𝐢𝐝𝐲𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐜 | 𝐫𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐩𝐧

𝟐𝟕| 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭: 𝐦𝐚𝐩𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐮𝐳𝐳𝐥𝐞𝐬? 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠...

   𝐎𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐧 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐘/𝐧 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭, they took a moment to breathe considering what they all had been through. As they drank water, they spotted Emma running through some trees and looking around. "Emma?!" Lani and Thoma called.

   "Nothing... was it just my imagination?" She mumbled, walking back to the group and overhearing some conversations.

   "The roots stopped moving."

   "It's probably because it's freezing out here."

   "Yeah... it's even colder over here than the area we were in when we first fell in!"

   "Why is the temperature so different even though we're in the same forest?"

   "Maybe because the sunlight gets blocked by the trees..."

   "So.. as long as it stays this cold, does it mean that we won't have to be afraid of getting attacked by those roots again?"

   "Probably."

   "Damn! Thank goodness it's winter right now! Or else we would've been in big trouble!" Don shouted.

   "Well... according to this, it seems like the ground doesn't cave in in the first place unless it's winter. It says that "The Alvar Pinera is a legendary cave that one can only enter during winter season" in this book," Nat explained.

   "..."

   "If only it weren't winter, huh?" Gilda laughed.

   Y/n got up, "but thanks to what just happened, now we know! This "outside world" is full of unknowns! And the words of this book have meaning!"

   "So it's our guidebook, huh..." Don said, reading through some pages.

   "That's right. This book contains all of the important pieces of information that we need. "How to Deal With Unknown Danger". "The Weaknesses of Our Enemies". Also..."

   "Y/n! Emma! Here it is! This is what we've been looking for!" Ray shouted.

   "Uh... what is this..?" Nat questioned.

   "It's water!"

   "Huh?!"

   "They're mentioned in the book. Anemones that store pure water."

   "Err... Anemones!?" Don asked, wary of the strange looking plant.

   "Watch," Ray smirked knowingly as he cut into the plant and held up a jar. Water spewed from the plant and into the jar. "See? These things obviously aren't real anemones. But if we keep following what the book said, this water should be drinkable. We won't have to go to the river each time to get water. Food and water are the two most important parts of our blind adventure. We can't even tell what is edible and what isn't. So I'm quite thankful that we at least have something to base our decisions off of."

   "It's all thanks to Minerva!" Y/n smiled, "he was the one who gifted the house with this book."

   Emma nodded, "this world is full of scary things... But at least we won't be flailing around in the dark. Don't worry. We've got each other. We've got an ally. Let's all go see Mr. Minerva!"

   Y/n smiled and took Emma's hand, "she's right, guys! Let's all survive. Let's do our best to get out of here! Alright? Just a bit more!"

   "Okay!" Don cheered, "let's do our best, guys! It's time to go!" Don started leading the group in a direction but turned to ask if it was the right way.

   "Yup! But we've gone a bit off course while we were underground," Y/n said, pulling out Minerva's pen and uncapping it. It revealed a different set of numbers, B 00-15.

   "I see," Ray nodded to himself, "so the code represents our current location, huh? Both 'B 06-32' and 'B 00-15' show us where we are... in other words, they're kind of like coordinates. The numbers must be some indication of the direction we're headed in... Wait. But if we were 'Northeast' when we first left the house... and now we're headed 'South'..." The girls nodded along with what he said, "right now we're at area B 06-32... In other words, We're headed south within the eastern portion of the plane this thing is based off."

   "You're freaky!" Emma exclaimed, "how could you figure it out so f- oh my god!"

   "I mean it's pretty simple if you think about it."

   "When I first looked at this projection back at the house, it was just a plain 00-00 with no letter."

   "I see. So right now we're basically directly east of the house. And since it was B 01-14 before, we must've gone back a little north since then."

   "Wait," Y/n butted in, "so how did you figure out that this was our location? How did you even figure out tha Mr. Minerva is at area B 06-32?"

   "Norman said that we'd figure it out if we looked at the pen. If not, he said that you guys would definitely be able to understand."

   "...which means you couldn't figure it out, huh?" Y/n smirked a little and handed the pen to Ray.

   "I mean I could.. Up to an extent..."

   Y/n and Ray focused on the screen. Morse code. The ring around the owl had dashes and dots that translated to 'T O U C H M E'. Another screen appeared and it contained three sets of numbers.

   "I got up to that screen."

   "I suppose you are pretty bad at this kind of stuff," Ray said.

   Y/n looked closely and squinted, racking her brain of what it could mean, "Oh wait! I think I got it!"

   "You really did?" Emma asked.

   "Mhm!" Y/n rummaged through her bag and pulled out a different book, "this is the other book that stood out to me. The one with no morse code on the logo."

   "That book is our key to this pen," Ray finished.

   "Our key?"

   "That's right, Emma," Y/n smiled.

   "Look," Ray pointed at the screen, "you can see the 'morse-less logo' here, right? In other words, we need to use this book to find the passwords for this pen. The '3-18-02' is code. We'll be led to the next panel if we enter the correct password. Y/n, open and find page thirteen, line eighteen, word two."

   "Uhm... Human!"

   "'Come to me if you need help. I am waiting in area B 06-32. -William Minerva"! It;s a message from him!"

   "Norman must've seen this. And so for the next password, rinse and repeat. Can you get page eighty one, line twelve, word twenty seven?"

   "Okay... Begin."

   As Ray was typing the word, rustling was heard. They didn't feel any wind either. The boy quickly capped the pen.

   "Hey, Ray.."

   "Yeah, something's coming.

   Everyone froze and looked around, "no way, again?!"

   They bursted into a sprint when a large monster came barreling through the trees, its mouth wide open and ready to feast on the children.

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𝐡𝐞 𝐯𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫

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