The Carved Tiles

"After an exhausting descent, your party reaches what seems to be a dead end. A seamless wall blocks your path, but walking across the engraved tiles before it produces the sound of an ancient unseen mechanism rumbling to life. Perhaps the artwork on the floor is the key..."

A group of four horses began their descent into the dungeons, their hooves echoing off the cold stone walls. Two of them were longtime friends, Cenozoic and Paleo. Ceno, the older stallion, was well travelled and aware of both the dungeons’ perils and marvels: he had been exploring the caves since his youth, searching for curious items to collect, study and trade. He had taken younger Paleo under his wing as his dungeon-diving companion and apprentice as they both shared an interest in the strange nature that could be found in the dungeons, but the chestnut had been too scared to ever dip a single hoof into the mysterious caves on his own.

One of the other horses, Caveman, had only had brief encounters with Cenozoic in the past. He wasn’t one to talk much, so Ceno did most of the talking when they met in one of the ancient painted chambers Caveman enjoyed spending time in. Cenozoic stuck around, curious to catch any glimpse into the bay’s mind, finding his devotion to and interpretation of the cave paintings fascinating.

The last member of the group, Civic, led the way, full of eagerness. He had stumbled upon the group by chance and decided to join them in their adventure without much thought. The green stallion was always searching for an adrenaline rush, spending most of his free time tinkering with the mechanics of old mine carts and testing them out himself - a reckless activity given how unstable the old man-made railways had become. It seemed inevitable that he’d one day have a rude awakening by flying off a cart and crashing into a pile of rocks.

The air grew damp and thick, the narrow passages of the cave barely wide enough for them to move side by side. Each step was slow, their muscles straining to keep balance on the uneven, moss-covered ground. The once confident trot turned to cautious steps as the path steepened - the way ahead was almost pitch-black now, and they didn’t have enough room to light a torch. The old branches they carried were probably too damp to burn anyway. Slick rocks made the journey treacherous, and the horses’ shaky breaths were visible in the chill darkness.

“It’s getting warmer.” Cenozoic thought aloud, noting the temperature change as they spotted a faint light ahead shining into the tunnel.

At last, the group took a sharp turn and reached the end of the tunnel, nearly blinded by the sudden brightness. A large hole in the ceiling allowed direct sunlight to flood the chamber, illuminating the vast space. As their eyes adjusted they were met with a daunting sight: before them, the narrow path became a narrow ledge instead, barely fitting a single horse. One wrong step and it was a sheer drop into the abyss below, which they couldn’t even fathom the depth of as the way down was completely clouded by mist.

“At least it gets wider as we go. Come on.” Civic said, not hesitating to take the first step forward. Hell, he even seemed excited. Caveman followed close behind, his stout, sturdy build and big hooves always aided him in keeping his balance and moving smoothly and safely in this kind of situations.

Poor Paleo was scared and froze behind Ceno’s solid figure, seeming smaller than he was as he cowered in fear.

“Look, it’s okay,” Ceno reassured him, stepping aside and motioning to the two coursers ahead.. “The path is solid. Just take your time, and you’ll be fine.” He nudged the chestnut, who, after some more reassurance, finally took his first step forward. Ceno followed closely behind.

“The path isn’t even slippery at all out here.” Civic called out, a hint of something more in his tone. Caveman glanced up at him, his eyebrows raised as he took notice of the underlying excitement in his voice. To no one’s surprise, Civic quickened his pace and raced down the rest of the path, which was much wider by then and could easily fit any two of the coursers side-by-side. The others picked up their pace to keep up with him, and they all came to a halt as their path ended and they came face to face with a dead-end.

But Civic kept going, speeding toward the wall, freezing only when the tile under his hoof began to rumble and sink. His usually confident expression turned into one of terror and his eyes widened.

“Uhm,” he said, pinning his ears back and looking down as the tile under him ceased to move and a circular carving on it lit up. “I don’t know what I just did-“

“Don’t move.” Caveman spoke, surprisingly calm.

“The ground is going to cave in!” Paleo squeaked, his mind racing with thoughts of everything that could go wrong as he once again hid behind Cenozoic.

“No it’s not. Everything is solid besides the carved tiles.” Caveman walked in circles around Civic, being careful as to not step on any of the decorated tiles.

“A circle, the sun, a three-leaf clover, and a leaf?” Ceno observed as the group fell silent in thought. The sun could stand for summer, the clover for spring, and the leaf for autumn, leaving the circle as a snowball - winter. “Is it the four seasons?”

The horses pondered this for a moment longer before Civic spoke up again, lifting a hoof towards a different tile. “So if it’s winter first, then it’s-“

“No,” Caveman interjected. “It is the seasons, but that’s not the answer.”

He fell silent, and Civic grew impatient, his hoof still in the air, eager to move. Caveman’s face had that familiar, faraway look, as if he was deep in thought yet his mind was strangely blank at the same time.

“So what is it?”

“One snowball, a leaf split into two halves, a clover with three leaves, a sun with eight rays—but there are four of each kind. It’s a trick question. One, two, three, four. The true order of the seasons doesn’t matter.”

Cenozoic raised his eyebrows in quiet agreement. There was more to Caveman than met the eye.

“Okay, so… Snow… Leaf…” Civic hesitantly stepped on the tiles, both Paleo and Ceno looking on with a bit of uncertainty. Well, Paleo, of course, actually looked more like he was in pure terror. They trusted Caveman’s conclusion, but they could never predict what the dungeons had in store. The bay courser seemed absolutely confident in his train of thought however, and observed calmly as each tile Civic pressed began to sink and light up. “Clover…” He hesitated for only a moment before he took the last step. “Sun…”

The final tile lit up, and a much louder, deeper rumble echoed through the chamber.

They all looked up as the seamless wall in front of them seemed to move. They could feel their hearts thumping hard deep in their chests.

What was going to happen now? Would a new path forward appear, or had they made a fatal mistake?