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© Gathell
The Lost Island Temple
Table of Content
- T -
© Gathell
The Lost Island Temple
Introduction
"Last one to the den is an old scale!" boomed Gathell. It was summer vacation for all of the young dragons, and Gathell and Grunder weren't about to waste one bit of it. Gathell was a young 13-year old dragon who was in all honors classes and a participant in his school's top band. He played clarinet, and very well indeed. He was a black and silver European dragon, and he wore large circular glasses that made him look just as smart as he was. Grunder was also a 13-year old European dragon who wore glasses. His scales shimmered in an irridecent green color. He too was in the top band, and in all honors classes as well. Grunder found his musical talent in playing euphonium.
"Yay! I win!" squealed Grunder. The two brothers dashed upstairs to the room they happily shared in a blur of black and green. They slammed the door shut as a sign hung on the door bounced. They sat panting in their dull white room. There were smoke stains on the celing from blowing smoke rings. To the right of the door stod a bunk bed made of birchwood. On the lower bed, there was a shimmering navy blue comforter with old homework parers strewn across the pillow, and a stuffed wolf that was slightly worn. The upper bed was nearly identical to the lower one. The conforter was a darkened olive green color from the smoke rings. The bed was neatly made with a stuffed black cat. To the right of the door stood a large desk that was also stained with smoke. It too was made of birchwood. Atop the desk stood two iMacs, two mice and two keyboards with smoke stained and worn keys. In front of the desk sat the two brothers each in their own smoke colored chairs. They booted up the computers and began to search for math problems to solve on Google.
"I'm guessing this one would be too easy, right Gathell?" Grunder finally asked.
"Read it," answered Gathell. He sighed, very annoyed with the simple problems he found repeatedly. He began to cross and uncross his eyes, making his 'They-call-these-difficult!?!' face at his computer.
"The square root of the area of a 24 by 68 rectangle times x divided by 3 equals 13. Solve for 'x'." Grunder shook his head, and sighed. He knew just as well as Gathell that these problems were going to be finished in a day if they didn't find a more challenging one.
"Yep. Too easy," Gathell sighed, who was also looking at a long list of problems. He stood up and slunked to the closet dor. He emerged with two bags of chips and two water bottles. "Want some?" he asked, making a gesture twards the chips and water.
"Yes please! I'm hungry!" Grunder said. He took the chips and water from Gathell and ripped open the bag and began to munch on the chips. He twisted the cap off of the water and took a huge gulp and continued searching. "I thought so. The answer is clearly about 0.97! Duh!" Grunder continued, wide-eyed and eys crossed as far as they could go.
"I know! Problems these days! Why are they so easy all the time?" said Gathell, throwing his arms in the air.
- 1 -
© Gathell
Chapter 1
"Here's one! How's your first page coming?" Grunder asked, turning in his chair to see how long Gathell's list was. He saw that Gathell was further ahead than he was. He rotated his chair back to face the computer 'I just wish there was a harder problem that would take us the wholle summer to solve,' he thought.
"Almost filled," grunted Gathell. He glanced over at Gurnder, who was still only half way down his page. "How many do you have?" Gathell began to count how many he had. 'Why can't I find a super challenging one? We need either billions of easy ones, or fewer hareder ones. I wish we could find a word problem!'
"Around 50," responded Grunder, "I'm going to make the last one the hardest!" Grunder winked, and puffed a few smoke rings, then watched them float up, change to a blueish collor, then dissolve on the ceiling and dissappear.
"Good idea!" said Gathell, but he wanted to say, 'Well isn't that how we are supposed to end our worksheets?'
Hours went by as they scribbled and scratched. Grunder was in the middle of his fifth page when Gathell nuged his arm. Grunder looked up from his paper at Gathell. "What?" he asked, slightly annoyed and squinting from the glare of his computer.
"Look at this!" said Gathell in amazement. He was staring at a brown colored page that looked like old wrinkled paper. On the top of the screen were the words, 'Eurell's Lost Island Temple.' Grunder went to the door and turned on the lights. He flipped a second switch and the fan overhead began to spin slowly.
"What is it? It looks complicated!" exclaimed a rather excited Grunder. 'YESS! A difficult one! Just what we need!' he thought, 'I wonder how long it will take to solve it?'
"It's an ancient problem! It says here that no one known today has ever finished it, not even the wisest dragon that ever lived! There were terms and things that weren't, and still aren't, taught in any math class!" said Gathell, reading off the page. He too was swirling in thoughts of excitement. 'This is more like it!'
"It doesn't look too bad, write it down!" Grunder was bouncing up and down. His voice sounded jumpy. He ran around the room, puffing smoke rings as the fan caught them and began to turn a smokey black color.
But as he did, a voice spoke to them. It was slightly shakey, as if from an elder dragon that had been around for many years. It said:
"I see you have accepted the challenge of solving Eurell's Lost Island Temple. May I warn you, none have solved it before. None, not even Garvell Mathemelia, the Master of Math! Solve it, and Eurell's mysterious treasure may be yours. Good luck."
The voice stopped.
"Garvell Mathemelia was our great-great-great-great-grandfather! He was the wisest dragon of all in the area of arithmatic! This was the only problem he could never solve, and we are accepting to solve it!" gasped a wide-eyed and slightly shocked Gathell. He blew a pale white smoke ring that turned midnight black before vanishing.
Grunder gasped. He knew very little about his family history, and he found it surprising that he was related to someone who was well known. He too blew a white smoke ring that also turned black. His eyes went wide, then a smile crept onto his face, and his eyes began to gleam. "Let's do this! And live out the Mathemelia name!"
- 2 -
© Gathell
Chapter 2
After their unexpected ordeal with the mysterious voice, Gathell finished copying the problem. He blew constant smoke rings that changed colors wildly until they hit the ceiling. Grunder blew blue smokerings that changed from blue to white to black before dissolving.
“Read it! Read it!” yelped Grunder, bouncing like a superball. "Boy oh boy oh boy oh boy!" he squealed with excitement.
“Okay, but it’s very long," Gathell said, letting out a small sigh. He took in a deep breath and read the problem, stumbling over his words as he went. He didn't like reading things aloud, just answering in class.
The problem read this: (the square root of the area of a 132 by 783 rectangle)times(the length of the hypotenuse of a 30-60-90 triangle with the length of the legs being 20 and 22)times(792)÷(the square root of 169)+(24000000^2)-(Sum of the factors of 75)÷(3.14)times[the area of a circle who’s diameter is 6 (use 3.14 as pi)]+(the number of seconds in a year)times(the number of seconds in a leap year)-(the number of weeks in a year)times(10)+(the square root of 7510)÷(908)-(63)times(the sum of the factors of six)÷(the square root of 73)-(the volume of a 3 by 4 by 5 box)
“Dang! That’s the longest dog gone problem I have ever seen!” Grunder said in amazement, “But how does this help us find the treasure?” Grunder stomped his foot on the floor in frustration. He blew red smoke rings that began to bump each other before disinigrating.
“I guess that voice will tell us when we solve this thing, if we do,” Gathell replied, “Are you up for this challenge?” He looked up and blew a solid black smoke ring that floated in front of him instead of floating to the ceiling. He wiggled his ears and twitched his whiskers.
Grunder blew another solid black smoke ring just like Gathell's, and watched it join with Gathell's. They linked together and formed a chain and floated to the ceiling. Grunder nodded.
“Good, because we’re starting first thing tomorrow!” said Gathell as he tossed the scattered papers from his bed to the counter next to his computer. He grabbed his stuffed wolf and snuggled into his bed. Grunder clapped his hands and the lights went out. Gathell snapped his fingers and their computers saved all open files and shut themselves off.
“Night Gathell,” murmured Grunder, snuggling with his cat.
“Night.”
- 3 -
© Gathell
Chapter 3
They got straight to work the next day. They began to work the problem together, starting with changing the words to numbers.
“To make sure we do it right, let’s both do the whole thing and then check with each other,” Gathell instructed. He clicked a few times and the printer on his side of the desk began to print. He grabbed the two papers and handed one to Grunder
“Will do!” replied Grunder confidently, taking the paper. They sat down and began to scribble. Occationally, one would look up at the smoke stained ceiling and then utter a sound of satisfaction, and continiue working.
Two hours later, both Gathell and Grunder had finished their translating. Grunder looked over at Gathell and Blew a smoke ring at his ear. “What did you come up with?” questioned Grunder.
Gathell’s paper looked something like this: (321)×(30)×(729)÷(13)+(576000000000000)-(124)÷(3.14)×(28 )+(31449600)×(31536000)-(52)×(10)+(87)÷(908)-(63)×(6)÷(9)-(60)=?
“Mine looks okay, except that voice told me to change 576000000000000 to 576000,” said Grunder. He stood up and went to the closet, this time energing with two sprites and two bags of Cheeze-Nips. He put a bag and a sprite infront of Gathell.
“Okay,” answered Gathell, opening the can and the bag. He erased the number and rewrote what Grunder had told him. “Now it doesn’t look so bad! Do you think we’re supposed to use PEMDAS or not? From the way it was worded before, I would think not, but now that it’s all numbers…” said Gathell, trailing off. He popped a few Cheeze-Nips in his mouth and too a sip of Sprite.
Then the voice spoke to them:
“Do what you’ve been taught…”
“That settles it!” said Grunder acceptingly, “Now let’s solve it!” He moved his computer aside, and continued to scribble.
By that afternoon, they had solved the now shorter problem. They got up and went to sit on their beds, calling out to each other.
“You go first Gathell, what did you come to?” said Grunder, peeking over the side of his bed. his whiskers twitched and he blew a smoke ring down to Gathell.
Gathell whispered something to the smoke ring. It floated up to Grunder and popped, whispering' "991794586714293," and Grunder nodded.
“I got the same,” said Grunder as Gathell breathed a small sigh of relief.
“Good, our math skills haven’t failed us yet,” said Gathell triumphantly. “Now what?” He blew a silver smoke ring and watched it float to the underside of Grunder's bed.
The voice spoke to them once more: “You have successfully solved the first problem, which will lead you to your first clue to the treasure’s location. To find it, find the square root of your final answer. Then move the decimal place so that the number is small enough to be a latitude value. This is the North latitude of the location of the first clue. Take your original final answer and remove all zeroes, and again move the decimal enough places so the new number can be a longitude value. This is the East longitude of the clue’s location. Good luck…”
- 4 -
© Gathell
Chapter 4
“Did that voice say, first? That must mean there are more!” Grunder bounced up and down faster than ever, and went to the closet to get more food and drinks for them.
Gathell replied, “Before we can solve those, we must find the next clue! Get me a map.” Grunder zipped out the door as fast as lightning and was back with a map before Gathell could puff a single smoke ring.
“I love maps!” said Grunder randomly. He was very good in Geography and with maps, so Gathell left this part to him. Grunder wasn’t the least bit upset. Gathell began to blow smoke rings as Grunder thought aloud.
“It’s in the northern and eastern hemispheres, I now that,” he said, pointing to Asia, “It might be in Taiwan,” he continued. “ This map has no latitude or longitude lines! Grrr!” Grunder snatched the map and stomped down stairs. He returned with an old tattered map.
“Where the heck did you find THAT?” Gathell yelled. Grunder was holding a map that had burnt edges that were black as stone, and looked as tan as sand. There were Lines drawn on it. They looked like either attack plans or boat or aircraft routes. The print was faded slightly. The map was in a frame, protected from further damage.
“It was in a black box with a bunch of other maps in the study. I think they belonged to Garvell. I thought he might have made these marks,” said Grunder, gesturing towards the strange pencil marks, “to help him solve this problem.” Grunder puffed a smoke ring again.
“If I were you, I would put that one back,” Gathell requested, shaking his head and blowing smoke rings. He popped some more Cheeze-Nips in his mouth and sipped at his Sprite again. Grunder sulked down stairs and put the map back. Gathell began to search the Internet for some maps. Suddenly, Grunder came bounding through the door and bounced like a superball again.
“Look look look look look look! It’s something Garvell wrote in relation to this problem! Read it read it read it!” Grunder was acting up like he had never acted up before. He was blowing smoke rings that were all different colors and bounced on his tail, flapping his wings with joy and excitement. He flew up to his bed and back down and nearly whooshed Gathell out of his seat. He zoomed past his computer, nearly toppling it over and sending it crashing to the floor. His eyes were wide and crossed and he was making noises like a maniac.
Gathell straightened his glasses, pushed them up his face, and calmly read the note. “Well I’ll be. It’s the location of the first clue! It’s in… uhh, Jucarta?”
“That’s Jakarta! That’s in Indonesia! That’s where my friend Gorono moved! We might get to see him!” said Grunder, still acting like a maniac.
“Calm down Grunder! You’re wrecking the room!” Gathell screamed. Grunder finally stopped. He was panting heavily. “Have some water Grunder,” said Gathell calmly. He got up and gave Grunder a fresh water bottle.
“Thanks,” said Grunder, still panting from his excitement. He took a huge gulp and took a deep breath.
- 5 -
© Gathell
Chapter 5
“How are we supposed to get to Jakarta?” asked Grunder, who had finished settling down from his rampage. His panting had slowed and was almost gone. He puffed smoke rings at the ceiling to help calm him down.
Gathell was studying the note with great intensity. He uttered sounds every few seconds, then replied, “Good point. We haven’t the money to get there. Our wings aren’t powerful enough to fly us there, and they aren’t fully grown anyways.” Gathell stared at the note and pondered for a moment. The only sound that was heard was the humming of the computers and Grunder’s slowing panting. Then the shaky old voice came to them again and spoke:
“You shall visit, in your dreams…”
They obeyed the voice, which was starting to annoy them. They fell asleep very quickly.
They awoke in their dream to find themselves in Jakarta. They wandered around the silent beach. There were palm trees everywhere they looked, but no other dragons. The ocean looked peaceful and was tinted with a pretty blue color. They watched the waves wake and wash up red seaweed on the shore. The sky was a nice sky blue. Small fluffy clouds that looked like rabbits and sheep dotted the sky. The sun was shinning very bright, and occasionally hid behind a cloud, giving it a silver lining. All was still. Finally, Grunder spoke.
“How do we know where the clue is?” he said inquisitively. He looked around, puffing sand colored smoke rings.
“I don’t think it will be marked with an X,” Gathell replied. He was puffing sky blue smoke rings that seemed to disappear when it rose above the skyline. “Probably with a square root sign,” he added.
“Oh,” muttered Grunder, blowing a yellow smoke ring.
They began to become familiar with their surroundings and continued along the shoreline. They noted the pretty seashells that had been washed up on shore. Every few minutes they would spot a washed up sand dollar and sometimes a jellyfish that had found its way on shore. It didn’t take long for them to spot a square root sign sketched in the sand. There was a number inside as well.
“What number is that?” said Grunder, squinting in the sun. They ran up for a closer look.
“169?” said Grunder, slightly confused. To him, the number 169 seemed inane at first.
“Don’t you get it? The square root of 169 is 13! That is my favorite number! I thought you would figure that out!” Gathell squealed. Grunder looked at Gathell like he was nuts.
“I thought 13 was unlucky,” said Grunder, sounding confused. He knew a good deal of information regarding superstition.
“Well, it isn’t for me,” Gathell replied. He had a huge smile on his face. His ears and whiskers were twitching wildly. Then his face quickly reverted to his ‘Okay-back-to-work’ face. “How are we supposed to get to the clue?” Gathell wondered aloud.
Grunder, still completely confused with Gathell’s actions, said nothing. Then he looked around for any trace of anything they could use to dig in the sand. He noticed an odd-looking palm tree to the west of the sand drawing. “What’s that?” he finally said, pointing at the tree with great countenance that showed interest in the tree. Gathell crept towards the tree.
“There’s a note!” said Gathell as he ripped the page off the tree. But before he could read it, they found themselves awake in their beds.
- 6 -
© Gathell
Chapter 6
They opened their eyes wearily and were blinded by the light and shivered from the fan that was still on. They yanked the covers over themselves to keep warm. They tried to get back to sleep to continue the dream, but found it impossible. Gathell's thoughts were racing, woried he would never see the note again. He sank under the covers with his wolf and painfully opened his eyes wide. He whispered things to himself and grabbed his tail out of nervousness. Had he really ruined their chance to solve this previously unconquerable problem? He shifted constantly and tossed himself from side to side. His mind brought back vivid images of the beautifull beach. He saw the square root sign with the number 169 etched into it, and then the picture shifted to Grunder's confused look. His whiskers and ears were moving so fast that they seemed ready to fly off his head. His eyes were shut tight, and his thoughts rushed as harshly as a fly beats his wings to try to escape a spider's web. Then without warning, his thoughts came to a stand still. A few lines from a book he had read played back in his head over and over. Gathell listened to them intently. His instinct finally managed to communicate with his mind and Gathell blindingly reached onto his nightstand and grabbed a paper. He read what was on it and let out a yelp of joy and relief.
"What!?!" Grunder said loudly, burying himself in his covers like an ostrich. He shut his eyes tight and squeased a pillow over his head.
"The note! I still have it!" Gathell said, then let out another sigh of relief. He snuggled with the note and hugged it, as if he were a mother and the note was his child that had been lost. He wore a big grin on his satisfied face. He settled down, and then read the note more intently. Grunder was still shutting himself out from the outside world in the safety and comfort of his bed under the covers. Gathell let out another satisfied yelp.
"What now! Is it another math problem?" Grunder ended with more intrest than he started.
"It's a riddle! I love riddles!" Gathell replied with effulgence. A smile slowly crept onto Grunder's face. He crawled out from his bed and plopped himself next to Gathell, who was studying the riddle with the greatest intensity. This is what the riddle read:
This next problem you must solve,
A bit of searching for it is involved.
And once you have found it, the rest is not hard,
So start your search and the back regard.
Gathell read it out loud a few times, and Grunder played it back in his head. Gathell got up and paced, and sat down on his chair. He spun around in it, like he always did when he was thinking really hard about something, especially riddles. Grunder sat as still as a statue on Gathell's bed, looking up slightly. He looked around the room every few seconds, and then stopped and stared. Gathell was moving rapidly now, his thoughts racing again. He finally plopped himself back next to Grunder, who was now staring at the floor. He shut his eyes and relaxed, laying down on the navy bed. His thought began to run more smoothly. He remained that way for no longer than 30 seconds and then jerked himself upright. "Lemme see the note!" he said, as Grunder handed him the note. He looked at the back of the card and saw one of those vertically stretched messages. He tilted the page down and closed his left eye. He dashed to his computer, which was still on, and opened the internet.
"What are you doing?" Grunder asked.
"There's a web address on the back! I'm thinking that's where the equation or poblem we have to solve is," he said as his computer loaded the page. Just as he expected, there was the problem. Grunder got up and looked over Gathell's sholder.
"Hmmm, 'The circumfrence of a circle with a radius of three times x equalls 22.' That's easy!" Grunder said.
"I know! like I said! Problems these days! The answer is 1!" He scrooled down the page, and came across another riddle. Gathell wrote the problem down, and Grunder read it. Gathell caught on to the problem, and noticed a big factor that would get in the way ov solving it; the whole thing was in French
- 7 -
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