The Apathetic Mage Loves Cats

Chapter 27: The Underworld

"What does it say?" Caiden asked. I found myself staring at the page in shock. It was written in... English? How did Zing know the English language? What exactly does this mean? "Alan?" Caiden asked again, causing me to look over at him. "Are you okay?" I couldn't quite find the words to say; and, judging by the look on Caiden's face, my face showed how shocked I was. Caiden's own reflecting a bit of anxiety and worry towards mine, probably because he had never seen the look on my face before. Hell, I don't think I've ever felt like this before; I had no idea what to do or where to go from here. How the hell can a person from a different world, different universe, know the English language, a language that doesn't exist here?

"This language..." I shook my head, not even able to process the words as I glanced over the page once more; just noticing the different letters that seemed so familiar, that I never thought I would be able to see again. I barely glanced up at Iban, who also looked a little anxious at my discovery, as if my shocked nature was too foreign for him to process. However, no one said anything as I skimmed through the notes quickly, trying to find another one that contained some form of English. Then, I came upon an envelope that was a different color than the rest. A pristine and bright white compared to the yellow and brown stained notes in the bag. However, what shocked me the most was the fact that it had my name written on the face of it. I glanced up at Iban and Akan, holding the letter up. "You guys have never opened this?" I asked, finally allowing myself to calm down from my initial shock. Everyone else seemed a little less tense as well, finally happy that I was speaking and no longer freaking out. Though, I'm sure their curiosity almost wished that I wouldn't have brushed past the letter so fast.

"I've never seen that before," Iban answered, glancing over at Akan. Akan's brows were furrowed, looking at the letter before shrugging nonchalantly. However, I could tell that his interest was piqued.

"I haven't seen that before either. But... it does look like Melan's handwriting. Maybe that's why it looks so new." I nodded and set the rest of the notes back into the bag so I could open the letter. Inside, it was written in English, but like someone who didn't know the language and tried to understand it without translated materials. It was obvious he tried his best to understand, but he had no basis for understanding the words.

"Alan, I am Melan, I am a researching Zing and Alan. Melan I not know the answer, but Zing want Melan I to help Alan. I not know this how to speak this, but I write notes to help Alan. Read notes. Good luck."

I shook my head, barely comprehending the writing and, once again, flipping the note over to check if there was anything else. When I found nothing, I began to grow frustrated. Couldn't they both just summarize everything that I needed to know? Must they write such long notes and cryptic messages that I could only find out the answer after reading everything else? And, out of everything, why was "Good luck" the only comprehensible sentence? Was that really going to foreshadow my experience?

This was going to be annoying.

I tossed the piece of paper on the ground, suddenly overwhelmed by the idea that I would have to search through hundreds, if not thousands of different notes that Zing and Melan had left behind. Why me? I wasn't sure if my curious nature would be able to persuade me enough to get through the millions of notes I had to read.

"Alan, is everything alright?" Caiden's voice was timid, afraid to speak up. I sighed and rubbed a hand down my face.

"In all honesty, I don't even know where to begin. I don't understand why this is happening anyway. Why me? It's so..." I grunted, waving my hand around by my head, getting slightly frustrated that I had such a heavy burden placed on me, "annoying." Iban shifted and walked over, coming to sniff at the papers on the ground, pawing at them slightly.