Chapter 225: The Solitude

As soon as Villin opened the book, it quickly became clear this wasn't truly a book but a box instead.

With the top opened they could see the objects inside. The first object that was clearly a reward for getting this far was a crystal holder holding five thousand crystals. Most likely motivation to keep going.

But this was the least eye-catching object in the 'book'. All around the inside were purple, pulsing mushrooms. They seemed like the textbook example of toxic mushrooms but Villin had never actually seen an accurate description of this specific mushroom so he didn't know if the appearance was accurate.

Then, there was also a thin, small, empty diary. On the cover it said H. R. D. but that was all, the inside of it was void of any text.

Lastly, there was a small stone figurine. It was hardly five centimeters tall, she had a fancy dress on and her curled hair was covering her eyes.

Villin looked at it carefully and just as he was about to take it out of the box to spectate it more closely, it moved. When Villin's fingers were just about a centimeter away from the figurine, she suddenly turned towards it and bit down.

Villin was stunned when he saw the tiny figuring move, as soon as she did, her hair flowed like the hair of a living person, something that seemed impossible to happen with stone, even with enchantments Villin had never heard of anything even close to being able to create movements so complex and realistic from a hard surface.

When the tiny statue bit into his hand he felt a slight sting but knew his skin hadn't been pierced, she would've barely been able to pierce a regular person's skin. Since his own was tougher than the one of a regular person, she didn't get through all of the skin.

After biting down the little statue didn't move so Villin carefully grabbed her and took her away from his finger.

She seemed to have turned back into a statue but this time, her face was clearly visible, she had a savage expression on her face and vampiric teeth could be seen in her open mouth.

"What? It's so small! How is it a golem?" Golmi asked as he looked at the tiny statue, shocked.

"I was wondering the same thing. It has to be a collaboration between Decorus and the Goodwill family. I mean, who else would be able to do such a thing."

"It's not, this is a different force," Golmi responded with some severity on his face.

"Hmm, now I do wonder whether this thing was supposed to be a trial and if she pierced the skin, some sort of poison would take effect, or if she's a warning and a clue towards the statues, for whichever steps we missed." Villin wondered as he looked at the little thing he had just put down.

"No matter what, we should test something out." Villin continued as he took out his wand and pointed it at the little statue.

Before Golmi could properly react an icicle shot out from Villin's wand hitting the little statue in the face which promptly exploded into pieces reassuring Villin.

"Wh- what did you try to test out? Did you expect something else to happen?" Golmi questioned as he looked at Villin with a confused look.

Villin was about to say he wanted to see whether the statues could be taken out with magic but then he realized how dumb of a question that was. Just the fact that a golem so tiny existed, leave alone with realistic hair and beautiful craftsmanship, was already an insane feat. For it to be impervious to most magic would be beyond impossible, runes required space to be made.

"I- I wanted to see whether there was a clue inside." Villin lied with an unmoving face.

"Oh! I see! Well, it looks like this time there wasn't." Golmi responded as he grabbed the broken body of the statue and looked at it carefully, trying to feel its magic signature.

"So, what are these mushrooms then? And this diary? And those invisible people you keep seeing?" he asked, expecting Villin to have answers to all of that.

Faced with these questions, Villin thought about them sincerely. The three were quiet now as they looked on, it didn't seem like they cared to enlighten him.

"Hmm, I believe the mushrooms may be hallucinogenic. The three could be some sort of hallucination created by them. Then it would make me see what I expect them to be like. But, this seems unlikely. It's also possible that the diary somehow contains the souls, or a section of the mind, of these three individuals, and the mushrooms spread this information in a non-standard way. But this too, is a little far-fetched."

"Then, how can you stop seeing them?" Golmi asked as he looked at the box and made sure to keep a bit of distance between himself and the mushrooms.

"Well, sometimes the simplest answers are the best ones as well," Villin said before pointing his wand towards the box in its entirety. A ball of fire quickly began forming before Villin and his plan became clear.

"Wait, hold up now! We are here to help you! We are to help you in the game! You shouldn't try to get rid of us! We'll disappear on our own after helping you succeed!" the green-haired male quickly interfered when he saw a fireball being created before Villin, he sounded panicked.

Villin scoffed, but he did pause his spell for a moment as he turned to the trio before looking at the blonde-haired man, "You, say what he just said."

The blonde man was as panicked as the green-haired one but he hadn't said anything. Now that Villin specifically asked him to repeat Ron's words, he was at a loss of what to do. He opened his mouth multiple times, trying to say the words but was unable of doing so.

"Dean who never told a lie, tell me then, what are you? After all, what do you have to lose by telling me, I'm about to destroy you all anyways.

Ron quickly tried to interfere again, talking to Villin about how they were to help him but when a couple of sparks came dangerously close to the mushrooms, he shut up.

"This-" Deal started, trying to find the right words to say. "We are- We are- We do have some uses." he struggled.

"Tch, don't play games with me, of course you have uses, everyone does. If you don't tell me what you are trying to do, you're gone." to put some weight on his threat, the fireball before him expanded again, becoming large enough to threaten even himself, leave alone some mushrooms.

"We- we are just supposed to keep you on the path of the clues." Dean finally said.

This sentence caused one of Villin's eyes to raise. "If it were that simply there is no reason for you all to have hesitated and struggled before saying it, Why are you supposed to keep me on the path of the clues?"

"Because- because the Goodlaw family needs talented magi!" at first, Dean seemed to once more have difficulty finding the words but he seemed glad when he found what to say.

Villin narrowed his eyes as he looked at him, thus far the answers hadn't sounded too bad, "Why?"

This time, Dean didn't speak for the longest time, when Villin once more caused some sparks to fly out, he seemed resigned to his fate, "Because, his son needs four talented individuals to advance in the dark arts." he finally said.

"Four…" Villin mumbled, "Ah right, the two who get through and the two that need to be sacrificed. I'm guessing the latter two would be from those within the penthouse as well." he finished before looking at the three people again.

"Then who are you? Why do you do this."

This time Harry spoke, something Villin didn't mind. "You found the truth earlier, or part of it. Our souls are within that book, we have been trapped for over a hundred years, if we complete our assignment, we can finally go to rest."

"Tch, I've seen where the dead go, there is no rest, just an endless darkness and a hunger for the living," Villin said, thinking about the hall of horrors.

"Well, it's better than being inside of the book, isn't it? For a hundred years we were locked within having nothing to look at or do. There have only been three times when we were able to see anything! Three times! And one of those has just been the last hour when we have been able to see your surroundings!" Ron said clearly agitated, even though the words came from the untrustworthy one, Villin believed him.

He actually thought about the question for a bit, "I'm not sure what's better, endless darkness or endless hunger. I could help you pass on, but I want you to tell me, who were you, and do you remember what you all knew when you were alive?"

Then followed a long conversation of which Golmi couldn't understand a thing. Harry, Ron, and Dean were close when they were alive. They were three famous magical scientists in their time. It was a craft that was now lost, replaced with more specific jobs such as enchanters, spell creators, and things of the like.

They remembered everything but one thing Villin did notice was that their perception of time was off, they had been dead for much longer than a hundred years, but exactly how long was hard to guess since early magi history was incomplete and inaccurate.

"Despite what I said, I will not let you die and pass on." 

When Villin said this, Harry and Dean seemed to lose a certain amount of hope they had left and Ron was about to blow up and yell at him.

"But, I will bring you along. I will destroy most of the mushrooms but keep a small amount. When I get back, I will study both your empty diary and the sample of the mushroom. I will look for a way that you will be able to see, speak, and experience. That is, as long as you swear your fealty. Otherwise, I will destroy the book, causing your souls to disappear completely."

Despite all the hardship they went through, none of the three wanted their souls to die, it was heard to be the worst thing imaginable. And even though Ron could lie, and Harry probably could too, if Dean were to swear his forever fealty, it would be for real. Additionally, if he got the diary and mushrooms back, he would be able to study the soul with some of the best objects imaginable.