birdcage and pointed to the crystal lock. ”... and I have solved two of the lines already!”

You can see the text of the riddle and, by each of the first two lines, is a clear crack. He recites both solved lines to you as if he had said the lines many times. Each one as if finite.

”You see... the first line is about not worrying. And the second, well, we think it may has to do with my heart.”

As he explains, you see a glimmer of excitement in his eyes. Something rare for him. Like he’s chasing something just out of reach.

”The last line is this...”

He reads the last line to you - the final part - almost closing his eyes as he does having repeated the line so many times to himself he barely needs to still read it.

”And in that moment, you shall take flight.”

✪

Erytheia thought it over. The bird motif made a lot of sense. The object he was supposed to unlock was a bird cage, after all.

How did it relate to the first two lines?

He needed to stop worrying. Check.

He also needed to follow his heart. Double check.

But the lock hadn’t opened yet. Solving the first two lines (and adhering to their principles) hadn’t solved the last line. There was something he had to realize about it to connect it to the whole.

”So, if I stop worrying and follow my heart, I will succeed? But at what? Opening the lock?...” He looked at the still closed lock unhappily. ”Yet it hadn’t opened. Not yet.”

What did he need to figure out about the last and final line?

”You said ‘learning to fly’ and the fact that it could be symbolic...”

You can see him thinking hard now. It was like he was running through each scenario in his mind. But it wasn’t in that same worrisome fashion you were familiar with seeing from him. There was a strange, newfound confidence attached.

”What if.... What if, for this last line, Yuki isn’t being symbolic or cryptic or confusing... or...” His voice then speed up as if realizing something. ”What if the answer isn’t something to think about at all because that will cause me to worry about it and not follow my intuition, my heart, right and so it’s something - something - I have to do?”

He seemed almost feverish in how quickly he was trying to piece this together.

✪

What does your heart say you need to do?

”It has to be a trial. It has to be something I must do. But what?”

What does your heart say?

Erytheia’s eyes closed as he thought of his wonder.

Take flight...

”How could I be so foolish!” Erytheia said after quite some time not looking at Hyperborea. His eyes were cast up towards the empty sky. It was if he could see something there that she could not.

”It’s literal.” The squire of Cosmos said once again looking to his companion. ”I’m sorry, but there is something I must do on my wonder. I have to do it on my own.”

He appeared so confident and solemn now. It was nothing like you had ever seen him look before. Erytheia turned away from Hyperborea to leave then suddenly looked back before he went.

”I’ll tell you what happens. Promise!”

The last thing you see is Erytheia’s boyish grin as a small crack appears on the last and final line of the riddle written on the crystal lock.

✪