“I don’t get it. Why would someone leave some random books behind for people from another world that didn’t even get to that world at that point?” Noah asked, trying to see if he really understood what Ayden was trying to tell him right now.

“How else would you explain this? This is literally the exact stuff we need right now. Obviously, we know the language spoken in this place already, so the things we need to know for sure is all in here. We can lie our way through the rest.” Ayden pointed out, before Noah groaned loudly, “Do we even need to lie about it? Can’t we just go to a bigger town and ask around to see if someone can help us or something?”

“Didn’t you listen to what Charles said yesterday? There are a lot of people that do not respond too kindly to ‘Lost Souls’ like us.”

“What, you think we should believe the guy that didn’t know what a library was just this morning?” Noah exclaimed while Ayden took a deep breath to calm himself down a bit, “I do. It’s safer that way. I still think we should go to a place where we can find out more, but it’s just safer to keep it a secret for now. We can always reveal this information if we have to, but we can never take it back. Until we know the right course of action, let’s not risk anything.”

“...I guess you’re right.” Noah sighed, “Sorry for yelling like that. This whole situation is just messing with my head right now, man.”

“I can tell.” Ayden replied in a blunt tone, “Even I’m having trouble keeping up with everything. Why and how are we here? Why do they speak English here? Who left these books for us? I can’t answer any of that, but it’s definitely on my mind.”

Noah stood there, still confused, and glanced at one of the books. He picked it up again, “I get the others, but why’d we need a book about medicine? Wouldn’t we know more advanced stuff than what’s in here?”

“Maybe the person that left this here didn’t know exactly who would end up here. Being able to find cures for random diseases is valuable to most people. Also...” Ayden held his hand forward, motioning Noah to hand the book over. He flipped it open and soon found what he was looking for.

“As I thought. There are some diseases I never heard of before. And they’re speaking of spells and magic needed to cure them.” Ayden explained. But as he was flipping through the book, he noticed peculiar details.

“Sunlight sensitivity... sweat with a sweet scent... paralysis and a slow, painful death...” Slowly muttering, Ayden read through the page he was reading and then shut the book immediately. He placed his hand in front of his mouth and thought for a moment, “Noah, let’s find Charles again.”

“Sure, but that won’t be hard. He’s standing in front of the door. Must have been pretty curious about what we wanted to talk about.” Noah pointed out, quickly opening the wooden door, showing that James really has been standing there the whole time. Ayden should have known, Noah’s hunches were never wrong when it came to how people would act.

“At least this saves us some time. Charles, you have some people that are really sick in this village, right? Could you show us where they are?” Ayden asked. Charles looked back at them, “Did Tobias tell you of them?”

“No, but he avoided a specific part of the village as if it was a habit. We didn’t see any graveyard either. I just figured that you were keeping sick people in that area together.”

“Of course, you are right. We had hoped to have gotten rid of it, but it is back. Please, follow me.” Charles agreed, for the first time showing a bitter frown instead of a sweet smile. Noah picked up all the books and followed Ayden and Charles through the village. They entered the area that seemed to be off-limits to everyone and stepped into the small building beside the graveyard.

The moment they stepped inside, a sweet scent entered Noah and Ayden’s noses. Half a dozen people were lying on beds set up right next to each other, silently suffering.

The two friends glanced at each other and locked eyes, giving them the determination they needed to continue. Noah’s eyes lit up in an emerald glow, and Ayden’s lit up in metallic silver.

Ayden was able to see cracks on the beds and walls, spreading out through this building. These people weren’t dead, but they were dying. There were three spirits on the other side of the room, weeping beside one of the beds.

On the other hand, Ayden saw something else. It was similar to a sight he had seen once before. The person in question was paralyzed neck down. But with Noah’s unusual eyes, he could see chains locking their body up, making them unable to move.

Of course, these chains were just the visualization of what that person felt like. As if their body was locked up. Even if Noah had tried to remove the chains, nothing would have changed.

This time it seemed similar but different at the same time. Thick roots were covering the sick people's bodies, enveloping them to make them unable to move. Flowers were growing on them, close to blooming.

All those roots gathered in the center of the room. There stood a thin tree with leaves glowing like the moon. It reminded Noah of those flowers that they saw in the forest and in Charles’ house.

“I knew it. It’s the disease I saw in this book.” Ayden pointed out, “Everything fits perfectly.”

Ayden turned his head toward Charles, who was trying not to look at the people lying in the beds. ‘So his children really did die like this.’

With an annoyed groan, Ayden snapped out of it and looked at Charles, “According to the book, it’s a disease that can be cured using magic. Is there anyone here that can use it?”

“It can be cured..? This disease is...” Charles stared Ayden deep into his eyes as he heard this information that he never expected to encounter, “No, there is nobody capable of using magic in this place... Magic users are rare. On the whole island, I think there is just one place where we may find them.”

Ayden’s ears perked up. The existence of magic was never foreign to him; what he and Noah could do seemed like magic in itself as well. But just the chance that it may be more common here made him weirdly excited.

“Before that...” Noah muttered quietly, “Are there any glowing trees around here or something? Ones with flowers that look like the ones in your home?”

“What do you mean? Did you see something?” Ayden asked with a surprised expression. Even Ayden could tell that there was something supernatural going on, the way that this death felt wasn’t natural. But it seemed like Noah was able to see something more direct than Ayden’s vague feeling.

Charles looked back at Noah with a slight frown. For some reason, he suddenly seemed quite angry after hearing the young man’s question, “I hope you are not suggesting that the holy Moonlight Blossom is the cause for this accursed disease! That would, of course, be ridiculous, so there is no way! Right?”

Noah felt shivers on his back from that glare, “Listen, man, I’m not saying that. What I am saying is that the cause is some kinda plant. It’s not something like a cold.”

“I suggest that if you find anything like Noah described, you just stay away.” Ayden pointed out. He looked around the room and then stared at the three spirits. They were young, really young. Children.

“Charles, did three kids die of this disease recently?”

The elderly man slowly nodded his head, sadness flowing over his face, “Yes... Marie’s children. She is the one sleeping in the corner over there. Children and the elderly pass quite swiftly from this disease. But how did you know?”

Ayden ignored Charles’ question and walked over toward the three spirits that he saw upon entering this hut and squatted down next to them.

“Hey there, you three.” He said with a wry, bitter smile as his eyes were glowing in silver light. The children's spirits turned around, realizing that there was someone who could see them and who they could converse with.

However, they didn’t question this fact. They never did. Spirits would usually just accept it as reality and speak to Ayden as they would with anyone else.

“Could you tell me, did you see any special tree before you got sick?” Ayden asked with a calm and quiet voice. The children looked back, confused.

“There are lots of trees around here..!”

“They are all special...”

Two of the spirits explained, while the third, the youngest, stayed silent.

“Was there any tree with glowing flowers growing on it?” Ayden tried again. However, once more, none of the children were able to help him.

Charles was looking at the young man as if he was crazy, speaking to himself in front of the bed of a sick woman. However, seeing that Noah didn’t even bat an eye at this, he figured this had to do with one of the Lost Souls’ special powers.

“Any luck?” Noah asked a few minutes later, and Ayden slowly turned around to him and shook his head, “Sadly not. They don’t seem to know anything. Well... They’re just children, after all. They-“

But just as Ayden was about to continue speaking, he could hear the youngest child speak. It had stayed silent until now but was the first to ask about something that Ayden didn’t want it to.

“Can you help our mommy?” The child asked. Ayden looked back at the child and nodded his head. He never rejected this sort of request from a spirit, and he wouldn’t start now, “Of course. We’re going to help your mother. We will find a mage to heal her.”

Ayden looked at the unconscious woman. Compared to the other people here in the room, the ethereal cracks surrounding here were minuscule. She was in the best condition out of every patient here. She seemed to have the highest chance of surviving. But even then, it was too risky to promise something like this.

Not only because he was unsure whether or not he could even keep it, but also because once he did, he would undoubtedly receive the Class of ‘Medium’. This was most likely the condition to have these three spirits move on to the afterlife.

“Noah.” Ayden muttered, and his best friend stood there with a slight grin and his arms crossed.

“I got it, don’t’cha worry ‘bout it.” Noah replied, getting himself mentally ready to go on a trip to find a mage.