"Uh, Carl… where are we going?" I whispered.
"What do you mean where? Of course we're going to the tomb," he whispered back.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN WE'RE GOING TO THE TOMB?! We've never even encountered such a thing!" I hissed.
"Yeah, I know. But I do know where the tomb is—the same one the adviser's been searching for. Its location was recorded nearly four thousand years ago, back when the tombs were created to seal him. After that, all the documents were destroyed by mutual agreement of every species' representatives, and the workers were executed to keep the secret buried."
I stared at him. "Then how do you know all that?"
"Because our vampire representative at the time memorized the records before they were destroyed. He rewrote everything in a royal book—one that also contained other knowledge now considered forbidden. The book was kept in the heavily restricted section of the royal library, accessible only to a select few of the vampire bloodline next in succession."
"That book doesn't exist anymore," he added quietly.
"Why not?" I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.
Carl smirked. "Because after memorizing it… I burned it."
Why, may I ask?
I asked him with a plain face because now I knew—it was a very Carl thing to do.
"Simple. That thing was dangerous for the current world. If anyone else got their hands on it, they might try to find the tombs—for whatever reason. And if they did, he might get free. That's something no one would want… at least no one who knows what he can do—or who he is."
So we're going to the VERY TOMB that has danger written all over it. Even I—the uneducated one—can read that much.
"First of all," Carl continued, "his remains are distributed among seven tombs located in different parts of the world. Secondly, don't worry—we won't be going too deep inside where his remains are buried. That's on the deepest floor. We'll just reach the first floor, find what we need, and dip back. There might be things you'll find useful there, too."
Shit, shit—this isn't going to go that smoothly, is it? There's a reason he was sealed and his remains scattered in seven different tombs! Who was he? Why was he sealed? And how the hell does Carl know all this? Is he a royal vampire?
And WHY THE HELL DID HE TELL ME ALL OF IT?! WASN'T THIS SUPPOSED TO BE A SECRET FROM THE WORLD?!
"Uh, Carl, why was he—"
"Stop it," he interrupted, "I'm not telling you more for now. I'm tired of talking. How about we focus on our current crisis instead of what happened four thousand years ago? We'll just stay on the first floor—it's safer, relatively speaking. Look, both Joey and Jack are already curious about what we're whispering, and we're nearing the end of the grassland—almost at the canopy of the forest."
Relatively…? The hell does he mean by relatively? So there is danger, right? Is he crazy? Does he want us to die? Sometimes he acts all high and mighty, and the next moment like he's got ADHD with an extra chromosome. And now we're entering the Forest of Broken Vows. Great. Running away here means certain death.
We finally reached the edge of the vast grassland where I first met Carl and were about to enter the forest. I stopped, took a step back, looked at the confused steroid bros, and said,
"From now on, Carl will take the lead—he knows the geography better. You two will take the rear and watch our backs. I'll stay in the middle."
"But why would you be in the middle?" Joey asked innocently.
Because I'm scared!!
"That's how experienced adventurers move in a dangerous place— strategist in the middle!"
Carl gave me a long, unblinking stare but said nothing, a clear sign he was judging my 'strategic' fear.
"Alright, everyone —to the forest, for the people!"
"Yes!!" both of them shouted, hyped up to save their families.
"Okay, Carl," I whispered to him, more like a desperate plea for my life, which felt entirely dependent on him and the steroid boys. "Make sure to choose the safest path, okay? And also make sure that if any monster shows up, you take care of them, okay?"
Once inside, my pocket watch read 10 a.m. The forest was as dense as I remembered, though the trees here weren't as tall as the ones where I'd first woken up. That place had been deep—so deep that I barely made it out alive through sheer luck.
Just how deep do we have to go? Should I ask him?
"Mr. Carl… how deep in the forest do we have to go?" Jack asked, saving me the trouble.
Oh! Thanks, Baldy, I love you! I thought, but wisely kept it to myself.
"It will probably take three days from here," Carl stated calmly.
Three DAYS?!? Three days in hell? What will we eat? Where will we sleep? And how will we wipe our ass after taking a shit?! And what will we drink?!
"Carl," I whispered, my voice laced with desperate frustration. "Would it have hurt you in some way if you told me the duration of the journey before we departed? I would have carried more rations!"
Carl merely raised an eyebrow. "If you're going to act like an advanced adventurer, don't act like an immature one. Carrying more rations and supplies will only slow us down as we have to move fast and be vigilant. I will eat wild fruit and plants. You, Jack, and Joey could hunt if you want meat. We will use forest water after boiling it to drink."
Shit, shit, shit! I was definitely not prepared for a three-day trip to the forest, and the return would be another three days—a total of six days! God, if you save me this time, I promise I will be a good person. God, I will be kind to your every creation.
He just said we'd be on the first floor. The very first layer of this death trap. My chest tightened. Just the first floor… relatively safe. Carl's words did little to soothe my nerves.
——————— (First floor – ground level)
—————— (Second floor – underground)
————— (Third floor – underground)
———— (Fourth floor – underground)
—— (Zeroth floor – grave)