"What do you think?" Azekiel asked for Raphael's opinions since he was more knowledgeable than him in such extraordinary matters.
"As you said, the book wasn't cursed before coming here. For some reason, it is cursed now. I am not sure of the reason behind it, but I think you shouldn't open the first book."
Raphael didn't feel like it was worth taking the risk. The curse of the Book could be anything. It could put them at an even bigger disadvantage than the book could give an advantage.
"Without the first book, we won't have the complete map. Each of the books is supposed to contain one-half of the map." Azekiel rubbed the back of his neck, seemingly mentally tired.
First, the Blood and Soul Oath, which only gave him seven days, then this troublesome world instead of an indoor temple, and now even their map came with a curse. It was as if his luck was really bad.
"But you're also right. There's a risk in opening the first one."
"I might have an idea." Lia chimed in.
"What idea?"
"The book has a curse, right?"
"That's what we were talking about. What about it?"
"If you open the book, that curse will strike you. But the answer to our problems also lies in that same statement, doesn't it?"
"What are you trying to say? Can't you be direct?"
Azekiel was so distracted by the curse, he couldn't think straight for the moment.
Raphael, on the other hand, appeared to understand what Lia was implying. His eyes lit up. "If you're saying what I think you are, then it's a pretty clear idea. Not bad, Lia. How could we forget such a basic thing? We were worrying for no reason."
"What basic thing? Will anyone tell me as well?"
Generally, Azekiel was very perceptive and easily understood things, yet this time he couldn't since his head was already overwhelmed by other things.
"As I said, the curse only works when you open the book. But we also can't get the map in the book without opening it. So how about we just have someone else open the book? We can make any random person open the book," Lia explained her plan, flashing a cheeky smile. "We don't need to worry about the curse at all."
"Even if the curse works, it'll work on that person, and we'll be scot-free." Raphael agreed. "We can also memorize the map so we wouldn't need to open the book again. This is the best option we have where we only stand to gain."
"That's true, but we'll need to find a person first for that, don't we? There isn't anyone else in this place. We would need to leave this Rainforest first, which means walking over thirty kilometers. Don't the original problem still stand? We might be walking in the wrong direction and waste a day."
Even though the plan was good, Azekiel could still see some minor problems in it that he didn't want to ignore.
"Just give me a minute. Let me see if we can get a high idea on the direction with half the map."
He opened the second book. As expected, there was no warning this time.
He kept flipping the pages, looking for a map. The more pages he turned, the more his expressions turned dark.
"It's empty?" Lia thought out loud. "Where is the map?"
The old map was on the first few pages of the Book. According to the Statue of Osiris, the old map was going to change into a new one.
Let alone changing to a new one, even the old map itself had disappeared.
"Could it be that we need to open both the books to see the map?" Raphael thought of a possibility.
If the two books were a pair, each possessing one-half of the map, then it was quite possible that they also worked in sync, only showing the new map when both the books were open?
"I hope that's not the case. That will bring us back to square one," Azekiel muttered as he continued flipping the pages.
He really hoped that it wasn't as Raphael described because in that case, they could only take a random guess on which direction to take for now.
"There it is!"
Azekiel sighed a breath of relief, finally discovering the map. It was right at the center of the Book.
He finally relaxed. Having half the map was better than having no map.
Right at the edge of the map, there appeared to be a door drawn.
Right beside that door, a forest was deposited, which was covered by clouds.
"This door is where we entered from. So it does show our path of entry. And we are in this forest. Unfortunately, that's all of the significant parts that this part of the map shows."
"If we are here, and this is there, that means the other part of the map will depict that side of the world. And the place where you found the shelter should be around this part." Azekiel tapped a point right at the edge of the forest marked on the map.
"It seems we made the right decision by not going to the shelter you found. That's the wrong direction. Even though we don't have an accurate direction on where to go, we do have a general direction, it seems."
"The first half of the map holds the answer, and it depicts that part of the world. So we should go there." He pointed to the South. "We might not end up at the right place, but we won't be too far from it either."
"Agreed." Raphael agreed with the plan. "So, shall we get moving?"
"Yeah." Azekiel hid the books inside his clothes again to protect them from rain as much as he could before getting off the bed.
He left to the south, toward the unknown. Without the map of that part of the world, even he had no idea what he was going to find.
He knew he needed the Time Stone, and he was willing to take any risk for that, even walking to the doors of hell if that's where the Stone of Time was. Because if he didn't, he was going to die.
Azekiel had just started walking South, not realizing that there was another person going in the same direction as him. Moreover, that person had already covered a lot of distance, taking a lead that was difficult for him to cover.
Unlike Lenora, Azekiel had to select each step with care since he couldn't see through the mist.
The group of three walked in the rainforest, not speaking much. Only the sound of rain could be heard with occasional thundering.
"Hey, Azekiel?" After a long time, Lia called out.
"Yeah?"
"I was curious about that rain thing. You were about to tell me something before Raphael interrupted. What was it about?"
