Descole's Apprentices | Arc 1 | Chapter 5

Descole's Apprentices
Apprentices Arc
Chapter 5 | The Moment of Truth


*a few months later*

(Descole’s POV)

   “It's nearly time, Descole,” Jorge observed, standing backstage on the Crown Petone. I was talking to him and Jacques via camera since I was still back at the castle. “The performance is nearly over. Your orders?”

   “Yes, of course,” I replied, going through the plan in my head. “Jorge, you are to control the puppet that will come on stage after the performance. With your voice modifier, it should be pretty easy.” With that, Jacques seemed to become angry. I wondered where his anger came from. I brushed it aside and continued. “Jacques, you are to round up all of the henchmen from the performance and place them ready by all entrances to the theatre. People are bound to run away, and we can't have that happening.”

    “Alright, Descole,” Jacques said blankly, hiding his anger. “We shall get to these immediately. Now that you speak of it, Jorge, I can hear the audience clapping half-heartedly. We should get going.”

   “Why yes, you should,” I told them. “Report back to me when it's time to start the first puzzle. I will take over from there. As the first puzzle is happening, I want you two to get into the submarine that will head back to the island along with the Detragan and a few other henchmen. After that, you're basically on your own until I need you again. You're both dismissed.”

   Jorge and Jacques nodded, and I closed the transmission. The two of them were acting….. Very suspicious, to say the least. A rivalry? A burning hatred? I may never know…

(Jorge’s POV)

   I turned off the house lights again, trying to stir up anticipation. The puppet was on stage as I controlled it. The spotlight came down on it. A few audience members gasped.

   “Ladies and gentlemen,” I spoke through the mic, my voice modifier changing my voice to sound almost like when Descole will speak overhead after I'm done with the puppet, but a little more human. “Welcome to my theatre, the Crown Petone. You are truly fortunate,” I made the puppet do a small dance of some sort. I heard Jacques laugh from behind me. I growled at him and continued. “For tonight you will witness a miracle!”

   The audience applauded. A few “bravo”s were heard. “They seem excited,” Jacques muttered, smiling evilly. “It won't last very long, though.”

   “Indeed,” I muttered. I turned back to the microphone. “As you know, when you purchased your tickets,” I continued, making the audience becoming silent again. “One of you here today will receive…. The gift of eternal life!”

   The audience erupted into murmurs, though I never knew why. They knew this would happen when they got their tickets. It was the reason why Descole made the tickets so expensive so that they would be able to stick around and gain this “prize.”

   “BUT,” I interrupted yet again, quieting the audience. “There is one small catch.” I left them to talk a little more before continuing. “All of you gathered here will play a little game. The prize for the lucky winner: Eternal Life. But those who lose will lose your lives!”

   A bunch of gasps erupted from the audience. “You must admit this is a small miss for those who desire such a huge prize,” I ended, knowing that the puppet would be caught soon. I turned around but Jacques was already gone. Must’ve gone to gather the minions and block all exits, I thought. At least he’s doing his job right. Probably wants to just please Descole even more. But I won’t let him!

   That’s when I noticed two people in the audience. People who I never suspected to see. As I glanced at the camera, it dawned on me. I knew this person. His name was Professor Hershel Layton, and he was with his apprentice Luke Triton. Crud! I thought angrily, slamming my fist down on a table. He’s going to ruin everything! Just like he did with Descole’s plan nearly a year ago!

   “What are you angry about now?” Jacques sneered, appearing behind me. I whirled around to glare at my rival. And yet all I did was point at the screen. In the midst of all the people falling, the Professor had tried to apprehend the puppet, even though someone else beat him to it.

   “Someone is here who is going to ruin Descole’s plans!” I yelled, being thankful that I turned off the microphone. Jacques scoffed and took a look at the screen. He then gasped, taking a step back.

   “It’s him!” He cried. I smiled, knowing now that we both know this plan is in jeopardy. I started to make my way towards the door leading out of the camera area. But Jacques then grabbed my arm to stop me. “What are you doing?” He asked, clearly irritated with me. “Why are you leaving?”

   “I'm going to try and make sure that he fails!” I replied, pointing at the Professor on the camera screen. “If Descole’s plan is going to succeed, then we have to make sure that he doesn't get in our way!”

   “Descole won't be happy about that,” Jacques sneered. I stopped for a second, shocked. “He never told you to do that. He might be mad.” Don't you DARE bring him up at a time like this! I thought bitterly.

   “And yet Descole would approve of it!” I yelled back, yanking my arm away from his grasp. “If he knew that the Professor was here, he would do anything to stop him!” Before Jacques could retort, I swiftly left the room. I have no time for this, I thought. I have a professor to deal with.

*small time skip*

(Luke’s POV)

   “It is now time for our little puzzle solving game….. to begin!” The mysterious voice announced a gleam of amusement in his voice.

   “A puzzle solving game?” I muttered to myself. I glanced up at the Professor, who was busy thinking. This simple opera performance had turned into a deadly situation, one that neither of the three of us, Janice included, wanted to be apart of.

   “What an unexpected turn of events,” The Professor said, gazing up at the stars. “Who would've thought this would end up like this.”

   “Yes, it's quite a shock,” a different voice replied. I whipped around to face the source of the voice. A young man was leaning against a nearby wall, looking over at us.

   “And who might you be?” The Professor asked, curious. The man chuckled and walked over to us. As he neared, I saw that he clearly liked the color green, as his jacket and hat was a dark emerald green.

   “I'm surprised you haven't heard of me, Professor,” the man told him. I tilted my head, confused. The man continued. “After all, there is someone who could have told you. She did tell me about you, after all.”

   “Are you perhaps referring to Emmy Altava?” I asked politely, glancing up at the man. He gazed down at me, his ebony black gaze serene. And to my surprise, he nodded. The man looked back at the Professor.

   “It's a pleasure to meet you, Professor,” he said. “My name is Carlo Altava.” I knew it! He IS related to Emmy after all! I thought happily. But what was still weird is his thick accent that he had while speaking.

   “Well, it’s nice to meet you as well,” The Professor replied. He was about to continue, but he was interrupted by the mysterious voice.

   “Let us begin!” The voice declared, scaring some people out of their wits. “Puzzle number 001. Look around you, ladies and gentlemen. Look for the oldest thing you can see, and gather by it.” Is it really that simple? I thought. The voice continued. “Sounds simple, but there is a catch.”

   Some rumbling occurred on stage. Carlo gasped and when I turned around, I gasped as well. A strange machine thing that had a sheet of music on it was rising up from the state floor. When it stopped, the machine started. It began to play music.

   “Once the music stops, your time is up,” The voice said. “If you want the gift of Eternal Life, then there is no time to lose.” This made everyone rush around, and head out of the theatre to find the specific object.

   “The oldest thing we can see….?” Carlo wondered, sitting on the steps to the stage. “I wonder what it is….”

   “Shouldn’t we go look for the object now, Professor?” Janice asked, seeming confused. You would think Carlo would come with us? I thought. Well, he might just do his own investigation. He doesn’t really have to tag along with us.

   “But let’s think about what he said for a second,” The Professor said, clearly thinking deeply. “He did say the oldest thing we can see…”

   “And if it’s the oldest thing we can see in here...” I wondered aloud. “Then what if it’s not on this ship?”

   “You’re sure this is what the voice meant?” Carlo asked, his ebony black gaze cold. “I mean, what if you’re wrong? The voice could be tricking us!”

   “No, I think you’re wrong, Carlo,” The Professor replied, glaring at him. “The oldest we can see… is the sky with its stars, billions of years old.” We all glanced up towards the sky, and I knew he was right. No one knew what the context of the puzzle was, so this answer makes logical sense.

   Just then and there, the music ended. Carlo slammed his fist down, as if frustrated. I raised an eyebrow at him, suspicious. The Professor seemed to notice as well.

    “Ladies and gentleman, your time is up!” The announcer said triumphantly. A little odd, if you ask me. “The oldest thing you can see if the sky with its stars. For those of you here in the theatre, congratulations!” I knew The Professor was right! I thought happily to myself. The voice continued. “You can continue! As for the rest…” Then there was silence. I stood there wondering what would happen to the other people. Maybe the floors opened up again, or something else bizarre. I may never know.

(Carlo’s POV)

No! It’s all going wrong! My mind yelled. I was sad yet scared. Since Layton was correct, the trio might doubt me now. But I refuse to give up! If these three make it to the island, Descole’s plan will be in danger! I paid no attention to the opening of the second puzzle, for I had read it over a million times while making the plans for the games.

    “Are you coming?” Luke asked, jolting me out of my thoughts. I looked back up to see Luke holding his hand out to me. “We have to start looking for the largest crown.”

    “Right, o-of course,” I replied, standing up. I checked my watch. 8:35 My mind ticked off. Right on schedule. But as I started to think about it, maybe they didn’t need my help. After all, I could reveal the true answer.

    I further believed my reasoning after Luke told the Professor his answer aloud. That should definitely lead to their downfall. Literally I thought, getting excited.

    “I guess we must be going then,” Layton said. He glanced over at me. “I’m going to guess you want to come with us?” Oh wow he doesn’t sound that glad right now, I thought.

    “Actually, you guys can go ahead without me,” I told them. Luke raised an eyebrow at me, so I elaborated. “Look, you guys may know the answer, but I'm honestly not so sure. You can go on ahead to wherever your answer is. Maybe I'll catch up to you later.”

    “If that’s what you wish,” the Professor said to me. “We best be going now.” and on that note, the trio left. I sat there for a few minutes, then got up and left the theater. Better go check on them I thought as I rounded the hallways. But when I reached one hallway and glanced down it, I saw the trio walking at the other end of it, away from the answer I thought they were heading to

    “Oh, Come On!” I mumbled as I trudged down the hallway. But I stopped midway down the hall. After the incident back at the theatre, I’m not sure if they’ll, believe me, I thought in my mind. I became enraged. I had failed at getting Layton to fail. And if I wasn’t able to stop him, then Descole’s plan might fail! I slammed my fist into the wall.

    That’s when trouble happened. I noticed that the wall I had pounded on was the wall with the panel that made the floor open up. Welp I’m doomed I thought as the floor opened up beneath me.  I started to fall.

    But instead of falling down more, someone grabbed me. I glanced up to see someone I never expected to see: Jacques. He hauled me back up to the top floor.

    “Do you realize what you’ve done?!” He demanded, yelling in my face. “You’ve put the entire plan in jeopardy!”

     I glared at Jacques. “I was trying to help!” I retorted. “And it doesn’t matter what I tried to do anymore! The plan won’t work, it can’t now! It’s all because HE is here!”

    “How DARE you talk bad about this plan!” Jacques said, taking a step towards me in anger. “Even if you failed to get him to fail, the plan could still succeed!” He certainly has put a lot of his trust in Descole, I thought bitterly.

    “Look, we could probably still try!” I told him. “But if this plan fails because of him….” I trailed off as my eyes drifted to my watch. It was 8:45. I glanced back up at Jacques in shock. “We need to go. NOW!”

    “W-what? Why?” He asked, a bit of anger still in his voice. I glared at him, grabbed his arm, and started running back towards the control room.

    “The ship’s going to explode soon!” I yelled at him as we finally reached the control room again. I glanced around, trying to find the secret door. “There! That secret door leads to some stairs that will lead us down to the ship that will carry the Detragan back to the island! Start going!”

    “But what about you?” Jacques questioned, opening the secret door. “You have to come with too! Who knows what will happen if you die here!” I stopped for a second. It almost sounded like Jacques was concerned about me. yet again, he could also just be worrying about me for Descole’s sake I thought angrily.

    “I’m the one who has to set off the explosives on the ship,” I told Jacques. I couldn’t read his expression because of his mask. “You go down and join the other henchmen. I’ll be there soon.” When he didn’t move, I shoved him into the hallway behind the door. “Go now, before it’s too late!”

    Jacques sighed as if he wasn’t too happy with the circumstances. “Alright, fine!” He retorted. He whirled around and walked down the hallways. I could hear his footsteps as he trudged down the stairs. I sighed and went back to the main computer. It was nearly time to set off the ship. I gathered my items, listened to Descole speak through the microphone, and pressed the button. I quickly dashed back down the stairs and into the submarine. Just in the nick of time.

    “You barely made it,” Jacques said, coming up to me. I merely shrugged. This wasn’t the time for talking about this.

    “We can talk about this later,” I told him. He merely scoffed, and sat down on the floor, leaning against the wall. Most of the other henchmen were on the upper level, steering the ship towards the island of Ambrosia, so we had this area to ourselves. I leaned against the wall and closed my eyes.

(Jacques’s POV)

    I awoke to a small buzzing noise. What now? I thought gruffly as I stood up and glanced around. On the floor was the walkie-talkie thing Descole had given Jorge and I. If it was buzzing like that, then Descole wanted us for something. I picked up the small metal box and pushing one of the buttons.

    “Jacques here,” I said into the transceiver. “What do you need?” I glanced around the room to see how long I had been asleep. It was the middle of the day, and the submarine was parked on one side of the island away from the activities. It was also above water.

    “I need you and Jorge to come back to the castle as soon as possible,” Descole replied, his voice sounding angry. The contestants are already on the island by now. He probably noticed Layton. Only reason he would be mad. Still, knowing Descole, it could also mean anything else, My mind went.

    “We’re on our way,” I told him. “What do you need us to do?” When I glanced up from the transceiver, Jorge was standing here. I couldn’t read his expression from behind his mask, but the bitterness was radiating off of Jorge. I ignored it as Descole replied.

    “We’re having a…. issue with something currently,” He said. This peaked my curiosity. What and how has something gone wrong a time like this? I thought. “Jorge, you’re needed back at the castle. Jacques, I need you in the area between the bridge and the castle. I’ll explain more once you get there.”

    “Ok, got it,” I replied. I turned off the transmitter. When I looked up again, Carlo had already left the submarine. Trying to get ahead of the game, I see I thought as I left the submarine.

    It did kind of take a while in order to reach the area Descole was talking about. At least, it was hard to move through the trees without making too much noise in case the contestants were nearby. When I finally reached the area Descole had talked about, it was nearly sundown. man, that took a long time, I thought. Just then, the transmitter crackled again.

    “Jacques, are you at the place I specified?” Descole asked. I glanced around. It was the exact area Descole told me about.

    “Yes, I am,” I replied. “Will you now tell me what is going on? What is this giant square board?” I was probably asking too many questions.

    “I don’t have much time until I pick up Amelia, so listen closely, please,” Descole requested. He sounded in a hurry, which I was surprised about that. He continued, “Once night falls, I need you to solve the puzzle you see before you. You see, we had set up another puzzle, but it was malfunctioning, so we had to skip it. Because of that, once it get close to nighttime, I need you to solve it, and as fast as possible.”

    “Alright,” I replied, ready for anything. “Tell me what I have to do. And once it hits nighttime, I’ll get this over with.”

(Jorge’s POV)

    It was practically sunset, and Descole’s plan was in full swing. It was nearly time to go get Amelia and hopefully get Ambrosia to rise again.

    “Is everything going as planned?” I asked Descole as we were walking towards the one room where the contestant would head too after the pavillion puzzle.

    “So far, it has been going according to plan,” He replied, not looking back. “The contestants should be arriving at the room in a few minutes. We then take Amelia and head back over to the room with the Detragan.”

    I nodded. We all had the entire plan memorized. If everything ends up well, and Layton doesn’t ruin anything, Ambrosia will rise again.

    We paused by the doorway to the room. I listened closely and heard the walls for the cage falling. One went down, and then the other. It’s time, I thought. I nodded slightly, and Descole went inside. I could hear him make his speech, and judging by the voices of the trapped people, Luke was there, but Layton wasn’t. Or he was, but wasn’t making any comments.

    A few moments later, Descole emerged from the room, Amelia in tow. I nodded, and the two of us, plus the other henchmen, started to make our way towards the room with the Detragan. Everything was going smoothly, until he showed up.

    Jacques made his way around the corner and started heading towards us. I expected him to walk up to Descole, but for some odd reason, he went straight towards me. Oh great, what does he want NOW? I thought bitterly.

    “I’m going to need your help with something,” Jacques told me, his tone ice cold.  I was at first shocked. Jacques was the type of person who was usually quick with the tasks Descole gave him. Unless the task was a two person thing, or he just didn’t understand it.

    I glanced back at Descole. He sighed, “Alright, Jorge, go help Jacques. I’ll get some others to help me escort Miss Amelia over here.” Without another word, he stormed off, the other henchmen and Amelia following. I turned to Jacques.

    “What the heck do you want, Jacques?” I asked, practically yelling in the now empty hallway. I couldn’t see his face, but his gaze seemed to harden behind his mask.

    “Descole gave me a task to do, and I’m having some problems with it, so I need your help,” He replied curtly, trudging down the hallway. I smirked, and started to follow him. “And don’t think this is going to affect our standings,” Jacques added, turning around to face me. “This is just a simple job, nothing more.”

    “Okay, okay, I get your point,” I told my rival as we continued down the hallway and out of the castle. It’s still kind of odd that he would want my help, I wondered. After what seemed like minutes of walking, we reached our destination. It was a clearing a few meters away from the castle. In front of me lay a giant grid of squares. I was surprised that Descole had never mentioned this. Before I could ask anything, Jacques spun around and faced me.

    He started to explain the situation at hand. “Descole had a fourth puzzle on the way to the castle. But for some odd reason, this puzzle was malfunctioning.” He gestured to the space behind him. I looked over his shoulder and saw a large board on the ground with rows of square panels. Each button has a number on it. There happen to be walkways between the rows and panels. Jacques continued. “There’s a machine near the front of the board. It will print a sheet of paper with instruction on how to beat the puzzle. On the sheet of paper will be symbols. Each symbol represents a number between 1 and 9. We are supposed to figure out which number on a row corresponds with the problem on the paper. There’s a fifteen minute time limit, and there’s no penalty for wrong answers.”

    I raised an eyebrow at him. Seems simple, I thought. “How come you’re having trouble with the puzzle?” I asked him. “This puzzle seems to be pretty easy.” And to my surprise, Jacques nodded in agreement.

    “It technically is easy,” he told me. “I’ve tried solving this puzzle multiple times.” He handed me a sheet of paper. There was the problems on there, with his work and everything. “My math seems correct, according to me at least. But the puzzle won’t accept my answer.” Now this was interesting. Was the puzzle just broken beyond belief? Or did Jacques not fully understand the instructions?

    That’s when I noticed something weird on the piece of paper. There were your normal shapes of diamonds, circles, and squares, but there was this one weird shape that didn’t look like any other. The shape looked mostly like a square, but didn’t. In Jacques’s work, he had a number for a square and a different number for this weird shape. But technically, shouldn’t they be one and the same? I questioned, retracing Jacques’s work.

    “I think I got it,” I told my once friend, who looked shocked when I looked up from the paper. I smiled at him, and walked toward the board of panels. If my theory is correct, this should work. I started to step on the panels with the new work I had done in my head. Once I reached the end and stepped on the last panel, a faint rumbling in the background had stopped, which I deduced was the end of the puzzle. “Your mistake,” I said to Jacques while heading to the machine running the thing. “Was the value of this misprinted shape. It actually has the same value as the square. I’m going to guess the printer malfunctioned at one point in time.” As soon as I finished saying my statement, I took out my sword and slash at the machine, making sure it would never work again.

    “Hmmm….. I see.” Jacques responded, thinking upon his mistake. I sighed, and sheathed my sword. He seriously needs to learn, I thought angrily, trudging over to him. This wasn’t so bad, and I was glad for this to be over, until Jacques made one statement which ticked off something that would change everything

(Jacques’s POV)

    “I honestly did not even think that this problem was in the instructions,” I told Jorge, already starting to head away from the puzzle. It’s finally over. We can head back and continue the plan I thought as I headed away from scene. But I was stopped the Jorge shoved his way past me, and stood in my path. I glared at him, but he seemed to be teaming with anger.

    Jorge sighed, and glared at me behind his mask. “You really should’ve realized that sooner, and tried different solutions, you know,” Jorge claimed bitterly, clenching his fists together. “We could’ve avoided this whole mess.” I really don’t need to be lectured by you right now, Jorge I thought, getting angry at my enemy.

    “It doesn’t matter now, does it?” I replied, waving my hand in the air. “I thank you for your help, but we really need to head back now.” I started to move away from the area, but Jorge blocked my path again, hand on his sword.

    “I’m afraid I can’t allow you to go back, Jacques,” Jorge said curtly, his voice seeming more angrier than ever. I took a step back, shocked. What has gotten into Jorge? I wondered, raising an eyebrow behind my mask.

    “Jorge…” I cautioned, taking another step back. “What are you doing?” Instead of responding, Jorge took out his sword and pointed it right at me.

    “Someone who isn’t able to solve such a simple problem should not be working for Descole,” Jorge accused, the anger resonating in his voice. He kept walking towards me, so I instinctively started backing away. “This is why… I have no choice but to get rid of you!”

    As soon as he said that, he charged forward. I pulled out my sword and just barely managed to block the attack.

    “Jorge, stop this!” I declared, lunging backwards from an attack as his sword barely grazed my face. “We don’t need to fight! We can just leave this be and continue with the plan!” Jorge shook his head and with that, I attacked, managing to get a blow on his right arm. Yes! I thought triumphantly. Now he cannot attack as hard as before!

    But instead of attacking again, Jorge merely laughed, his laugh booming around the clearing. He looked up and glared at me from behind his mask

    “Oh, but you underestimate me, Jacques,” Jorge chuckled, taking a step towards me. “I’m not going down without a fight!” And then, to my surprise, he switched his sword from his right hand to his left hand. Since when in the world was Jorge ambidextrous? I thought in shock. Before I could react, Jorge attacked again.

    I blocked his attack easily, even though it managed to leave a cut on my hand. I smiled as I saw the opportunity to get rid of Jorge’s sword. But as I started to twist the sword out of his hand, he dropped the sword. I’m not sure if it was an accident or on purpose, but it was probably the latter, because the sword cut into my side.

    I cried out in pain as I fell to one knee, panting. I can’t let Jorge beat me! I thought in a fit of rage. I heard a loud laugh again. When I looked up, Jorge was standing in front of me, an evil yet sympathetic smile on his face.