Nactilan Island
Everyone told Bonnie to rest, but she was adamant against staying behind. Not because she was afraid or something like it, but because she wanted to complete the next challenge. She also had the spyglass now, which meant they would take even less time to locate the entrance of the challenge. Mylo, Adriel, and Helena had one more thing to help with the next step of this trial. They had taken pictures of all the statues around the camp, the ones that would give a message with a hint of each challenge, and added their respective notes to each image.
Adding that to the fact that they were already close to the next island, the group headed towards it. There was one more thing that Mylo, Adriel, and Helena managed to find while the rest of the group was running the challenge, and that was the shallow water path leading to the next island. It was a good thing that they wouldn't have to worry about swimming, but this would be only the second step of their journey in this room. Hera split off from the group and returned to the doorway with Nimbus to send a few texts before meeting everyone up. She ended up arriving before they even reached this new island, the one where Bonnie and Hera saw some buildings in the distance.
This new piece of land looked much like the one before, but it had more vegetation and even a small mountain. It should be just about 15 meters tall, but something could be above it. Around it was a dense forest leading to the beach, but to the left, they could see what once should have been a small path. To the right, the island curved to the left, and then it came back, forming a half-moon shape that could be seen from a distance. Another interesting thing was that they were starting to see the side of the God of Water sculpture in the middle of the room. Each angle revealed more intricate designs, showing that every part of the statue was made with extreme care.
"You know what?" Bonnie said as they approached the shoreline. "I think I'm going to need this." And she pulled out her spyglass. Everyone just playfully rolled their eyes. After all, she arguably got the best item of the bunch. Or at least, that's what Hera felt. In reality, aside from Mylo and Alex, everyone was satisfied with their rewards. Adriel loved fishing, Helena always struggled with her hair in humid places, and Blue hated the feeling of sand inside her clothes. Shane also got some help with a skill. More specifically, a skill related to her legacy, but she couldn't talk much about it without mentioning some of the guides that Hera didn't know.
Bonnie moved the spyglass around and pointed towards the left, "I think the challenge is over there."
"Isn't that the direction where we saw those buildings?" Hera asked.
"Yeah. Maybe the buildings have something to do with it," Bonnie nodded.
The group sat down on the beach and walked towards the left. As soon as they started walking, the road became visible, leading to a long building that sat on top of an open area. It was much closer to the beach than either Hera or Bonnie expected. They started by moving around the building and seeing if there were any markings or signs that someone had lived there once. Oddly enough, it was quite easy to find it. Behind that long building, someone had made part of a mural. In fact, multiple people seemed to have worked on that piece. The art style varied a lot, but it wasn't cohesive like the pillar in Spiral. Not to mention, whoever painted this was much less skilled. There were some letters, but none that anyone could understand, even when Hera used her [Observe - Red Sight], which meant that there was no Naga writing anywhere. The painting was very complicated to understand. It could be a hurricane, a monster, or just an aerial view of the islands. All the drawings looked more or less the same, making things even more confusing since there was no way to tell if they were different versions of the same thing or something that should be seen as a whole.
When going inside, the building was completely empty. It had no furniture, partitions, rooms, windows, or anything. It was just a giant box of clay with a single entrance. It seemed like the mural was the only clue they had to go on. But the real question was why this particular artwork was here. Was it a test? A message? If it was a message, what did it say? It was unlikely that this would be just a random painting.
After a few moments, Bonnie pulled the spyglass again, "It's not here. We need to go further into the island."
"Ok... we can come back to try to understand this later," Helena replied when she finished taking pictures of the paintings. In a way, it was amazing that it survived this long on an island. The saltwater should have removed most of the paint long ago, yet here it was.
After a few more minutes of walking, they finally found another structure. Unlike the last one, this building was extremely different. Instead of a simple clay rectangle, it looked like a Japanese temple. It was made entirely of red stone and covered in strange symbols that Hera didn't recognize. She could tell that this should be one of the buildings she saw in the distance. Previously, there were too many trees in front of it, but she was sure that the colors matched what she had seen the day before.
"The entrance to the challenge should be inside here," Bonnie looked at it through the spyglass.
"And we didn't find anything yet... Do you guys want to look around first, or do we take a stab at it?" Hera turned to the rest of the group.
"We are already here. And the tips didn't help all that much. There were a bunch of things about trees that looked like fish, and fish that looked like trees, but that ended up leading nowhere," Shane scratched the back of her head.
"I agree," Blue and the others nodded. Finding some tips about the challenge, whatever it may be, could help, but at the same time, it could end up just making them waste even more time and effort to get nothing in return.
They walked around the pagoda and reached what seemed to be the entrance. There was a large staircase leading them to the second floor with a few statues on top of the railing. They were all humanoid but not trying to resemble a person. Instead, it was as if they were statues of stone golems, all of them in the same position. Sitting with their legs crossed, eyes closed, and with the right hand on top of the left hand with the palms up. It was obvious that they were meditating.
"Are those things going to attack us?" Bonnie asked as the group walked up the stairs.
"I really hope not. There are a lot of them," Alex glanced around. There were about 15 of the golems on each side.
"Let's see what the entrance says. We can decide what to do from there," Adriel suggested.
They agreed with that idea and continued walking towards the entrance. The doors were heavy but completely empty, made out of a dark red wood that matched the rest of the structure. When Hera reached out to touch it, everyone saw a notification appear.
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You are attempting the Nactilan Island challenge;
Enter this room and speak your answer.
If you are correct, doing so will complete the challenge.
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You already completed the Cratic Island challenge.
You will not receive an item to attempt the Nactilan Island challenge.
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Hera looked around, but everyone was still there. She wasn't teleported somewhere else this time, "Is everyone ok?"
"Yeah, and the statues are not moving," Alex looked back to the staircase.
"What was the Nactilan Island challenge?" Bonnie asked.
"Let me see…." Helena pulled up her tablet and found the statue in question. It was an inkwell with a feather pen inside it. The label was 'I was stolen after my birth. Speak my truth.'
"That… doesn't help at all," Hera sighed.
"Yeah… Also, why did it mention the other island challenge? If we didn't beat that one, would we get an item here?" Shane scratched her head with a confused expression.
"I guess… Do you think the item is related to this challenge? I mean, there had to be a reason why it was mentioned, right?" Adriel asked.
"I think so… but how?" Helena frowned.
Mylo stepped inside the room and looked around. There was nothing inside, just like the previous building they found. After a few moments, he looked up and spoke, "You were wronged! That is my answer," he looked down and frowned, "Ok," he said before walking outside.
"What happened?" Shane asked with a worried expression.
"I got the wrong answer. Can't try again for one hour."
"Oh… that is... Not that bad, at least," Shane smiled, but Mylo just shrugged and continued walking down the stairs. Hera didn't notice this before, but there was something off about the two of them.
"I can try one thing. But if anything happens, could you guys help me? I'm going to be out of mana after this," Hera told the group.
"Hera? Are you sure about this?" Nimbus asked.
'Yeah, mum. Can't you use just half your mana?' Daskka asked.
"I don't think it will be enough. Honestly, I'm not even sure that all my mana will give us a decent answer," Hera looked up to the rest of the group, "Can I count on you all? I'm just asking to know if you are ok with me doing this now. If not, I can do it later."
"Of course, sweetie. We'll take care of you. I promise," Helena smiled, and the rest nodded in agreement.
Hera nodded and pulled Yarnball. She stared at the screen for a moment before putting all her mana inside it and asking, "What is the goal of the challenge of the Nactilan Island?"
There was a pause, and then letters appeared on the screen, 'Find the name.'
"The name of what?" Hera gasped in frustration.
"Find the name?" Bonnie mumbled, "Maybe the name of the thing we saw in the drawing back there?"
"Or would it be the name of this place?" Alex asked.
"Maybe of whatever these statues were supposed to be?" Blue was looking at one of those meditating golems, trying to see if there were any clues on it.
"Well... Worst case scenario, I can ask it again in two hours. Or I can try that thing I can do, but it feels a bit of a waste to do it for this," Hera sighed.
"We can also look around the island while we think about what this means," Adriel suggested and pointed to the mountain, "If it were me, I would set some good hints in the hardest place to reach."
"So you want Nimbus and me to go up there and check it out?" Hera asked.
"Well... Not necessarily you. But Nimbus, yeah," Adriel nodded.
"I'm afraid I cannot go without Hera," Nimbus replied.
"Why is that?"
"It's part of the restriction of the legacy. He can't go beyond a certain distance from me," Hera explained.
"Oh... I see... Honestly, that makes me feel a bit better. I thought you could move around freely as long as both of you were in the same room. That would make Hera a literal walking army," Adriel turned to Nimbus.
Nimbus smiled at him but didn't say anything. He wanted to tell him about the Blademasters, who were an entire mercenary crew, but he also didn't know how much Hera was willing to tell about her legacy.
"Who knows, maybe in the future, that will change," Hera said as she walked down the staircase, "But I do agree with that idea. I'll go with Nimbus to check the mountain, and everyone can see if they find something. If anything happens, let us know."
No one objected, and after a break to let Hera recover some mana, the Empress was once again being carried by her Sentinel, flying through the air in search of a clue on how to beat this challenge.