Back to the present.

…

"How can a grimoire move on its own?!" The boy pointed a trembling finger at the grimoire. He was so overwhelmed with shock that he didn’t even register the pain from falling hard on the ground. "What are you?!"

The grimoire tilted itself sideward, confused about what the boy was talking about. It floated a little closer to the boy before abruptly parting open to reveal the first page, baring its insides to him.

"What’s this?" the boy remarked in bewilderment.

He slowly stood up, reached out to the grimoire, which was floating still in front of him, and attempted to flip to the next page.

"Huh? It’s all blank… Is there nothing else in this book?"

The boy was baffled. There were only two pages of the grimoire that contained any writings at all—the page behind the cover and the first page. Unlike the common language, which was written from left to right, the writings on the grimoire contained a single column of characters written from top to bottom at the center of the pages.

He took a closer look at the writings, and he noticed that they looked oddly similar to the engravings on the stone door and the walls around him. However, he was unable to interpret this mysterious language.

"I don't understand it all… No! I can’t be wasting time here. I need to head back to the town right now!" Recalling the matter with the hoodlums, the boy hurriedly tried to close the grimoire, but to his astonishment, it didn't even budge an inch.

"Why aren't you closing?!"

The grimoire stood firmly in place before the boy, not moving an inch away no matter how the boy tried to push and pull at it. With the tip of its page, it tapped softly on the writings, as if urging the boy to read it.

Seeing that the grimoire wasn’t moving at all, the boy turned around and headed for the stairs where he came up from. The grimoire immediately darted forth and blocked his way, shoving its pages in his face. It impatiently tapped the writings with the tip of its page.

"Tik, tik, tik!"

"What?! There’s something I need to do right now! Don’t block my way!" The frustrated boy dodged the grimoire and dashed for the doorway leading to the stairs.

However, before he could make it through the door, something flew past him and the door suddenly slammed shut on him. Horrified, the boy pulled on the handle with all his might, but it wasn’t opening at all.

"What?! Why isn’t it opening?!"

The grimoire flew over and touched the boy's head again with its page, impatiently tapping on the writings in the book.

"Argh! Is this your doing?!" The boy screamed in frustration as he clutched his head with his hands, "I don't have time for this!"

He grabbed the handle of the door and desperately pulled on it with all his might, but it simply wouldn’t open up for him.

'I have to think of a way to get out of here.' Realizing that it was futile, he gave up on trying to open the door by force. He walked back to the center of the room to look for other clues as to how he could get out of here. Meanwhile, the grimoire continued to follow him right behind his back.

He spent some time inspecting every nook and cranny for clues, but his effort wasn’t paying off. He couldn’t find anything that would help him get out of here. Left with no choice, he succumbed to the grimoire’s tenacity. His shoulders slumped in defeat as he asked in resignation, “Fine, I give up… What do you want from me?”

The grimoire tapped on the writings on the first page with its tip for the umpteenth time.

The boy looked at writings and sighed helplessly. "Will you let me leave if I read it out?"

The grimoire tilted itself sideward, not responding to his question at all. It was then that the boy suddenly realized something. "By any chance, is it possible that you don’t understand what I’ve just said?"

The grimoire paused for a moment, as if it was trying to process his question. There was a brief moment of silence before the grimoire tilted itself sideways yet again, as if expressing its confusion.

"So that was it," the boy sighed deeply. He gestured at the writings in the grimoire with one hand while pointing at himself with the other and spoke word by word, "I. Can't. Read. It."

This time around, the grimoire seemed to understand what he was saying thanks to thes gestures. The grimoire tapped again its tip on the first page then shook from side to side before tilting itself questioningly.

"Oh you understand!" The boy repeated the same gestures as before and said, “Yes. I. Can’t. Read. It.”

The grimoire suddenly slumped forward, as if it was hanging its head in disappointment. But soon, it lifted itself up once more and tugged at the boy’s robe.

"What now?! W-wait a moment! Slow down! My body is still hurting. I'm wounded, you know…"

It dragged the boy toward a certain section of the wall which contained a huge carved mural. It depicted two men standing opposite to one another. There was a book floating by each of their sides, which looked oddly reminiscent of the grimoire tugging at the boy’s robe. There was a huge army standing behind each of the men, as if they were two factions warring with one another.

The army behind each of the men looked like humans, but for some reason, they had horns on their heads. Those horns were unlike those he had seen on the enslaved beastmen he had seen on the streets. It looked more noble, more divine…

"Whoa… This is amazing… but I've never seen this kind of horn before..." For a moment there, the boy was mesmerized by the mural, but he swiftly snapped out of it. "No, this isn’t the time for that. I really need to return now, or else those hoodlums will really kill Sunny and the others!"

"I don’t know what you want, but let me go! I need to return right now!"

However, the grimoire didn't pay any heed to him. It continued tugging on the boy’s robe, forcing the boy to follow him. The grimoire was oddly strong for a book, though the boy was also in a severely weakened state after all the thrashing around he did in the river earlier.

"How are you so strong?!" the boy murmured helplessly as he followed the grimoire while enduring the pain stabbing throughout his whole body. He wanted to tell the grimoire to stop, but he knew that it was futile since it couldn’t understand his speech. He had no choice but to go along with it for the time being.

The grimoire led him to another big gate. It was the same as the gate from before. But it was much bigger. It was like 7 or 8 meters tall. With the same mysterious characters carving like the ones inside this room.

The grimoire did something to the door, no one knows what it did. The boy couldn't understand, but he could guess that the book used the same mysterious characters this place had all over to open the big gate.

"Wush!"

Gush of wind crashed on his face. It was so hard that he had to close his left eye. Since he was injured right above his right eye the other day before.

"Whoa…"

The boy was amazed again by the phantasmal scene before him.

It was a really big field of green grass in front of him. Surrounded with types of trees at distance. He could not see them clearly, but he was sure that he had never seen them before.

Flowers were blooming anywhere on the field, the atmosphere was so serene. It calmed the soul of everyone seeing it.

The mist outside of the area that was covered by the trees was densely covered in mist.

The mist covered the area up to the sky, but above the sky, the mist was nowhere to be seen, allowing the bright moonlight shone through, piercing the darkness. It was a very beautiful sight.

The grimoire pulled the boy hurriedly, the boy was heard grumbling.

"Hey, slowly! I was enjoying the scene and you just ruined the mood!"

The grimoire took the boy near a tree that surrounded the whole area of this ancient site. He was confused.

"Why are you bringing me here?"

The grimoire tilted to the side.

The boy repeated again, but with gestures this time. "Why. Are. You. Bringing. Me. Here?"

The grimoire lifted up and bowed down like nodding its head if it had one, then pointed at the tree with its page and then pointed at the same writing on the first page of the grimoire.

"What? Is it the name of the tree?"

The grimoire was still repeating the same thing all over again.

"..."

The boy was very confused, he finally couldn't take standing for any longer and slumped down to the ground.

"Huff… I don't know anymore… we can't even communicate… I can't ask it where we are right now and how to go back…"

The boy was feeling very tired. All of the exhaustion was gushing all over his body. He had indeed reached his limit.

"I hope they are okay…" he imagined all of the other kids that were still waiting for him. His heart ached and tears could be seen falling down his cheeks.

"I need to go back. But right now I can't even move!" The boy was very frustrated. He cried out ignoring the pain in his right eye as tears kept falling down, he screamed as he covered his eyes with his hand.

"I HATE BEING WEAK! I'M USELESS, HELPLESS!"

The grimoire was going to pull him up. But seeing his expression and sudden mood change, it only hovered around then landed beside the boy. Laying on the grass, accompanying him in this serene yet sad night.