Matthew froze, he tried his best to imagine what she was talking about. He tried to say something but the words eluded him.

  Adelina clarified "I don't mean like I travelled back home. Just I saw my house it was blurry but it was my house. My dads ugly couch, the hole in the wall and…. Look it was my house, not just the smells or the sounds but the sights if you get me."

  Matthew nodded a little lost, "So like a teleportation or a vision."

  "It felt more like a projection but it was a memory… from my highschool dance"

  Matthew pursed his lips looking back at the ground and clasped his hands.

  When there is a wishing the dead god of the fountain summons a great amount of what i will call 'magic', by fishing through the world beyond what eyes may see Ariel calls forth an armament which is a weapon, a storied weapon with passive abilities.

  From what I could call multiple points in history or different worlds. The water is the medium of sacrifice and it also granted us the Trait- Ariel's web.

  The White lantern allows us to have a strange dream which is both real but also false. I had this feeling that the dream was in a strange state, the sky changed color, the trees and plants just appeared but the tower was real and permanent…. It's out there, I need to find it.

  The world of Armaments and the dream world are different. At the same time there's essence, intent and souls. We talked about how I was strong in essence but my soul is weak.

  This feels like a jumble of information, but I'm sure souls are related to that dream world, because I felt so weak there, then it could be assumed that essence is of the world of armaments.

  Is that right though? The altar doesn't use essence to summon weapons. It uses wish coins.

  He raised his head and asked "Did you talk to anyone about the visions of the fountain."

  Adelina was deep in thought so a moment passed before she answered "huh, what did you…. Oh yes I talked to some people about it, what you and Jesse felt seemed to be an extreme point, most people smelled something or heard a whisper. Most felt nothing but warmth"

  So we're the minority, if I'm strong in essence Adelina's a titan, so with stronger essence we could see into the world beyond and maybe even call armaments ourselves. Or better yet go home.

  Mathhew nodded, he pulled out his notebook turning to a specific page and showed it to her. "These are my thoughts on what is happening, I also have some assumptions…"

  He talked about what he had heard in the dream and his thoughts on what essence was and how they could learn more about it.

  Finally he told her about what Thomas had done with the Altar.

  Adelina gaped at him and clenched her fists. "I think I know what he was doing."

  Matthew kept quiet, turning his notebook to a fresh page and taking out a nearly empty pen.

  Adelina kept looking at the fountain frowning like it was unpleasant.

  "After coming back, they waited till everyone was done getting water before approaching the fountain. I tried getting through for water but a boy stopped me. He was jacked—kind of scary, he told me to wait, they just wanted to answer a question."

  "It was kind of awkward so I asked how their exploration was. He called it a nightmare. People dying from just looking at something, bodies frozen completely by some invisible monster. He was so calm like it wasn't important, it was horrible… When I asked if they were going back he told me it depended on their answer."

  Matthew didn't bother to stay quiet, he spoke his mind immediately on the matter. "They came back to try asking the fountain a question but what prompted this?"

  "I don't know but Thomas must have learnt something out there and rushed back to test it."

  Matthew played around with his beard pulling out clods of dirt, murmuring. "We have to test this ourselves, we should ask a question, but what exactly?"

  Adalina pointed above to the corners of the temple. High above four symbols were carved at the edges of the temple.The torches were placed to highlight them perfectly.

  Of course, they've been highlighting it the whole time.

  "We should tell Parker and the others." Matthew said.

  Adelina hesitated but shrugged. They walked toward the second and third legions, where Parker, Asha, and Jesse were exchanging stories.

  "After I fed them, I handed over the torches and pointed at the Swamp Man," Jesse explained, grinning. "They absolutely rushed him."

  Asha kicked the air excitedly, "ahhhh, no more dune tunnel for me, the dark forest calls me."

  "I thought finding the next route in the dunes was cool," Parker added. "Swamp Men sound deadlier than Blade Demons."

  Jackson nodded vigorously, "They're definitely a different breed. There's a kind of village in the swamps and that was just a perimeter guard. I saw an absolute monster a little inland"

  Keith, a boy from the eighth legion besides Jesse, added. "And the only other terrace has those chameleon monsters, the fungus horror and more of those parasites."

  Parker looked distraught, he played with a screw in his hand, "No matter which direction danger isn't far. It might be best if we give up on moving further inland till we are a lot stronger."

  Jamie hummed in agreement, "It might be time we invest in the other directions… except where the ants come from though."

  Adelina half-raised her hand , hesitating to disturb them. Matthew coughed. Everyone looked at him.

  Adelina jumped, glaring back at him, but he only nudged her forward.

  She sighed. "We have some theories we'd like to share."

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  She told them everything about her experience with the wishing, what Matthew had learned in his dream and finally what they had uncovered about Thomas.

  Jamie narrowed his eyes, "Are you sure you remember what the voice told you fully."

  I filled in a lot of space with guesses but yeah. He shrugged, waving his hand in the air, "Mostly, fifty-fifty i'd guess."

  Jamie frowned, "And what about the info about Thomas?"

  "heard It from Petyr"

  All attention was thrown to the brutish boy who faltered then snapped, "What's with all these dumb questions. Colin was there when we asked Gordon's group about him."

  Jesse was looking up at the symbols asking, "So ask about those symbols?"

  "Wouldn't it be more sensible to ask how we got here or how to get back." Someone asked

  Adelina's face fell as she realised what number of questions so many people could have. Matthew however knew all of those questions wouldn't help them.

  "I wonder if that furthers the progression of this little game" he mentioned

  More people gathered seeing that people were standing around.

  Colin, who was fully healed, stood and raised his hands, "Everyone sit down, you don't have to stand over us like that, it's weird! In any sense I think Matthew's right, it doesn't matter what we want. This system is built to push our exploration of the cavern and leveling up."

  Everyone sat and opinions began to pour from all sides:

  "I think we should still ask, it could give us a goal for allowing us to return."

  "Why not tell us from the beginning? I don't know about asking for the meaning of those symbols though."

  "There's a lot we weren't told, we weren't even told about the root in the first place."

  "We should be working ?olely on how to get home, all this game nonsense doesn't matter."

  "Bold of you to assume what you care about matters."

  Brian stood sharp, sending everyone a stern glare, "Nothing gets done from us all talking at once. Stand and say what you have to and avoid antagonizing each other please."

  Matthew was glad to cut out poorly thought out responses, water would be here in a couple hours they had to come to a decision.

  Matthew leaned closer to Adelina, "We should also be careful how many times we disturb Ariel – I mean she's dead after all. Least we could do is let her rest in peace."

  Parker stood and began to explain everything for the people not caught up, he placed his hands on his hips. "As much as i would like to just forget everything and ask how to get home we have to remember we don't have any power here. They brought us here and we have to play for now at least."

  Jamie muttered, "we're way to weak to challenge whoever killed a god and used her as a nintendo ds"

  Everyone grimly agreed, muttering more quietly about their situation.

  Adelina stood, pulling at her short brown hair which had always been in a bun.

  She raised her normally quiet voice, "I also think we should be careful of how much we disturb Ariel. She already hates Matthew."

  Everyone turned to him so he waved, giving a weary smile.

  Jesse laughed, "She might hate him because of how dumb he is, he only made one wish."

  "Hey! He's insane, not stupid," Joey corrected.

  "Good defense buddy," Matthew said dryly.

  He watched Jane quietly, she was pretending to be looking at Joey but they both knew it was pointless to pretend now.

  What will you do? Take the initiative to ask a question yourself or try to get us to ask something you're interested in?

  Jane turned to the girl beside her and they both smiled at each other whispering.

  The girl raised her hand immediately. Parker agreed to letting her take the stage.

  She was pretty—dark green eyes, her hair was dyed blue and she seemed very energetic.

  "Hello my name's Pearl, I was talking with the girls before about this but what if we took the wrong route or went about this whole thing in like the wrong order. What if our first action shoulda been asking the Altar what to do."

  Many people nodded agreeing that their road had been confusing. Pearl continued, "I think it would be smart to ask what we need to do then we can worry about the translation stuff tomorrow."

  Adelina raised a hand and explained "Our rationale for the symbols was that they have clearly been set up to be noticed. What to do had been kind of obvious, we collect spirit essence and level up. These symbols are the only clearly defined features in this temple and the most alien. It's best if we eliminate things we don't understand first."

  Pearl seemed unable to refute that and sat back down looking a bit down, Jane pet her head apologising.

  The other groups didn't seem to like how Pearl had been shot down and Matthew finally realised that Adelina's argument wouldn't work.

  It was decently compiled and logically sound but overly complicated and wordy, Pearl had a more intuitive argument that was simpler to understand in a large group like this.

  Of course the aesthetics of the debaters was also not in her favor.

  Was that Jane's intention? It's pointless though she knows the best answer. Don't be foolish, opposing me for no reason is just stupid.

  Matthew murmured absentmindedly, "We have enough food and time, we can just place two question at different times"

  Adelina heard this and said nothing but Brian on the other hand, who had noticed the group's irritation at how Pearl had been pushed aside, clicked his tongue in frustration.

  Brian stood making his way to the center and informing them, "All ideas are good ideas, we have time too, let's talk about something else instead. The essence sharing."