Chapter 13: Guide

"EEK!"

The squirrel grabbed our attention — or at least I imagined it was trying to — but it worked nonetheless. Our focus shifted to it as it started jumping around erratically.

"What's it doing?" I asked, thoroughly confused.

"Uh, maybe it's about to lead us to where we need to go! It is a guide, after all," Selene replied. I still couldn't believe her reasoning for that, but I decided to go along with it for now — even if the logic was completely unreasonable.

"eek~"

The little creature, with no clear reasoning, took off running, and Selene rushed after it. Obviously, I didn't have any better options, and I wasn't about to separate from her, so I followed suit. We dashed past countless trees and areas we hadn't seen earlier. As we ran, the environment started changing little by little until we had completely left the forest. 

The squirrel finally stopped after arriving at a large stone obelisk, completely out of place amid the prosperous greenery surrounding it. There wasn't even a stone path or anything leading up to it — just a field of flowers in a wide clearing, with the obelisk standing tall in the center. 

Selene and I slowed to a stop a little after the squirrel. We could see writing on the obelisk, but it was in a language I couldn't understand. The text looked alive, but I only had one thought. 

'How the hell have I been speaking with everyone?! I don't understand this at all, but there haven't been any problems communicating.' 

"Selene, what does it say?" I had to bite the bullet and ask. For someone supposedly from a "hidden family," I really didn't know anything... I just hoped she wouldn't call me out on it. 

"I have no idea." 

"Huh?" I let out, genuinely surprised. 

"It looks like runes, and I haven't studied them. But I've seen some around the manor, so that's the only reason I even recognize them in the first place!" 

I nodded. Her reasoning for this was way better than trusting a squirrel's sense of direction. 

"Hey, Selene, what language does everyone speak, anyway?" 

"EH?! Seriously?" 

I nodded, dead serious. 

"Well... everyone speaks the same language. It's the universal language, and it's called English. Why don't you know that?" 

"Um... no comment!" 

"Uh-huh." She shot me a look but didn't push it. "As for runes, there are four different types, apparently, but I don't know much about them." 

"But since these runes look familiar to you, it must mean they come from that class or category of runes, right?" 

"Yeah, but that doesn't help us at all! Are you even listening?" She was starting to get a little irked, so I stopped asking questions. I continued to analyze the obelisk. Minutes passed, and a thought struck me. 

'What if I channel mana into it? Wait, I might not have enough, so it'd be best if we both did it! But then, what if we both run out of mana and get ambushed...' Countless possibilities ran through my mind, but I had to choose one. 

"Selene, we should try channeling mana into it. What do you think?" 

She didn't answer immediately, doing the same thing I had just done — weighing the risks. She might seem naive or impulsive, but the more time I spent with her, the more that notion got thrown out of my head. Not that it was really there in the first place... except for maybe the "naive" part. 

She ended up nodding in agreement, and the two of us placed our hands on the cold stone. We began to pour in a little mana at a time. The text, which already looked like it was moving, began to glow a soft yellow. We kept going until every rune radiated the same steady yellow shine. 

Ding~ 

"You heard that, right?" Selene and I pulled back, glancing around. Nothing unexpected had happened... yet. The bell-like sound had only chimed once, and after waiting a few seconds, nothing else happened. 

"Rael, look!" Selene pointed at the obelisk. The runes were shifting. They were changing from their cryptic, twisting shapes into something much more familiar — something I could finally understand. The swirling script became crisp, clear letters that were unmistakably... English. 

'English... I can actually read it now.' The sight alone filled me with relief. It felt like my eyes could finally relax after staring at something incomprehensible for too long. 

"This trial requires one male and one female. Only two can enter! Welcome to the Trial of Twin Stars!" 

Selene and I whispered it at the exact same time, word for word. It was completely unintentional, but for some reason, we both glanced at each other afterward like we'd just committed some kind of weird, synchronized crime. 

I looked at Selene with a questioning expression, my eyebrows raised so high they might as well have flown off my face. 

"Don't look at me, I have no clue!" she said, playfully throwing her hands up. 

I remembered something from Earth about stories involving "Twin Stars," but I couldn't recall the specifics other than what was already revealed. A man and woman — or a boy and girl — were required, but that still didn't give us any clue on what to actually do. 

"Eek~ Eek~" The squirrel ran up the obelisk and started doing some weird movements. First, it sat, then it jumped while landing on one leg before leaning forward and pointing with one of its hands behind it. 

'Uh...' 

"I think it's telling us to go that way," Selene said, pointing in the same direction as the squirrel. 

"Got nothing better to try, so might as well." I started walking calmly. As I passed the obelisk, I felt a strange shift. The space around me felt denser, like the air had suddenly become heavier. 

'Is this some kind of barrier or spell?' It wasn't hard to continue walking or breathing, but it definitely felt more restrictive. The further I went, the more the sensation intensified. 

"You alright?" Selene called out, rushing toward me. As she got closer, the restrictive feeling loosened. 

"Selene, it seems we can't be too far from each other." The realization brought me some comfort that we wouldn't be completely separated the whole time. 

"Huh? What do you mean?" She slowed to a stop beside me, her eyes narrowing in confusion. 

"After I passed the obelisk, the further I got from you, the harder it became to move. That's why I'm saying we can't separate too far." 

"But how? There's nothing physically binding us together..." She didn't doubt my words and started thinking aloud, her gaze darting around as she pieced it together. She even closed her eyes for a moment to focus. 

"Ah! It had to have been when we poured our mana into the obelisk! Maybe one of the effects of those runes is to apply some kind of restriction to the people who activate it." 

"That makes sense! We have to be careful when fighting. If one of us strays too far, it could end up getting the other killed." 

"Do you want to hold hands and walk, then? We both can use magic, and as a last resort, we can move into close-quarters combat if we separate." 

"Why do we have to hold hands, though? I'm not complaining, I just don't see why." 

"It's because we — or at least I — definitely have the habit of wandering off. If we hold hands, we can pull each other back to prevent any accidents!" 

I nodded my head as her reasoning made sense. I couldn't deny that I might wander off on my own if I got distracted. 

"Alright." I lifted my left hand, and she her right. Our hands interlocked in a normal hand-holding way, with both palms locking together and our fingers wrapping around each other. We also adjusted so it wouldn't feel awkward for a long walk, standing shoulder to shoulder. 

'Even after being captured for who knows how long and fighting, she smells nice.' Selene smelled like fresh lavender with a hint of citrus — or at least, that's the best comparison I could think of from Earth.