“What are they doing?” Lyra asked as everyone stepped backward. Arix raised his hand, creating a gate-like barrier to protect her. Tarin stepped one step forward with his greatsword, while Meilie stood there, pointing her staff at the ghosts.

  All the ghosts in the village came and sat in the same kneeling position in front of them, holding their hands out before them.

  “Do you want something?” Tarin shouted at the ghosts.

  One of the ghosts stood up. He looked like an old Lom, with a wrinkled, transparent face and his tails dragging on the ground. His old eyes were barely open, and his body was bent halfway toward the earth.

  He made his way toward the group very slowly, holding a stick in his left hand to support himself as he walked.

  Tarin stepped forward. He raised his greatsword and swung it at the old Lom, but it passed through him without hitting anything. Tarin’s eyes went wide, and his jaw dropped. He turned around to look at the Lom approaching the group in the same slow pace.

  Upon reaching them, the old Lom stood there for a while, not moving at all, staring at Arix as if he were expecting something from him.

  “Umm… what do you want?” Arix asked, the muscles in his face stiffened.

  The old Lom pointed his stick to the ground and started drawing something.

  Tarin approached him, and so did Lyra, Arix, and Meilie.

  They all looked down and found some text written by the old Lom. Arix tried to recognize the words, and he did. It was the same language he had been taught on the island.

  “Don’t go down” was the text written on the ground with dirt by the old Lom. After slowly completing his writing, he lifted his chin to look at Arix and his group, who were trying to understand what the Lom meant by don’t go down.

  “Don’t go down? What does this mean?” Arix asked, turning his face sideways to look at the text again from a different angle. “Do you mean don’t go down that secret passage?”

  The old Lom nodded.

  “But why? It’s the only clue we found to leave this place,” Tarin asked the old Lom, his face slightly annoyed.

  The old Lom looked down and began to write something else entirely.

  “Maybe there’s something hidden below?” Lyra said, looking at everyone.

  “Maybe,” Arix answered, looking down at the new text that was forming at a snail's pace from the old Lom.

  After a while, a new text emerged: “It kills us.” The old Lom looked up again at Arix, expecting an answer.

  “It kills us?” Arix repeated the words from the ground. “But how? I don’t understand.” He turned toward the group of ghosts kneeling down. There were kids, women, and old ghosts who seemed like a family. Arix kept staring at them for a while and said, “Isn't there any other way?” He paused, then continued, “To get out of the village?”

  The old Lom kept staring at Arix without explaining anything or writing anything.

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  “Listen, you old geezer. We have to escape, and if the hole is the only way out, then we will take it,” Tarin replied, his brows slowly drawing together and his lips pressed into a thin line.

  Meilie was standing behind everyone, observing the conversation. She didn’t understand the text written on the ground, as it was not her language. Neither could she speak, so she made no statement and didn’t try to intervene in the conversation.

  The old Lom looked at the ground again and started writing something new with his stick.

  “If barrier die, we die.” This was the new text formed by the old Lom’s stick.

  “So this barrier protects them?” Lyra frowned.

  “Well, even if it does, we have to find our escape, or we will be trapped here forever without food,” Arix answered, wrapping his arms around his body.

  The old Lom looked down at the ground again and used his stick to form a new set of text. Tarin was growing impatient. He was tapping the ground with his foot while closing his eyes and wrapping his arms around himself.

  After a while, a new text emerged. “If you go down, you die too.” The old Lom looked up again at Arix, bringing his stick closer to support himself.

  “Oh, we will not.” Tarin’s voice grew louder. He stepped forward, trying to grab the old Lom, but failed as his hand went through him again. He clenched his fists and paced back and forth.

  “Well, if that’s the only way out, then we will take it.” Arix pointed toward the big hole in the ground.

  The old Lom looked down and, with his stick, formed new text. “Please.”

  Looking at the word 'please' written in the dirt, Lyra's expression softened. She tilted her head slightly, her eyes gentle as she looked toward Arix. “Can’t we do something?” she asked softly.

  “I don’t know. I don’t see any other way out,” Arix replied in a softer voice.

  “Agh… how can you grow sympathy for these ghosts? They are already dead,” Tarin shouted at the group, which startled Meilie. She quickly moved behind Arix, putting both her hands on his shoulders and looking over them.

  “Who will attack you if the barrier goes down?” Arix turned toward the old Lom and asked.

  “He protects us,” was the new text that emerged from the ground, but it was not the only one. “With the barrier,” was written next to it.

  “Who protects you?” Lyra asked the old Lom.

  The old Lom stared at Lyra for a while and then turned to the ground again. This time, instead of text, he started drawing something.

  Meilie stepped forward from Arix’s shoulder. Tarin, Lyra, and Arix formed a circle around the old Lom and looked down at the new drawing.

  It was a face this time. A face with some kind of mask on it. Only the eyes were visible behind the mask. The mouth and nose are barely there, just smooth wood that doesn't move or show any emotion.

  “So he protects you with this barrier?” Lyra turned toward the old Lom.

  He nodded.

  “We have to get out of this village, and for that, we will do everything we can,” Arix said, looking at the old Lom.

  The old Lom stared at Arix again for a while and then wrote something with his stick. “Lord will punish you.” After writing this text, he turned around and started moving toward the group of ghosts.

  When he reached them, every ghost stood up and marched away from the tree toward the village. They kept moving until they disappeared. They were not forming a line like every day, nor were they staring at the group. They were gone.

  There was silence for a while. The sound of wind was the only thing Arix heard besides his own breathing.

  “Who is this lord?” Lyra asked, looking at the disappearing ghosts.

  They all sat down at the root of the tree waiting for sunrise and thinking of their way out.

  No one could sleep that night. Arix was pacing back and forth in a circle, wrapping his arms around himself. Meilie and Lyra were sitting at the tree's root, and Tarin was investigating the hole, looking down to find something but there was complete darkness below.

  It was a long night, but not infinite.

  In the morning, they packed their bags and belongings. All four were ready to climb down and face anything that came their way. Their shoulders tensed as they exchanged uneasy glances. Lyra swallowed hard. “There is no other way, right?”

  Everyone looked at her and slowly shook their heads.

  They started making their way down through the ladder one by one. First to climb down was Tarin, followed by Arix, then Lyra and Meilie.