"Seeing something change should be a good sign. Maybe we can advance now.", suggested Balm.
The others were still studying their surroundings, looking for any hints. Quickstep pondered for a moment before she controlled the ship to drift forward. A light breeze danced around the sail and the waves swayed dreamily but nothing else seemed to happen.
Fortune was in the process of embellishing the scene for her future viewers when she looked towards the sky again and noticed something:
"Guys, do you see that? Why is this star so incredibly bright?"
"You're right. It almost looks like it wants to show off. Here, here, look I'm the brightest star, much more beautiful than the others. Such a show off."
The friends chuckled lightly upon hearing Cyclone's words. But before anyone else could comment, there was an unexpected change. The star dimmed and another one not that far away lit up.
"This can't be a coincidence, right?"
"I think so too. Maybe this is a hint for us."
"But what exactly does it tell us?"
A discussion broke out among the friends as everyone came up with their own conjectures. Meanwhile the stars kept changing. As one star dimmed, another one lit up. It quickly became apparent that all the bright stars were arranged in a straight line. For a bit there was no more change to the situation until a certain star lit up which was outside of the original straight line. The friends were still pondering when this star also dimmed. But instead of a new star it was the very first one which lit up again.
"Wait, wait. Stop the ship for a moment.", said Balm. Quickstep did so which a thought, but she couldn't help but feel puzzled.
"Why should we stop now? I thought we were making progress."
"No. I think we made a mistake. Look, the star that's burning brightly now is the very first star we noticed."
"Are you sure? How can you tell?", asked Cyclone.
"Easy. Just like in the real world I imagined the sky separated into different constellations. Here, these three lines, don't they look like a pyramid? And this one is an arrow, over there is a snake, etc."
"Hmm, if you put it that way…"
The friends observed the sky and figured it out following Balm's explanation. They couldn't help but be impressed as they turned towards Balm.
"That's quite amazing."
"Well done, Balm. This should help us a lot."
"Dear viewers, leave some nice words for Balm in the comments. She really deserves it!"
Receiving so much praise from her friends Balm felt somewhat embarrassed. She humbly said:
"It's not that impressive. Everyone could have figured it out."
Seeing her like this made the others only want to praise her even more. It took a few dozen seconds until the party finally returned to the topic at hand.
"So the original star shines again. But what does this mean for us? We didn't necessarily make a mistake."
"I think we should try some more to figure it out."
"Yes, let's see what happens if we continue driving."
The friends decided to gather more information. Quickstep nodded and pushed the ship again while everyone stared at the sky. The stars lit up in the same sequence, one by one and after a while jumped back to the original star.
"I think I have an idea…", said Balm uncertainly. Feeling all eyes on her she calmy explained:
"Did you see the last star? It was to the right of the others. I guess when we see that star we need to turn right."
The others nodded, having guessed similarly. After all, the stars were their only clues and judging from the islands and rocks around them they didn't seem to move from the original spot.
The friends swiftly acted upon the idea. As the boat drove forward the stars changed. But this time they moved carefully. When the sixth star lit up, they got ready.
"Now! To the right!"
Quickstep turned the wheel with all her strength, prompting her friends to hastily grab onto whatever was in their reach.
"Ah!"
"Quickstep!"
"Is our driver drunk?"
The friends were startled, throwing annoyed gazes in Quickstep's direction. The latter hid her amusement. She turned her head towards the sky and quickly exclaimed:
"There! A new star has lit up!"
This served to divert everyone's attention. The friends checked out the night sky and realized that what Quickstep said was true.
"Yes, a new star!"
"Great! We broke the riddle!"
"We can finally leave this place!"
Everyone was greatly relieved. The change in the stars indicated that they finally made progress. Now they only had to follow the stars and would be able to leave this strange maze. The friends felt invigorated and urged Quickstep to speed up. The latter didn't hesitate. Following the changes in the stars the ship advances swiftly. Soon, they took another turn to the left and followed three more stars. But suddenly the trail ended as not a single star in the sky was shining brightly.
"No…"
"I knew it couldn't be that easy."
"What are we supposed to do now?"
Everyone lamented as Quickstep stopped the ship. The friends scanned their surroundings for more clues when a change suddenly occurred. The waves around them began to stir. In three different directions columns of water shot into the air, forming big arcs of water. Within the arcs faint water fell like a silk curtain. And on these curtains of water illusionary images began to appear.
"What's going on now? Is this a cutscene? Are we watching a movie now?"
"Three identical images and all of them are of Lewriova? What is this supposed to tell us?"
"Hmm. What do we know about Lewriova? Is there something useful?"
"Gorgeous, original nephilim, likely powerful, first appeared in the novice village…"
The friends started to dig their brains for all information they had on Lewriova while studying the three images. At first, they were at a loss but suddenly Watchful Eye noticed something important:
"These images are not identical."
"What? They are not?"
Cyclone perked up. She narrowed her eyes and quickly spotted a difference.
"Watchful Eye is right. Look at her nails."
Finally, everyone recognized this little detail.
"White in the left image, red on the right, and natural in the middle. That's quite tricky. With the way she holds her hands only two fingers are visible. I'm not sure if it's surprising or expected that a man discovers them first.", joked Fortune in an attempt to tease Watchful Eye. But the bodyguard remained taciturn showing no hint of embarrassment.
"I think it's not surprising. Watchful Eye has experience with painted nails. When I was younger, I often used him to experiment with make-up."
Silver Blade smiled as she thought back to those days. The others weren't surprised as she mentioned something like this before. But they still found the idea quite amusing.
However, as Watchful Eye still didn't show much of a reaction, the friends didn't harp on the topic any longer and placed their attention back on the puzzle.
"Do they want us to choose the correct image?"
"I guess so. But honestly, I have no idea what's right. I never looked at Lewriova's nails…", admitted Quickstep. And she was not the only one looking confused. Cyclone pondered, seemingly deep in thought, before she came up with a great idea:
"Let's ask someone to check real quick. I'll message the guild members."
The others perked up. The idea was good. But Silver Blade had a bad premonition glancing towards Liam who stood at the side with a light smile. And indeed, Cyclone immediately realised that the chat was blocked at the moment. The friends could only honestly follow the rules. They discussed for a while and finally came to the conclusion that Lewriova's nails were not painted although no one could say with certainty.
Balm wanted to think some more, but before the discussion could last forever, Quickstep simply drove the ship forward and passed the water gate with the image of Lewriova with natural nails. A faint mist enveloped the friends for a moment. They held their breaths, keeping their eyes on the sky. When the mist dissipated smiles formed on everyone's faces. The star constellation decorating the night sky had changed and a new star was shining brightly.
"We did it, right?"
"Definitely! With the constellation changing, we should have reached a new part of the maze."
"Finally, let's go. It's time to get out of here."
Now that the friends already knew what to expect Quickstep didn't hesitate long. She directed the ship according to the guidance of the stars. The fourth star was to the left of the others, indicating that the path differed from before, finally erasing even the last few doubts. They oriented themselves on the stars and it only took a few seconds until the earlier scene repeated itself and three gates of water appeared.
This time the gates of water didn't show images of Lewriova but instead there was a thin, pale man sitting on a throne made from stone. A crooked crown sat on top of his head. He wore a blue armor made from flowing water protected his body. There was a crystal on his chest shining in a striking colour. But the crystal's colour differed in each of the three images. Green, blue, or yellow. What was the true colour?