“What should we do, Isla?” Emmy asked her friend nervously as she looked around them. She felt even more nervous than before as the truth weighed on her shoulders. They had ended up in a trap that was seemingly impossible to escape from.
Isla was already aware of that and had to close her eyes to think for a moment. Her mind raced through all the possibilities they had at that moment. Then, she looked up at the two kids with a cold expression.
“Do you have any idea what could be the cause of this mist?” She asked. ‘This is clearly not something normal so if we can know the cause of it, we might be able to find a way to leave the forest.’
“Mm, we don’t know, Aunty,” Finlay replied. “We have searched the entire forest. We didn’t find anything suspicious.”
‘Aunty…’ Isla raised an eyebrow.
“But, how did you end up here in the first place? If there is no way out, surely nobody could just walk in here.” Herculia added.
“We… We can’t remember much. All that we remember is that we woke up here and we had one single task.” Serko replied.
“A task?” Arthur asked.
“… Our task is to build a machine that will fly us out of here. That is our task.” Finlay replied.
“A flying machine?” Danny squinted his eyes. “How are you going to do that? That’s impossible to do here.”
Danny’s family owned several plane manufacturers across the globe and Danny had very deep knowledge about how planes worked and the way to build them. If there was someone who could judge whether that was possible or not, it was Danny.
“… Mm, we already built several prototypes, sir. We have tried them and they functioned. But, because we don’t have enough fuel for them, they don’t fly for long and end up falling into the ground again.” Serko replied.
“What?! What kind of material did you use to make these aircraft?” He asked.
“… Wood, and monster cores for fuel,” Finlay replied.
“…” The boy was completely stunned as he looked at the two kids. “That can’t be true. An aircraft out of wood?”
‘No, forget about the materials. How did these two kids even build something as complicated as a plane on their own?’ He frowned. ‘This simply makes zero sense.’
“Danny?” Herculia called his friend’s name worriedly. He could see that Danny wasn’t believing them at all and rightfully so. Nobody in their right mind would believe such things.
“Can you show us your progress, guys?” Arthur suggested. “We might be able to help you make a working aircraft if that’s the case.”
“Really?” Serko asked, clearly hesitant.
“Yes, we also want to leave this place. So if you can, let us help you. How about that?” He asked gently.
The two kids looked at each other before they nodded their heads. “Ok, follow us.”
Then, they started walking away without thinking twice. Arthur looked at them with a calm expression. “Listen, guys. I know I might sound ridiculous. But, those kids don’t seem like they’re lying and that is why they really picked my curiosity. Something about them tells me that their story is far more than just this.”
“…” Isla looked at Arthur silently. “Do you think they’re hiding something?”
“No. I doubt they knew much either. But, there is definitely something behind all of this.” He responded as he started walking. “We might discover something worthwhile. Right?”
The others looked at him confusedly. Arthur’s eyes were saying far more than just words.
***
With that, Finlay and Serko led the group through the forest in complete silence. Nobody asked anything from them as they kept looking around them. The scenery wasn’t changing much even though they were clearly walking. All the giant trees and the fog kept appearing and disappearing behind them.
That continued for several minutes before something weird finally appeared in the distance. A massive shadow slowly manifested in the fog, growing bigger and bigger as they got closer. Eventually, they saw it.
“Welcome to our house.”
Standing in front of them, the two kids welcomed the players to their place. The wooden house was surprisingly big, composed of two floors. Its design was beautiful, contrasting the spooky atmosphere of the forest.
“Did you build this place on your own?” Emmy asked.
“Yes. We did.” Finlay replied.
“… How long did that take?” Herculia rubbed his chin.
“Mmm, was it a week? Or 2 weeks?”
“I think it was 2 weeks.”
“2 weeks?!” The big man blurted out in shock.
“Psst.” Arthur nudged him. “It seems they’re dwarves and dwarves are known to be very good builders. This expected.”
“… I-I see. This is pretty impressive.” Herculia replied as he coughed awkwardly.
“Please, come in. We will show you our work.” The two kids said as they opened the door for the group to walk in.
The interior of the house was also very neat. Built mostly out of wood, even the furniture and things like that were all made out of wood. It lacked some color, but that didn’t make it look any less impressive.
After all, it was all built by two kids over a span of two weeks.
The group looked around with awe-struck eyes. They admired the fine work and details put into this place.
“Mmm, that’s the kitchen, that’s the living room. Oh, that’s the bathroom, and those are our bedrooms.” Meanwhile, the two kids said as they guided them through the mansion.
Each section was very clean and in order, meaning that these two kids took care of their own house very well.
Then, eventually, the group ended up at the back side of the house where there was one single door hidden in a random corner of the house that made it look seamless. However, the moment the kids opened the door, a whole new world was opened for them.
The group found themselves inside a massive chamber that was almost the same size as the rest of the house if not bigger. It had high ceilings and large walls that stretched for hundreds of meters.
Inside this place, they saw massive wooden structures of all kind spread across the place. The structures varied in sizes and shapes.
“This is our working area and these are the prototypes we worked on. As you can see, most of them are broken to pieces because of the damage and we have to fix them every time to try again.” The two kids explained as they walked through the place.
Nobody spoke as they inspected the aircrafts with their eyes. They could see some similarities with the aircrafts they knew of, but there were several main changes that made them stand out instantly.
For example, the wings of the aircrafts had several joins across their length that made them look like the wings of birds that can move up and down. The sleek design of the main body was also shaped in a different way, giving it a sharper look rather than the normal plane design.
The one to be the most shocked was Danny as he knew more about these things than everyone else and he could only feel that he had been presented with something completely otherworldly.
‘These designs… They’re… How can this be?’ He asked himself, unable to find the words to describe them. Then, with a confused expression, he shifted his gaze to the two kids. ‘Who are they…?’
A//N: Don’t forget to give the book some golden tickets for good luck! :3
