Бесплатный фрагмент - BBLOSSOMING: Who Will Help Lucille?

Chapter 1

— Hey! It’s way too dark in here, don’t you think? — Mark, in his usual style, was being Captain Obvious. Their merry little gang of four grown-up kids was stuck, well, who knows where. The smell of dampness and grass was everywhere, though underfoot it felt more like stone-hard ground rather than soft, lovely grass with little bugs crawling around.

— You can actually find something to see in here? — Lucille’s sarcastic jabs never failed to bring smiles to her companions’ faces. Well, everyone except Mark, of course. Good thing they didn’t need to hide their grins now since nothing was visible anyway. If Mark had seen their stupid faces, he definitely would’ve gotten offended again.

— Oh, come on! Veyn, you’re supposed to be our world-master, so find that stupid light switch already!

— What exactly am I supposed to find in a world without electricity? You’re the one who wanted to see the beautiful landscapes of far-off Sayginis, and now at the first little difficulty you’re turning up your nose? Ugh, how awful!

Just as new streams of grumbling began to emerge, suddenly the lights “turned on”… These were tiny little lights scattered along some cave pathway.

— Hooray! Let there be light! Three cheers for Veyn! — Lucille ran toward her “light savior.”

— Stop! — Veyn jumped aside from the joyful redhead charging at him. — I certainly love being praised — after all, I really am wonderful, smart, and brilliant — but I’m not about to take credit for someone else’s work!

— What do you mean it wasn’t you? Then who was it? Worlds are your specialty, but if this was done by those who know this world better than we do… — Lucille felt uneasy about the conclusion she was about to voice, and her face began to pale. — That means th-that this…

But Lucille couldn’t finish because she was abruptly interrupted.

— There! Hooray! Now we have light! I tamed the local fire spirits and worked everything out — isn’t your brother just the best? — Lewis wore a smug grin on his face, but it quickly faded when he opened his eyes and saw everyone staring at him like he was insane. — Hey, why isn’t anyone happy? You were all whining about the lack of light, or have you already grown to like this atmosphere? Did I negotiate for nothing…

Lewis got bonked on the head with a pompom hat, yanked off by an already furious Lucille, while Veyn was barely containing his laughter.

— Brother, are you an idiot?! You decided to enter a meditative state while no one could see anything?! — Well, what can we say? Lucille really loved her brother and always worried about him. — What if we’d been in some horrible, dangerous dungeon? When you’re out like that, nobody but you can wake yourself up! Did you forget, you numbskull?! — Lucille couldn’t take it anymore.

— Yes, I wanted my sister to praise me and be proud of her little brother. As you can see, my outcome is rather sad, friends! So here’s some advice: don’t help until you’re asked. — The guy, who looked like a carbon copy of his sister Lucille, bowed gracefully in different directions as if concluding a theatrical performance.

— Alright, you disaster twins, let’s wrap up the drama. There’s a much more important question right now — what is this place?

WAIT, WAIT, WAIT!

Right now it’s not very clear what’s happening. As they say, where, what, and why. So I — well, the author — will briefly fill you in on what’s going on. And to better understand what’s happening, let’s go back… So time travel begins!

Before arriving in Sayginis:

“Many people live in our world — Gergius. The name is pretty basic, just like other worlds’ names, but nobody’s complained so far, so it’ll do. And living in this world are ordinary people, well, not everyone here is as ordinary as you might think at first glance. There are also people with unusual abilities and different races, not to mention half-bloods. Well, the majority consists of those who either have no superpowers or have them but haven’t unlocked their full potential. But there are those who desperately want to unlock all their potential, rather than be second-string heroes, because it’s so boring to just spend your life in the mundane…” This was exactly what Veyn was pondering as he strolled through the park after classes.

What else, really, was a student at a creative arts school supposed to do after lessons? His parents worked late, and his friends only liked discussing dungeon problems and new routes in the latest computer game. But Veyn wasn’t much of a computer game enthusiast — he preferred board games or sports: “What game could be interesting in a world like this, when with a little practice you can juggle fire yourself without a computer and mouse?” Virgeil Veyn was one of the average students, though his abilities and his family’s could hardly be called average.

At first, you might have thought he could simply teleport anywhere, right? But actually, he doesn’t just create teleports, but also… Oops, it’s too early to talk about that.

Mark studies to be a writer-journalist, already in his final year, and… it exhausts him terribly. He went to this university because his uncle actively praised the place, assuring him the courses were interesting, and besides, given the Darkred family’s mindset, humanities suited them best. So Mark didn’t really stress about it. But who knew he’d have to leave home for the dorms! At first, the youngest of the Darkreds was anxious and felt uncomfortable, but later he settled in completely and didn’t worry about anything at all. Only in his second year they moved a newcomer in with him, and their relationship, to put it mildly, didn’t work out. Plus that guy constantly invited his sister over to play video games, and frankly, Mark felt uneasy around them.

But in his third year, Darkred’s “icy heart” melted, and he somehow warmed up to these twins… That’s how they became friends.

But how did Veyn join this little gang, and what kind of life actually goes on in this world? Let me tell this slowly and step by step, otherwise it’s getting kind of weird))

Chapter 2

Switching his yellow glasses for more official ones, combing his tangled locks and braiding them into a neat braid, Mark was ready for his part-time job and was about to leave the apartment. But just before heading out, he remembered he’d forgotten his ID card on the green table: “Damn it!” And he stubbed his toe on the threshold too, poor guy.

— You’ve been running late to work way too often lately, mister librarian! — Lewis exclaims, laughing.

— Let’s skip the mockery, unemployed carrot number one. — Darkred grumbles. It’s been days now that he’s been late for the same reason, which is currently sitting calmly on the couch, having taken HIS controllers and playing on HIS console for about three hours already.

Mark still can’t figure out what Lewis actually means to him. He can’t bring himself to call him just a roommate, since they talk every day and have even had heart-to-heart conversations a couple times. Plus the redhead, together with his sister, often drags him out for walks in the park or to go to the movies, amusement parks, etc., saying that such a homebody simply needs fresh air. But despite all this, Darkred didn’t want to acknowledge these annoying carrots as his friends, because at the slightest awkward moment or slip of the tongue, they’d start cackling, remembering such embarrassments for whole weeks until something “funnier” happened. Well fine, maybe he’s slowly coming to terms with the thought that his underclassmen behave like children. And like any children, they need supervision and tender care.

— I’ll definitely be later than usual today. I’ll be stuck until around 11 because of these pests, there’ll be new books to sort. So, freeloaders, all the food is in the fridge, I hope you can manage the microwave. And in 30 more minutes turn off that damn game, you’ve been playing all morning already, your eyes will soon look like hungry vampires — Mark said, hastily closed the door and rushed off to the library.

— Ugh, what a bore… He agreed to play with us himself, and now he’s limiting our time too, what are we, little kids — Lucille really didn’t like being lectured; it was unpleasant hearing it from her brother when he’d talk about “what’s good, what’s bad, how things should be,” and now this guy was joining in too.

— Well don’t fuss. He’s taking care of us the best he can, and that’s kind of nice in its own way — Lewis didn’t really like this treatment either. But he understood that his friend had been too withdrawn before, and now he was communicating with them as sincerely as he could.

It was impossible to guess what Mark was really like from the first encounter. This guy adores karaoke and video games, and unlike when he’s at university or work, where he’s maximally polite and proper, “home” Darkred is a laid-back housecat who throws politeness into the corner behind the couch until his next public appearance. But that’s exactly what endeared him to the twins, because teasing such a person is simply delightful, especially when they’re at university and everyone’s watching them. Pestering their senior with questions while he can barely maintain his polite smile and thinks about how to tell these carrots in a censored and courteous way to bugger off beyond the Hu Tashan mountain pass and not bother him at least here.

— Alright, the most pleasant person on earth has left, what shall we do, Lucy?

— I want to keep playing, I don’t care about anything else, I need to find an old map so I can start properly instead of exploring the terrain randomly — Lucille said like a mantra, not taking her eyes off the screen for a second and rapidly spinning the joystick buttons.

To say that the twins, like Mark, are obsessed with games would be an understatement. But Lucille loves playing most of all, because it’s so fun — exploring new worlds, solving their puzzles and clearing her path to victory from weeds that spit all sorts of nasty stuff.

— You wanted to meet with someone today, didn’t you? — Lewis remembers much more than his twin sister. So Lucille uses his memory however she can in games; if she needs to remember item locations, a code, or instructions, she immediately calls for her dear brother. Well, he simply can’t refuse her; he’d definitely do anything for his sister.

— Exactly! — she finally turned to face Lewis and tossed the controller beside her. — What time is it? Oh no! He’ll be drop in here soon! Damn, what do we have in the fridge that’s edible and sweet? I promised him last time that I’d definitely treat him to something nice…

— Wait! What do you mean he’ll be drop in here? And who is he anyway? Don’t worry Lucy, we’ll manage everything, just tell your brother, because I don’t really understand what’s happening yet — Lewis tried to calm his sister who was nervously jumping up and sitting back down on the couch.

— His name is Veyn, he’s a high school student, we met a week ago in the arcade zone, he won so many prizes there, you should have seen! Oh but that’s not the point right now, anyway I told him that we have, well here in the dorm — “she already considers mine and Mark’s dorm her home, how cute” — flashed through Lewis’s mind — a lot of really cool games, and basically, I suggested he come over to our place. There! And so he agreed, and we arranged for today.

— Perfect, I understood almost everything, except why is he going to “drop in”?

— Oh, whoops! He has teleportation abilities, so he’ll drop right in here, since I gave him a very precise address.

— Mark definitely won’t like that we brought someone else here, but oh well, we’ll deal with that later. Now, what sweets should we go buy?

— There’s no time for that — Lucille ran to the refrigerator and flinging open the door, began carefully examining the contents — Damn! What a boring nerd, are we supposed to live on grass and meat? Where’s anything suitable for a teenager? Not even a single chocolate bar!

Lewis meanwhile approached Lucille from behind and also began studying the contents.

— Well, here’s a pack of corn, it’s like sweet, right? Does that count?

— Exactly, brother! You’re a genius! — Lucille said and shoved the pack into his hands.

Lewis opened the pack and looked first at the corn kernels, then at his twin: “I wonder why she handed these to me?”

— Brother, what are you standing there like a post for! Toast them, it’ll be popcorn!

— Great idea, except… You want me to use THIS to make popcorn?

— Well yeah, what’s wrong with that? Unlike you, I don’t control elements, only you can do it like that.

Yes, yes, you heard right, my readers, Lewis controls all the elements, well, almost all of them. The main thing for him is to negotiate with the spirits inhabiting the given area (and each city has its own spirits of these same elements), and at the moment he’s managed to negotiate with minor spirits of fire, water and wind. He doesn’t even dare speak with the great spirits, since first you need to earn their respect (and he has no idea how to do that), and second you need a lot of internal energy to hear, see and even contact these spirits, because with great spirits only a material contract works with written conditions, and not just words like with minor spirits.

— Alright, for you, sister, I’m ready for anything! — and with a light movement of his hands, Lewis began making popcorn…

But the twins didn’t account for the fact that it would fly in all directions and they’d have to catch their “airborne popcorn.” So they really went all out with their shenanigans.

After five minutes of madness, the popcorn was ready and the redheaded carrots were waiting for their guest’s arrival.

Chapter 3

BOOM! — it was with exactly that sound that a boy in a pink oversized hoodie, torn jeans and a ridiculously large green hat with a huge pink pompom fell onto the green table. After such a successful landing, the kid just bit his lip and struck what he thought was a cool waiting pose.

— Greetings, Lucille! Well, were you waiting for me? Oh, and who’s this guy next to you? I thought we’d be alone, you know…

Lewis, stunned by the brazen behavior, flew over to Veyn.

— Young man, how do you talk to my sister like that? — the twin was smiling, but I don’t think this smile resembled a sincere, kind and welcoming one.

— Oh, I was just joking, you know, decided to make a dramatic entrance! So you’re brother and sister! That means Lucille told me about you?

— What? She talked about me?

— Yes, I remember perfectly how she admired her excellent brother, saying how reliable he is, always helps her and that…

— What, what?

— And that he’s basically the best brother ever! — Veyn smiled innocently, while Lucille stood behind Lewis and after the boy in the ridiculous hat’s last words, her pose turned into a facepalm.

And Lewis, already happy, was imagining in his head Lucille’s sweet face repeating that she has the best brother. “I have the best brother! The best brother! The best brother, brother, brother…”

— Yes, brother, damn it! — Lucille hit her brother on the back, not too hard. Just a light crunch was heard.

— Alright, brother came to his senses and calmed down — took a deep breath and exhale and addressed the kid — I’m Lewis, and you’re Veyn, right?

— Virgeil Veyn, most pleasant to meet you!

— Completely agree.

Lucille exhaled with relief, since no conflict occurred. Now she took the pack of prepared popcorn from the small table next to the sofa and approached Veyn, who apparently decided to just keep sitting on that green table.

— Here, as promised — said Lucille, extending the pack of popcorn. The twins themselves didn’t dare to try their masterpiece, so they came to the decision to give everything they had to their guest. — We specially made this for you!

— Oh wow, thanks! In the microwave? — Veyn put one piece in his mouth, trying to taste the flavor — Did you at least add anything, well, at least sugar? Sorry, maybe it’s impolite, but it’s completely tasteless.

*sigh*

Virgeil spoke the last words with a note of regret. The thing is, this boy is an absolute sweet tooth. He’s the kind of person who would do anything you want for a chocolate bar. Well, despite all such food preferences, he was surprisingly not fat, but had quite a normal build.

— Actually, I personally burn — I mean, cooked this popcorn with my own hands, ahem, but we forgot to season it with anything. — Veyn suddenly started opening a portal — Hey! Are you really going to leave just because you didn’t like the popcorn? Well then get out of here, we’ll play without you!

— Mister Redhead, don’t worry so much, I’m just going to buy some jam pastries! — with a carefree smile, Virgeil passed through the blurry hole, well, the portal.

“I thought this required a huge amount of inner energy, and I have a friend with teleportation ability, but such quick use of the ability, and over such a distance? I’m seeing this for the first time… Damn, my sister befriended such a kid. He’s also quite a good manipulator, immediately understood that I adore my darling sister, though I realized he just doesn’t want to drag out conflicts, especially such meaningless ones. But damn, Lucy is amazing, found such a cool guy. Maybe he plays dialogue games excellently, like otome games” — Lewis’s thoughts were interrupted by nervous tapping on the linoleum.

— Brother, well, what was that? You usually don’t give in to simple words so easily. And yes, seeing your thought process in your eyes already, I can say, yes, he will help us with games and not just help, I think he’ll make them much more interesting and fun. But before that, at least now I’ll ask, Brother, you’ll always be on my side, right, because…

— Of course! What kind of silly question is that?! — Lewis answered without even letting her finish, and rushed to hug his carrot-twin.

— Brother! What are you doing, stop it before I hit you! — Lips puffed with offense at being treated like a child and eyebrows furrowed toward the bridge of her nose made sister even cuter in Lewis’s eyes.

BAMS! And pastries were already lying on the table, and then the boy himself in the ridiculous hat with a pompom was lying on the green table.

— Alright, sorry for the delay, there was just such a huge line at the end of the workday! Mister Redhead, do you like apple jam? Personally, I adore it! — This time Veyn quickly got up from the table and gave each twin a pastry, well, and didn’t forget about himself. — So, what? What are we going to play?.. But I don’t see any arcade machines here, just one console — Virgeil turned his head a bit more, searching for some arcade machine or board game, but never found anything fitting that description.

— Well, we really only have one console, and a billiard table that’s not used for billiards, so there’s nothing related to board games — Lucille answered with a light smile.

— Lucille, I told you I hate video games, they’re too boring! How can you play SUCH games in such a world? — Veyn grumbled offendedly and with a note of disappointment while chewing his pastry.

— Veyn. — notes of flirtation could be heard in Lucille’s voice.

— What? — Virgeil turned his head away, pretending to be offended.

— You haven’t told my brother about your quirk yet, right?

— Well yeah, I have teleportation — Veyn said, directing his gaze at Lewis.

— Ahem… Well, I kind of already figured that out. It’s really amazing that you’re a high schooler, and it’s so developed in you, you can open a portal so quickly, and over distances clearly exceeding 10 meters — Lewis finally responded in a calm tone, having managed to eat his entire pastry during such a short conversation-staring match between his sister and this guy.

— Brother! You can’t even imagine HOW developed his ability is! Veyn, why are you staying quiet? Huh? Well, finish chewing and speak, just explain everything properly, in detail, so Brother definitely understands you. — it was clear that Lucille was eager to tell everything herself, but she’s still a proper girl and won’t tell other people’s secrets herself.

Veyn finally finished eating his pastry.

— What exactly do you want me to tell you about, well okay, we’ll figure out the games later… In general, Mister Redhead, listen. My ability is teleportation, but everyone is given a different level of this power from birth, and so people started subdividing the concept of teleportation ability into such categories as: evasion, displacement, and the last and strongest — spatial deformation. The strongest ability of all teleportation subdivisions is possessed by my parents. You might have seen them in articles about studying distant and underwater islands. Before, until I felt my awakening, I thought I had the displacement ability, and spatial deformation was nothing other than teleportation over catastrophically long distances. And in general, I thought that teleportation power only differed in the speed of its opening and the distance of its movement, ideally everything is like that, but what does the word “space” tell you? Someone will say that space is an enclosed territory, but when we leave the house to go outside, do we really exit from space into a spaceless field?

Chapter 4

— Wait — Lewis interrupted the fascinating lecture that the high schooler was delivering — First of all, I’m going to wash down the pastry with tea, because now my throat is getting dry, look, Lucille already poured herself some, and secondly, here — he extended another mug of tea to Veyn. — You also need to drink something, I admit the information is interesting, but we’re not at an international conference, so relax a bit, guy.

— Oh thanks, Mister Redhead! — Veyn took a couple sips and continued enlightening his listener — So where did I leave off? Ah, yes! In general, we can’t say that the street is a spaceless field. Yes, so it turns out our entire planet is this space? But again, no! Because it’s not limited. A boundary is what we see as a wall, and what do we see in our universe, in Gergius, as a closed boundary? So spatial deformation is a transition from one space to another. This means that we, that is, me and my parents, who possess the strongest variety of teleportation, we can move between worlds, well, or universes, call them whatever you want.

— W-wait, so you… Can move between universes! Like… How does that work? — Lewis was slightly… okay, not slightly, but very strongly surprised.

— Well for example, you know that all the “inventions” in our head aren’t new, don’t belong to anyone or anything, but are, so to speak, memory that passes through a certain person’s brain. So all movies and cartoons aren’t just made up, but what we see, yet don’t see in “real” life, is actually just this universe, just located in another room, well, in another space. And if I want to, I can, if I study another universe well, get into it.

— Holy crap… Wait, that’s just awesome! That’s such a cool ability, but I don’t understand why you’re here trying to play board games with us then, when you could travel through worlds, that should be really fun!

— First of all, I tried it, and secondly, it’s boring alone, and also, to get from one world to another you first need to study it, even if superficially, and unlike my parents, my memory isn’t that good…

Lucille interrupted Veyn by clapping her hands to draw attention to herself:

— Well, you didn’t say the most important thing, that unlike your parents, you can transport not only yourself in your teleports, but you can transport with other people too! That’s the most important thing for our game!

— What game? — Lewis and Virgeil asked simultaneously.

— Our new one, which I recently bought, everything there is built on exploring the world and solving puzzles, though it doesn’t say exactly what kind of puzzles, but the world itself should be very bright and colorful! And for me and brother, this will be not only an interesting adventure, but also great material as future journalists!

— Wow! So that’s what you came up with, Lucille! Well, such a proposal from such a beautiful lady, of course I can’t refuse you! — Veyn exclaimed, anticipating a very interesting and truly unforgettable game.

CLAP!

— So, unemployed carrots, I came home and I’m dead tired. Did you eat anything I cooked or just… Wait, what?! Kid, what are you doing here?! Do you realize this isn’t even stalking anymore, but…

Everyone interrupted Mark in unison:

— YOU TWO KNOW EACH OTHER???? — looking at each other, everyone except Darkred asked.

— Will someone explain to me what the hell is going on here? — Mark asked menacingly, and everyone understood that right now it was best to speak as calmly as possible, so as not to stoke the fire of rage and misunderstanding of the apartment’s “owner.”

— We’re just having tea with jam pastries and talking, just about everything — Lewis said with an innocent smile, taking the last sip of tea from his mug. “Yeah, I need to explain what’s happening to him somehow adequately now. I should pour some more, I feel like the conversation will be even longer than it was with us…” — Lewis pondered, getting up from his seat to pour himself another mug and give Mark some tea too.

Chapter 5

Here Lewis told Mark about everything that had happened. I won’t go into the details of this conversation, since it consisted only of retelling all the events and Mark’s nods and grunts, whose face simply had to have an inscription “loading files” or “please wait, system updating.” After this conversation, this time a question arose for Mark and Veyn from the twins:

— So how do you two know each other?

— Let’s just say this stalker is a good friend of my friend, who sometimes visits the library… But now that friend stopped coming, while this brat in the ridiculous hat has already gotten on my nerves with his visits to the world of old junk and papers… — Mark was about to continue his grumbling, but was interrupted.

— FRIEND?! You said you have a friend?! I mean like a real one, who knows you specifically? And why did you never tell us about him!? We’ve been grieving here, thinking… And he! No, Lucille, did you hear him? — Lewis somehow even felt hurt, because it meant his Darkred didn’t even want to call him a buddy, but here it turns out he has friends too.

— Just shut up already… What, you think I can’t have other normal friends?

— Other? Aha! So you consider me your friend, yes, yes right?! — the redhead shouted, poking his finger into Mark’s chest. For Lewis, his circle is very important, that is, the people he chose as friends. Others didn’t interest him, but if he started considering someone his friend, then even without showing it outwardly, inside he always worried whether friendly jokes hurt too much or whether he was being too pushy with his activity, imposing it on other people.

— Yes… I consider you one, satisfied with the answer? Now calm down — Darkred removed carrot number one’s finger from his chest and sighed dejectedly. “Making such a decision… although whatever, I easily tell other people in the world that someone is my friend. If anything, I can always move to my uncle’s or punch this guy…”

— Ahem-ahem! — Veyn coughed deliberately loudly. — Don’t you want to finish your wonderful drama, friend-buddies? We have business that will be much more interesting than figuring out who’s whose friend, how many rubles someone has in their pocket and similar conversations! Adventure and fun won’t wait! — jumping up from the table and slightly spilling tea from his mug onto the table, the enthusiastic boy in the ridiculous hat shouted.

Mark got up from the table, approached the shelf next to the console and took out a disc with a colorful green-red-blue cover.

— You mean this game, carrot number two?

— Stop calling me that! Just because brother put up with it doesn’t mean I’ve accepted this nickname! — Lucille always gets angry when she’s called carrot. Yes, she’s a redhead, but that doesn’t mean you can mock her like that, only she and her brother have the right to give people nicknames!

— Well? Are you going to answer? — Darkred didn’t pay much attention to the carrot’s indignation, since he heard it practically every day.

— Yes, about this one… So, what? When will we start playing in 6D format? — Lucille sat on the sofa opposite the shelf and console and drummed her palms on her knees.

— Sorry madam, but unfortunately, right now that definitely won’t work. — Veyn moved from the kitchen area and sat on the edge of the sofa, first snatching the disc from Mark’s hands and already examining it thoroughly.

Lewis remained in the kitchen, finishing washing everyone’s mugs and wiping pastry crumbs from the table. Veyn continued reading the game description and examining screenshots from it.

— Can we turn it on to look at the locations, appearance and such? As I said, I need to study everything in more detail, and only then will I be able to transport us to that world.

— Of course, we’ll turn it on now and… — Lucille didn’t manage to finish her response before being interrupted.

— No. You can’t. — Mark and Lewis, who had finished washing the dishes, stood next to the sofa and looked sternly at the twin girl and the kid in the hat.

— Lucy, look at the time. It’s already one in the morning… Do you realize how long we’ve been chatting here? Besides, we got up earlier today to play, so because of all the business and the amount of new information, our brains are completely overloaded. Let’s go to bed, get some sleep, and tomorrow we’ll continue our discussion and study of the game. — Lewis was already purring in a gentle tone, stroking his sister’s head and coaxing her to go to sleep.

— Well… okay… Only, brother, don’t we need to go to the university tomorrow for supplementary literature?

Here Mark joined the conversation:

— There. — he waved toward his bookshelf next to the green table. — There’s all the necessary supplementary literature for third year, I bought myself new books because I don’t like going to the library…

— Ha! A librarian who doesn’t like going to the library! — Veyn, Lewis and Lucille said and burst out laughing simultaneously. Even though everyone was already tired, nothing could stop them, because making fun of Mark was the key to having fun and producing happiness hormones!

— Alright kids! Quick to beds, sofas and such, and sleep! I’m already tired from work today, and then you threw this interesting mess at me by nighttime… Haaaaa… And how am I supposed to be emotionally stable after this? I’m exhausted, destroyed… — Darkred started up his whining routine.

— Alright, alright, we’re going to our little beds to sleep-sleep, right little ones? — Lewis gently patted his friend’s shoulder, hoping to somehow interrupt his tirade about misfortune. And Lucy and Veyn, having already understood that they were allowed to stay the night in the “owner’s” apartment, joyfully nodded with the eyes of a cute kitten in agreement with the redhead brother’s words.

…

So the night passed.

Then the cheerful group thoroughly prepared for their journey to the game world. Lewis carefully memorized all the missions and important points. Veyn familiarized himself with the appearance of this world and its “rules.” Lucille endlessly praised these two geniuses, and Darkred… What was the oldest one in this expedition supposed to do, when they didn’t even ask permission for traveling through worlds, they didn’t even ask his own opinion about whether he himself wanted to go there. In general, Mark packed the most important thing — provisions — and selected clothes that would be more comfortable for traveling.

Chapter 6

And now let’s return to where I began telling this story. Because I think it’s become much clearer how and what is happening, right?)

— Veyn, you drew a map of the area, right? — Lewis said, returning the hat to its owner.

This cave, well or tunnel, now with light looked mysterious, but not scary, rather intriguing. It turned out that the walls were covered with purple-green crystals, and in some spaces these crystals were completely adjacent to each other, so it even seemed as if it was a smooth mirror with a color effect.

Mark took the bag from Virgeil and pulled out an A4 sheet covered with markers and pencils, oh sorry, I misspoke, a map. On it he found a small dot that, like many other dots, was marked with a question mark and labeled as “some cave.”

— Hey, kids, want to know where we are? — Darkred smiled joyfully, turning to his adventure companions.

— Where, mister librarian?

— Don’t keep us in suspense, answer!

— Don’t intrigue us, we’re impatient!

(Try to guess whose lines are whose)

— So… We’re in “some cave”! Well, is it clearer now? — and immediately Mark’s smile began to irritate everyone.

— Well, fine, we wanted adventures, right? Lucy, no need to beat him up, save your strength. — snatching the stone that had already appeared in Lucille’s hand, Lewis threw it far away just in case. — It’s a shame, of course, we should have played through the game at home, opened up the map, but now here we are dealing with some caves. Well, alright, shall we head to the exit or something?

— Mister Redhead, it seems we won’t be able to do that… — Veyn’s voice became quiet, and because of this the others also decided to lower their tone.

— And why won’t we be able to? — the twin girl asked with interest.