Focus on the Light

We followed the floating star for a few days... I didn't notice in the beginning, but the more we followed that star, the stronger its light would become... It was as if the key was connected to the cursed gem, somehow...

The star had entered into a forest a few minutes ago... Not a large forest, nor a small one. There was nothing that really made it unique, at least I didn't notice anything that made it stand out... I guess the less unique it is, the harder would be to find this secret place of the gem.

Following the light of the star through the green leaves, the branches of the trees, and the bushes of the forest, we found a small pond... It was quite beautiful and peaceful with the animals drinking from its crystalline waters. And the star floated to the middle of the waters, stopping in the middle of it, reflecting its light on the water and blinding me... In the next second, the light disappeared and the star that was floating in the air was now floating in the water, making a huge splash after hitting the surface.

The animals seemed to be fully capable of seeing the star now, running away from there and hiding in the forest. The fox even woke up from the splash sound... But in the meantime, I was confused... Did the star lose its capability of guiding us? Or was that a sign that we had reached the place where the gem was hiding? I wonder...

"Sorry, you had to wake up... It's just that something unusual happened... Can you see the star?", I asked the fox and it looked at the river for a moment. After it saw the star floating on the lake, it nodded. I went to pick it up in the middle of the lake and then returned to speak with the fox.

"I think this is the closest it can bring us to the cursed gem... It must be somewhere around here", I said and looked around the area for a kind of construction or anything that stood out, even if just slightly... But nothing was in sight. I spent a few hours searching for it... I should've known that if the wizard wanted the gem to not ever be found, he would very well hide it...

It was the end of the night when I decided to just sit down and wait for when it was day again to continue my search. I was almost ready to sleep when Beech appeared, bringing me some berries it had found inside the forest...

"Oh, thanks... But I've already got some food while searching for the entrance. I don't even know if it's safe to eat those berries... Do you know?", I asked, but it confidently nodded at me, and he even pointed to its tail to explain why he knew it was safe to eat those... I wasn't understanding what it meant by that, however.

"I... I don't get it...", I said, and it stopped to think a little bit more. Then it made a movement of a mouth opening and closing with its paws then it pointed to its tail again... Slowly, I started to remember...

"Oh, this is the forest where I saved you from that hunters? Huh... I didn't even notice... That means we're not so far away from the house of my family... Well, if it's safe to eat those, then, I guess there's no problem, but I will save it for tomorrow, thank you", I said, surprised that this was actually that forest... I guess the paper really wasn't lying about returning to the start.

After managing to find a comfortable spot and position to sleep in the forest, I started to move into the world of dreams... Only to be interrupted in the middle of the night, with something moving on my arms. I was almost sleeping, that kind of made me annoyed, but the fox seemed very excited for some motive... It was motive enough to be awake.

"What's it?", I asked and the fox pointed in one direction... I followed it with my eyes and the pond had mysteriously and magically dried. There was no fish on there either, only bushes and grass, as if the pond never actually existed.

"Yes, this is strange... I guess the pond is there to hide something underwater, which means we can find the entrance to wherever the gem is hidden now", I said and then approached the area of the dried lake, carefully. The floor was a little bit slippery and wet, hinting me to the fact that the pond was indeed there, it wasn't just an illusion.

Taking my steps slowly, I then stepped on something solid, hid under grass... Upon close inspection, the grass was fake and it hid a camouflaged trapdoor. I looked at Beech for a second and it was saying with its eyes "come on, just open it"... And so I did...

After we opened, I gazed before jumping inside... The moonlight allowed us to see that it was a giant place, the floor was distant and a ladder was there to help us climb inside the room. Bravely, the fox climbed down the stairs and got on the floor...

Accidentally, it stepped on a button on the floor after getting down... For a moment, nothing happened... But when we less expected, torches lit up, illuminating the room completely. Still a bit hesitant, I took a few deep breaths and then got inside, carefully.

I looked around the room to see what we had there... It was a huge square room, with one of the walls entirely replaced by what seemed to be a huge door. Three sets of torches were on the walls beside it. Drawing of gems decorated the walls and, mainly, the door... There was no mistake, this is the place where the gem is kept.

The fox started to jump close to the big door, pointing with its paws to the strangely shaped hole in the middle of it. I gazed around the room a little bit more... Wasn't that a bit of exaggerated decoration for a place that you just wanted to keep a crystal hidden?

When my attention was on the lock that Beech was pointing out, it was very simple to notice... I just placed the star inside the strangely shaped keyhole. The star started to shine again once it was inserted, floating away from the hole while the doors moved open, revealing a dark room.

The room was way too dark, the light of the torches couldn't penetrate at all, not giving us even the slightest idea of what could be hidden inside there. Curious about what could be inside, I did a test, getting the torch from the wall and throwing it inside the room. Only for it to be lost in the darkness... It disappeared. The only thing that remained shining in the darkness was the star that started to float inside the dark room...

" 'The light will guide you through the dark...' It's what the riddle paper says, so I guess we don't have a choice...", I said to Beech, and taking yet another deep breath, I stepped inside, following the light of the star-shaped key...