22

The cavern is deathly silent as the group stares at Wesley—or rather, Grinchuk. His disguise flickers and fades, revealing his true form at last. Grinchuk’s grin is wide, his eyes alight with triumph.

"You really thought I’d make the same mistake twice?" he sneers. "Trapping your dear Wesley in a time loop was my finest touch. He hasn’t aged a second. For him, no time has passed at all."

Santa steps forward, his voice like iron. "And what was your endgame, Grinchuk?"

Grinchuk gestures dramatically at the Chrono-Sleigh, now pulsing with unstable energy. "Why settle for a single Christmas when I can control all of them? Past, present, future—mine to rewrite, mine to rule."

Magnus clenches his fists. "You’ve already lost. We’ve undone your puzzles, and we’ve disrupted the sleigh’s field."

Grinchuk laughs—a harsh, mocking sound. "You haven’t undone anything yet. I can still activate the loop, and when I do, the black hole will anchor me at the center of time. I’ll become the beginning and the end of Christmas!"

David’s voice cuts through the chaos. "We can still stop him. If we sever the sleigh’s connection to the black hole, it’ll collapse the time loop and free Wesley."

Santa nods. "Then let’s end this."

Grinchuk snarls, stepping back toward the Chrono-Sleigh. The terminal beside it lights up, displaying a chessboard with its pieces arranged in a strange position. Magnus peers at the display, frowning. "What’s this?"

David studies the board. "This is tied to the sleigh’s logic circuits. One side can still castle. We need to identify which side is White to override it."

Magnus leans in, his confidence growing. "Simple enough. Let me just—"

Before he can finish, Grinchuk smirks and presses a button on the sleigh. The board flickers, and the colors of the pieces shift violently, glowing red and blue as if passing through a prism.

Magnus steps back, startled. "What… what did you just do?"

Grinchuk’s grin widens. "I’ve adjusted the visual output using gravitational distortions from the TSC. Now, the colors you see are entirely relative to your perspective. Good luck figuring out which is which."

David’s scanner beeps rapidly. "He’s tampered with the board’s logic, creating a wavelength distortion. We’ll have to deduce who’s White based on the position itself."

Santa steps forward, his tone steady. "Focus. One side can still castle. That’s our key."

Grinchuk retreats to the sleigh, laughing as the cavern trembles. "Good luck, Santa. The timeline is slipping away."

We don't know which side we see the board from. One side can still castle. Who is White?

Answer either "Red" or "Blue". This problem won't be graded until 23:59. If anything is unclear, ask in our Discord.