#10 Unlocking Adventure

As soon as he entered the room, Rylan immediately felt as if this had maybe been a bad idea. Oh well, too late now, he decided as he made his way to the ornate table in the middle of the stone clad room. At least nothing had attacked him the moment he stepped through, at least. He'd heard some strange rumours regarding these rooms.

Stopping at the table, he noted the containers filled with stones of some kind, as well as the cards that hovered above each one. There were nine in total, nothing giving away just what their purpose was here.

He then noticed the plaque, reading it out loud to himself. So choose well and he'd be spared, but get it wrong and...

"I hope there's some exaggeration there", he muttered to himself, before once again turning his attention to the stones and the levitating cards. What was he supposed to do exactly? Should he? Suddenly, this seemed like a very bad idea, but he would be a very bad Gryffindor if he backed out now.

Maybe he was supposed to push the cards into the stones? It was worth a try, he thought with a small shrug, as he reached for the one in the middle (E). Start in the middle and make his way out, perhaps?

"Owowowow!", Rylan cried out in pain and surprise as an icy sting washed over his hand as soon as he placed it, and the card, into the stone. He yanked it out again, expecting to see one heck of an ice burn, at best, and at worst his hand frozen solid.

Thankfully, neither seemed to be the case, as everything appeared fine and the pain quickly subsided. Had that been the wrong move then? The card had changed to show the image of a vial of some kind, so he may have at least been on the track.

Deciding against quitting (seeing as the last one hadn't left a mark), he pressed another card, A this time. He couldn't be that unlucky twice, right?

Wrong. This time, he felt as though he had thrust his hand into scalding water, yelping as he did so. Again though, he appeared to be unharmed, but now he had the feeling he was pushing his luck.

Stubborn to the end, he still somehow felt as though he was on the right track. Although usually write handed, it then occurred to him that he should probably use his left from here on out. Just in case his luck ran out and he ended up half maimed or something.

Though he remembered his mother's word about not sticking his hands where they didn't belong, he pushed down on the I card. At least this time he knew to brace himself.

Yep, that one hurt too, another icy sting as he once again placed his hand in some of this strange stones (card in tow, of course). Talk about hot and cold, but the way the way the cards began to reveal images reaffirmed to him that he was thinking along the right lines. He just hoped he had a hand left by the end of this.

Deciding to try the corners next, he placed his hand over C, all the while trying to think of a good explanation as to how he had managed to freeze off/crispify his hand if he carried on here.

Hot, hot, hot, that once again freaking hurt, but again not even a mark. Rylan wondered if this was something he was going to pay for later, in more ways than one. Never sticks hands where they don't belong, and that was exactly what he was doing.

This time, he went for G, wondering if he was going to get hot or cold. He noticed that out of all four cards, he had two of two different symbols. He didn't really like the look of any of them. Especially the skulls. Skulls never meany anything particularly good.

It then occurred to him that these cards appeared when he felt a burn, with the potion vial cards being the ones that tried to freeze his fingers off. He really hoped he wasn't actually about to lose any extremities.