XIV

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~0~0~0~

The map says left but he turns right. It says forward but he went backward. It says over the bridge but he went under the bridge. It says don't go near the forest trails but he uses the forest trails to get out of the forest.

Laryo said just follow the map signs yet he neglects them and just follows his guts.

Now, Stephen is lost.

He no longer knows where he is and how he gets there. The more he walks, the farther he gets. Stephen sighs and sat down on one of the sturdy trees on his way. He looked at the map once again and drop his head down.

'How the fuck did I get here in the first place?' he thought and looks up to the sky. He knew he was fucked.

~0~0~0~

It was a nice sunny day when Stephen wakes up at the sound of people fighting. He immediately gets up and went outside to see who is fighting who when he noticed Triton sitting at the corner sulking.

He went to Triton to ask what is wrong. "Hey, what happened?" Stephen asks as he bends down and ruffles Triton's fur. "They scolded me because I argued to go with you on this journey," Triton said and pouts.

"Oh, you poor baby. You do know that it will be more dangerous if you come with me, right?" Stephen said as he combs Triton's fur to calm him down. "I know but what if something will happen to you and you die?" Triton asks in concern and looks at Stephen with puppy eyes.

Stephen softly smiles at him and said, "If that happened, I will call you for help." Triton perks up and boops his wet nose on Stephen's cheeks. Stephen giggles and went to the arguing old men.

"Are you fucking crazy?" Laryo yelled at Uran while holding a large paper. "I am telling you that is the shortest route to Phantom Island," Uran agued as he tries to grab the large paper. "It might be the shortest but it is the most dangerous. He will get lost very easily," Laryo argues back to him.

Uran glares back at him and asks, "You wanna fight, old man?" Laryo looks at him and positioned himself. Uran glared back at him and ready himself to fight. They both scream like little kids and charge to one another when all of a sudden Alviary appeared.

"What the fuck is happening here? Aren't you guys too old to fight like children?" Alviary exclaims with frustrations in his voice. The two old men stop midway when they heard his voice and looked at each other with shame.

They bowed at Alviary and said sorry to each other. "What are you guys even doing?" Alviary asks as he calmed himself down. "We are checking the shortest and safest routes to Phantom Island," Laryo explains.

Alviary sighs and rubs his temples feeling an ache was about to happen. "You do know that there is no such thing as shortest and safest when it comes to Phantom Island, right?" Alviary asks as he sat on one of the benches near the hut.

Stephen just looks at them with a confused face when he looks at the large paper. It was an old map. A map that could help him to get to Phantom Island.

But that said map has weird handwriting that he usually sees when he goes to the underground tunnel in Anlami. It's written in Baliata. It's a type of handwriting where one wrong stroke, the meaning will be different.

He had learned this in school. The letters look the same but they differ when written. He understood the Logaat version of these letters but never the Abyasi version. Stephen tries to understand what was written.

He even took a paper to write the English representation of the said letters to figure out what it is saying.

After hours of studying the map on his own since the others are pretty busy arguing where or what is the safest route to the island, Stephen gasps as he excitedly runs to them. "I deciphered it!" Stephen exclaims.

Laryo and Uran look at him with confusion but that suddenly turns into amazement when they read the map. "How did you do it?" Uran asks with astonishment in his voice. "Baliata, it's an old lettering that was taught to me when I was still a kid," Stephen responds with enthusiasm.

'This kid,' Alviary thought. He himself looked at the map to see how he deciphers it. Needless to say, he did an amazing job.

Now, the only problem that they have is how he will go there and what transportation he will use. Uran sighs and sat on the wooden chair near the big tree. He asks Stephen to sit beside him. He wants to talk about something that basically differs from the current currency being used in Pinliphesip.

"This is what you call a leugo bill. One leugo bill is equaled to 31 mauru coins. These are the currency we use here in this realm. And you will use them to go to Phantom Island," Uran explains.

Stephen looked at him confusedly, "Why can't I use the currency we have today?" the latter asks. "If you are worried that people might give you weird looks, stop. The people of Maras already knows about these currencies.

The moment you present these to them and say your location, they will know that you are not from their world," Uran elaborates. Stephen nods and took all the money that they gave him. "Keep this map, this will show you your way to Phantom Island," Uran said as he folds the map and puts it on Stephen's bag.

"The journey is long so take as much food as you can. You can also use seop in case the food that you brought will run out," Laryo said as he starts preparing for Stephen's awaited journey. As they prepare everything that Stephen might need, the latter could hear the faint sounds of crying.

He went to the source and saw Triton in the corner. "Hey, I won't be gone for too long," Stephen said as he brushes his back.

"But you will still leave. What if you can never get back here alive? What if they killed you there? How about me? I will miss my playmate," Triton said as he mourns as if someone died. "Hey, stop that. Stop thinking about negative things. I will live and I want you to believe that. Promise?" Stephen said and laid his palm downward.

Triton sniffs and places his paws on Stephen's palm and shakes it. The day lasts quicker than he thought. He slept nicely that night thinking that he will be alright with this journey.

~0~0~0~

He is definitely not alright. He is lost and being indecisive about whether to call Alviary or not. He sighs for the umpteenth time today. He took one of the snacks that he brought from the hut when he heard tiny whispers not far from where he's at.

He looks around but he sees no one. He stands up and looks behind the tree but there is nothing there. He took a bite from his bread when he hears it again. "Who is it?" he asks out loud. The answers that came back to him are tiny giggles that echoed around the forest.

His instincts tell him to run but his body won't move. The tiny giggles grew louder and louder to the point that he covers his ears and mentally called Alviary. Out of nowhere a manly voice shouts from a distance.

"Stop scaring the poor kid!" the voice scolded and in that instant, the voices stop yet the breeze went cold. Stephen shudders as he brought both of his hands and caresses his arms. He grabs the map again and looks at it to see where he is.

According to the map, he is in between the town of Andarga and Trangaan. He puts an X to where he is and looks for another way so he could get to the town before it gets dark. There is a town a few kilometers away from this forest. He encircled it and memorized the route then he started walking again.

It was around 3 pm when he reached the town. He was so hungry and tired from walking so he decided to sit on one of the open benches near a rindrekaay. "Hey, are you going to eat?" a lady asks when she approaches him.

Stephen startles then looks at her with pure horror. "Oh, I am sorry. Did I scare you?," the lady said as she smiles warmly at Stephen. "Oh no, It's fine," Stephen answers and smiles at her. The lady nods and asks him again, "Well, are you going to eat?" Stephen nods at her and orders some food for himself.

The lady brought him a pitcher of cold water then asks him, "How is it?" Stephen nods once again then smiles at the lady. After eating, he went to the counter to pay, "How much is it?" he asks. "Sizty seop," the lady behind the counter said. Stephen pays and said his thank you. But before he goes, he asks the lady if there is a small inn in this town to sleep in.

The lady laughs and said, "You could just ask anybody here to allow you to sleep in. Apartelles are a bit expensive here." Stephen smiles and rubs the back of his head.

"I tend to get shy when I am around strangers so it will be awkward to just ask them if I can sleep in," Stephen said as he smiles sheepishly. Then lady chuckles and points at the small apartelle a few meters away from the rindrekaay.

Stephen nods and gives his thanks once again and walks toward the apartelle. He rings the bell to get the lady at the front desk's attention. "Good afternoon. Do you still have an available room?" the latter asks.

The lady just nods and logs his name in, gives him his keys then he went to his room. The room is small but it is perfect for someone like him. As he flops onto the bed, he immediately enters dreamland.