"What do you mean you wrote it, Darian?" asked Liro as he tried to see what Darian was reading. Lily was still watching with sparks in her eyes while Vane was reading together with Darian.
"This small diary was written by one of my closest friends, he was a biologist too… I didn't think there would still be something this important from my times," said Darian as he caressingly moved his hands through the diary, which looked extremely old. Many pages were ruined, but the ink didn't go away yet, it was still there.
"But if this was here, did it mean that your friend worked here?" asked Liro. Darian sat down on the grass as he kept reading, everyone got closer to him.
"Woah, you have been in this old huge tower?" asked Lily as she looked up at the sky toward the old ruined tower.
"I have never been there, but I didn't think that my old friend did something here… now I'm curious about what's the purpose of it," said Darian as he slowly closed the diary in his hands.
"Wait, wasn't it used by the mayor in your times?" asked Lily. Darian looked confused.
"What do you mean by the mayor?" asked Darian, wondering what Lily meant with that sentence.
"Oh, like this tower is used by the mayor of this town to know how to rule better," said Lily. Everyone seemed extremely interested in what Lily was telling.
"Tell us more… how can they use it in that way?" asked Vane, confused.
"I don't know much… I just know that the mayor is the only one able to enter inside the tower, they say that they hear a voice that says what to do," said Lily. Everyone seemed really interested in the story she was telling.
"A voice? Is there really someone there?" asked Vane, looking directly at the tower, especially at the pond, wondering if he would be able to enter and check the truth.
"It is impossible, Vane… and they said that only the mayor is able to enter, we don't have a chance," answered Liro as he sighed.
"Well actually…" said Lily as she smirked, "there is a way."
Everyone gasped in surprise. "You see, something strange has happened recently. You see that house over there, right?" asked Lily as she pointed toward a house near the tower. It was isolated from everything.
After everyone turned toward it, Lily started to speak again, "The mayor of the town lives there. Before, the mayor was elected in the city every 10 years," said Lily as she started to narrate again.
"After that one was elected… the years have suddenly been changed to 20. I don't know why, but it feels really strange. As far as I know, it has never happened during the years that Yalemba was created."
The mayor of Yalemba, before the change, was elected every 10 years. After the end of the years, everyone could promote themselves and try to be the mayor. The people who were chosen were mostly the ones everyone loved. They didn't even need to speak or do anything, especially because the voice was the one who took the main decisions. The mayor is easy to recognize, he usually wears a mask of copper and glass.
"Darian, have you got any idea of what is the voice down in the tower?" asked Liro. Darian shook his head.
"As I told you, the tower was created once I was about to go away… I can't tell you anything sadly."
"Then you want to go and explore it, Lily?" asked Vane. The woman nodded her head.
"Exactly. I have visited it multiple times, but I was never able to find anything… maybe with your help I can do something more," said Lily as she got up from the ground and started to watch the sky. "It will be day for many other hours… let's wait for the night to arrive."
"Why? Can't we simply enter from the pond?" asked Darian as Lily sat down again next to him.
"From there, only the mayor can enter. The voice recognizes it and no one else is able to enter," said her. Everyone looked a bit confused.
"What do you mean we can't enter?" said Liro, looking at the tower, seeing if it was easier to enter from somewhere. Many windows were broken, but they were too high, almost impossible to reach.
"Only the dumbest person in the world would enter from the main entrance… I know a small secret," said Lily smirking. "But if it's day, someone might see us, especially the mayor," said her, watching with angry eyes toward the house.
"That's why we will wait for the night, so that no one will disturb us," finished Lily as she laid back on the ground.
"Well then let's find something to do while the day passes. You know, I'm curious to enter in this tower too," said Darian. Liro and Vane agreed with him.
"But like, how does this voice work? Do you know, Lily?" asked Liro.
Lily answered with her eyes closed, "I just know that the mayor can go there and make a question or explain the situation. It doesn't matter what the problem is, the voice always finds a solution, it is of a big help." Darian then started to think based on the information Lily just gave him.
'Wait… this voice helps humans and you can ask it this type of stuff… could it be?' thought Darian as he felt he was about to come closer to a conclusion. Liro noticed that Darian was lost in his thought and felt worried.
"Darian, are you alright?" Darian simply nodded his head, still lost in his thought.
"Lily, do you know if this voice has got a body?" asked Darian. Lily opened her eyes again and as she sat again she thought for a moment before answering.
"It shouldn't. I remember that 8 years ago I was here and it was late in the night, the mayor threw himself into the pond, but he didn't notice me. I clearly remember that I saw this weird yellow light coming from the bottom, the light was extremely weak and I could barely see it," said Lily. Darian felt like he was about to come next to a conclusion.
"Could it be an AI? I remember that during my time many important places had a huge AI at the entrance, they all had multiple uses, like they told you where you could find a person or you could get help from it," said Darian. Liro immediately shouted, "So it is like Rusty?" Darian, a bit surprised by the sudden scream, nodded his head.
"Exactly, also if Rusty is an AI who can do everything, these ones were specialized in only a few things," said Darian. Lily looked at him with many sparkles in her eyes.
"Rusty was the same thing that helped you after you returned to Earth, right? Tell me moreee," said Lily as she couldn't contain her excitement, it was flowing out from every part of her body.
Darian sighed before starting to explain again how he created Rusty with his friend, he explained every function of it and what was its main purpose. Lily's eyes never left Darian. Liro, even if he had already listened to this story multiple times, was always interested, while Vane was annoyed as he kept hearing it many times.
"Woah and so you brought plants from XERBAB-7 and gave them to him, and right now he's trying to make them grow?! I want to knoww moree," said her. But as Darian kept talking, the night had finally arrived.
"Arghhh you will tell it another time, I have been sitting on the ground for too long," said him as he jumped and stood up again. He touched his butt as it was hurting.
"I guess he's right…" said Lily as she got up too. Darian and Liro did the same. Snowy had been sleeping on Darian's lap for all this time, and as he heard everyone standing up, he opened his eyes, realizing it was already late.
"I wish I could hear more stuff about the outside of Yalemba…" said Lily as she looked far at the horizon.
"Why are you so interested in what there's outside? Does it matter really much? I mean, you pretty much have everything here, it's so peaceful," said Liro. Lily shook her head.
"And this is the problem, I want to feel other things. I don't want to have everything here, because I know that it isn't everything. I want to see more with my own eyes," answered Lily. It seemed like Vane was now agreeing with her.
"She's right, everyone would get bored just by staying here."
"But haven't you tried anything to go outside with the tideflare?" asked Liro.
"They said that we don't need it, they said that as long as we stay here we're safe, the krukins will never reach us there, there is no reason for us to go there… but I want to see more, I want to see more things with my eyes… especially the plants," said her as she started to walk. Everyone followed her.
"That is why I found a way to enter in the tower… so I can feel a sort of adventure," said her smiling. After a few minutes of walking, they got not far from the house, but in a place where the ground was weird.
There were multiple roots around and some of them were on the ground, it felt like they were blocking something. "Now that it is night no one should be able to see us…" said her as she looked around, especially at the house. The mayor was definitely asleep so it was safe to assume that no one was seeing them.
"From where should we enter, Lily?" asked Liro, watching around. As he was about to take a step where some roots were all concentrated, they slowly started to move and they retreated back into the ground, leaving an empty place for a hole.
"Let's go," said Lily as she jumped inside the small hole. Everyone first watched each other then did the same.
The hole wasn't really deep. In just a few seconds they landed inside something that looked like a huge pipe made of old iron. "Perfect, we're all here," said Lily. She moved her finger toward the hole above them, the roots returned to block it again.
"Woah, how did you do that? Was it your power?" asked Vane, amazed at the sight of that.
Lily watched behind her, everyone was looking at her. "Exactly, my power lets me create roots," said Lily. The finger moved down from up and a root appeared in front of her. Everyone gathered around it.
"Woah, this is so cool…" said Liro. Vane was amazed, but not as much as Darian, who was already trying to study the root.
"Tell me more," said Darian as he watched around the root.
"I can't tell you much, but they can be poisonous too," said her. The moment Darian was about to touch it, Lily removed it.
"Was that poisoned too or…" asked Darian, worried that he might have touched it.
"Hehe, who knows," said Lily joking as she started to walk in front of her.
"By the way, don't tell Naluri that I brought you here… she will get really mad if she knew I came another time here," said Lily.
"Wait, why? Did something bad happen the last time you got here?" asked Darian, worried that something bad might happen to them.
Lily stopped for a moment before turning toward the group behind her.
"Yes… it was this," said Lily as she pointed at her white bandage on her eyes. Everyone gasped in surprise.
Before this, somewhere else, Garoo was still playing his instrument.
"Hey Garoo, still playing your flute?" It was already really late. Garoo recognized the voice and looked really annoyed. Archie had reached him, sitting down next to him.
Garoo slowly removed the flute from his mouth to speak again, "I was about to stop."
"Oh, keep going, I don't mind, the sound was really nice," said Archie as he sat down. "I just wanted to speak a bit with you, is that alright?" asked Archie.
Garoo returned to play his flute, the note played was the FA, and a bubble that emitted a weak yellow light went between them.
Archie, understanding that he could speak, did not lose any time.
"So? Do you want to damage this city? Why you brought them here?" asked Archie, referring to the group of alterids from Therya.
"I don't need to answer to you… and you could even ask the same question of why we made you return after you and that woman went away," said Garoo. Archie looked sad.
"Don't mention her, Garoo… she's dead now, the krukins killed her. I was lucky to return alive, they could have killed me if she wouldn't save me…" said Archie. Garoo looked a bit annoyed.
"But as far as I know, everyone told you multiple times to not push yourself outside the city… then you returned like nothing had happened," said Garoo as he returned to play his flute. Suddenly the same bubble that hypnotized Darian as his friend was now in front of Archie, who knew what that was and he pointed his arm toward it.
Purple water came out of his finger, destroying the bubble.
"I just wanted to speak normally, why use your magic," said Archie annoyed as he got up and walked away.
Garoo looked directly at him walking away.
'I know that there is a problem with your story… the time of how much you were away was too much, and you even said that the krukins damaged you… how did you return safely without any problem?' thought Garoo.
"I swear I will discover the truth about you," whispered Garoo as he got up and walked away too. Not being able to see Archie anymore, he completely disappeared in the dark.