Challenging Riddles   ( O _ o) ?!

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1)  A sealed land forgotten,
      To precious shapes it yields.
      Zephyr on zenith found
      Across strange woods and fields.


2)  Mother of magic and father of air;
      Their colorful children heard everywhere.
      Ancientest stone wears no blemish nor crack.
      Take a half-step forward, then three steps back.


3)  Life within death, water in fire,
      A path opened in child's darkest hour.
      Secret behind a marker of stone,
      From tunnel emerges a far away home.


4)  Treasure untold, no key, nor lid;
      Yet inside purest ichor hid.


5)  Water aplenty and green round and round;
      Many happy faces, their advice sound;
      A haven for rest with secrets abound;
      Have faith and be shown a way underground.


6)  The damned leading the blind,
      On a pathway ill-defined.
      No memory of silence, no thought of sky,
      Sight to no avail, yet liberated by the eye.


7)  Walk across the ropes,
      Under protector's gaze;
      Bounded by a golden arch,
      Ancient are these ways.


8)  Creature of half-sight, by tribulation healed;
      Loved of divinity, with wound by goddess sealed.


9)  Once left, never the same.

     Two halves of a whole, 
     Each well-defined; 
     Brief expanse of blue,
     Wood-bridge combined; 
     Low marks innocence, 
     Height, Experience.

     Once back, ever the same.


10)  Five in order, one by one,
        It will not stop until it's done;
        Wrested from unseemly hand, 
        A spirit rests within its band.

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11)  Death bound and eternal waking;
       True evil -- there's no mistaking!
       Yet, this Shivan allegory
       May tell us a different story.