At last it was time. They had advanced through the six trials with difficulty, but with their combined efforts they somehow made it through. Everyone who was going in had their set of six keystones, and approached the final door. Lys wasn't sure what to expect. All of this had been building up to a climax, and they would finally see what the fruits of their labor would bring about. "Is everybody prepared?" He asked them one last time. His younger brother Efrain was sitting by himself watching, and when he noticed Lys looking at him he waved at him dismissively as if to shoo him away. He would be lying if he said he didn't feel anxious. If they were going to face a fight, then what could be more dangerous than a rose hydra?

Each one of them put in their keystones into the corresponding slots, and the door would vanish. When they were all gathered on the other side, the door reappeared and bars dropped down to seal the way. That couldn't be a good sign. Whatever they were going up against in here would have to be defeated before they could leave. What they all saw next left them speechless. So this was why some called it the Treasure Room–piles upon piles of trinkets and artifacts cast in precious metals and studded with gemstones littered the grand hall. This area was vast and expansive, with a high ceiling. Adorned with jade and moonstone pillars, the only thing missing was a throne in his opinion. But that wasn't the only thing that he found unexpected. 

In the midst of the treasure trove, there stood two statues carved from the finest marble. One was a warrior bearing four arms in different positions. The way it appeared to be in meditation reminded him of Uncle Walter's description of one tribe in Eyota Etu, but the attire was closer to that of Abed's. It had a tall headdress, and a raised mark on its forehead between its eyebrows. One of the arms had a sword, two were in prayer, and the last one was open with a flower upon its palm. The second of the two statues was more familiar–a towering stone effigy of the infamous gorgon, appearing as a woman from the waist up but with snakes for hair and the lower body of a serpent. 

Seeing these two statues made him feel pressured for some reason, but perhaps that was just him being overly cautious. "Incredible…that's all I can think when I try to describe it. Everyone, stay together. We don't know what this last trial will be so don't do anything–Belen, no!" To his dismay the half-fey boy was already diving into the nearest pile of gold, fishing around for anything that would catch his fancy. To Lys' horror, the statues started to shake and move before coming to life! Their pale complexions became saturated with color as stone turned to flesh, and neither of the living statues were planning on giving them a warm welcome. "Belen behind you!" He shouted, drawing a shield before sprinting at full speed to pull his friend away from the incoming danger.

"Oh sweet stars above–we've hit the jackpot!" When Efrain hinted that this was a treasure room, he sure wasn't kidding! High-fiving his twin, he was practically shaking with excitement. There were piles–no mountains of treasure everywhere! He'd heard of the dragon's hoard deep in Baltil, but could that fire-breathing lizard's collection compare to this? Belen could hardly contain himself from jumping into the gold and making snow angels in them. But he wasn't excited over a bunch of shiny coins. There were plenty of other things with greater value sitting in the sea of currency. Just one or two of those fancy cups could sell for a fortune if you told collectors where you got it from, and that was just the base profit for non-magical items. Now if he found one of those, then they'd be rolling in silver. 

When everybody was standing around dumbfounded, he spied something sticking out of the coin pile nearby and wasted no time in digging it out. Belen pulled out an ornate lidded vessel of some sort made of mother-of-pearl and edged in gold. There were diamonds dotting the contours like stars in a constellation, and he was just about ready to pocket the thing when he heard his friend shout. The first time he heard his name being called he brushed it off. Knowing Lys, he'd be scolding him for touching random things without checking for traps or something. Spying a ring shaped like a blooming flower bud, he thought of keeping it as a surprise gift in case Lys' progress with Poppy was getting slow. "She'll totally love this. Can't tell what kind of gemstone it is, but it's pink and it looks nice, right?" 

"Belen behind you!" There was fear in Lys' voice, so he turned around. Looking up, there was a massive arm right about to bring down a sword onto him! "Teleport, teleport!" He shouted as he begged his magic to work faster. Before several pounds of tempered steel smashed into his head, he was yanked out of its reach. He tumbled along the ground as Lys rolled beside him. "What were you thinking?! You almost got yourself killed!" Came the angry voice in his ears. With a sheepish smile he was about to explain when he saw the four-armed statue turn its head in their direction, which had another face on the side. "Gods what is that?! Why does it have more than one face?!" Belen had seen a lot of weird things, but that definitely did not look right. Two of its hands began to move into a position of prayer, and magic started to crackle. 

"That's it we're getting out of here!" Grabbing onto Lys, Belen teleported them both back to the others. Unfortunately the trouble didn't stop there. There was a gorgon on the loose, and Chrys had set up several walls for cover to avoid its petrifying gaze. "I can't shoot it like this! Every time I try I can't find an opening!" She complained. She had a point. Going out there was risking your neck, especially if you wanted to take out the eyes. Cyril was huddled against the wall along with Chrys when she voiced her thoughts, then he asked: "What if we use a really big mirror?" Everybody stared. "How are we going to find a mirror big enough for Snake-eyes over there to stare back at it?" Belen asked throwing up his hands in exasperation. His brother pointed a finger at him. "Wait, you don't mean…"

His brother had a set of mirrors that could change shape and size. Surely that could to the job, right? His brother's response was to groan and rub his face. "That's not going to work. They're not just normal mirrors!" Hearing this Cyril was a bit disappointed. He was sure that it had been a good idea when he thought of it. "Oh, I see…" Then his brother stopped mid-sentence. Cyril could see from the light in his eyes that he had come up with another idea. "Hey, you know that just might be the thing. Ok, group huddle. We need to discuss tactics while we still can." Once they were all listening he continued. "Lemme lay it all out on the table–right now we've got two angry living statues after us stomping around. Sooner or later they're going to get us, so we need to get them first. We have Four-arms which we can't sneak up on, and Snake-eyes with a death glare. We have take her out first, or else we're done for."

Nodding, he asked the question on everybody's mind. "So how do we do that Bel?" His brother grinned and held up a finger. "Easy, it just takes a little planning. Your mirror idea got me thinking. You know how things can go through them? We can use that to our advantage. Most people wouldn't expect something to come out of mirrors, right?" Lysandre and his sister both had faces of realization as they understood what his brother was implying. "Like a pair of portals…" Chrys said, resting her head on her hand. "Now you're thinking! So, all we need to do is play the curiosity card. Once she takes the bait, BAM! She won't know what hit her." Belen explained. 

The plan was simple: Belen would drop one of the mirrors through a portal near the gorgon to draw away its attention. While it was distracted, Chrys would prepare her bow and arrow in front of the mirror's partner on their end. Once she was ready, Cyril would use his aura sight to determine if the gorgon had taken the bait. And when the snake-haired monster went to gaze at her reflection…Chrysanthe would let her arrow fly. The pain should keep it distracted enough to where it couldn't use its petrification, and then Chrysanthe could use vines to pin the gorgon to the ground. The next step would be following in a legendary hero's actions in an old myth their mother told them as children–beheading the monster in one fell swoop. 

Like usual, Belen's mind was running a mile a minute. If it involved plans, he was the grand-master of complications out of them five. He was smart and pretty bold so it was no surprise he ran into trouble on a daily basis. Out of the twins, he was the one that ran her older brother ragged the most. Thinking on his feet was one of his best traits despite his tendency to walk into sticky situations. The plan he had formulated sounded like it'd work. It was the best that they had right now, and he raised a lot of valid points. The most critical part was getting the gorgon to take the mirror. The entire plan hinged on that bit. And just like the schemer he was, Belen had already taken into account their strengths and weaknesses. Every role they had was something they could easily pull off.

"I'll be here with Cyril and get a lightning arrow notched. We'll be waiting on you Bel, just give us the signal and let's get this in motion." She said, acknowledging that she understood. They took their places: Cyril sensing how far the gorgon was from their current position, Belen using that information to gauge where to open a portal to drop the magic mirror, and her brother Lys holding the second mirror for her to shoot through. "Eight meters from our current position, and steadily growing closer." Cyril reported. "Is that close enough?" Lys asked. Belen shook his head. "Not yet. Cyril keep focusing." Seconds later Cyril gave another report. "Five meters from our location, target's movements are becoming quicker and more erratic." The air was becoming tense, the stomping from both enemies growing louder. They were all waiting on bated breath, with Cyril keeping his eyes closed. "Four meters, three meters–" He said, then Belen cut him off. "Get ready, now!" Lys grabbed the mirror and held it up while Chrys raised her loaded bow. Drawing back the string, she held it taut.

Belen cast a glyph in the air, forming a small hole large enough to put a hand through. Dropping a mirror through, they heard something clatter to the floor and something approach closer. "It's moving towards the mirror." Cyril relayed. "She it picking it up?" Belen asked impatiently. "Don't distract him, let him focus." Lys chided. The tension was thick to where you could physically cut it, and she could feel her arms stiffen from keeping them held in the same position. "Movement has stopped, I can sense it's no longer coming closer." Came the confirmation from Cyril. Belen peeked around the corner and quickly pulled back to wave frantically at them. "Chrys do it! Shoot!" Her older brother held the mirror steady as she finally let the arrow fly with a zing! It disappeared into the mirror's surface, then was followed by a bloodcurdling shriek.

"Everyone, now!" At Belen's signal everyone stormed out from their cover and charged at the gorgon who was clutching at her face in agony. Chrys called forth vines to burst out from the stonework to snare and entangle the serpentine monster down to the ground. Commanding the plants to coil and constrict like jungle boas, the gorgon fell to the floor with a thud. The four-face, four-armed fiend was trying to intercept their plans, but she would have none of it. Raising a portion of the floor into a wall, she sent it flying and pushed it back temporarily. Cyril summoned a rain of spectral blades to further pin the gorgon down, buying Lys more time to close the gap. "The neck! Hit the neck!" Belen shouted, and her brother drew his sword lifting it high.

The katana came down with all the strength he could muster. For a living statue, there was still resistance as the blade went through. A disquieting silence fell over the entire chamber as the gorgon was felled, all the tension built up until now broken in an instant. His head was spinning, and his heart racing. Was it over? With the head disconnected, it wouldn't continue to move? Lysandre was expecting to be hit by the stench of blood, instead the body began to rapidly turn to stone as the cut was completely clean. A hairline crack began to spread over the gorgon's face, branching out and widening further until it shattered, reduced to a pile of shards. 

Everyone else was watching, and when the vines holding the gorgon slackened, cheers erupted from Belen. "Wait don't celebrate just yet–we still have one more to handle!" His sister reminded them. The stomping they had heard continued breaking their brief celebration party. Things might have become easier, but the most difficult obstacle was still present. How exactly do you combat an enemy which can see you from every angle, and appeared to have no blind spots? The four-armed warrior rushed forward, rotating its head upon its neck to change its face from sorrow to rage. "Ugh–good lord! That's so creepy! That is not how heads are supposed to move!" Belen cried with his face in horror. "What do we do now? We've got reduced our enemies down to one, but our situation isn't much better." He asked the others.

"We should run." Cyril piped up. "Run? To where? We're trapped in here with it and we can't leave until we or it expire." Belen remarked sarcastically. Cyril, good-natured as he was, didn't get offended by his brother's words. Lys really had to hand it to Cyril for being so tolerant and patient with such a troublesome sibling. "I know, I mean so we can see what sort of abilities it has. The living statue has four faces and four arms, and each seems to correspond to different attacks. It might have more limbs, but not all of the limbs have the same purpose." The silver-haired boy explained. "Bel, remember when it almost bashed you over the head and Lys saved you?" His brother grimaced at the memory, but nodded. "Yeah…after that I had to teleport us out of there before it tried to blast us with something." A light went on in Bel's head as the twin caught onto what his sibling was implying. "Cyril, you genius!"

"What is it? Come on, don't keep it to yourselves." Lys said, nervously keeping an eye on how close the four-faced monster was getting. "What did you find out about the living statue?" Cyril's next words were clear as crystal. "It can only use one type of attack at a time."

His brother Cyril was spacey, naive, and sometimes downright frustrating–but every now and then he'd come up with something that was pure genius. In tense situations like this his unusual ability of staying generally calm was actually useful. Belen wouldn't have thought that the four-armed threat could only use one type of attack at a time, but if that was true then they might have a fighting chance! I mean, having an enemy which you couldn't get a preemptive strike on was bad enough already. "So what do we do now?" He asked, cuing his twin to keep talking. "Let's all stay together and make it chase after us in a circle. After a few laps around the room, maybe we'll see most of the attacks it can throw out." Cyril answered. "I don't see any better options. Alright, we'll follow your lead Cyril." Lys said with some reluctance. He could tell the older boy wasn't too convinced they should be running around in circles, but it couldn't be that bad.

Following the plan, they started running. The warrior changed faces again, this time to a face in meditation. Two of its arms without anything in its hands moved into a position of prayer and a blast of arcane energy nearly went through their group. They hit the floor as the beam narrowly missed their heads, and went back on course. Seeing that its targets were getting too far away, it changed faces again to a visage contorted in sorrow. Its movements suddenly increased and it rushed at them with a frightening speed! Had it figured out their plan and changed tactics? "Everybody make a break for it!" Chrys yelled as they scattered. Splitting up in two directions, the four-faced fiend thrashed about with its four upper limbs, swiping at the air. "That was close." But something still nagged at him when he saw how the living statue reacted.

The way it fought was too unpredictable to be just an animated block of marble. Unlike the gorgon who behaved like a typical predator, the four-armed warrior had realized ranged attacks would be ineffective on moving targets at a distance and had adjusted its movements accordingly. "No way, it can't be…" It was a possibility Belen absolutely didn't want to believe, because it was too terrifying to be true. He had seen the automatons walking around Antikythera and had even talked to them. They moved and acted just like living, breathing people. But since these challenges were co-designed by the Goddess of Life and his mother, then that would mean it could think. It was something scarier than taking on a wraith, a warg, or a hydra. An enemy that could think and adapt like a sentient being.

Cyril was keeping track of everything he saw the living statue do. So far, he had seen it use three faces with three specific actions related to them. The face of wrath utilized powerful strikes from the sword arm, the face of grief granted it enhanced speed and a temporary battle frenzy, and the face with eyes closed moved the two empty hands in meditation to cast long-range spells. There was one face left and one arm he had yet to see in use. It was the arm that held a flower. He had figured out the conditions that triggered the use of the first three faces, so what would that last one be? It seemed that leading it along a chase wasn't going to give him that answer. He and his brother had split up when their group had to get out of the way fast. He was with Lys, leaving Chrys with Belen.

Cyril had an inkling as to what the final face might be, but first he had to test it. Forming a small knife made of shadows, he flung it at the living statue's abdomen before it could parry with its sword arm. To his surprise, it reacted immediately–rotating its head to a smiling face and shifting into a dancer's pose with one free hand and the arm holding the flower. The shadow blade was deflected by a magical barrier of some sort, revealing the four-faced warrior's final ability. He noted that the flower in its hand was radiating magic as the barrier was in effect. Waving at his brother from across the room, he signaled for Belen to telepathically connect. When he heard his brother's voice in his mind, he began telling him what he had learned. "Bel, I got it! I figured out what all the faces do! Make sure to tell everybody after listening, it's important." 

"I'm all ears, what'd you see?" His brother replied back. He continued on to explain, "The statue has four distinct faces: anger, sadness, eyes closed in meditation, and joy. The first three faces are all offensive states, but the last one is defensive. It switches to its smiling face when it senses an attack it can't dodge or block with its sword arm and creates a magic barrier around it. The barrier's power source should be the arm holding the flower." "So it looks like that flower-holding arm is our next target. Good thing we didn't try to attack it up close. I'll relay this to Chrys and Lys right away. Let's take 'em down!" And with that his brother ended the telepathic connection. The picture was finally becoming clear. Hopefully it would all be over soon. Efrain and their parents were waiting for them.

'Chrys, Cyril found out a way we can take down the statue. Our first priority is to take out the arm holding a flower as soon as possible. It's using that one to make a defensive barrier. Since it can only use one move set at any given time, once it can't defend itself our work will be easier.' Belen's voice spoke in her mind loud and clear.  "What should me and Lys do?" She asked. Belen was quick to reply: 'Right now we need to find a way to get close enough to destroy the arm. To prevent it from using any other abilities, we need to rush it from all sides and force it to choose one.' "Alright, make sure my brother knows as well. Give us the signal and we'll move." Notching a new arrow to her bow, she watched for any movements from the four-armed statue and the others. Looking from afar, she saw her brother was preparing a sword and shield. Everyone was getting ready, but they were waiting on the word.

The four-armed statue switched its face to that of anger, and raised its blade with fury. At that moment they all heard a single word in their minds: 'NOW!' Charging forward simultaneously, they went in on all sides. Cyril and Lys were faster out of them four, but before they could land a single blow the warrior changed its face again. The arm with the flower glowed and a barrier pushed them out of the way. It was completely enclosed in a sphere, even Belen's spells couldn't pass through. Lys' weapons were just as ineffective. She lowered her bow and slowed her pace. This wasn't working. They had to find another way to approach it, or else this would quickly turn into a battle of endurance. They couldn't keep fighting forever against an enemy that had no blood and likely felt no pain.

Backing up she increased the distance between her and the statue as she hoped the others had another plan. Belen was whispering something to his brother, but she couldn't tell what they were thinking. Then against all reason, Belen started running back towards the four-armed statue. It took notice of him immediately, but before he was in striking distance he vanished into thin air. He was nowhere to be found. Then, Chrysanthe figured out what was happening. "…Invisibility. Clever trick, Bel. It might be able to defend, but it can't fight against an enemy it can't see."

As soon as he swung his blade, it clashed against the statue's magic barrier. Despite his strength and force, it repelled him back. It was powerful, incredibly so. He could not hope to pierce through it like this. Not when there was no opening. Withdrawing, he saw the others were doing the same. How did it figure out what they were planning? Now there was no way any of their attacks could reach it, what could they do? To his dismay, Belen still wasn't giving up. Brashly turning back, he rushed at the four-armed living statue once again. "Belen! It's no use! Stop!" His words fell on deaf ears. But before their enemy could reach him, Belen vanished. Everyone was stunned, even the statue itself. Then he reappeared, albeit briefly. "Come and get me, Four-arms!" Belen shouted, provoking it to try and chase him. The half-fey boy then threw chunks of ice and fireballs to keep its attention. Then his twin brother began to move as well, closing in. 

Lys didn't understand what was happening. Attacking it directly hadn't worked before so why try again? Then Belen flicked his wrist, and a flash of light burst through the room! Shielding his eyes, when Lys opened them again both brothers were gone. Whirling his head around, there was only his sister aside from the statue. "Cyril? Belen?" What now? The statue was changing its face again, back to the face contorted in sorrow. They would have to be careful of its speed in this state. The fact that the twins still weren't anywhere to be seen still unnerved him. That was, until Belen flickered back into view. "You missed you dumb rock! What, are you blind?!" Mocking it once again, the statue turned its sights onto Belen. 

Then while it was distracted, the shadow beneath its feet shifted strangely. When its attention was fixed on the brunet boy, suddenly a shadowy tendril shot upwards and slashed at the arm holding the flower! The blade of a scythe gleamed for a moment before disappearing back into the pool of shadow again. A severed stone hand clattered to the floor with a thud, the color fading away as the magic which brought it to life was gone. Before the statue could react, Belen took this opportunity to snatch the stone hand before taking off. As this all happened, it was all becoming clearer. "Wait that shadow, could that be? So this was what you two were whispering about. Couldn't you two have at least given me a word of warning before putting on this elaborate show?" Though in all fairness, they had taken a great risk. With the statue's defensive abilities lost, it would be forced to resort to offensive tactics. This would allow them to adjust their plans accordingly. 

A little bit of quick thinking and his back-up plan worked like a charm. Old Four-arms might be smart, but it could still be fooled by some well-placed misdirection. It was always important not to play all your cards too early, lest you lose the ace up your sleeve. He knew that none of them could damage it from outside the barrier, but what about within? He'd whispered to his brother to wait until he set off a flash, then take advantage of the confusion to hide in the living statue's shadow. He himself would act as bait so the statue would completely focus on him. Whenever it was in any of its other three states, Cyril would be able to more easily remove that pesky arm it used to conjure its magic shields. He had the stone hand bearing the flower now and was running. The statue was now in a frenzy having discovered it was missing a part, and was dead-set on getting it back. Turning to look over his shoulder, he grinned. "You want this back? Not a chance!"

Teleporting to another corner of the chamber, Belen cast the glyph for an explosion spell. "Say goodbye to your hand!" Snapping his fingers, he threw the stone hand as the spell activated–blasting it into pieces. The shock waves from the explosion reverberated through the treasure hall, forcing him to crouch and cover his ears. He'd have to handle his timing a bit better next time. Once the flower-bearing hand was destroyed, the statue froze and began to shudder. The face etched in a smile began to crack from side to side, and it appeared the living statue took damage. The arm missing a hand fell apart, now useless. Its defensive abilities were completely taken out. "Oh yeah! Alright guys, let's get 'em! Let's see what you can do with one less face and arm now!" 

"Don't jinx it!" Lys shouted back, always the worrywart as ever. "Pssh, relax. We've got this–without any defensive shields or healing abilities we can take our sweet time cutting him down to size." Belen shot back. Cyril leaped out of its shadow and slammed the end of a glaive into the three-armed fighter's left leg before pulling back to a safe distance. The damage wasn't enough to break it, but there were visible cracks showing on its surface. "It can't see us from every angle anymore, don't hold back!" Raising his voice, his brother rallied them for an all-out attack. As planned, they rushed in with weapons brandished and shots flying.