It would have been a great sight-seeing spot if we didn't come to find a dragon.
We sent the hermits back as this would take some time. As I had explained to Amanda and Oliver, the water source coming from the mountain was above the clouds. I surely couldn't see land above and was already dizzy by just looking at it. Oliver and Amanda felt the same. "Okay, so how in the world are we getting up there?" Oliver demanded. Amanda replied, "But we don't even know if Colloseus is above. Master Polwern had just mentioned Colloseus's presence near the Great Waterfall." She had a point and none of us could come to a conclusion.
Suddenly, an old man crept up behind me. "Many have tried but none have succeeded." The man said in a low tone which made me jump away from him. We had no idea who this person was and why he was talking to us. "Going up there is almost impossible. Over the years, I have witnessed many people coming and trying their luck to climb the mountain. But the water flow is too harsh towards them and they fall immediately." The old man stated. We looked at each other. Was it true? We weren't the only ones to have come here with this idea of getting to the top.
The disturbing part was that people who have tried have always died. "Who are you? You seem to know a lot about this place." Amanda said. The old man smiled a little, his wrinkled face making him look cute. "My identity isn't important. But remember one thing. Failure may sometimes lead to success." The man announced. We had no idea why he said that as he went away.
We forgot about him pretty soon and tried to think of a plan. "If we try to climb, we'll fall." Oliver suggested. I wished we had Xavier with us who could lend us a hand to reach the top with his warship. Though I had no idea if the warship could go so high. Even Mark would have been good for the job. He could have used his grappling hook, Quester to travel up.
But it wasn't going to work like that. This was our fight. Xavier, Lily and Mark had to fight their own in the Hydra caves. We walked around, searching the area for some stupid small hole through which we could enter and find Colloseus sitting in front of us. Of course, that didn't happen.
"This is stupidity! Whatever we do, we'll fail!" Oliver yelled, getting the attention of a few passersby. That's when it struck me. Failure may sometimes lead to success, the old man had said. "Did anyone see where the old man went? We need to find him. He knows the way!" I exclaimed. Amanda and Oliver had no idea why I wanted to find the guy but they helped me in searching. We split up, going in different directions. I went back to the entrance of the area.
There was a small hut which I passed, not giving much notice. But then a figure caught my attention. I turned back and found the old man standing there with his hands crossed and his left leg sticking to the wall of the house. He smiled at me, knowing that I would come back.
I quickly called Oliver and Amanda back. They too, found the old man standing there. We went close to him and he said, "I knew you would come. You're the DELTAs after all! Come in, everyone." We entered the small hut with him. He grabbed a few clothes lying on the sofa and threw them somewhere else. "Sorry for the mess. I live here alone and no one visits me so I have had lack of cleanliness." He said, immediately cleaning the room as much as he could.
We sat on the sofa, looking around. It was a small room with a kitchen in the corner, a television in the right and nothing much. "What would you like? Biscuits?" He asked us. Oliver quickly replied, "That would be great!" Then he looked at me and admitted, "I mean – I am really hungry." The old man brought a few biscuits in a plate and placed it on the table in front of us.
"Whenever someone has come here to take on the challenge of reaching the peak of the mountain, I have helped them. I have always told them that failure can lead to success. But none listened. I knew you kids were smart." He explained. "Since when are you living here?" Amanda asked out of curiosity. He replied, "I don't remember. A thousand or two thousand years maybe." Before we got a chance to be shocked, he changed the topic.
"There is no way you can get to the top. You will fail. That's exactly what we need. I have a theory though I don't know how accurate it is." He said it so doubtfully that I wasn't satisfied. Theory wasn't the thing I was looking for. A fact would have been better.
"I have this feeling the dragon you have come here for isn't on top. He is below the ground." The old man said. I wanted to ask him a lot of question as to why he thought the dragon would be below instead of above. He continued, "Right at the spot where the water flow hits the ground, I think there is a pit which leads you underground."
I didn't appreciate his uncertainty. "So it's simple. We need to get to that point and just swim down, right?" Oliver guessed. The man shook his head. "It isn't that easy. The water flow comes with such force; it can throw you to a distance. You can't go against it." The man replied. I felt as if our trip here was useless. The guy told us to fail so that we could succeed. That didn't make sense to me. But again, I am senseless too.
"So what is the use then?" Amanda asked. The man smiled and said, "There is a way. You can't go against the flow but you surely can with it." Oliver seemed to understand it and his eyes became wide. "Are you trying to say that we fall from the mountain top and land directly on the water?" He enquired. He had his fist ready as if to punch the man if he agreed.
The man stated, "Not quite. You can just climb the mountain a bit and then jump to the water. It will take you down. But before the flow can swim you away, you will enter the pit." We had a lot of work to do and assuming we would survive, we also needed to reach the pit.
"Who are you? Please tell us your true identity." Amanda demanded. The man smiled and announced, "My name is Kifler and I was one of the soldiers in the army of King Jalaar."