~Secrets of the Maze Garden~

Early morning on the next day, Drake, together with Lez, Mike, Alex, Clem, and Trevor, went to the Maze Garden. They brought the album with them thinking it might be helpful in their search for the lock and key. At the same time, their other friends chill and hang out at the outdoor pool area.

Trevor, the head supervisor of maintenance, told them everything they wanted to know that he saw their parents while following them, leading towards the center of the maze where they swiftly vanish. He led the group trailing towards where he last saw them.

When they finally reached the area,

“Wow!” Mike uttered in amazement at what he had seen. The center of the garden is a spacious area in a peculiar shape for it’s not in a circular nor square shape as it supposed to be, but in the form of a heart in where at both sides of the curve lies statues of kneeling angels, one holding a sword and the other holding a shield. The center of the heart-shaped garden has a shade with an arch-shaped seat and table on its center with bushes of flowers nearby, leading a trail towards a small two-layered water fountain located on the pointy shape of the heart.

“It’s so beautiful!” Lez was mesmerized by its beauty.

“We used to play in this garden, Alex, and John when we were kids. I can remember mom loves to have her seat on that arch as she reads her book. She likes to read books for her pastime as we, her children, like to bother her to come with us and play.” Drake smiled as a memory brushed inside his head.

“Yeah! And I like to pick those azaleas she loves and give them to her while you two (John and Drake) likes to play angels. I can remember you two always fight arguing on whom to have the sword (toy sword) first.” Alex added.

“Yes, and John always has the sword, and I got the shield.” Drake shook his head in dismay.

“What’s wrong with having the shield?” Lez asked.

“Well, first of all, it’s cool to hold a sword. Secondly, the ones who hold the sword have the right to attack our father, who is pretending to be a monster, while those who hold the shield have to protect the maiden. It’s boring to watch them fight, and I always wait and sit there with mom while she reads her books.” Drake contested.

“John always bested you at sword handling.” Alex pointed out.

“I know! Dad trained him to be like that and protect us from harm whenever he’s not there or far away. I get that. But I also want to help to fight by their side. You know, someday.” Drake followed.

“It’s frustrating to be useless whenever they need me the most.” Drake sadly said as he remembered the day of their mom’s death.

Alex hugged his younger brother to comfort him.

“You are not useless.” Silence shrouded the area as the two had their brother-sister moment while the others watched them emotionally.

“You can call yourself anything, but you were never useless, Drakey.” She looked into her brother's eyes to console him. Drake was glad to hear that coming from his sister’s mouth.

“But you can call yourself weakling, though! A little bit higher than being useless.” Alex rashly said as she jestingly laughed.

“And there’s the Medea I know.” Drake shook his head while Mike laughed hard as Lez bit her lips, preventing herself from laughing, and others just smiled.

“Okay, enough with all the dramas, and let’s proceed on looking for some clues and scatter the area. Trevor, Clem, you two proceed at the shield statue, Mike, at the sword statue, and I will search at the center of the shade while you two lovebirds proceed at the fountain.” Alex instructed.

“Yes, ma’am.” Mikes salute her, and they all proceed to their designated area.

“Lez, have you tried to contact your parents and ask something about yourself?” Drake is excited to know Lez’s entire past.

“I tried to call them twice last night, but there’s no answer, and they haven’t returned any call yet. But don’t worry, I will try to ask them after our return. And by the way? When are we going back?” Lez said.

“I’m planning our leave this afternoon, for us to have some time to relax after a long trip and return to school on Monday. Also, I want to meet your parents and get some answers to our questions.” Drake answered.

They quickly looked for clues at the fountain. Carefully starting from the ground, slowly climbing up to its basin looking top and bottom of its part leading to its the tube and its tiers but found nothing.

“There must be something in here. I’ll try to check further from the bushes; maybe I’ll find something.” Drake believed.

Lez repeated to look from bottom to top of the fountain and sighed. She looked at the water as its ripples blurred its view as noticed something.

“I found something!” Mike shouted, calling everyone to come at the statue of an angel holding a sword.

Lez stayed at the fountain, staring at the blurry ripples of water as everyone gathered to Mike is and started to point at something.

“Look! Do you see that? The one on the sword. There must be something embedded in it before.” Mike pointed at the circular carve at the sword’s quillon.

“I think I saw something like that on the shield, too,” Trevor added as they quickly went to the other side to check on the shield statue.

“Here! The same as from the sword.” Trevor was pointing at the circular carved shape on the shield.

“But what was embedded in it?” Alex asked as everyone thought deeply.

“Guys?” called once with a soft voice.

“Guys!” Lez shouted to call the other's attention.

“Come!” Lez requested them to come as she saw something at the fountain.

“Can we turn off the water of this fountain for a minute?” she requested as Trevor ran to shut it off.

The rippling water started to calm down as some figure began to appear at the fountain's spout, where the water flowed out, submerged in the deep.

“What could it be?” Clem asked as the ripples slowly vanished and saw the figure.

“It’s a heart shape,” Drake uttered.

“The album!” Drake, Lez, and Alex looked at each other as they uttered those words.

“Mike! The album at the shade.” Alex requested mike to retrieve it.

“Okay, I’ll go get it.” Mike obliged to grab the item.

As Mike retrieved the album, they looked at it and based the shape of the symbol on the fountain.

It’s the exact shape and size as they figure out.

“We have to try and place it on that fountain,” Alex said as she tried to pull out the insignia but never even moved an inch.

“It’s kind of stuck, and I can’t pull it out.” She exclaimed.

“Try pressing it, M’Lady,” Clem suggested.

“Nothing!” Al tried but failed.

“Try rotating it, Al,” Drake suggested

“Still nothing!” Al tried but still failed.

“Try kissing it,” Mike suggested as everyone looked at him, wearing a serious face.

“Maybe it’s like The Frog Prince, and it will come out if you kiss it.” Mike tried to explain, but still, the others continued to stare at him.

“Well, we’ll never know if we won’t try.” Mike further explained with an unsure voice.

“Mike, that’s the stupidest suggestion I’ve ever heard,” Alex said while Mike shrugged in reply.

Alex tried to kiss the insignia as Mike suggested and waited for a while.

Nothing happened.

She just made a pissed look at Mike.

“Well, you’re the one who kissed it, not me.” Mike denied as Alex continued to stare at him furiously.

“Can I have it for a while, Al?” Alex gave it to Lez as she requested, for she recognized something from the album.

“Look! There is something in the album.” Lez showed everyone she saw on the spine of the album.

“It’s a hole,” Mike uttered.

“No! It’s a keyhole.” Drake said as he reached something inside his pocket.

“Mom’s room key? Alex asked as Drake nodded in agreement.

“But why did you bring it here?” Alex further asked.

“I figure to take you there inside the room after we finished here as I promised.” He said while looking at her sister’s eyes.

“Well, there’s one way to find out. Here goes.”

Click. The key fits the keyhole as it unlocks the insignia out from the album.

Drake slowly raised the red heart-shaped jewel insignia to have a good look at it as everyone made a gleaming smile.

“This is it. Everyone ready?” Drake asked as he prepared himself and slowly put the insignia to the fountain.

The jewel fits perfectly, and right in that instant, it locks the jewel submerged in the fountain and makes a clicking sound.

Everyone looked at the area to see if there was something that changed or appeared.

“That’s it? That’s all we have after solving the puzzle?” Mike disappointedly said as everyone wondered except for Clem.

“Well, we still have more puzzles to solve,” Clem said as the group looked at him, turning his back, pointing at the two statues.

The group thought about what thing might be embedded in the two statues that they could use. Alex took a walk and went to the shade to rest, thinking while watching as the two separate groups investigated the statues.

“That’s it!” she shouted. “It could be it, and it must be it.” She firmly believed that something came out of her mind triggered by looking at what the two statues were holding.

“What is it, Al?” Drake asked.

“Drake, do you remember the sword and shield you used to play with John?” Alex asked.

“Yes?” Drake answered but was confused.

“I noticed something circular on the quillon of the sword. It might fit, so we have to try, but we need to find where it is now. Clem, have you remembered …” Alex said as her phrase was interrupted by Drake.

“No, no, I got it.” Drake inserted.

“What do you mean you got it?” Alex clarified Drake's words.

“I mean, I got it. I know where to find it.” Drake replied.

“Where?” Alex asked, and Drake showed a key.

“Let’s go,” Alex replied with excitement on her face as the three went back inside the mansion to their mother’s room, leaving Trevor and Clem in the garden to investigate more from the scene.

………………………………………………………………………………..

Drake unlocked the door as they all went inside. Alex was happy to see the room once again, for she saw their mother’s face for the 2nd time. She slowly approached the big painting in the middle as she put herself to tears. Lez saw Alex feeling sad as Drake and Mike were busy looking for the items inside a chest. She slowly approached Alex and gave her hand to her shoulder to comfort her as her daughter missed her mother.

“We found it!” Drake implied, but as soon as he found her sister covered in tears, he felt his heart being suffocated, like it’s being grabbed by the demon that drags their mother away. He handed the items to Mike, as he gave her sister a sweet, gentle hug to ease her pain.

“I know you missed mom so much. I missed her too, but we’ve got to be strong. To tell you the truth, somehow, I believe that she’s still been alive. For my heart says so. I know we saw her dragged by that demon, but maybe, just maybe, she might have survived and is still trapped in there. That’s why we need to solve this. There might be a chance to save her.” Drake said to comfort her sister as she replied with her soft embrace.

“Drake, we have to promise that if she’s still alive, we have to save her no matter what. We have to give our all just to take her back.” Alex said with unwavering belief.

Suddenly, Drake’s phone rang.

“Master Drake, we found another keyhole on the table inside the shade. We might need your mother’s key.” Clem informed them.

“Thank you, Clem. We’re on our way back now. Wait for us there.” Drake is full of hope that this might give them some clue about Lez’s true identity and have a chance to save their mom as they go back to the garden.

………………………………………………………………………………..

As soon as the group arrived, they hurriedly checked the statues along with the items if the circular crest might fit on those carves.

“It looks it could fit right into the statue. But how do we remove these things out from the toys? Are we going to break this?” Mike asked.

“Find something that might open it, Mike, look for some hidden button or something that can trigger to open the locks,” Drake explained to Mike.

“Oh! There’s something here on its hilt.” Mike pushed a hidden button on the sword's hilt, and out the thing, it went.

“I found mine too. I’ve been playing this shield a long time, but I never realized a hidden button hidden behind the enarmes.” Drake clicked the button, and the crest dropped on the center.

“But it’s blank, and nothing’s written on it. Not even a sign nor a drawing.” Mike implied.

“Let’s try it, Mike. It might work.” Drake strongly believed.

“Well, here goes nothing.” Mike inserted the circular thing, and it fits perfectly to the carve of the sword angel statue.

The circular thing began to rotate and shine as a sign appeared as a crest.

“Is that a key?” Mike uttered as he saw a winged-key crest appear on the sword’s quillon as Drake, Lez, and Alex looked at each other.

“Then this one might be the lock,” Drake said as they quickly moved to the other statue.

Drake placed the other circular thing, and same as the other, it started to rotate and appears a heart-shaped lock with two keys forming a cross crest.

“What now?” Mike shouted as he looked around clueless.

“Where is the keyhole, Clem?” Drake asked.

“Right this way, Master Drake,” Clem replied, pointing at the middle of the table inside the shade.

“Ready?” Drake prepared everyone. “Here goes.”

As he twisted the key open, a clicking sound was heard and appeared stairs in front of the shade leading below the ground.

Drake led the way down as they trailed the spiral stairway down.

“It’s getting dark on the way down. Anyone with a phone, open your flashlight now.” Drake suggested.

“Please have this, Sir Drake.” Trevor gave Drake a much brighter flashlight as he was leading the group on the way down.

“Thank you, Trevor. This is more convenient.” Drake acknowledges Trevor for always being prepared as a superb maintenance supervisor as he is.

The group made it to the bottom of the staircase, and the only thing they saw was a door with a heart-shaped crest visible in front.

Drake tried to open the door, but it was locked. He tried to use her mother’s room key, and as it twists, they heard something closed from above.

“That must be the opening above. It sounds like it closed as you opened the door, Sir Drake.” Trevor implied. “That explains how they vanished as I followed them to the garden.” He added.

Drake nodded and slowly opened the door and found a dark, spacious room inside brightened only by their flashlights.

“There must be a light source here.” Lez supposed.

Suddenly, lights appeared as they brightened the room.

“Found the switch!” Trevor shouted from the edge of the room.

“Good work! Trevor.” Clem thanked him as the others were glad for Trevor’s usefulness from his area of expertise.

“Books! More books.” Mike scanned the area as he reached the library and tried to browse and read some of it.

Lez found other stairs that led to a huge round table with chairs surrounding it. She noticed each chair has elemental crests in it, and in the middle was a book with the written title ‘Sepositam et Conditam.’ She doesn’t know what it means and was intrigued by it.

“Guys! Down here.” Lez called the attention of the group.

Everyone gathered except for Mike, who was enjoying reading some books at the library.

“What is it Lez?” Alex asked.

“Look, I found this huge round table with these chairs with crests on it. Take a look.” Lez pointed out the emblem on each chair.

“A Fire emblem, a lightning emblem, that’s a total of eighteen chairs as I’ve counted. These emblems might represent something.” Drake thought.

“A trinity sign with two hands,” Alex murmured. “I know what these chairs represent.” She quickly said. “This is my emblem. Mom taught me this once when we were kids. This is the creation emblem. Then this place must be where the Royal Bloods have gathered. All the emblems represent each of the royal blood's abilities. See? Here’s yours, Drakey, A trinity sign with a clock.” Alex showed Drake his must-be chair.

“There’s another one here with a trinity symbol, but this one’s different. It’s a sign of an atom that has a trinity symbol that goes down.” Lez added.

“As I’ve remembered, mom showed me a six-edged star-like picture. She explained that it consists of the upper Trinity and the lower Trinity. The six strongest royal blood, I suppose. God! I never thought that it would be this deep. Our family history has a legend.”

Alex explained, astounded by what she witnessed.

“Maybe you know what this is, Al.” Lez supposed as she gave the book to Alex.

“‘Sepositam et Conditam,’ I don’t understand what this means. Is this Latin?” Alex implied knowing nothing of what she reads.

“Let me see.” Drake, have a look at the book. “This is it! This might be the answers to our questions.” Drake said with excitement.

“What does it mean, Drake?” Lez asked.

“ ‘Sepositam et Conditam’, its latin for Lock and Key.” Drake answered as the others filled with excitement in their faces.

“Let me scan this book first. Maybe we will find some information that we need later.” Drake agreed as they looked for more clues.

“Guys! I found some books here that might interest you.” Mike said as he ran towards his friends and put three books on to the table. “Look, this one says Demons. I read something about it, and what interests me the most are the seven demons. It says here that when the gates of hell open, seven demons will come out. Not just one, but seven. Now I know you guys are strong, especially with those abilities of yours. But can you defeat seven demons by yourselves? Please say yes, because it says here, if you fail, we will all suffer.” Mike explains. “Here, these are all seven demons you have to face in the future.” Mike handed the book to Drake.

“Pride, Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Wrath and Envy. So, we have to face the seven deadly sins.” Drake said those words with hesitance banging his mind.

“I wouldn’t be sure to achieve victory just by facing them head-on. There must be some way to defeat these demons, or maybe a weakness that we can use even to trap them might be helpful. But as for now, we have to know more about them. Clem, please, gather a team that will provide us any information by reading these books about the gate, the lock and key, demons and their weaknesses, and everything that might be helpful in the future. Trevor, gather a team with Grace. You two will be leading them on item gathering. Whatever information Clem’s team will need or have gathered, you shall be the team to procure it. Also, inform Rose to provide daily sustenance for the group. I need them as soon as you can.” Drake instructed the team like a businessman managing his employees to do.

“Wow! You sure are a lot like a dad now, Drakey.” Alex implied.

“Well, as I need to be, Al. I wanted this to go so well. Dad’s not here, and so is John. I’ve got to make things right.” Drake said with integrity.

"And what about those two other books you brought? What is it about?” Drake asked Mike.

“Oh, this one is pretty deep. It says here Battle of the Alphas. I got fascinated just by reading it. I don’t know if there’ll be a connection to your story, but it might help someday. Now I heard what you were talking about earlier, and this book has the information you need. It simply says Guardians, and look, those symbols on these chairs are in here.” Mike continued to read and selected one as a topic.

“One says here, The Time Guardian. The guardian can control time by making it fast, slow, stop, reverse, or jumping into a specific period. I’ve seen you use it to make yourself fast. Alex confirms that you can slow time. Stop? Nah, not so much, but dude! Reverse or jump? Does that mean you can go back time by reversing it or travel? Bro, that is so OP! If you could do that, then maybe you can jump back in time to save your mom.” Mike splendidly gave his idea to Drake as Drake thinks it more deeply.

“Dude! What’s wrong? Why are you having that kind of face? This might be your chance to save your mom.” Mike implied while looking at his friend's face being unsure.

“He’s hesitating.” Alex inserted.

“Huh?” Mike replied in a confused manner.

“Haven’t you seen any time traveling movies or stories before? Traveling back in time and changing it also changes its outcomes. The present we have now might become different if he changes anything from his past. In exchange to save our mom, he might lose his friends or her in the end,” Alex said as she looked at Lez. “Besides, I know Drakey can’t do any time traveling shit and whatnot.”

Mike took a big sigh as he looked at his friend with more desperation on his face.

“Mike, hand me that book.” Alex requested.

She began to look for information about her abilities and read.

“Creation Guardian. The guardian with abilities to conjure, form, construct, summon and rebuild anything that it wills to create.” Alex said as she read the book.

“What does that mean? Conjure? Summon? Rebuild? Does that mean there’s even more that you may not know about your abilities, Al? Lez asked.

“I don’t know yet. If what the book is saying is true, then I could say that I am still a baby relevant to my powers, and Drake would be an infant to his.” Al replied.

“Then you guys must learn more about your abilities and train more to enhance it to a greater level. Not just because you are facing a bigger threat but because humanity is facing complete extinction. I know you can’t do it just by yourselves; that’s what we are here for. We’ll always be here to support you.” Mike gave an encouraging statement to the group that they will always support each other as he raised his hand, clenching, determined to fight all odds, as the four fist-bumps as a pact.

END OF CHAPTER 8