Take heed stranger,
Though one path leads to gold and one to danger unfortold,
One path is the same as the other......
Though one path leads to gold and one to danger unfortold,
One path is the same as the other......
"I wonder what this message means. How can these paths be the same? Anyway, I'll take the path on the left.” ,thought Elipsa. As she walked along the path, she noticed that the walls were twinkling. She moved closer to the wall and, to her surprise, she found chunks of gold and jewels stuck in them! She pulled out a sparkling diamond from the wall and suddenly she heard a loud roar echoing through the cave. And, all at once, a great big griffin appeared in front of her. The front of its body was a proud eagle's and the rear was a lion's. It had eyes of pure aqua blue and sharp talons. "Who are you? How dare you enter my cave!" Elipsa couldn't speak; she just stood and stared at the griffin. Though it was huge and she was scared stiff of it, she had never seen such a magnificent creature before. She realized that she was gaping and quickly closed her mouth. "My name is Elipsa. I was walking n the beach and it started raining so I entered this cave." Elipsa narrated everything that had happened from the time she saw the light until she had met the griffin. "I see. I should have known.", the griffin said, once Elipsa had finished narrating her story. "I could sense the Metallix." "The Metallix?" Elipsa asked, looking confused. "It is a light that shines only when a living being, except for the guardian of the cave, is near it. I am the current guardian of the cave.", the griffin replied. "Wow! But apart from that could you please let me go ahead now?" "Certainly, if you can answer the riddle I tell you." And it said:-
I am the mightiest, the most powerful.
Nothing can escape me, not even the most beautiful,
My hunger is always satisfied
By men and women, animals and children I can be pacified
However hard you try, escape me you cannot
I will get you one day or another,
A place to hide from me never can be sought.
Nothing can escape me, not even the most beautiful,
My hunger is always satisfied
By men and women, animals and children I can be pacified
However hard you try, escape me you cannot
I will get you one day or another,
A place to hide from me never can be sought.
"Do I have a choice of not answering?" asked Elipsa. The griffin shook its head. "If you do not wish to answer, I will allow you to turn back. If you fail to answer correctly, you must die. However, if your answer is correct, I will let you pass forward." Elipsa thought and thought. What could be so powerful that you cannot even escape it? If she did not answer, she would have to die. Die.... Dead....Death! That was definitely the answer! "The answer is death.", said Elipsa. "That is correct. You may move forward.", said the griffin. Elipsa went ahead. As she was walking she took a turn and saw, in front of her, an enormous pile of gold and silver coins, heaps of jewels, studded mirrors, caskets of jewelry and right on top of the pile, lay a glittering, sliver sword. Next to it, there was a bracelet made of copper with a glowing, bright ruby in the centre. Elipsa picked it up and, thinking it was quite beautiful, put it on. Then she spotted the sword. Picking it up, she thought, "I wonder what this is for...." She heard a slight thud and from behind and turned around. There standing in front of her was the griffin. "Prepare to die." it said. “But I answered the riddle correctly! You allowed me to move forward!”, Elipsa replied in a defensive voice. “Yes, however, you are my food, the food I have waited for, for a hundred years. Now that it has wandered so willingly into my cave, I cannot just let it go. However, you can fight for your life. That is what the message that you saw meant. Both paths have danger, but one path provides protection, while the other is just a dead end. Now, prepare to die.” , said the griffin. The sharp edge of the sword and the griffin’s bright orange beak clashed many times. Then Elipsa managed to tackle the beast as it made to grab her with it's claws, and cornered it. The griffin spotted the bracelet she was wearing and said, "Ah! Now I know how you fought so valiantly. You wore the Astha."
"The what?", asked Elipsa, confused. "The Astha. The bracelet that you wear on your hand. It belonged to a mighty princess who was a warrior a long, long time ago. She fought very bravely for her country. Then one day, at a battlefield, an arrow pierced her and wounded her. She was dying, but had just enough time to use a bit of magic she had learnt from a magician. She locked away her skill of sword fighting in the bracelet that she wore. She made it such that it would not be worn by anyone except her descendants." The griffin continued, unaware of the surprised look on Elipsa's face. "After the war was over, the princess's kingdom lost. It was taken control of by the opposing kingdom. But, the king had just enough time to lock away all his treasures in this cave, where no one would look for them. You are one of the princess's descendants." Elipsa fell to her knees, the sword making a loud clanking noise on the floor as it fell.
"Wow! That... that's amazing! I can't believe it!", she said.
"Well, what are you waiting for? Kill me. You have the skills to do it."
"No. I will not kill you. This cave of my ancestors needs a protector, a guardian. You are the one who shall do it. I have to get home now."
Elipsa turned and walked out of the cave, only to be stopped when the griffin landed in front of her again. "Does he want to die?' ,she wondered in her mind. But, to her surprise, the griffin bowed low in front of her and said, "You are truly the princess's descendant. I will guard the cave for you."
"Thank you, and Good Bye.", said Elipsa. She came out to the edge of the cave and found that it had stopped raining. She walked back home and that night, dreamt of herself as a powerful warrior.
Gender:
Points: 340
Reviews: 74