Everflame
top, he looked out over the crowd and noticed that some of the bears began to gasp. Some brought their paws to their mouths and seemed shocked. He also noticed, that of the bears whose eyes he could see, they were looking toward the base of the pyramid. Eveneye looked down and saw that the fourteen bears were lighting the pyramid on fire. He now understood his time limit. If he did not make his choice in time, he would be standing upon his own funeral pyre. He quickly moved over to the scroll and opened it. The riddle read thusly:
     
    Choices four lie before
    He who would seek the crown
    To the right, a line of sight
    May direct your decision down
    Your other side, should you decide
    To hear the Kingdom call
    Place your fate in what you say
    And allow yourself to fall
     
    Eveneye looked to his right and saw two holes in the top of the pyramid, and to his left, another two holes. The holes were large enough for him to fit down, but not by much. He looked down into each of the holes and saw blackness. He could hear the fire crackle on the sides of the pyramid. Calm yourself , Eveneye said to himself. You can do this. Eveneye went back and read the scroll another time.
    To the right, a line of sight may direct your decision down. Eveneye decided to start with the holes to the right of the scroll. He looked down into each hole and could only see blackness. He stood between the two holes and looked around the crowd. Eveneye let the words repeat in his head. Line of sight. Direct your decision down. Eveneye was sure that he should be looking for some visual evidence of what to do; he just didn’t know how to interpret what he was seeing. Eveneye noticed that along the wall of the arena, hung the banners of the professional johnball teams that played in the kingdom. Maybe the clue is in the banners, he thought. His line of sight moved from different team banners as he moved around the holes. There was no clue as to where his line of sight should start from. Then an idea popped into Eveneye’s head. He should stand where the scroll was and look out at the banners. He walked to the spot and looked out over the first hole. The team banner of the Flames lined up perfectly. That has to be a bad sign, he thought.  Then he looked out over the other hole and saw the banner of the Fighting Fish. This was a more positive sign, but more confusing. I must have been wrong.
    Eveneye decided to try the holes on the other side. He was beginning to feel the temperature go up and he could see and smell smoke. He read the second part of the scroll again. Should you decide to hear the Kingdom call, place your fate in what you say and allow yourself to fall. Once again, Eveneye allowed the words to play around in his mind. The other side seemed to be dealing with sight and this side seemed to be dealing with hearing. He decided to see if he could hear anything down the holes. He bent low, hung his head over one of the holes and listened. He could hear nothing, nor could he see anything. He tried the other and came up with the same result. He recited the scroll in his mind again, and ‘place your fate in what you say’ stood out. Maybe I need to say something into the right hole. Maybe when I call out, something will present itself that is of some help. He figured it was worth a shot and shouted down the first hole.
    “Hello, ” Eveneye shouted. He received no response. Even further than that, from the echo his voice created, he could tell that the hole was very deep. That hole must be so deep that the fall would kill me. He moved to the other hole. “Hello,” he called out again. No response. Yet this time, there was no echo at all. The hole was shallow, maybe too shallow. He would not want to choose that hole only to find himself stuck in the middle of a burning pyramid. If only I could see . It was getting very hot now and the smoke obscured his view of the crowd.
    The flames had reached the top of the platform. His time was running short.

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