Round 44 Transcript

As the hooded figure finishes its riddle, the ground beneath them gives a violent lurch, and the sound of falling stones echoes through the chamber. A chunk of the wall collapses, sending debris crashing to the floor. The air is filled with dust and the stench of decay. Merrin's eyes widen in alarm as she whispers to Jeane, "We need to answer the riddle or get out of here before we're crushed!"

The figure slowly rises from its throne, its movements deliberate and menacing, as it says, "The answer to my riddle is not a physical object, but rather an idea. What can be broken, yet never held? What can be given, yet never sold?" The chamber is now pitch black, except for the faint glow of Jeane's staff and the pulsing runes on the walls, which cast eerie shadows around the room. Suddenly, a loud rumbling sound fills the air, and the ground begins to shake violently. The sound of rushing water grows louder, and the runes on the walls flash with a warning light. The chamber is now waist-deep in water, and the air is filled with the stench of decay.

I feel my wings tighten against my back as I struggle to stay upright in the rapidly rising water. The cold is already seeping into my bones, and every breath comes harder than the last. "Promise," I gasp out between heaving breaths, repeating Merrin's suggestion even as panic rises like bile in my throat. The hooded figure remains motionless on its throne, somehow unaffected by the chaos around us. Its silence is more unnerving than any threat could be—we're trapped in a flooding chamber with no clear escape, and every passing second brings the tower one step closer to collapse. The sound of rushing water fills my ears, drowning out everything else. My hands move automatically, casting light spells that barely cut through the darkness now consuming us. The runes on the walls pulse faster, their warning growing more urgent with each flash. I try to focus on the riddle—something broken but never held? Given but never sold?—but my mind keeps straying to darker thoughts: drowning in this cursed water, being crushed beneath collapsing stone, or worse. Merrin's voice cuts through my rising panic. "Jeane!" she hisses, her grip tightening on her crossbow. "We need an answer now, before we're swept away!"

I force myself to concentrate, pushing back the terror that threatens to overwhelm me. The water is already up to my waist—I can barely feel the floor beneath my feet anymore—and I know we have minutes at most before it's too deep to stand. My staff glows weakly in my hands, its magic feeling thin and stretched. "Wait," I say suddenly, a memory surfacing through the fear. "What if... what if the answer is time? Time can be broken—every moment that passes brings us closer to death—but we can't hold it or possess it. And you can give someone your time, but you can never truly own theirs."

My voice rises with desperate hope even as I feel the water closing over my thighs. "Please," I call out to the figure, "is that what you meant? Time—something intangible that we all share equally, yet none of us can control?"

The chamber falls silent except for the rushing water and my own ragged breathing. For a long agonizing moment, nothing happens—then the runes on the walls flicker once more before dimming to near darkness. I stagger backward as a section of wall suddenly slides aside with a groan of stone, revealing a narrow passage leading upward at an angle. Water rushes through this new opening immediately, but it's clear that moving against the current is possible—barely. "We have to go," I gasp, grabbing Merrin's arm and pulling her toward the passage. "Now!"

We wade desperately through the waist-deep water toward the opening, fighting against the current as it threatens to sweep us off our feet. My wings beat uselessly in the confined space—I'm too exhausted for proper flight even if there were room—and I can feel my strength failing with each step. Behind us, the sound of collapsing stone grows louder. The tower is coming down—the whole damn thing is falling apart around us—and we're running out of time to escape this watery grave. As we finally reach the passage and begin hauling ourselves up through the rushing torrent, I glance back one last time at the chamber where we faced death minutes before. The hooded figure remains motionless on its throne, watching us leave with whatever unreadable expression lies behind that cowl. I don't care what it thinks anymore—I'm too busy fighting for every breath as we claw our way up through the flooding passage, desperate to reach solid ground before the world crashes down around us completely.

Merrin: I can barely hear Jeane over the roar of the water, but her desperate voice cuts through the fear that threatens to overwhelm me. "Time?" I repeat, my mind racing as I struggle to keep my footing in the surging current. "I... yes, that could work. Something fleeting, intangible—something we all share yet can't hold onto."

I nod frantically as Jeane pulls me toward the opening, my fingers scrabbling for purchase on the slick stone. "We have to try," I gasp out, adrenaline lending strength to my limbs as I heave myself upward through the torrent. "If this is our only way out, we can't hesitate!"

Water fills my mouth and nose as I push against the current, fighting for every inch of progress. My lungs burn with the effort, and I know we're running out of time—the tower won't hold much longer.

As Jeane and I claw our way up into the narrow passage, I catch one last glimpse of the chamber behind us—a final glance at the hooded figure still seated motionless on its throne as the water rises to engulf it. I don't know what that being is or why it set this trap for us, but I'm too exhausted and terrified to care anymore.

All that matters now is survival—the desperate struggle against the rising water, the constant dread of collapse, the need to keep moving no matter how much my body aches. "Keep going!" I shout over my shoulder to Jeane, even as my own legs tremble with fatigue. "We're almost through!"

But deep down, I know we're far from safe. This passage could be leading us into even greater danger—a labyrinth of tunnels filled with unknown threats, or a dead-end trap that will leave us helpless as the tower falls. For now, though, all we can do is keep fighting—keep moving forward against the deluge, one agonizing step at a time, until we either find salvation or drown beneath the ruins of this accursed place.

I grit my teeth and push onward, determined to survive even as the darkness closes in around us.