With such thoughts I departed to the dreamland. Sheep was already waiting for me, “It’s strange. Just a moment ago you disappeared and now you are back, but I feel as if much more time had passed. Things outside of the manor sure hit differently. So did anything happen to you while you were out?”

“I met Hummingbird,” I doubted it, but maybe Sheep knew anything about black portal or the island?

“Well, that’s what would happen if you were to follow the road,” Sheep shrugged his shoulders. “Before I’d be somewhat scared of meeting Hummingbird, but this darkness sure looks friendly and hummingbirdless.”

“By the way, do you know anything about black portals which put you in darkness for indefinite periods of time?” I asked.

“Yeah, so you are telling me that I’m in such a portal?” Sheep wondered. Didn’t I tell him that his stay here was more of a one-way ticket to nothingness? Uhh, maybe I didn’t.

“And aside from this one?” I elaborated.

“Not that I’m aware,” it didn’t seem like Sheep worried much.

“Have you ever heard of an island with unusual caves that hide answers?” I questioned him with the last topic on the list.

“No, but I’d like to hear about it,” there was a bit of mischief and curiosity in Sheep’s eyes. I ended up telling Sheep different stories, some of them from my life, others from books. At some point dreamworld started to waver. It was the time for me to return to reality.

Sometimes, you get woken up by sunrise rays traveling up your face, sometimes you wake up on your own, and stretch out greeting a new day. I didn’t get the luxury of either one. Instead I woke up to something coiling around my waist. Something slimy and elastic, as I grew aware. I opened my eyes abruptly, trying to realize what’s going on, my hands grabbing on whatever was coiling around me, as I tried to force it to loosen the grip.

My eyes met the familiar ceiling of the hut, I went to sleep in. My back however was placed on the rough texture of the floor, which meant that I wasn’t on my bed anymore. I glanced at my bed. It was preoccupied by Dezire snoring peacefully every now and then.

Luckily the grip of one of her tentacles on me wasn’t that hard to release myself from. Most likely it was a mechanical action: her tentacle felt that there was something to coil around, so it coiled around. Tentacles do that, I think.

The problem laid in the remaining appendages. Some of them moved chaotically, while some of them were conjuring something out of thin air. They moved, forming different forms and signs. I didn’t know what exactly were they about to do, But I’d rather they did it elsewhere.

I felt a premonition that something was about to happen, that the movement of the cluster of tentacles was reaching its culmination. I jumped towards Dezire as I tried to shake her awake. The movement of most of her tentacles stopped, until one of them flung me away as if vexed by my intervention.

But my objective was accomplished with Dezire being stirred awake. She yawned as she lifted up her body, stretching, occupying a good part of the room, her eyes noticing me standing by the wall, “Oh.”

So she barges into my room in the middle of the night, tries to summon something, and then says ‘oh’? I exhaled, “Dezire, can you explain what you were doing in my room in the middle of the night?”

She blinked, combing her nonexistent hair with her tentacle, “I think I actually can. You see, the condition entity gave me is called ‘Traveling at night’ which increases functionality of my tentacles and, well, keeps them busy during the night hours. That’s if you weren’t the one who lured me in here.”

Her tone was sluggish and jelly-like. I could even probably believe it if she told me that her ability allows her to talk while sleeping. Did it?

I looked at the door. It was locked, just like I left it, “Dezire, how did you get inside anyway?”

Dezire shrugged her tentacles, “I teleported. Probably.”

That sounded important. Could she be able to explore what’s in the caves or beyond the island while being able to teleport away in case of danger, “You can teleport?”

“Not while I’m conscious. While I’m awake I can only use a fraction of my abilities, while they fully unlock during my sleep,” Dezire crushed my expectations. Exploring the unknown while asleep didn’t sound like a good idea to me.

Maybe I was wrong about the middle-of-the-night part as at that moment the first rays of sunlight found their way in my window. Sunrise marked the beginning of a new day, the day when the exploration of the caves will begin.

I unlocked the door and stood on the porch. Fresh morning wind hit against me, ruffling my hair and erasing the remaining last bits of sleepiness.

I didn’t want to sit in the house in reclusion. New day meant new opportunities. The caves weren’t the only place that could give me answers.

There was no one except me outside in the settlement, perhaps, most of my classmates were still asleep. So I didn’t waste time, chose a direction and went onward. My thoughts returned to the caves. Richard and Hugh mentioned that today was the day we would be able to explore the caves. Are they open from the very morning or do we need to get some kind of permission? Why couldn’t we venture in yesterday anyway? Sometimes we forget to ask the most basic questions.

I heard a low hum, so of course I went towards the source of the sound. On the cliff, not so far from where the village was, goblin Polly was carving lines on a big rock while surrounded by a dozen or so furballs. The tool goblin Polly used was an ornamented sword, the one gremlin Paul disappeared in.

I sidled towards the cliff but probably I wasn’t stealthy enough as Leo’s furballs, who were scattered around Polly, watching her work with fascination, wobbled while whispering, “Intruder, intruder.”

Goblin Polly turned abruptly, sword clenched in her small hands, pointing the tip at whoever the intruder might be. I exited the woods while raising my hands, “Easy there, I look for what remains unfound and not for the mutual destruction.”

Seeing that it was me, Polly lowered her weapon, “I thought you were a heavy sleeper?”

“Not when a classmate of yours teleports in your room, raising havoc. What are you carving on the rock?”

“For some, like Leo, conditions became curses. But for me it was the biggest boon I could have hoped for. I could feel Paul. He’s clawing his way out from the inside, trying to breach the barrier between planes. Before coming to the island I could only watch. But now, when I finish the rune, I will weaken the barrier enough for Paul to return. What I gained is the knowledge of runes, of intricate patterns to weave in order to procure miraculous effects.”

“That’s good to hear. You looked rather down without Paul around. You mentioned something unsettling about Leo’s condition. Leo, what happened to you?”

Furballs wobbled as they answered cheerfully, “There’s no need to worry! Nothing bad happened, and even if something did, we’ll forget it in the blink of an eye!”

Polly shook her head, “The price that Leo had to pay was integrity of his memories.”

Poor soul. I liked to face new things but only as an extension of my current experience. How could someone be so cruel to deprive a person of their memories?

“Polly, about my condition. I don’t remember getting any sort of it nor any explanation about the island as it is, but maybe it is just a key feature of my condition. I wanted to ask whether I can enter the caves right now or only at a specific time.”

“Oh, that’s not a hard one. Apparently, caves would be too dangerous for us to enter during the first day. Starting from the second day, however, we could enter at any time, but only once a day per person.”

“I see. When do you plan to explore the caves? If you want to, we can go together.”

Goblin Polly looked at the rock which had some of her carvings, “I’m not going to seek the answers in the unknown. What I wish for is not the truth, but for my brother to get back safely.”

Everyone had their own yearnings. I wished Polly luck in her endeavors and took a road which would lead me to where my aspirations lie. Towards the gloomy caves.

When I reached the entrance, no one was there to stop me or to give me a friendly advice. I was alone with my growing anticipation of discoveries.

When I passed the entrance there was no fanfare, no screams from the underworld, nothing. Even the room that I could already see didn’t have anything distinct. More than anything it reminded me of a labyrinth where I once woke up. I could see around thanks to already familiar fluorescent stones. Were the labyrinth and the current cave connected in some way?

Since there was nothing to sightsee, I decided to venture further. The thing is, a few tunnels originated from the room I was in. I squinted, taking a good look at each of them. Well, they all looked kinda the same. Not knowing where you go is not a reason not to go there. I shrugged and went in a random direction.

To my relief, the way I took didn’t have any branches and I had no need to take mental notes. Soon I reached a small round cave that had plush animals seated in a circle. They looked kinda old and unassuming so I just let them be and went towards a big old door that was opposite to where I came from. I pulled a copper ring knob but the door wouldn’t budge. Maybe the keyhole in that door wasn’t just a decoration after all.

It didn’t leave me a choice but to either return or to take another look at those plushies. And to return with empty hands, I wanted not. There were six animals but neither of them looked like a key I was searching for. My eyes fell on a sheep who was seated between a lion and a bear. I felt that I liked him more than the others, so I decided to take him as a souvenir.

Clang! Something metal was inside the sheep. I tore off a plush limb and barely caught a key that tried to slip through. Is that it? Who in their right mind would put a key in a plushie?

There was no need to think about that at the moment. I tried to push the key into the hole, preparing myself in case what I found was just a useless key. But it seems like luck was on my side today. The door swung open with a creak. And… What faced me was but another tunnel.

This tunnel however looked different. It seemed to be more brightly lit, somewhat festive. Soon the tunnel branched out. On the left there was a door named ‘Sophie’, on the right there was a gloomy pathway that surely led to nothing good. It’s not like there was a need to choose. I went to the door on the left.

The door gave way to me the moment I touched it. I like the doors that aren’t locked. They sure are convenient. The problem is that there was nothing, not just ahead of me, but beside me as well. I was in total darkness. I tried to find the door I just passed through, but it vanished, replaced with void.