"Morning already..." I noted.

"So, I take it you two are headed towards Olya, then?" Shaid asked.

"Well..." We chuckled nervously.

After briefly explaining to him the true goal of our voyage here, that being to simply grab Nelly and run away, he put on a bit of a troubled look himself.

"Oof, that's gonna be difficult, amigos." He exhaled, "I didn't catch much of the situation back then, but from what I understand, Olya's got them on a tight leash."

"I hope you mean that figuratively." Cecily donned a half disgusted half worried-sick face.

"Of course, Olya isn't a-Well, I dunno if he is or isn't one, but..." Even Shaid couldn't really vouch for the guy, "Point is, your daughter seems to be safe for now, but only until she has that Book with her!"

"Book? Is it a Purple Book?" I raised an expectant Eyebrow.

"No, Olya has that one." He gave a negative, "Hers was Brown and a lot more worn. Though she did revive me with that one, so they might be the same type of Book."

"So there are multiple Books like the Book of Fortune..." I repeated the info to myself in a focused mutter.

There are multiple magic Books, with Nelly possessing one and Olyahim the other. They both seem to be able to do the impossible, like reviving others and making themselves immortal, so I assume these things are only made possible with said Books. But if that's the case, what are the limitations? Why didn't Nelly use her Book to find a way out herself?

"Tell me, do you know anything about those Books?" I asked him, "I can share what I know, that being that the Purple one tells the past."

"Ah, so you only know that much." He replied, "They are much more than that, amigo. If reading let's you see the past, then writing let's you change it."

"Change the past?" Cecily was taken aback.

So that's what it was. Yeah, I assumed it was something like that, but hearing it from someone else definitely cleared any doubts in my mind. Still, this answers that question, but another still remains.

"Why didn't Nelly use her Book to escape then?" I shrugged, "Surely they could've done so easily if they had the powers to even revive you, no?"

"I assume it was because of the boy that was with her." He added.

"Boy?" Cecily realized, "That's gotta be Lem! But what about him?"

"He's comatose." Shaid revealed something scary, "When I awoke, it was in his hospital room. The boy remained motionless on his bed while the girl looked over him. I assume she was worried that making any rash decisions might not have boded well for his safety."

So Lem was in a coma all this time. He must've tried protecting her from getting kidnapped and suffered greatly because of it. That's rough, but I ought to thank him personally if that's the case. Still, he's awake now and that's all that matters.

"Why didn't she just write in that he wasn't in a coma, though..." Cecily muttered offhandedly.

"...Oh." Shaid and I stared at her blankly, "Yeah, now that you mention it, she definitely could've just done that!"

Guess she wasn't yet familiar with her newfound powers yet. Who knows where she even got that Book from. There's also the possibility that she wasn't quite confident in using it yet. Maybe she wanted to first test the idea out on Shaid, but that also begs the question of how she stumbled upon him of all people. Maybe Olya told her their story.

"You two don't seem all that worried about him, amigos. That boy." Shaid looked at us a tad disappointed.

"We saw him leave the island as we set foot on it." I brushed it off, "Fine as ever, that's why we were more shocked that an overly confident twerp like him could even find himself in such a sorry state."

"Even still, Shaid's right, dear." Cecily disagreed with my answer, "Lem is a child, and we should be caring for his safety just as we're doing for Nelly's."

"Yeah amigo, even I know this and I'm way younger than you." Shaid teased.

"Huh!? You're hundreds of years old!" I got up in his face, "You're the older one, and not by a small margin, mind you!"

"So? My body's still rocking 22." He smirked, "You on the other hand? Can't be a day less than 38-"

"Who're you calling 38!?" Cecily delivered a wonderful backhanded slap to him, "The nerve! It's one thing to call my husband old, but I definitely look younger than my age!"

"Honey, I'll ignore the nonchalant insult towards my appearance, but I do agree you look super good." I stood in between them, "No matter how wrinkly you get, you'll always be cute!"

"I'm not wrinkly!" She hissed even louder.

Man, that really riled her up. I didn't mean to tease her this time, it was a genuine slip of the tongue, but that doesn't make it any less fun to do. I wonder if she'll still be gifting me these reactions when we do grow old eventually. Ah, but before that, we should probably focus on getting everyone out of here alive.

"So now you get it." Shaid concluded the topic, "Without the boy, your daughter couldn't leave, and without knowing how to use the Book, she couldn't wake him. Olya was the one calling the shots, essentially."

"Then we can't just find Nelly and leave, 'cause he'll just change the past so that we never did." I nodded slowly, "Right, you're saying we can't hope to bring Nelly back to us until we deal with Olyahim, then?"

"Alas, that's the case, amigo." He patted me on the back before giving a confident grin, "But with my traps, it should be over with in a flash!"

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Somehow, I doubt that it's gonna be as easy as it was for our case... Ignoring me, the only reason Cecily got caught was 'cause she did it on purpose. I don't think the old man that lived well over half a century wouldn't have the experience to spot a 22 year old's amateur grade traps.

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"Then, see you later." We waved him off as we headed towards the village.

"Hey, stop!" He ran in front of us, "That's the residential area, amigos! People are there, you know!"

"Yeah, we just wanna ask them to give us Nelly back." Cecily replied simply.

"Or at least point us to her location." I added.

He seemed to really dislike the idea, since he adamantly kept stopping us from moving forward. Guess we're not going anywhere, then.

"Are they enemies?" Cecily wondered what the reason was for him to give such a serious reaction.

"Enemies or not, they'll tell Olya if they see you." He shook his head, "If he finds out you're here, then I'm out as well!"

"So what do you want us to do then?" I asked.

He paused briefly to think about the answer to that before giving a confident reply.

"Help take me to Olya! I'll take care of the negotiations from there!"

"Didn't he kill you the last time you guys saw each other?"

"That's different! The Olya I know would have never done any of this. Actually, it wasn't until he got that Book that he..."

"The Book?" We tilted our heads.

"...Yes, that's it!" He smiled, "The Book is making him not think straight, amigos! Once we take it away from him, he'll be powerless to keep your daughter from escaping, and he'll be brought back to his senses! Everyone's happy!"

Somehow, I doubt that's the case. The only thing those Books do is show a person's true nature, and that's speaking from experience. Genevra, she was a totally different person before she started using the Book of Fortune, but she and everyone else just completely lost the ability to make their own judgment calls since then, only ever trusting the words inscribed in the Book. If Olyahim is like this with the Book, then he would've been the same without it, only not as powerful.

"Even still, we can't just sit around hidden in the bushes until the old man so happens to stumble across a trap." Cecily shook her head, "We don't have time to be passive. Now more than ever, we need to actively search for Nelly."

"If it means anything, I've spent quite a while learning how to traverse the island without getting spotted." Shaid looked around, "While I still can't let you talk to any of the islanders, I can at least help you gain some information regarding their whereabouts."

"Ooh, a spy operation!" I hugged Cecily over the shoulder, "She's tailor made for this, then! I'm feeling a lot more confident all of a sudden!"

"Waah, no shaking~" She disliked me neenering her around, "Seriously, stop it! Ugh, then Shaid, lead the way."

"Alright, amigos!"

Thus, instead of walking up to the entrance, we had decided to take the back road until we made it to the largest house of them all. Shaid explained it was Olya's, but we could've deduced that much even by ourselves. The house was circular, but not at all tall from floor to ceiling. Maybe a single adult's height could stand there, just going off of guesses. Now, I say "from floor to ceiling" because the entire building is elevated by five wooden beams—Four on the corners, and one in the center so that the floor doesn't fall through the middle. A staircase was at the front leading up to the door.

"Wait, where're you going!?" Cecily stopped Shaid once she saw him start walking towards the stairs, "Seriously, was I not present when the teacher told everyone to forget what stealth meant!?"

"You weren't present in any class, dear." I reminded her, "That being said, Olya isn't here right now."

"How can you tell?"

"The smell." Shaid and I both pinched our noses, "Or rather, the lack thereof, amigo. He's old as bones, so obviously you can tell from a while away."

"Ah, okay?" She still didn't feel completely confident.

"Look, it's gonna be fine. In and out, we'll find out as much as we can from this place and dip." I reassured her, "Now come on, don't dawdle too long or he'll come back!"

Inside, we found a whole lot of nothing. Well, nothing interesting, that is. A bunch of random Books with childish illustrations on them, a ton of maps of various places in the world (though I couldn't recognize all of them), and a bed.

"For a guy as long lived as him, I expected more." I leaned on the table, only for it to completely crack through and loudly announce our presence, "Crap!"

The other two stared at me in abject horror. I expected to get chewed out for causing such a commotion, but thankfully, or rather not so much, it seems they weren't afraid of the sound of the table breaking. No, that sound was completely drowned out by a loud terrifying roar that echoed throughout the entire island.

"Olyahiiiiim!" An orchish screech thundered.

"Earthquake? No, what the hell was that!?" Shaid fretted.

"That voice...!" Cecily was elated, "Dear, he's here!"

That's right, only one man in the world can create such a loud demanding shout that it would cause mountains to quiver. Only one man, and yet he's not a man at all! Looks like we have a certain Divine Favor to fall back on if things get rough, after all!

"Who's he?" Shaid looked at us.

Glancing at one another, Cecily and I nodded before giving a small, yet fruitful hint for those that knew, "Rejoice!"