Ze's lips flatten into a thin line as he nods.

"You three will go to our accommodation to get the illustrations. I will meet you there."

"Where are you going?" I frown.

"Library. We will need maps of P'davi, perhaps a book on flora and fauna if there is one. Everyone will be crowding the libraries soon, so having a head start will be useful."

He doesn't wait for our acknowledgment before he disappears.

"Did you know about this?" I ask as we reach our suite.

Thea purses her lips.

"I was aware of the incompatibility issue, but I didn't think they would make a trial out of it. In past editions, the brew was provided to participants on arrival."

I take a deep breath, slumping into a chair. Just as Milado said, three illustrations await us on the table, each depicting a plant. One of them has blue, elongated flowers, another yellow ones, while the other is comprised solely of leaves—very common-looking leaves.

"Can anyone pass this trial?" I whisper, hopelessness lacing my voice.

There are just so many variables involved, which makes the entire ordeal even more dangerous.

"Of course," she promptly replies.

"There are some species that have an affinity for plants," Cer adds grimly.

"Great," I mumble.

In less than a minute, Ze makes his appearance in the room carrying a stack of books. He drops them onto the kitchen table with a thud.

"I took everything that might be of help to us. Maps, botany books, and some history tomes."

"There's just one issue," I point out as I pick up one of the books. "We don't speak this... language."

The letters look like hieroglyphs. The maps, too, are not designed in the way a map would be in my world. Everything is foreign and strange, and tears of frustration stab at the back of my eyes.

My hands tremble as I put the book down, and with a startling realization, I note that I may be close to my boiling point.

From the start of the game, everything has happened so fast, I've barely had time to grasp all the strange events leading up to this. But this goes beyond just the game. It all started with the accident, after which I became semi-numb to reality. Maybe if I weren't so desperate for any modicum of hope, I would have never entertained the thought that other worlds might exist—that there might be other species out there.

But because I was so devastated by Nikki's loss, I was able to push aside the rational part of my brain and give in to the irrational.

Yet now that it's slowly catching up with me, I can't help but wonder.

What the hell did I get myself into?