The five of them retreated to the room where the rat nest was located and set up their tents. Heloisa again took charge of the distribution of food, and Henrique organized the shifts of guard.
Everyone was tired but in good spirits. Despite being in an unknown place and not knowing when they would be able to go back to their homes and families again, this adventure was like living a dream.
They chatted idly, ate, and rested, then slept. Each one took one two-hour turn of guard, totalling a bit more than eight hours of sleep each. Then they took breakfast and resumed their exploration.
"Let's do the old and tested 'go always to the right,' for it will make it easier for us to find the exit. It also lessens the need for having to make a decision every time we get to a fork."
"Good idea, Ma. Let's follow the same marching order from yesterday."
After Henrique spoke his agreement to Marina's plan, they left.
:::
In a couple of minutes, they were back in the butterfly cave. From there, they took the southern exit, which was to the right from where they entered.
It was a long and almost straight corridor that led to a fork. Marina immediately went to the right, as they had agreed, but that corridor soon dipped lower and was covered in water after some point, making progress impossible that way.
They backtracked to the fork, then entered the corridor to the left of where they came from. After some time, they reached another fork.
Marina sighed and went to the right. Less than three meters later, there was another fork. But, this time, the end of the path to the left was in sight. It seemed to be a dead end, which made things easier to decide.
But, right as they were passing by the fork, Carlos exclaimed.
"Wait! There's something in that place…"
"Huh? How do you know?"
"My new ability, did you forget? I can see a faint shine in there. There's definitely something."
"I'll take a look. If there is a trap, I'll have more chances to see it in time than you."
Marina walked into it and was about to go back, saying that there was nothing in it, when something caught her attention.
The ground at the end of that corridor was soft, as if someone or something had disturbed it.
There were no plants or any other features in this place, except for the little stretch of disturbed soil. She took her knife and started digging. After a little while, she brought a ring from the ground.
Someone had buried that thing there to hide it.
She goes back to the others and shows the ring to Carlos.
"Is that it? The source of the light you saw?"
"Yes, yes… this is it. A ring? Would it be a magical ring? I wonder what it does."
He was about to put it on his finger when Ravi stopped him.
"Forget it, Carlos. What if it's cursed? Or have a nasty effect?"
"Ravi is right for once. Don't put it on, Carlos."
"Okay, Helo. I won't, at least until I learn more about my ability. Maybe later I'll be able to identify stuff."
The five started walking again. Soon, the corridor enlarged and bent to the left, leading them to another cave.
This new cave was small and didn't seem to have anything interesting in it. There was an exit right at the north, and Marina soon went through that opening, arriving at another cave. [M]
"There's a door over there. Hey guys. Look."
Marina excitedly called the others to enter the cave. There was indeed a stone door at the northeastern wall of the cave, besides a normal cave exit at the northwest.
The cave itself was a normal, barren cavern. Its only feature is said door and one statue.
It is a double door made out of polished marble, without a handle or keyhole. Instead, it has a circular niche at its exact center. It lies at the opposite wall from where they entered the cave.
To the right of the entrance, there is a statue of a fox. It is very similar to the one they fought yesterday, but it's made of black marble with subtle golden veins, with a perfectly smooth surface.
"Whoever built this place has poor level design skills, not gonna lie. Seriously? They'll just put this statue here, without any context?"
"Carlos, this is not a game. Are you being infected by the Ravi virus?"
Ravi was about to complain about that comment but then noticed something and pointed at the door.
"Hey, Marina! Isn't that circle on the door the same size as that thing we got from the rat chest?"
Everyone looked at Ravi, startled, and then at the door. Marina then picked up the piece that looked like a third of a circle from her backpack and then walked to the door.
She put the piece on the circle of the door. It fit the circumference perfectly, but nothing happened.
"Try turning it around. It shall nest at some point."
Marina obviously had played several electronic RPGs in her life, so she didn't need Ravi to tell her what to do. She moved that semicircle around until at some point it made a 'click' sound and glued itself to the door, shining with a faint purple light visible to everyone.
"This is it!"
"I was right all along. This IS a piece of a puzzle. Maybe the exit is behind this door?"
Everyone gathered around the two of them, looking in awe at the door. Carlos patted Ravi's shoulder.
"I gotta hand it to you this time. You were right. This was indeed a puzzle. But it seems that we need two more of those."
The niche in the door was a complete circle, yet the piece was a third of a circle. According to RPG logic, one would need the other two-thirds of the circle to be notched into that niche for the door to open.
"Well, something tells me that each one of those two will be safeguarded by some monsters, like those rats. So we need to steel ourselves, because battle is coming."
Marina offered her piece of thought, and then Heloisa's attention turned to the statue.
"And what about that statue? It looks weirdly similar to the fox that was the challenge when we received the Soul Expansion thingy."
Everyone walked to the statue, looking at it curiously. But Heloisa was seeing something different in it.
She could sense something that she could only describe as 'divine' coming from the statue. So she unconsciously got down on one knee.
"Helo? What are you doing?"
"I don't know. It just felt like the right thing to do."
Everyone just looked at her, baffled. Nobody dared to utter a single word, as Heloisa clasped her hands together in a prayer gesture, closed her eyes, and hung her head low.
[Yakozen accepted your prayers.]
There was no other information in the voice that appeared in their heads. Only those four words.
"What? Who? Helo, what did you do right now?"
Everyone looked around trying to make sense of what just transpired, and Marina asked Heloisa directly, but she did not respond.
Only Carlos noticed that there was something different in Heloisa, but he wasn't able to pinpoint exactly what.