Chapter Nineteen: First Encounter

It's been a day since Enrico wandering in the wilderness. Each steps he crucially taking by his feet bringing him towards peril in his life. Empty sandy grounds all he perceives, without any sign of living organisms’ inhabiting. The sky fills with grey clouds, but no sign of raining neither single sunray illuminating, or snow. In this vast wilderness, Enrico encounters a companion, not a human but a living creature. In a far distance, an adorable creature comes to his vision, seems familiar to him. He startles upon his confirmation about he seeing.

"Oh dear, what on earth the path I’ve chosen? This place has nothing but only sandy blighted grounds and grey clouds. Am I right in my decision? Or she just tricked me. I feel I'm dying in this desolate place. Wait, what's that? Oh─ is that a cat?" Enrico mumbles as he sauntering, halting and perceiving in a distant waiting for him.

"Meow! Meow!"

"Hey…it's you! What on earth are doing here? Oh thank you, my Lord, now, I have a companion. Come on, let's─ wait, is this, the ring? Oh, yeah… this is the ring … I saw this before… yeah, it's true…it is." He hunches down, focusing his sight to the cat.

Enrico startles as he spotting the ring slinging in Vuvu’s neck, glimmering and alluring it to him. He hooks it up and clenching it by his right hand. As he opening his palm, he notices the ring flickering uncontrollably. Something might sooner to happen like an upcoming danger. He lurches and the cat follows him. They carry on their journey and the cat meows, signalling something. They halt as the wall reveals from a few mist in a distance.

"What kind of place is this? Oh, it's odd, what on earth this wall doing here? Hmm…let us follow this wall perhaps I could find something."

He follows the wall’s presence, touching, reclining, and brushing his hands. They stop as the glimmering purplish door with ancient texts appears on it. He later realises to pull up the map perhaps it might help to lead them the way. Upon unfolding the map, he envisions nothing in it, so he conjectures about something he must do. He recalls a bottle with sands in his “busta”. He pulls it up and tunnels his sight into it as he gripping it by his right hand.

"What's this? Oh, a dust but what a─ right I see, I remember. It's magical dust and it says here "blow and it reveals something"…alright! Hope it'll work." he grips the dust bottle.

He twists the bottle cover and pouring out a few particles in his left hand. He pauses and purrs for a few seconds, staring and blowing it towards the magical door. The ancient door reveals the ancient texts and in a split of seconds the ancient texts transcribes into a readable riddle.

You blow me, I reveal unto thee,

Words to utter, speak it louder.

Language transcribes a message

My message is the way to passage.

“Gracious glory me! How could I solve this kind of riddle─ hang on? I’ll read this again, "You blow me, I reveal unto thee"…oh, I see yeah …I did it. Next, "Words to utter, speak it louder" so I should speak louder. Okay, next, “Language transcribes a message." Wait, what kind of language? “My message is the way to passage.” Oh, gracious heaven enlighten me."

In the middle of silence, the deafening whisper of the wind once again presses into his dry skin, cooling beneath his puzzling mind. The riddle torments his mind in figuring out the right answer. He feels being tricked by Rebecca when he accepted this mission. He defeats into a deep silence until the cat bumps to his right foot as he sitting in a large plain rock. The cat meows once more and he snobs with a little smile, cornering his eyes to it. He casts back his memory of anything Rebecca's warnings and advices. He regrets the fact that he noted merely those things in his mind not in a piece of parchment. The cat leaves and heading towards the magical door, still meowing. He tries to cast back his all memories until a quick conversation with someone else pops amid in his mind. He starts to concentrate; revisiting his old memory about that old conversation, yet, still he forgets the entire details of it.

"I believe someone told me the passwords─ perhaps accidentally or intentionally in a conversation. Come on! Why I can't remember those important details. I should wait─ I think it started…yes, it starts with letter "A" and the other one is, letter "S" Yeah! That’s right!" he closes his eyes as he concentrating, sitting in the plain rock.

He squints, closing his yes, meditating his clamouring mind with so many thoughts and focusing to recall everything. Actually, Enrico forgets most of the time but sometimes his memory works so well. As he recalling gradually the missing details, he sketches the letter initials by his index finger into the sandy ground.

"Open…open…open what's the other term for open, it’s an ancient─? Hmm. Aha! Yes …yes let me try it. "Aperto!"…" he shouts as he arousing from his seat.

"Whoa…bloody brilliant! Wow, I did it …I did it. “The creaking sound of the door echoes.

He evokes suddenly his conversation to Mrs. Clearwater but the clue in there still misty and unclear. So, he roams around his vision and he spotting back the dust bottle on the sandy ground. He realises that in closing the bottle cover, you need to seal it, using, moving or turning motion. This time his guess works surely.

"Come on, let's go kitty lets go…!” he snatches the cat, running towards the open door.

He picks and seals the bottle up, placing it back to his pouch and snatching the cat situating it to his left folding arm like a new-born baby, running in the open door. As he reaching inside, he utters the last words.

“Selio moverie…” the door closes gradually.

At last they passed through the magical door. Upon twisting his sight by turning around, a spooky view envisions him. This place consumes with death and darkness. The trees wither the ground blighting and the wind permeating a smell of horrid and vile. A far from distance, twelve o'clock from his direction, he perceives a grey sky, mysterious rocky mountains and misty dark forest. The flying creatures like a nocturnal species, haunting, creeping, and gliding inside the forest. Their irritating sounds spook your ears to listen, succumbs you to despair and anxiety.

He fetches a torch, walking cautiously under the torch dimming light. The moving light catches the creatures’ attention as he sauntering in the narrow path with angry meows from his cat Vuvu. Their numbers seem countless, all of them screeching, fanning their wings and creating wind that waving the trees’ branches. Enrico rattles and consumes with panic. He runs to somewhere, chasing the endless narrow grassy path with turmoil about his tactics. He escapes from the dark forest and runs still in the meadows outside, he stumbles, reclining his face in the ground with dirt and his eye glass projectiles in a distant. He brandishes and brushes his hands on the ground until he palms his eyeglasses. He places it back to his eyes and seeing Vuvu’s absence. The gargoyles fly, screeching, dodging him about. Until, someone clamps his mouth, seizing him up, snatching his flaming torch and throwing it away in a far distance. They camouflage in a thriving shrub and stay put.

"Who arrrr.─? He exclaims as he trying to escape from the clamping hand covers against his mouth.

"Shut up! Don't make any noise or else we all die here." A voice whispers into his ears.

Their heartbeats pounds increasingly as they look towards the scary creatures that landing in the ground, alluring by the light of the torch. They gather altogether, surrounding the flaming torch, extending their bat-wings, screeching still, like talking to others, the gargoyles smell their presence. Some of these touch the fire, they rattles as they searing and wiggling with a flame clings to each of them bringing them into the shrubs. The flame ignites the dried leaves, causing a fire. The gargoyles’ persistence holds their positions, smelling the other lives’ odour, inching towards their breaths. Vuvu meows angrily, jolting them in a second, but putting their lives into the blade of the death. It becomes decoy as Vuvu jogs towards them. But a gargoyle smells inching towards Enrico’s left ear and it reacts as it smells his odour. He shouts and the gargoyles attracting from his yell.