031 ┃ One last request

When Spud woke up, the first thing he saw was Dawn's face lying next to him. She had a calm and adorable expression that Spud found somewhat amusing. Until last night, he had never seen the vulnerable side of his companion, but he was glad he had.

He spent a few seconds admiring his companion's beauty, then carefully got out of bed so as not to wake her. Once outside the bed, he covered Dawn with the blanket again and stealthily left the room.

He sat on the porch with his many note papers. Lion soon came to greet him, rubbing against his arm as soon as he noticed Spud's presence.

"Good morning, little one," Spud greeted.

Before continuing his investigation, he took a few seconds to appreciate the sunrise. The snow that had fallen a couple of days ago had not melted yet, and it seemed like it wouldn't for the whole winter. Despite the circumstances that had brought him to this place, Spud thought it was beautiful and wouldn't mind returning there once they found a way out. Without the stalkers, it was undoubtedly a dreamy place.

With a sigh, he picked up the pamphlet they had found in the castle. It was full of annotations, arrows, and circles all over. Fortunately, he had grabbed two.

He mentally reviewed everything he had found so far. The decorations on the top and bottom of the page made him think it was some kind of royal message or announcement. That made sense considering the printing press was in the castle.

The message itself was not very long, consisting of only a few lines of text. Spud had only been able to understand the meaning of two words: the name of the king and the name of the god. After all, they were words he had seen on various occasions in legends and other books. That was all he had discovered.

He had several theories about what it could mean. First, it could have nothing to do with the catastrophe that had struck the island and be just a message that was printed before. Spud didn't really believe that, since when they found the papers in the printing press, they were scattered on the floor carelessly. That meant they had made those prints in a hurry, which meant that whatever killed everyone had already happened or was happening.

What kind of message would a king print during a catastrophe? Spud could think of things like a call to war or an order for everyone to hide in their homes, but that didn't explain the name of the god at the end of the message. The other option was that the king was ordering his subjects to flee the danger. Maybe the king himself was going to escape and sent that message for everyone to follow him. But where to?

Spud looked at the pamphlet again. The name of the god was the last word in the message, but he doubted it was written just for the sake of it. It had to mean something.

He thought not to take only the name of the god but also the previous word, thinking it might have a different meaning. With pen and ink, he drew a circle around the last two words, trying hard to think about what they could mean.

He thought for several minutes until something came to mind. Quickly, he took out the map and began to search for places near the capital. He had tried to memorize all the places on the map in case something like this happened, and he swore he had seen a place with that name.

His heart almost leapt out of his chest when he found it. A few centimeters above the city, there it was. He compared the two names again and again to make sure he wasn't mistaken and that they were the same. There was no doubt.

"Boo!" Dawn startled him from behind, causing him to jump in surprise.

Spud turned to see his companion and his startled expression softened.

"Why did you do that?" he scolded her, breathing heavily.

"I'm sorry, it's just that you were so focused that I couldn't resist," she replied, amused. Suddenly, she wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned in to give him a warm kiss. "I've wanted to do that for a while."

Spud couldn't help but feel his mind go blank and a shiver run through his body at the contact with Dawn's lips. He wasn't sure if he would ever get used to that.

"What were you looking at?" Dawn asked, moving to sit next to him.

Those words brought Spud back to his senses. He looked again at the pamphlet and the map, feeling excited once more.

"I've found it," he explained. "I've found the place they went to."

Dawn tilted her head, confused.

"Slow down. What do you mean?"

"The message. I know what it means. I think they made it during whatever killed everyone. It was a royal announcement ordering everyone to flee or follow the king or something," Spud explained, speaking so fast it was hard for him to articulate correctly. "I still don't know what they were running from, but I do know where they went."

Spud showed the map to his companion, his finger pointing at the name he had just discovered.

"This is the place. I think it's a sanctuary of the god or something like that. And the best part is that it's only a few hours' walk from the city. If we go there, we might find out what happened to everyone," Spud said, excited.

Dawn sighed as she looked down.

"I don't know, Spud…" she complained.

"What's wrong? Aren't you excited?" he asked, not understanding his companion's reaction.

"I'm not sure anymore," she explained.

"Why not? This is the closest we've been to discovering what happened. We might have answers to all the questions we've been asking," Spud argued, thrilled like a child.

"I know you're excited, but the last time we went exploring, we almost died. Maybe next time we won't be so lucky. I... I don't want anything to happen to you. I don't know what I would do if you died," Dawn expressed with concern.

"We're invincible together. Nothing will happen to us," Spud reassured her with a comforting tone while looking at her.

"But what if it does?" Dawn looked at him intently with her big green eyes. "Can't you let it go? Now that I'm finally happy, I don't want to take any risks. We could live peacefully in the cabin, just the two of us, and start a family," she rested her head on Spud's shoulder while blushing.

Spud also blushed as he listened to his companion. He took her hands and looked into her eyes with determination.

"I want that too, Dawn, but I need to know what happened here. This will be the last expedition we'll go on, and I'll never do anything dangerous again. Please come with me," Spud pleaded.

Dawn sighed. After a few seconds, she said, "It seems like I still can't compete with you," she admitted. She looked at Spud firmly. "But I'll only go with you if you really promise me."

Spud nodded vigorously.

"I promise that after this adventure, we'll start a family and live together forever," he assured her with conviction.

Dawn turned completely red as she heard that.

"You didn't have to put it that way..."