One close look at the message was enough to tell Kyle that he was not going to solve it in just a few moments. That meant lingering here for a little longer, which meant trying to figure out a bunch of runes while at the same time dealing with the overbearing heat.

Not a chance was he going to attempt to power through it; the hotter it was, the more difficult it would be to concentrate. But, now that he was stationary - though he doubted he would be here for very long - it meant more options had opened up to him. The Atmospheric Charm, for example. A complicated spell, given the variables included, and Kyle supposed it was more difficult to master in an unpredictable outdoor setting than it was to cast it right inside the controlled environment of a classroom. And really, now was the perfect time to put it to the test.

Without wasting too much time, Kyle did just that; a wave of his wand and the appropriate incantation later, not to mention intense concentration on the prospect of getting a little magical-equivalent air-conditioning here in his little pocket of the forest, and the Atmospheric Charm was put into place. With that done, he cast Aguamenti over himself once more, just as he had intended to before catching sight of the door, and again he drank from the water that rained down on him.

The carvings on the door were now the most pressing issue. As Kyle inspected them again, his mind went - as it had done in the last challenge - to the topic of curses. Runes carved in certain combinations were sort of like runic curses, and that was where all the curse-breaking stuff came into play. But as soon as Kyle thought of it, he immediately vetoed the idea. Last challenge he had fallen into the trap of overthinking, and overlooking the much more simpler possibilities in favour of hugely complicated ones.

Elder Futhark, he knew, was used as a writing system, in the same way that many languages used the alphabet. The way these runes were all carved together pointed to the very simple explanation that they were a message, intended to be deciphered, again in the same way that the numbers had worked in the challenge before this one.

Thinking back to his Ancient Runes lessons, Kyle took a moment to mentally review what he knew about writing in Elder Futhark, all those little rules - words were spelled the way they sounded, no double letters, runes corresponded more to sounds than to letters, and so certain runes would have more than one letter associated with it... it was based on phonetics, really. Essentially, nothing too difficult at all.

Focusing on the runes on the door, but trying to keep alert to his surroundings (in case that rustling sounded again, or something more sinister), Kyle started working his way through the carving.

It made most sense to go one rune at a time, figure out what each word was supposed to be - if they were words, which seemed most likely - and then move onto the next. Identifying the runes was easy enough, of course, being one of the most basic lessons in Ancient Runes. It was matching up Elder Futhark to the correct sounds which was more of a challenge, though even then it was the kind of thing that didn't take much actual brainpower, only a decent memory. The fact that he had been studying Ancient Runes consistently up until and through this year made it easy.

The first word - there were no dots between words, but it was still easy enough to see where they were divided - was easy. Thurisaz, 'th', Isa, a short-sounding 'i', and Sowilo, an 's' or a soft 'c'. "This."

One word. A word that made sense, especially at the start of a sentence. It was all the assurance Kyle needed that he was moving in the right direction. Especially when he deciphered the second word too; Dagaz, Othala, and Raidho. D-O-R. "Door."

Raidho again, and then Ehwaz, Mannaz, Ansuz, Nauthiz, and another Sowilo. 'Remans' obviously wasn't a word, but one could argue that phonetically - if the 'a' was pronounced 'ay' - it could be spelled out as... "Rem...ains..."

Then judging by the fact that the first rune of the next word was Kenaz again, a 'k' sound, followed by Laguz, an 'l', Kyle was willing to hazard a guess that this one would spell out 'closed'. His prediction was proved correct. Kenaz, Laguz, Othala, Sowilo, Dagaz. K-L-O-S-D. "Closed."

'This door remains closed.' So far, that didn't really tell him anything, but then, he did still have half left to decipher.

At first, Kyle thought that the the next four runes, Wunjo, Eihwaz, Laguz, and Thurisaz, were all the same word. However, piecing the sounds together didn't make much sense. "Whilth? ... No... hang on..." It took a little bit of muttering to himself, trying to work out if he was remembering the sounds correctly, before he noticed that 'Thurisaz' was separate, and indeed worked on its own as a word. "While... the..."

Merlin, this was starting to make him feel a little nervous. Kyle had had his back to the forest for so long, and as soon as he thought it he suddenly had a horrible feeling like he was being watched. Unable to shake it, he span around quickly to look behind him.

Nothing there... and... well, obviously it had been stupid to check. Of course he was being watched. They were likely broadcasting the challenges on that giant screen again, just like every time before. Growing more impatient with himself, Kyle shook his head and turned back to the door. One thing at a time.

Sowilo again, Nauthiz, Ansuz, and Kenaz. At first glance, that simply read as "Snack?" but... that didn't sound right. Given the forest setting, his next thought was that it could say "... Snake...?" though perhaps it was his status as a Horned Serpent that made him think that. So... could that be referring to him, being that he was a Horned Serpent in terms of Ilvermorny houses? Perhaps Valerie's message read 'Wampus', and Brent's said 'snake' too, and Levi's said 'lion'? Or perhaps it meant a literal snake, seeing as he was out here in the forest?

Or perhaps it really was talking about a snack. Hard to say, really. Until he had the end of the message, that was.

"Raidho... R... Othala... O... Mannaz... M... Sowilo... S..." Kyle muttered to himself, running his fingers over the carvings in the wood, brow furrowed slightly as he worked through it in his head. "Roms... R... oh...ms... Roams? ... Roams." He moved onto the next and final word, and when he saw that the first rune was Fehu, for F, his mind went to the word that began with the letter F, which usually followed 'roam'.

It seemed as though that other word certainly wasn't 'snack' after all.

Fehu... Raidho... Ehwaz. F-R-E. "... Free."

Kyle crouched there quietly for a moment, tense and braced, his hand gripped tightly around the handle of his wand, so much so that his knuckles started to ache.

Keeping his voice low, close to a whisper, he repeated the message again, all in one go.

"This door remains closed while the snake roams free."