“Where have you been?” someone passing by shouted. “What kind of sons leave their elderly father to die alone?”

As the chest vibrated with increasing intensity, the brothers stepped back with shock on their faces. But Decimus looked fascinated, his face shining with excitement.

“Look! Look! The chest is literally brimming with incredible powers! I only need to know how to harness the forces within it, and I will be even more powerful!”

Decimus pointed at the door. “Now get out of here and find someone who can solve the mystery!”

The brothers left with slumped shoulders and bowed heads.

“It’s over.” Albanus mounted his horse outside of the palace as the brothers mounted their steeds. “There’s no one who knows anything of value. We’ve exhausted all of our options, and now we will die tomorrow. What a pity, to die over such a matter. All because a wretched man wants answers to a puzzle no one in the world can solve.”

“If we’re going to be dying tomorrow, I think there’s one last thing we all ought to do,” suggested one of the brothers.

“What’s that? Go home and weep?”

“No, we should go to the one person we’ve been neglecting for the past several days. Have you all forgotten about our dear father? Ever since Decimus gave us this impossible task, we’ve completely neglected our duties as dedicated sons. Our father is probably dead, for all we know. Sitting alone without anyone who cares for him, with no one who will put a morsel of food in his mouth.”