[This is a fan translation]^{[a][b][c][d][e][f]}

Professor Layton and the Illusory Forest.^[g]

Written by Level 5 and Akihiro Hino

-Hershel Layton- An archeology professor at Gressenheller University.

-Luke Triton- An 11 year old boy who is the self proclaimed apprentice to the professor. He longs to journey with him.

- Emmy Altava - The professor's assistant, and an extremely skilled fighter.

- Inspector Grosky - An eccentric inspector who works at Scotland Yard.

- Aston Bloom - The richest man in all of Illusory. He comes from a renowned family.

- Sania Cornell - A woman who has been asleep due to an accident that happened a year ago.

- Village Mayor - The mayor of Illusory and the man who puts a curse on Professor Layton.

- Jean Descole - The professor's greatest enemy.

Prologue:

Somewhere in this world, there is a mysterious and powerful book, the "Book of Destiny". Within its pages are all the events of the past, present, and future of humanity, and the power to conquer time itself at the whim of the user. It is believed that such a book, exceeding the bounds of space and time, can grant one's deepest desires.
        To prevent this maddening power from falling into the wrong hands and threatening the collapse of the world, it is said that the Gods in the Sky, bestowers of the book, will punish those who would reveal its secrets and use its knowledge wrongfully.

Chapter One

The Wedding Attack

        ‘’The Book of Destiny…”. A man whispered in a low voice. The fireplace is lighting the side of his face. He puts on a mask; the cloak is very gaudy and when the fire waves, it makes him look like a clown. His appearance is oddly fitting foran old English bookshelf^[m]. The odd butler clears his throat weakly, and hassles the masked man to proceed, and so he begins.

“At the most west side of England, there is a place called Illusory, a mythical living forest village”

The butler repeats “Illusory…”

The masked man nods. “According to the legend, the Illusory Forest has a trick. Anyone who steps inside never comes back. They stay bound to the forest as if they are somehow attracted.”

The butler slightly bows. “It sounds like you know a lot about the forest, as much as I do. Remember? We used to play there; that’s how you know how frightening the forest is. Our British citizens would like this story indeed…”

The masked man begins to grin behind the mask. “There is a legend saying that a book is hidden in this forest, and it’s said to contain the fates of all humankind. All human beings know of their fate when they decide to achieve it, the forest is quite misty, and a strange creature will come for you… this is surely Fate.”

The butler speaks. “Does this actually even exist?”

The masked man says “It may certainly be an incredible story. What if it’s the truth? Imagine, the Destiny Book and its powers and all the fates of the humans in your hands.”

The butler stood up and stretched. “With all due respect…the fate of all humans is in the hands of God, and that’s the way it should be left sir.”

The man in the mask chuckles. “That is why I need this book at all costs…”

///

Part 1

St. James Church, the morning light shines from the stained glass, the cathedral is formed of seven colors, and the solemn tone of the pipe organs are heard. The voices of the choir are heard throughout the cathedral clear as day, as the priest stands in front of the altar. The bride’s veil is white as snow and she wears a beautiful white gown, and the groom's round cheeks are very rosy, and wears a tuxedo. “We are gathered here today to face the Father's will. “ The priest in a solemn tone asks the bride. “Even when sick in health, do you swear that you will love this man forever?” The bride faces the groom, her face covered by the veil, as she sighs involuntarily. “Emmy is beautiful eh?”  Inspector Grosky murmured to Layton, the boy, and another man. Emmy is the bride, and was standing there in pride. I squinted for a moment but there I saw facing Emmy as a groom was…Professor Layton! As the bride was going to answer… “What’s wrong?!” a panicked voice from the crowd speaks. “What’s happening?!” another one gets up and yells. “The wedding is under attack!” Inspector Grosky yells out to the crowd.

I’m Luke triton by the way, and I am the apprentice to the greatest archaeologist in all of England, Professor Layton. I remember this adventure, and how I was so obsessed with the idea that the world was going to somehow end, it’s a habit you tend to have, well as a child anyway. It all seems so strange now, when we all thought there was no hope for the future, I was insipid day to day. At the time this incident occurred in my town, and Professor Layton was the one to resolve it by fully using his amazing power of logic and intelligence. It troubled me strangely, but that joy was unforgettable, it’s like that wonderful light that had surrounded us all suddenly turned into immediate darkness.  I swore that I would be the best apprentice that the Professor ever had, and spread his greatness around the world, and this adventure would change my life. Emmy, she will speak the words of the oath.

At that moment something fell from the stained glass ceiling. Everyone began to panic and shout. It was a dubious gang wearing geometric cloth patterns for clothing, seven colors from head to feet. I heard Emmys voice as she yelled out to them “Come and get it!” The professor was getting nervous, “Emmy, be careful!” Several of the bridesmaids, and those in the front of the choir began to run and panic, as the geometric pattern gang stripped off their smock and began to capture them all one by one. They were originally wearing disguises of a policeman to go about unnoticed, but then, “Operation Success! Aimed as expected, they fell for the trap.” I said excitedly as the professor nodded. “It doesn’t seem as though we can toy with their minds just yet, they seem considerably wise.” The professor said as he was holding a strange looking weapon that looked like a water cannon. The professor sprayed the water like crazy from the weapon, hosing down the gang. The cops began to gather at the scene. The odd pattern clothed gang began to throw objects that seemed like bean bags made of hail and thin cloth, but burst when they hit the target. “Woaaaaah.” All around were those bean bags exploding as the cops began to fall one after another. “What do you people think you’re doing?!” said Inspector Grosky, “Come on men! Stand your ground firmly.” Grosky widely opened his mouth, “For the Yard!” It was a great struggle dealing with these strange gang of men wearing the geometric patterns. The people in panic including the cops began to trip on the exploded beans that were on the floor, who on Earth would have imagined this, and what on earth was to come of it. It was one heck of a situation, or at least the professor said it was. The enemies were sweeping around the place looking for something, some sort of person or object that could shed wisdom or light for them. They scattered around with cylindrical piston guns. “Wow!” they seemed very powerful. They began to stick to walls in a strange way, almost like they were blending in. “Do not move!” Grosky yelled out to the men, he thought he had them cornered. He spread his legs and arms, then turned around to the cops behind him “What? You’re welcome”, but the men began to do something strange, they even looked strange. A large number of people were trying to leave from the front. The professor once told me that facing the enemy is like facing an opponent in chess, by diminishing one piece, you are one step closer to approaching victory. One of the men seemed to be aiming at the bride, and the elite Scotland Yard didn’t retreat one step away from her, but then he sprayed something around the cathedral, and the people began to moan in pain as they grabbed the bride. “Professor this is painful!” I cried out to the Professor. It was some sort of a yellow spray. I held my hand in front of my eyes, “Luke! Close your eyes now!” said the Professor. “My nose and mouth are blocking up” he said as he pulled out a handkerchief to block his nose and mouth. He examined the spray like substance, “The identity of this yellow spray seems to have mustard!” he said.

Mustard?!

Once it hit the eyes it began to tingle and soon enough it started to become painful. The policemen who were hit with the mustard spray began to groan as they held their eyes and nose and lied down in the floor with the suffering that was to come. “You people, what are you then? I will always stand up to….the enemy, I will fight.” Inspector Grosky had also been wobbling and covering his eyes. There was great pain everywhere; Scotland Yard’s combat capability was zero. The seven men in the geometric patterns were now facing the Professor and Emmy. The Professor rubbed his eyes and clenched his fists. I had a bad feeling. Emmy was about ready to fight to help the Professor, then he took a quick look past them, the Professor turned to me and said “Luke. Here is the problem!” and I was astounded as I looked around, “This is quite the tense scene.” I said to the Professor. “It’s important, there is a repetition of their geometric patterns, only one person is different from those in the seven. One of them is telling the rest what to do. He would be none other than, the boss!”

(Puzzle 001) Every man in this puzzle has a similar uniform pattern. All but one... the one with a different pattern is the boss. Can you figure out who?

“Correct! That person is the boss. He’s certainly dangerous because he is not a part of the minor party.” To repeat him verbatim, the boss is unusually strong.  The professor is quite amazing at fencing, he grabbed one of the long and heavyweight candlesticks to fight back, but struggled. “Got it!” The professor said while fighting the boss, but to no use. The boss used his strength and brute force to grasp the candlestick in his hands, and flung the professor out of his way. “Eeeee!” I was stunned at the sight. I couldn’t believe that professor was beaten so easily, with physical strength and intellect… the boss seemed like he was a trained martial artist, that much was clear now. The boss turned around and made his way toward Emmy to attack.  I began to shout “Emmy! Do your roundhouse kick, give him a good chop in the head!” Emmy nodded and proceeded to attack head on with no strategy as she usually did however…someone approached her while she wasn’t paying attention. I don’t know what it was, whether she had gotten amnesia or not, but she didn’t fight back…she didn’t fight them back at all. As disappointing as it sounds, it’s like she was stuck. I looked at her in disbelief “why?” I stared at Emmy who was now in the hold of the boss, and in an instant she was out. One of the members held a black tube on their back and aimed it towards the stained glass windows of the Cathedral. There was a tremendous sound inside, the authentic stained glass began to fall and shatter. The people around me began shouting “This is dangerous! Escape!” the church was falling into chaos, but I couldn’t help mindlessly staring at the boss who was still holding Emmy, he threw a rope on the stained glass as the edges attached and made a little opening on the window frame, the other members threw a rope following the boss, as the rope caught the window frame they ascended. Inspector Grosky yelled to the police, “They’re running away! We have to hunt them down!” Some of the policeman began to recover from the blinding mustard spray, and began to run to the exit of the church. The professor was finally able to get up on his feet. “Luke, are you okay?” I nodded “yes!” I helped the professor up and we began running out of the church. I had yet to tell the professor that Emmy was taken away completely unexpected… this has now become more serious than any of us had ever thought at the moment.

        I told the professor as we caught up early to the men who had Emmy. The gang went on up the hill on the side of the church at full speed. Thanks to their flashy clothes we never lost sight of wherever they were. Inspector Grosky joyously raised his voice. “Tighten it! It’s a dead end where they’re heading” There is a high stone wall on the previous hill, and in front of the stone wall there is a circular flower bed. There weren’t any holes in the stone wall, and there was no possible way they could climb up. It’s a complete dead end. One of the men looked at Grosky as they cornered the men. “I did it sir!” he said. “Oh. Yes.” Grosky said, but the Professor still had a worried look upon his face for some reason.

        The gang just stood in front of the flower bed, Grosky called out in a loud voice. “Your escape route is cut off! Promptly surrender!” and in a fell swoop the men celebrate with hoorays, but a little too soon as the men completely ignored Inspector Grosky and began to disappear in one after the other inside the flower bed. The Inspector's eyes widened. “Do not- what in the world happened? What are these…flower beds?” It was a more like a hedge rather than a flower bed; it was about a 111 meters height.

Suddenly a sound was heard, it was being projected from the branches on top of the flower beds, and the sound became more violent. “Eh?” A roar deviated from the leaves and the flowers deviated from the branches that are strewn. “That’s not branches!” The Professor said. It has wings! And blades…and quickly the machine was lifted casually. It made a crunching sound as it ascended high in the sky. “It’s a helicopter” I shouted. The professor gave this distressed look, like he had just been humiliated. “It was just a decoration formed from leaves and flowers, the machine was disguised as a flower bed!” I growled. The enemies were disguised as the patterns on the helicopter to imitate it. I had tried to jump onto it as fast as I could before it got too high. “Don’t not Luke! Let’s quickly ride after them!” Inspector Grosky quickly after us to the professor's car, and hastily got in. In order to follow the helicopter the car went into sudden acceleration. It was me, the Professor and Grosky that had boarded.

        The city of London is lined with buildings of brick, with a horse drawn carriage passing the street. Inspector Grosky shouts telling us to look up at the sky. “Oh, there it is!” he said. Above the old houses with chimneys the helicopter disguised as a flower bed flew leisurely, it was a strange sight. A flowerbed flying… it was enough to be a joke. It didn’t put out quite the speed and it had a fairly low-altitude flight, it may be because the occupant is large. It’s convenient to chase them in that sense. “You keep still now Layton!” as the Inspector was worried and made sure we were not to miss it. The helicopter began to occasionally drop flowers as it flew by.

“What is that?”

“What?”

“Flower beds are flying in the sky?!”

        The people in the city were causing a fuss pointing at the flying flower bed in the sky. The Professor was driving his car at an amazing speed. A sudden wind occurred and began to get stronger, and the rickety road of the stone pavement wasn’t helping considering it was dangerous to drive through it with this kind of speed, but that was nothing to stop the Professor thanks his amazing driving skills, but even so the chase is tight as the opponent is flew through the sky unobstructed.

        This place is riddled with obstacles. Suddenly a horse-drawn carriage approached right in front of us, the people in the wagon jumped out to the side in worry, as the driver penetrated the ceiling of the rickety stairs road. The Professor turned making a sharp curve, it almost threw us out from the window. Our bodies were being hit from one side of the car to another, I let out a cry. “This is hard, but I’m sure your car can handle it! What luck you have!” the Inspector said from the rear seat as he showed off his white teeth in a massive grin. “It’s not a problem at all Inspector. Riding like this in my car has become a good exercise as of recent.” said the Professor. “Finally we passed through the town. Time to put an end to this game.” said Grosky. The Professor accelerated, increasing our speed, as we approached the low-altitude flying helicopter. “Inspector Grosky, can you activate the cylinder that is placed near the rear seat for ignition, thank you!” the Professor told Grosky as he focused his vision to the front. “The ignition? Well, alrighty!” Ignition? But what of it? What does that have to do with anything-? At that moment we heard a tremendous combustion noise at the back of the car. “What?” that sound is-“the Professor said almost shocked that it worked.

        I looked back “It’s the jet engine, eeee!” The rear seat had a cylinder of a long diameter; it came out of collision from behind the window. Flames erupted fast and furiously. “Hieeee this is amazing!”  The car steadily increased speed, as we’d just overtaken the helicopter. “Here we go!” We both firmly caught on to it. “Yes sir!” Grosky screamed out.  “Oh ho.” The Professor said as he manipulated his way around.  Something dabbled from the window and it looked like a wire hook launcher. The hook captured the leg portion of the helicopter. “We did it! Catching the helicopter was a success!” The rear of the car opened suddenly. “What’s it doing this time?” Grosky said staring out from the back window outside. “It’s a parachute and we’re heading up to the sky like a plane.” The Inspector spoke surprised as the Laytonmobile was lifted up casually.

        Instantly the car began to shake loose. “Yipe! Why would it do that?” I said as the car shook heavily from left to right, and a full round rotation. It was completely out of balance, and soon enough we were going to fall straight on the ground. “Aaaaah! We’re falling!” we were spinning round and round in the professor's car as the ground was approaching us. My eyes were wide open as I was staring at the ground. Straw was piled up on the floor as we steadily approached it. Soon enough…we slammed onto the ground. Severe shock and pain hit our whole bodies. Everything became dark.

Losing consciousness in a place like this…our efforts were useless.

 “They’re probably already long gone.” Inspector Grosky mutters as he looks at the flower bed left behind. Empty. “Luke, are you alright?” the Professor asked me as I stared anxiously onto the ground. “It’s okay…when we fell we seemed to have lost consciousness for a while.” The professor said as he stepped out of the car with the inspector following next. I vaguely looked around the area. “The Laytonmobile…” this was a definite winner of anything I’d ever seen bashed due to the impact of the fall. “I’m not too worried, falling around this particular area on the mountain located with straw was fortunate for us.”  So I said as the professor went to try and start the engine. After a couple of tries the motor began to sound okay, oddly enough. It seems we were saved, and safe from those goons. The inspector cocked his neck. “But what I find baffling is, why Emmy? I wonder if they caught the remainder of them..”

I also agreed with the inspector’s line of thinking. “You’re right. Emmy’s a master when it comes to martial arts, all she had to do was give them a good chop…somehow from the beginning it looked like we would all be involved with these guys.”

Why was it so easy for Emmy to fall into the hands of these guys? It seemed like she wasn’t even trying to fight the rogue gang. “Professor?” I said as a he began to have a serious profile on his face, suspicion and unexpected allegations had welled up in my chest.

Part 2  

[Disclaimer: In this portion there are names of 4 ladies, I changed their names to make sense to the plot.]

This story came to light about a month ago.

In the professor's office, the inspector had payed us a visit with a glum look on his face. He always came to him when things got too complicated to figure out. He was sat on the sofa with a proud looking man named Scott and another inspector from Portland Yard, he was weak in intelligence, the kind that didn't think but instead used violence head on. At the time they came to ask for help as they were in quite a trapped situation.

They were talking of ways to resolve an incident while engaging in tea. I decided to have milk tea, it was vanilla flavored and made fresh with Jersey milk. It was delicious, and I loved the scent of the vanilla aroma. I passed the tray around with the tea, but the professor insisted I didn't hand them the tea cup and instead have them take it to their liking.

"Some brides have been kidnapped...?" The professor said.

Grosky said in disgust, "It happened again yesterday at four at the St. James church. The incidents seem to mostly occur there."

According to the police and the inspector, in the midst of weddings in London, strange disguised men occur with the flower bed disguised machines, and frequently kidnap select brides. The victims are commonly daughter in-laws of specific families. Apparently they go around wearing outfits that match the surroundings, one after another disguised as a certain item. I saw the inspector sit there and wonder. "It is really strange. What would they gain out of disguising as objects and kidnapping brides?" Emmy said completely puzzled.

"What my question is, why aim for the brides who get married at St. James church?" Groskie shakes his head in frustration. "I do not understand! On account of the situation..."

Emmy sneaks up from behind.

"Well I suppose that's why we're here, to gather wisdom from you Professor Layton." said the head of the police department scolding his head.

"Of course! After all whatever Mr. Layton says is true! Nothing wrong ever comes out of his mouth." the inspector said.

"Inspector, would you mind showing me the brides that have been taken in the article?" said the professor.

"Very well." Grosky nodded.

the professor looked at the article, and there were the names of the victims under the wedding photos. There seemed to be four names? The first name said Erin, then it was Elise, the third is Ella, and fourth is Elizabeth. The Professor and Emmy viewed the article that the inspector had posted on the board in the office, and at that moment the professors and Emmys expressions changed compared to the vacant expression on Groskies face.

"Well...what happened? Do you understand something?" Grosky said to us.

I murmured as I looked at the board. "Is this a coincidence?"

The professor looked at me as though he were happy. "Luke, did you notice?"

Groskies patience seemed to be running out. "What's wrong with everyone?"

The professor looked back at Grosky and began to explain. "Don't you see? These four people have something in common- it's quite simple."

Groskies eyes widened, "They have something in common? And what is that?"

"Luke, what do you think?" the professor asked me as I confidently answered him back. "The initials of the brides all begin with an 'E'."

The inspector  put his hand on his forehead and stood up as though he were completely appalled by the discovery. "'E'? It's true! Erin, Elise, Ella...and Elizabeth. Indeed, everyone's name begins with an 'E'!"

Emmys expression turned strange. "I wonder...isn't it odd? I mean, how can a bride be kidnapped just because their name starts with an 'E'? Is there any meaning to the names?"

The professor thinks on Emmys words. "I don't know..." he said.m

"I bet they're not even all that tough, with me around they're just going to get hurt." Emmy pops her wrist out with a serious face. Silence filled the office. "Professor." Emmy said with a naughty look on her face. "There is a quick way to solve this mystery."

The professor seemed hesitant to ask Emmy since he knew what she meant. "I hope it's a quick method?" Her expression didn't change. "It is what it is." said the professor. It really looked like Emmy was in a fighting urge as she showed a playful smile. The professor looked at Emmy with a displeased yet concerned look. He went back to thinking "There is no way to miss this coincidence. No...but it is...." The professor sounded concerned. Emmy nodded toward me. "Not to worry, just leave it to me!" the professor said to the guests. As a result, that's when the bride recapture plan using Emmy began.

We concluded that the connection was that all the brides had a name that started with the letter 'E', and we concluded that using Emmy as a decoy in the next wedding at St. James church was the best way to go at the time. Scotland Yard conducted a fake wedding a month later. Emmy and the professor were dressed to look like the bride and the groom. The plan was so the men could come after Emmy assuming she is the bride, and we could put an end to their game...

The policeman were hiding amongst the attendees and the choir, the goal was to keep it as realistic as possible. However our plan collapsed, we took advantage of every weapon, every moment with Scotland yard...but despite our efforts, in the most unexpected way, Emmy was captured too soon.

I couldn't stop thinking about it. "Isn't it strange, that Emmy seemed to be captured so solemnly?" I heard the sound of sheep from a distance as we were still in the forest. It was just so mysteriously...peaceful. The professor spoke with a distant look upon his face, "Luke, up to now we had inferred that the common point between the abducted women was that all their names began with an 'E'."

"Exactly. So Emmys name began with an 'E', that's the reason why she was captured right? " I said.

"No, apparently we seemed to have made a big misunderstanding." The professor said.

"Misunderstanding?" I was left to wonder. "Wasn't their purpose to take the brides with a name that starts with an 'E'?"

"It was a common fake point to mislead us..." said the professor.

I envisioned Emmy in the dress and something was disturbing my memory. "I think I noticed it. Something she had...a mark? But what on earth is it?"

"Let's go back to the church Luke." the professor said in a hurried tone.

"Yes." I replied back to him.

Part 3

The professor and I  made our way back to St. James church, but the aftermath of the attack left it looking horrific. The fragments of the stained glass were scattered on the slimy cathedral floor, the candlesticks were knocked down...it looked like a tornado had passed through.  Grosky arrived at the scene and tried searching for evidence and clues to identify.  We were all trying to find something useful from the wreckage.

I noticed Father Corrigan sitting down on a bench, we dropped what we were doing and decided to approach.

"The bride was taken away again this time too..." the professor told him.

"I'm sorry for what happened to her...this was all my fault." Father Corrigan took a deep breath. "I do not know why they are targeting this church?"

"Father Corrigan, I'd like to ask you a question?" The professor asked. "Did anything important disappear from the church today?"

"Something important?" Father Corrigan took a few to think about the professor's question. "I did notice something...the pendant...yes the pendant that the brides were all wearing at the time of the wedding." Father Corrigan took out some pictures. "It was reflected in these photographs of the brides who were taken away."

It seemed like the women getting married at the church all wore a similar looking pendant.

"If you're wondering...it is the pendant of St. Maligra, it's strictly managed by the churches cabinet, it's considered to be holy, it's intricately decorated and during wedding ceremonies it is a tradition to lend it to the brides."

"What? What do you mean?" I asked him.

"The purpose wasn't just to kidnap the brides, but it was also to take the pendant that they were wearing, do you follow?" The professor looked at me.

"Really? So is that why they would attack the weddings here?" I said.

"Yes, exactly. Father Corrigan, how many of the Maligra pendants are there?"

"A total of five" said the Father.

"If four were taken away before the previous attack, then the pendant stolen this time was the last one, was it not?" The professor asked.

Father Corrigan nodded a yes. "Well then...does this mean that the attacks will no longer happen?" He began looking slightly more upset. "It would mean that none of you will be able to further your investigation with clues."

"No, if it's a clue I am sure Emmy will find a way to bring it back." The professor said adjusting his hat.

"If what I believe is true, that girl you were with will be released soon." Father Corrigan told us.

"What do you mean?" I said.

The professor explained to me "It means that they have all the pendants after abducting the brides, and if all they needed were the pendants then the brides would no longer have any objective in their plans, and if they all did return then Scotland Yard would close the investigation due to lack of evidence, without realizing the important parts are the stolen artifacts...and the incident will be overshadowed. If I were the culprits, that is most likely what I would have in mind."

"But the St. Maligras pendant isn't even beautiful, even for flattery. It looks rusty and old, it really does feel like an antique." Father Corrigan said. "It's something that was handed down from kings at their wedding ceremonies."

"What on earth could they be using these pendants for?" The professor gives a big nod. "I will try my best to understand the truth behind this situation. I will come up with a better point than my previous assumption. It may not be the theft case we thought it might be. Let's go the library and search for clues  on the St. Maligras pendant."

"Right behind you professor." I said.

 Inspector Grosky decided to return to Scotland Yard, as me and the professor made our way toward the library. Looking back I saw father Corrigan looking frantically worried about something else, I wonder what that was all about?

Part 4

        I heard faint sounds resonating from the pages of the books being turned at the library, books being taken down from the shelves. I always loved the tranquility and smell of old books, it was like a start of an adventure. I loved to look through old documents too, they were always so intriguing to me. It's always so exciting to excavate the mysteries of the dark past that lies in history, line by line in the spacing of the pages. What I loved most about libraries was the various kinds of books that are gathered from across the globe.

        Walking past the shelves the professor and I noticed that one of the areas of bookshelves, for some reason they were not placed consistent to the way the other shelves were organized. It wasn't normal for them to be placed in the way that they had been, and it was very random. It was almost like a maze was set out to get the book.

I started to complain. " We're in trouble now...we can't ever reach the book at this rate."

"You're right..." said the professor. "The book we need to find is in the innermost shelf of this section. Fortunately for us, the shelves seem to be mobile. Let's move the bookshelves and make our way to the back!"

(Puzzle 002) Mobile Bookstrable Maze

I want to move to a position where the target book is, by moving the mobile bookshelves. You can move them directly by touching them with your finger, but you can only move one bookshelf at at a time and they only move horizontally and vertically. With only 5 movements, can you move the professor and Luke to where the book is? One more thing, the shelves can't change direction as they move in one go.

        "Amazing job Luke! Solving this puzzle is quite easy if you think about all the angles. Thinking about every possibility and view will always help lead to the answer!" The professor told me.

Even so the professor was a bit troubled by the arrangement. We were both concerned about the odd arrangement of this room. However we can now read the book that will give us all the clues we need, for now.

The professor turned the pages , "Illustration...royal treasure."  he said as he continued searching. "According to the records, the pendant of St. Maligra is supposed to be the property of a king twelve generations before us. It was passed down as a symbol of bondage between a man and a woman, it's a beloved treasure that has been tradition to use for brides to wear at wedding ceremonies." The professor thinks on the subject more as he reads. "All of this seems to be true...however, it is not written anywhere that king donated the pendant to St. James church for keeps."

I was surprised by the professor's words.

"Is that so then?" The professor said in an intrigued manner. "Here is a picture of the pendant, see?"

I glanced at the picture that the professor showed me, and I began to feel frustrated. "This is different from the one Emmy was wearing!" The pendant in the picture seemed much more luxurious than the ones we've seen used at the wedding ceremonies, the one in this book shines and glimmers with much more detail, however it does look similar to the pendant used in the church.

The professor puts his hand on his chin. "I wonder what it means?"

"What it...means?" I repeated what the professor said.

"The story sounds different from that of Father Corrigans." The professor said. The strange worrisome attitude he had when we walked away, I remember him being anxious when we walked away.

The professor raised his face. "Luke, let's go back to the church, we should have another listen to what father Corrigan has to say."

"Yes." I replied back.

Part 5

We arrived at St. James church again at dusk. The professor approached Father Corrigan from behind as he was trying to sneak out from the gates in the back.

"Father Corrigan, are you going at a time like this?" The professor said.

The priest looked back with his eyes widened, something was making him uncomfortable making me feel the same uncomfort he was. It almost felt like we were the bad guys trying to question him.

The professor lowered his silk top hat and quietly said, "I have been to the library now, and there seems to be some doubts in my mind...I thought we could possibly discuss this again."

"Ah!" The priest said shocked.

"Father Corrigan, is there not something youre hiding from us about the pendant?"  The professor said.

Father Corrigan looked a bit puzzled.

"I'm sorry...I should have shown more respect in the presence of a priest, I did not mean to cause you trouble, I just want the truth." The professor said.

"You're right...there is something you should know about that pendant. It is the undeniable fact that has triggered these incidents." Father Corrigan nodded.

Me and the professor both made our way to Father Corrigans room.

"It's not something that was given to us from the royal family once in charge of it, there is a more...strange story behind that pendant." Father Corrigan paused a bit and continued. "Fifteen years ago, a man wandered about here, he told us that he was infected by a disease...a disease unknown to man. At first we suspected that it was contagious, but even so I decided to take him in and look after him, I isolated him from society. After a while he started talking more and more of himself and his whereabouts, and how he had made a terrible sin."

"What sin?" The professor asked.

"He said that he had sold himself to the wrath of the gods and was affected by their disease...this was his punishment. He had apparently brought out their sacred treasures without permission, treasures that only the royal family could touch, and because of his mistake the illness had become worse in his hometown that resided in the forest, and many people had died from it."

"Do you think that treasure could be...?" The professor said.

"Yes, it seemed to be the pendant that we now use for our wedding ceremonies, it's practically ritual now, and not just for us but this was also used in ancient times as a symbol of bond between two people who love each other. However little did we know there was a mysterious power behind it, an unknown disease had occurred because of his robbing." The priest said.

"Were the people of this forest sacrificed one after another?" The professor asked Father Corrigan. "Who are these people of the forest?"

"They live deep within the forest...they seem to have their own culture, and the power to heal anything with the plants that they grew there." Father Corrigan said.

"Then...why did their healing medication fail at ridding the newfound disease spreading in their village?" The professor asked father Corrigan as he just scratched his head.

"That is rather strange isn't it? The man's illness was in a rather bad state. What's even more strange is that as long as he stayed here none of us were infected. What on earth could it be?" Father Corrigan said.

"Did they only receive the disease from the punishment because of the crime that they had committed?" The professor was lost in thought, he kept thinking back and forth thoroughly, but suddenly he raised his face. "It's probably immunity, is it not?"

"Immunity?" Father Corrigan and I spoke at the same time.

"You said that they were people who lived deep within the forest, they seemed to have no contact with the outside world either, as a result they could have been weak against certain viruses that we are immune to. Pathogens that don't affect us could have caused fatal damage to them." The professor said.

"It would be hard for a person with immunity to be given certain viruses." I said.

The professor nods. "That's it. Much like the virus, someone who doesn't know how to manage it brought out the pendant, and the pendant seemed to have activated a virus generator."

"It's just like trash!" I shouted, "If you handle it the wrong way certain viruses could be exposed."

Father Corrigans face turns bold. "Virus? Could this be the wrath of the Gods that he was talking about? I didn't know the pendant could be so cursed, I thought it was generous offering..."

"Where is that man now?" The professor asked.

"He was buried at a hill outside of town, we were afraid of the infection. However when we looked into his cause of death, it somehow showed that he might have not been sick after all." Father Corrigan continued. "I decided to hold on to the pendant after his passing, and now we use it as a ritual, the story behind it caused many couples to want to get married at this church, it was strange how many weddings we started to see here and all of them ended up so happy. In time the pendant of St. Maligra became famous."

"So it was once a treasure to the people of this forest before it was known as the pendant of St. Maligra..." The professor said. "It seems that the pendant had become some kind of a necessity to the people there." The professor paused for a bit. "Did he say exactly where his village in the forest was?" he asked.

"I'm not so sure, but I remember he said it was at the west end of Illusory." Father Corrigan said.

Part 6

It was starting to get late so I decided to the stay the night at the professor's office. I couldn't fall asleep due to various things on my mind. Turning over on the sofa many times, I couldn't help but think about Emmy, if she was safe, or if she would be coming back soon. The professor's voice constantly echoed in my mind...

"All our answers lie in the depths of that forest."

The morning light showed through the gap of the curtains, I could see the dust floating around in the room. I was half asleep, astonished that I even slept for a bit, I heard Rosa the lady in charge of keeping the professor's office clean and organizing his belongings.

"Professor Layton, are you calling Inspector Grosky by chance?" Rosa asked.

The professor nodded as he continued talking on the phone. "Thank you." he said. He went out of the office and thanked Rosa.

I tried my best to listen to the two without completely dozing off. What was the inspector telling the professor? I was afraid to find out...I could feel myself dozing off more. I heard a vigorous sound that opened the door.

"Luke! It seems that the girls who were kidnapped have been brought back." The professor gently shook me.

"Er, really?!" I said as the professor got up. "So that means...is Emmy back? Is she safe?"

"Well...Emmy hasn't come back yet, but we do seem to have enough information on our side. We have to hurry to Scotland Yard." The professor said readying his belongings.

"Yes!" I said to the professor as we hurried there, we passed through to a room where Grosky was standing surrounded by girls and looking troubled.  

"What happened inspector?" I asked.

"Nothing new for now. I don't know how we'll manage to do this...we're lucky they were returned safe as it is." Grosky said.

"Lucky? All of you are rude! Questioning us here like we're common thieves." One of the girls said.

"Yes that's right! We saw those thieves, when are they going get caught for what they did?" The other girl said.

"This is serious." I said sympathizing with Grosky. Those ladies were nervously screaming about. We decided to look at the pictures of the girls who were taken away. The black haired woman is Erin, the one who previously spoke. The professor decided to listen to all of them and what they had to say, but before he could start, one of the girls Ella spoke without permission.

"Those men that came about at my wedding were covered in leaves and plants fully. They took the pendants we were all wearing and locked them up in another room, and said they'd release all of us once they had them all." she said.

Another one of the girls spoke, she had long blonde hair and her name is Elise. "They told us that five was necessary."

Then Elizabeth spoke, she had short brown hair. "I don't understand what they wanted to do with them once they were all done with getting them all."

The professor asked again. "What did they do? Where did they take you?"

Elise spoke, "I'm not sure...I do recall there being a requiem of sorts, and I only got to see a tiny portion of the forest through a small window."

"Oh yes, the woods actually looked very clean from what I saw!" Elizabeth said.

"The forest..." The professor said.

Elizabeth continued, "They took me away in a weird looking car, I tried to look out to the best of my abilities. I saw sunbeams...seven colored light streaks, and I'd never seen flowers so pretty, they looked like tiny fairies."

"Were you all together? Was there perhaps...a fifth girl with you? " the professor said.

Erin frowned and said, "Oh well...she was quite the interesting person. Those men insisted that they'd release us all  back, but she insisted on running away on her own. I told her, what are you thinking? Those men had talked about keeping her there a bit longer. However before they brought us back she did some graffiti like images on our dresses. I insisted she stop but she wouldn't listen."

"She did the same to mine!" Elise said.

"And mine!" Ella said.

"They didn't let us stay in the gowns , but she took a picture of them and gave it to me before they released us. She insisted they were important." Elizabeth said.

The professor seemed relieved at what she said.

"Emmy you've become frightened and unsure... this all seems so strange. I wonder what they're doing with you..." I said to myself.

"This is definitely a message sent to us by Emmy" The professor said.

"Well, what's the message?"  I asked.

"Here's the problem, each dress has a flower painting on it, to help them find their dress we should connect the dresses according to what bride was wearing which flower dress in their descriptions." Said the professor.

(Puzzle 003) Bridal Dresses

Please deduce which dress belonged to which girl according to the following information. 1- Erin is the one with the black hair. 2- The dress with the lily on it... I'm sure it belongs to the girl with the longest hair. 3- The short haired girl wore a dress that had a stretching stem. 4- Ellas dress was knitted, she's the girl with the braided hair.

1) Nerine (top left)

2) Lilies (top right)

3) Sumatra Cognac (bottom left)

4) Banisteriopsis caapi (bottom right)

The professor looked at me and said "Very well done Luke! In fact these flowers are very intriguing...it's only rare plants, I don't understand." The professor thought.

"But why would Emmy draw these flowers on these dresses?" I asked.

"These plants could possibly be what connects them all, these girls, and where they were taken to, and of course the reason why Emmy was taken away. She drew the plants she saw in the forest." The professor said.

"For what purpose?" I asked again.

"To lead us to where she is of course. These plants are only grown under certain climates, and are grown in a certain care, if you examine the plants there is a high possibility that we can identify the location of the forest." The professor said.

"At the west end of Illusory..." The professor repeated those words as he looked out far away.

A mysterious man shows up from a forest.

A strange man in possession of a deadly treasure.

Where those kidnapping men reside.

"Do you think...Emmy is there right now?" I asked the professor.

"Yes. I do believe she is. It's time we found our way to the Illusory Forest.

{ Answer to Puzzle 001: F}

{Answer to Puzzle 003: A- Lilies, B- Banisteriopsis Caapi, C-Nerine

D- Sumatra}

Chapter 2

The Illusory Forest

A man laughed underneath his mask. He went by the name Descole.

Everything was going according to plan, as the important part was to return the pendants to the people of the forest, for without the key pendants it is impossible to reach the sacred grounds of where the true treasure hides.

The Book of Fate.

"So then...it really exists? This Book of Fate?" Raymond said surprised.

"What? Do you not believe in me?" Descole looks at the butler in an odd expression.

"Please do not take anything I say to offense, master." Raymond gently lowered his head.

Descole speaks with a bitter smile, "It's hard to believe that it's out there, however it's undeniable that your optimism towards my plans has supported me in achieving my goals."

"After all my motto is if you have something worth achieving then do something of it. Yes...however...this isn't over just yet, I am still working on it, but the foundation for getting the book...has already come to an end."

"How wonderful." Descole laughs. "Do you know which of my methods is the best?"

 Certainly...Everyone around us is transparent like a cloud, and quick like the wind to make decisions. That is what you take to your advantage." Raymond lowered his head.

He only had to wait for that man to come. His elegant laughter spread throughout like a carnivorous plant that breathed in the forest, as it went quiet in the study.

Part 1

The professor's car heads west in a single direction, aiming for the legendary land called Illusory. The light blue sky above us, and the weak light breaking through the clouds. The road started getting rockier as we went further and closer to our destination, as I stared out to the rocks covering the shore of the ocean. Throughout the ride the professor talked carefully about Illusory while gripping the steering wheel, about how the sea covers the road leading to the forest. During the day it is attached to the mainland, and at night it separates off into an island.

"Eh? It's the island!" I excitedly shouted as I saw it from far away.

The professor nods, "This is Illusory, and at a certain time that island turns into a gate. We should get there more efficiently with a small boat, one that would preferably fit through the gate."

"It's amazing how the entire island looks like a tomb!" I said to the professor, I was excited to enter the small boat that he was talking about.

"They stopped exchanging contact with other parts of the world long ago and left the mainland, so the people who live there do infact have different cultures and religion. It's considered to be an unexplored land to outsiders." The professor said.

I scratched the back of my neck, "I understand that it's difficult to get there, but...it's not impossible either right?" Although I was nervous, this sense of adventure rose inside of me. "So then...why doesn't anyone else approach Illusory?"

"The forest of Illusory disappears when someone believes that it's appeared, and it appears when you believe that it has disappeared. That is the great power that it has. Hence the reason why it was named the Illusory Forest. The place is an illusion for those who are outsiders." The professor said.

"I guess it's irresistible to those who love magic." I said.

"Of course in history it's been said that outsiders have never been able to properly approach it, a lot have challenged themselves to take on the forest in hopes of reaching the treasure, but no one was ever near enough to take it." Said the professor.

I started to frown a bit, "So...Emmy is still in that terrible place, isn't she?"

"Yes." The professor said with a serious, yet frightful face. "I would never have imagined that the place they would have taken her to...would have been the Illusory Forest."

I started to lose myself in my thoughts. Perhaps the professor knew that this would happen...perhaps he knew that if Emmy was caught then she would be able to infiltrate the enemy's hideout.  If that was the case then everything that has happened would add up. It seems that's what he wanted to do, except that Emmy never came back, and the place they took her to was right here.

But all of this seems to have been unexpected for the professor.

"No matter how long Emmy has stayed there, she can hold up on her own. I don't believe she would let anyone bother her." The professor said.

"So, what's the hidden treasure in the forest that the people were aiming at?" I asked.

The professor looked far off, "Before we came here I found an old document on Illusory, I also found a description of sorts."

A  tower of Gods rises in the forest of  Illusory. It disappears,then appears as a Phantom tower. The tower of the Gods will lead to the Book of Fate. A book that knows everything of everyone, and their destiny. The ultimate treasure. Those who have it will control the world, past, present, and future. Powers beyond space-time continuum. However if in the wrong hands, the world will gradually collapse, and that person will be judged.

"The Book of fate?"  I asked.

"Yes, that is the ultimate treasure of Illusory." The professor nods. "Quite a few people have disappeared in the forest in search of the book. It seems that there is a key to unlocking the path to the book, and those were the five pendants."

"It was still terrible the way they took the pendants with such brute force, and by kidnapping brides too...even though according to the legend they might not even be able to touch it." I said.

The professor nodded strongly, "Yes, it is something that seems impossible to get a hold of, a treasure that belonged to the Gods. Much like how we can not touch the Gods, we also can not touch the treasure...no matter how much one would like to. People thought they would be able to achieve it even if they made no mistakes...there is some strange power that resides in that book."

Part 2

I opened the car door and stepped out staggering, I was finally able to stretch at last. I took a deep breath as we'd been in the car for a while. We departed from London early in the morning, and it was already close to sunset, as the sky slowly became darker.  The tide is full and the road leading to Illusory is covered by the sea. I didn't like it...where would this lead us to?

"As I explained in the beginning, we get off from the boat from there." The professor showed me, it's as if I was an open book and he could read every question on my mind. He tried to raise up the roof the car.

"I'll help you!" I rushed to his side and helped him. I never even noticed that there was a boat in such a place. I started to feel skeptical about the smallest things.

"It's quite a small boat, and it's quite a bit of a distance...what would happen if the boat were to shake too hard?" I said worrying.

The professor kept thinking about something else, "By the time we arrive the ocean shouldn't be covering the entrance, the boat is small enough to fit through the small entrance. It's the most convenient way to make it through, I hope you don't mind."

The professor tried to push the boat onto the ocean, I ran beside him hastily and helped. The professor would never do anything without thinking things through, he was very intelligent, and I started to worry less about the smaller things.

We pushed forward as it started to get colder. The professor told me to sit at the front of the boat so I could see, but all I saw was a dark and frightening ocean. I could hear the sound of the subtle waves. All I kept thinking was that we made it in time to the other side before it got too dark.

"Is that the entrance?" I asked.

It was a white gate surrounded by complex looking plants, the boat was small enough to make it through, we went through the canal for a while until we landed somewhere, where the ground was muddy and wet and filled with plants that had acai berries all over. Both me and the professor stepped out of the boat, and it was considerably hard to walk as we stepped into deep mud. My feet kept sinking down more and more, and I kept groaning each time I pulled them up so I would be able to catch up with the professor. I kept rubbing my forehead and trying to get rid of the mud. This had to be some evil forest if those who went in never made it out alive, I can't even imagine such a place. The professor and I walked further as he took a deep breath.

"While looking through the Illusory documentaries, would you say you found a description on the Book of Fate?" The professor asked as he kept thinking of it. I heard the professor mutter something about the book, there seemed to be no description of it, no examination.

"That's most probably why Emmy sought to runaway on her own despite the fact that the others were sent home, could it be she stayed to find out more of its whereabouts?" The professor said.

"If we find out the reason then maybe we could find out where Emmy is right?" I said excitedly. "If we follow the clues to the Book of fate, we'll be able to come across Emmy!"

The professor smiled at me, "I am sure of it too Luke, that's surely the reason." he said. "If that is the case then we should aim for the Tower of Gods, that is most probably where the book is and a high probability of Emmy being there."

Although between us and the tower there was an entire forest standing in between us. This evil forest. A terrible forest that seemed like it was out to get us.

"The Illusory Forest...do you think we'll be able to reach it?" I was starting to feel like reaching the tower would be impossible, it felt like we were in a muddy wasteland filled with rocks.

Plants started to appear in desolated areas, we started to reach more bushes, I finally made it passed through the bushes and went out to a meadow. I was tired but also relieved as I walked further down the road, but the professor stopped in his tracks and I bumped into him. I wondered what was wrong as I looked up to face him.

"Ah!" I cried out when I looked up at the black forest that just appeared in front of my eyes. "This is the Illusory Forest..."

The professor lowered his silk hat and proceeded to confront the forest.

The Forest of Illusion. No one who enters makes it back alive in one piece. The trees look as if they're piercing the dark sky, it seemed like a huge chaotic world. Deep. Dark. I didn't quite understand what the inside could've possibly looked like. I can't even imagine what would happen if I put one foot inside. I was deeply afraid.

"We finally arrived professor." I said.

The professor nodded. "The real search starts here."

"Yes." I agreed.

///

I tried to pretend that the forest was cool, filled with the nice smell of the trees, as though it were no different from any other forest I had been to or seen. Except this forest has no map...I guess it's okay to enter, but I wondered which way to go, I had no idea.

"I'm a bit worried, there seems to be no signs anywhere." The forest was so dark, luckily I had a small flashlight with me, I could light the way but I couldn't see much of the surroundings, but I had to go as far as I could. After walking a while we came across a bifurcation point. Right and left. the roads were divided in two. The professor and I looked at each other as to what we should do. At that moment something flew away at the end of the light.

"What was that? Was that an illusion?" I asked.

"No...I'm sure I saw something flying." The professor said.

I began to see light blue feathers fluttering in the dark. it nearly came for me and started flapping beside my face.

"It's a bird, I can try and talk to it!" I said.

The professor asked me to elaborate, "Oh, that's right Luke, I forget that you have the ability to communicate with animals, I'll leave it up to you then."

"Ok then, who are you?" I asked and tried to listen carefully so I can interpret to the professor.

"So it's dangerous for animals in the forest because they lost their way and can't leave." Well, if someone like me had come along before being able to talk to them maybe they could've been helped sooner.

I wonder if he will guide us? When I asked he answered with a loud voice. "So the right?" I asked.

I talked to the bird a little more. "Wow! So it was saved!" It was fantastic to see such a fantastic bird saving animals, he was like a guru of the forest. He dropped off something on the ground near us, "It was the poisonous frog he was talking about!" I didn't like frogs much but I was happy to see it safe from harm and out of the forest.

"Thank you then Mr. Bird, I will go to the right." The bird flew away flapping it's big wings elsewhere. I kept waving back to him until his figure was completely gone and emerged into the darkness.

"I'm glad that you have such an ability Luke, you definitely have the upper hand in these situations." The professor praised me.

It was nice to be able to talk to animals. Believing in the bird we went forward one step at a time, hoping we were moving towards the right direction.

Part 3

I held my nose with my sleeves and flinched my eyes. "Professor, it smells terrible."

"Well, yes it does." he said .

"Is there a deceased animal nearby? It smells like carcass and rotten garbage mixed together." I said, it was a smell that I couldn't tolerate. breathing was getting harder, being next to the poisonous frog didn't sound bad anymore.

"There is no mistake, this smell has to be..." the professor said as he shined the light at the black forest. I felt somewhat uncertain about the direction.

"Luke, look over there." said the professor.

When I looked towards the direction the professor pointed to, my eyes widened as I shouted. "That's it! This flower is-"

"The Sumatra Cognac, the flower drawn on Erins dress." he said.

"Oh? It seems like it's dead, it even has the smell of a dead body." I remembered this flower and studied it short after I saw Emmys drawing. It was written in the book that it gives off a ridiculous smell.

"Luke! Let us a find a way to escape this forest without encountering the flower."

[Puzzle 004] Flower Maze

Help Professor Layton and Luke get passed the Sumatra Cognac without encountering it up close, find a way through the maze wall.

"Good job Luke, thanks to you we could safely escape the forest without encountering the deadly Sumatra flowers." The professor said praising me.

Professor Layton inhaled heavily as I wiped the tears from my eyes. "I honestly thought I would really pass out, I think the smell is like a poisonous gas for people, like some sort of a destructive power."

"That's true, when you enter the forest it is most likely you will come across this flower, and someone who has no knowledge of the flower will withdraw from the terrible smell, as if exists to repel strangers. The smell will stick with you only if you come close to the flower." said the professor.

It was like a cadaver flower to me, from what the book said the flower also attracts insects attracted to the smell to help pollinate more of them.

The professor admired the flower from afar. "Living things are quite interesting, if it weren't for certain mechanisms, that flower would not be able to breed. Interesting that it can leave its gene thanks to its bad smell." The professor nodded. "I can now see what they meant... the Gods of this forest are watching in every corner intricately."

We were able to pass the first obstacle safely. I wonder what difficulties await us next?

Part 4

With each step the forest grew steadily. the tree trunks turn in a strange way, and ivy hangs from all around, the area was starting to change profoundly. It was truly starting to represent the devil like forest that it is. We walked carefully as not to get caught up in anything in the forest. We reached another point with one side divided uphill and another downhill. We wondered what we should do as I looked up at the slope with my arms folded.

I noticed a small squirrel at the time standing above the hill. "Ah, it's an animal." I approached the squirrel at once. "Hello. We sort of don't know which way to go, but I was wondering if you could tell me?"

The squirrel told me that it would be better to climb the slope instead with its tiny voice. "Thank you."

He said there would be slight interferences but nothing too dangerous, it then hopped up the slope.

The professor smiled at the sight of its appearance. "Usually in situations like this getting lost could be serious and simple, but in your case, you have many reliable companions." The professor said to me. "I never thought that someone who could speak to animals would be so useful in a place like this."

We climbed up the slope, suddenly a small hill rose in front of us. It was a hill shaped like a pyramid. The professor illuminates the surroundings of the hill with light and walks around in a roundabout way. "There is an entrance over there, in such an odd place."

The hole looked like it stretched out towards the bottom where we could walk. The professor and I looked away from each other. No, there was no other way. We had to go down this cave.

I believed what the squirrel told me, but now I'm worried, I hope the squirrel was right and there really is no danger. So it'll be ok, I hope.

Deep darkness was spreading throughout the entrance, even if there was no danger for now I was still uneasy. Step by step we progressed slowly, and the narrow cave continued for a while, as it got wider towards the end. I was a bit more relieved and took a deep breath. Suddenly I looked around and I gave out a surprised gasp. In the midst of the darkness white flowers shaped like large wheels appeared, countless of them.

"What is this?" I asked.

"These are the lilies drawn on Elizabeth's dress. Do you see?" The professor shines the light throughout the entire cave, they were blooming like pearls with lustrous petals, lilies filled every inch of the cave.

My eyes widened with tears, "It's so beautiful, look how fantastic this is."

The professor also looked impressed looking around the cave. "Apparently the flowers drawn by Emmy seemed to be all waiting for us here." said the professor.

As we walked further down, the flowers bloomed more and more, they seemed more withered from the start. There was a tree filled with Lilies around the end, and suddenly I began to feel myself sweating. "What on earth is going on? Seems like the temperature is different here compared to before."

I couldn't bear the heat so I took off my vest and rolled up my sleeves. The professor spoke, "Oh ho I see."

I turned to the professor "See what?"

"Do you understand? It's the mystery of the Lepre Lily." He said.

I jumped up "Eh...What is it?"

"There are green and white stripes on this wall. Yes, these are the microorganisms seeds, and these flowers thrive in hot atmospheres, and this area very much resembles that of a hot-spring." The professor said.

"Oh I see." The temperature got higher the lower we went, in other words it's like a natural greenhouse. "So is it like a greenhouse then."

The temperature difference is all because of the height, the flower blooms better down here due to the condition. The professor examines the wall carefully. "This wall seems to be fragile in some areas."

Something hit my cheek unexpectedly, "That hurts!" I shouted out.

"What's wrong?" The professor looked at my face carefully.

"Something flew straight towards me, it hurts so much...it's like I have a hole in my cheek." I said.

"What was it like?" The professor asked.

"There it is! It's happening again! Professor it's dangerous, look down!" I screamed out.

The professor forcibly pulled my face down as he faced down himself. "Who are you?" I yelled out while trembling in the darkness. "Someone's hiding here." There was someone here attacking us invisibly, the darkness was so scary, there could be unknown enemies anywhere. We couldn't just let this happen, I had to find a way to fight the person causing this.

The professor stayed firm on his feet and examined what hit me. "I don't this is the work of someone else."

"Eh? So someone didn't cause this?" I asked.

"This is different." The professor picked up the falling items on the ground and held it over his eyes. "These are seeds."

"Does this mean that someone stuffed seeds at the top?" I asked.

"No, it's not like that, these are the seed of the Lepre Lily." He said.

"Oh wow!" I held my cheeks, "But it had such strong attack power, it really hurt, it sounded like shots being fired from a pistol."

"When the fruit ripens, the seeds start to jump out of the core. the momentum is what caused it to be painful, and the fact that it fell straight down from such an angle made it seem like it was being fired from a shotgun." Said the professor.

"Oh I see." I said as my strength went out quickly.

"There was no such thing as a person having caused all this. Our party...seems to be a flower." The professor said. Some of the lilies by me started to shoot seeds out again.

"This is it!" The professor said as he covered his face with his arms to not get hit by the seeds. He looked at the wall. "Let's not get stuck here, let's look for broken places on the rocks stone wall and escape as soon as possible!"

[Puzzle 005] Hidden Escape

The walls have stones loaded onto certain sections, the stones have now become fragile, but one is more fragile than the rest. Use the broken stones to spell out a message to help the professor and Luke escape.

{The wording on the stones is in Japanese, so find the slate that spells 出口 which means "Exit"}

The professor's eyes shined with joy. "That was wonderful! You noticed that well professor! Fortunately you were good at this problem." I said as I pushed the part of the wall and it fell apart. "I did it! There is a path behind this wall."

The professor nodded. "Well then...let us depart before we get punctured on our faces by these seeds again."

We made our way towards the hole behind the stone wall.

Part 5

The road rose gently as we passed through the cave, the sting from the Lily seeds on my cheeks still hurt. Professor Layton tells me "Whether it's the Sumatra or the Lepre Lilies, whatever Emmy drew so far was here one after another."

There was no mistake, this was definitely the Illusory Forest. "It's true, isn't it!?" I said. This must mean that the route we're taking is correct, Emmy really payed attention to these flowers since she doodled them so well. I wonder what dangers are heading our way now...

The air was stagnant, everything was dark and dull, I was hoping for some sort of light to stretch out from afar. I wanted to go back up to land as soon as possible, my thoughts were starting to bloat through my mind. I wanted to shout.

No.

What are you talking about?

I won't let that happen. If Emmy was here she'd be laughing at you.

I shook myself from those thoughts and brought myself back down to Earth. The road was gradually getting wider and wider along with the ceiling of the cave. I felt another sudden feeling of relief, "It looks like we're nearing the cave, and it seems like the Lepre Lily isn't blooming anymore.

The professor laughed briefly, "That's right, there doesn't seem to be any...enemies here."

It was easier to walk around here than the pressure I was feeling bellow. I had been in the cave for a while, but I was officially relieved.

"Um, professor, can you hear anything?" I stopped to listen. "What's this sound?" Something was turning, sounded like blowing wind but that wasn't it. A boomerang? No, it was like jumping rope? No one would be doing that in the forest, at least not this one. As I turned suspiciously-

"Aaaaa!" My feet had been entangled with vines, I tried to break away and fell flat on my face. Another vine grabs my body and I fall again after trying to get up. "What is this?!" the fear was starting to run through my body, and under my skin.

The professor took out the pocket knife he had brought with him quickly and started to cut the vines entangling me, however the loose vines stretched out again and this time they were entangling me even more.

"These are the vines that were drawn on Ellas dress, get entangled in them and they will become more powerful by taking up your nutrients." The professor said.

"W-what happens if they take up your nutrients? Are we done for good in the end?!" It really seemed like these were the most dangerous and would cause us the most harm. I was starting to roll around trying to break free.

"Well, what are we supposed to do now?" I was panicking, but in that instant the vines went for the professor...

He told me to hold still and quiet, "Luke, there seems to be a part that makes it easier for us to be freed from the vines, let us find out where we can cut it!"

[Puzzle 006]  The Terrifying Vines

I want to cut the root of the vine that is tangling the professor as soon as possible! Which one of the vines should I cut?

The professor was able to break free from the clutches of the vines with his strength after it was cut.

"Well done Luke! Let's get out of here as quickly as possible." The professor said, I was running in full speed. Some of the vines were still chasing after us, and they were starting to circle around us again. I was running so fast I thought for sure I would fall over. We'd be lucky if we made it out.

I had no choice but to run...

Suddenly we saw a new opening, the skys were filled with stars, and I saw a glimpse of the moon that was hidden behind the dark clouds. We had finally went through the cave completely! I finally saw fresh grass, it was soft and it smelled nice. I was breathing in the clean air.

The professor worriedly asked me as he sat next to me idly, "Are you alright Luke? Shall we take a break?" He panted a bit.

"No, it's ok." I said. The area was so muddy anyway, I couldn't possibly rest in a place like this. Emmy wouldn't rest if the same thing had happened to us... "Emmy is waiting for us...please, let's find out where she is as soon as possible so that we can help!"

The professor nodded nervously, "Of course."

Part 6

"Of the four plants that Emmy drew, we've already come across three of them, and the next should be the last one." Said the professor. "Let us finally go to the heart of the forest."

"Yes!" I replied. "Oh, hey professor, something feels really nice here." I said with a confused yet strange voice. It felt like my feet were fluffy and I was walking on clouds, the panic and fatigue I felt before didn't bug me any longer. Somehow this felt fun, and I wanted to laugh.

I felt like I was making a fuss of everything, I felt like dancing around and strolling across the fluffy ground. The professor was watching me confused, as if he didn't understand why I was so happy. I looked at him and said with a loud voice "It can't be! You can't possibly be this grown up Professor?! Have a little fun-"

The professor covered my mouth with his hand like a gas mask, as he covered his as well. "Why are you-?"

"Do not breathe this air in..." The professor told me.

"Well, why?" I felt like I was starting to get really dizzy.

The professor had this sore expression on his face. "These are the Banisteriopsis berries that were on Elise's' dress. I should have noticed it sooner..."

"The pani- I mean the Banisteriopsis... what kind of language is that?" I said.

"It's a plant that causes hallucinations, I thought we were okay but I hadn't realized just exactly where we were due to the panic from escaping the vines." The professor said.

"Hallucination plants? Wonderful!" I said.

"People tend to act odd and see hallucinations by smelling the fragrance emitted by this plant, but I never thought it would have such a strong effect."

How could this be some hallucination? I felt so pleasant, this should be fine.

"The effect will be diminishing soon enough, please follow me." The professor said as I tried my best to follow behind him, I was still feeling the same comfort as before. I entered another part of the forest that seemed like an entrance where the trees seemed extremely sparse.

"What?" I shouted in a bit of a shrill voice. "What is this?"

"Look over there." said the professor.

"Those trees look funny." I said , "depending on the angle, they look like two or three trees at once." That didn't seem right, maybe it was the hallucination that the professor was talking about.

"Luke, I don't think this is a hallucination, we have to grasp the correct visual position of the stumps and find the answer." said the professor.

[Puzzle 007]  I'm Stumped

There are three areas with tree stumps placed in different positions, and the thickness of the trunks are different as well. Normally you wouldn't be able to see anything behind the stump, and if you placed the thin stumps behind the thicker ones you wouldn't see the thin stump. There are three different areas with three different stump positions, but only one area allows you to see all the stumps, depending on the left and right view, all of the stumps in a certain area can be seen from all around . There would be no stump hidden, and all the trees can be visible. This is the way to break the illusion, is it A, B or C?

"This is the correct answer! I understand well, even in this dizzy state." I said.

Professor Layton said impressed, "I already knew you could figure it out."

If we hadn't figured out the correct position of these stumps we wouldn't have been able to proceed forward. If the effects of the plant had gotten to us badly we would've been lead astray. "Losing was not an option." I said.

Although I'm not feeling too well, I'm glad I was a bit useful. "Well then, let's go on ahead!" I said with my fist up in the air proudly.

Part 7

I told the professor that I felt like were walking in the same place forever. "Professor, I'm pretty sure I saw that little pond there a little while ago."

It was starting to feel like the effects of the hallucination were diminishing, I was starting to think clearly again.

"Yes, I think you're right." The professor looks at the pond where the ivy was hanging from the branches stretched above.  

We had passed all the plants that we'd known about, so we would be deep in the forest, but we were just going around and around, and the dawn was coming to a close.  The forest looked white, and the fragrance of trees was wonderful.

It was powerful...

"Oh no...this is the same place again." I saw this awhile back too, we're spinning around. I saw that pond three times already, in other words our situation is really bad, or dangerous. We were completely caught up in the forest, no matter how much we walked we couldn't find the exit. This was the fear that the forest gave...the last trap. The final method of resistance from the forest, a way to keep out everyone who came in, to keep out enemies from invading.

May traps there were. Were those who came before us trapped as well? Like insects caught in a venus fly trap, would we never find our way out? Did the others perish?

There's no way. I refuse to accept it. It's not over, if we lose here what would happen to Emmy? I told myself we'd find her, and we will find her as soon as possible. That was the purpose of this mission wasn't it?

However...I noticed something strange. "This slope feels somewhat strange, even though we're going down...it feels like we're actually going up."

The professor thought for a moment. "Luke, do you happen to have anything round by you? Possibly something like a-"

"A ball?" I said as I took out my toy ball that I had with me, it was a super bouncy ball that had a lot of power when you threw it. "Is this alright?"

"That's perfect, anything round should do the job." The professor grabbed the ball and put it on the slope we were walking on.

"Eh!" I said.

"After all..." The professor nods, "why is the ball going up the slope?" I was a tad confused. "Due to our surrounding scenery, it seems that this slope appears downhill when it is actually the opposite."

"Can that even happen?" I asked.

This forest was so scary, yet filled with so many wonders since the start.

"Although...I have been pondering this for a while, this forest is very strange, the entire place is a trick, one big illusion even now. All these unusual plants, everything we have seen is actually man made." The professor said.

"This forest is what?!"

"The entire place is created by the villagers hands." Said the professor.

"The entire forest?" I asked completely caught off guard.

The professor nods.

My eyes were wide open, I couldn't believe it. "Is there such a thing as an artificial forest?"

"Yes, everything is built magnificently, the result of years and years of work built over a long time." The professor said.

The forest? Built? Of course this would sound crazy to anyone, but when I think about the past the professors never been wrong, his intuition has never failed. So then, there has to be some sort of a mechanism controlling the forest, if so..the power of this place is amazing. To build such a place, a forest none the less, and on top of the great depths of nature. But then I heard something...

"What is this sound?" I felt my feet quiver. I wonder what it could be?

"I have figured it out!" The professor said.

"Figured what out?" I asked.

"The reason why we keep getting lost." The professor said.

"Really?" I said as the professor looked at me mischievously. The mystery of this place, the right conclusion, it was the key to unlocking everything.

"Is there a tremor?" I asked. "I don't really understand professor.."

The professor smiled and said, "This is a hint, if the forest is built, then that would mean that the ground is also crafted, is it not?"

"Oh, that's right!" I clapped my hands together. "The machine that's moving the ground here is buried underneath!" I said.

The professor smiled. "That is indeed correct. It seems to be rotating the area where we're standing."

So that's why we weren't really moving anywhere while walking. That's amazing. I was fearful trying to imagine people building a place like this, people have done so many amazing things, we've gathered new plants, discovered new species, built mountains, dug caves, and now raised forests. I think that's really surprising. The people of Illusory must have advanced wisdom and skill, I wonder what they're like...?

At that time I felt a light hit me from a distance. "Oh it's-" it was a tower! it was shining brightly in front of us. "Professor, do you think this is-?"

"Yes, this seems to be it, the Tower of Gods." the professor said, the tower was rising high above us, reaching the sky, it was so beautiful. Looking at it I felt my heart pounding. At last, we've come so far passing every trap this forest has thrown our way.

The one thing we were aiming for this entire time was right here in front of us, when the light hit the big pond the tower began to rise, but if the light gets blocked...it could disappear. How could we make it stay?

The professor found a folding tube on the ground by the plaques near the pond.

"Professor is that a-?"

"Oh, well yes it is a bit like a pistol I suppose." The professor said.

"So like a gun?!" I asked. The professor put in a shiny looking silver like bullet in the large barrel.

"So this will-"

"We can aim this at the tower, sort of like a signal, it will emit light for the tower to stay." The professor aimed and shot it at the tower as all but one fell, I looked at the destination where the light was being emitted.

"This is alright for now." The professor nods.

"Is that light coming again?"

Truly...

"That's strange." I looked around but... "There's no doubt that there was a tower here, in fact, the single bullet we launched is right there where it was." I pointed toward the forest.

The professor looked around, "It's strange indeed, nothing wrong should have happened."

"Really, how did it disappear?" I mumbled, reaching out to collect some of the silver looking bullets within the piles of leaves.

"Ah!" I screamed out.

"What's the matter?" The professor rushed towards me.

"A veil! It's caught right over there in the tree trunk!" I said.

"What?" The professor said shocked, he locked eyes with the veil fiercely. "The veil was clamped on here with a pin."

"Eh? Is it?"

"Have you noticed how the veil has the letter E on it?" The professor said.

"Ahhhh!"

The professor and I looked at each other at the same time.

"Emmy!"

"Emmy, no doubt." The professor said.

She must've left it here on purpose to tell us if we had followed the right path. The guidelines and clues that Emmy gave out to us indirectly proved to be very useful.

"Don't do anything just yet Emmy." The professor said.

"We're going to do this." I said. We'll find out the truth behind this place in no time. I wonder where she really was...

An intense light surrounded the area. "Wow, what is this?" Oh gosh.

We heard a terrible roaring sound that rocked the Earth. "Ah it's-"  somehow light was emitted again gradually and it reappeared from the shadows of the forest once again towering up to the sky. It was a silver shining tower. The shape of the tower was very strange, it was like a spire, with branches protruding from left to right as though the sides had arms.

"Professor, there is someone over there." I could see a person standing there on the terrace portion of the tower, with an outfit stitched with gold threads and it shined wonderfully. The person seemed young and noble, I feel like I misunderstood the situation. "Is that a God?! A god, living in the tower of Gods?"

The light brightens up again covering my sight again. "Ah!"

When the light fell the professor and i were standing in different places. "What is this place?"

I was amazed by the professor's words. "This, is the entrance to the village. This village is not on the map...because there is no village."

"The village...is not a village?" I was starting to think if the professor had completely lost it.

"Let's go inside Luke." The professor said, I gave out a gulp and nodded silently.

Part 8

Entering the village was one of the strangest things I had ever done, I couldn't tell you exactly what it was but...I felt incompatible to it. Small houses with red roofs, almost like this place was something out of a fairytale. On a narrow slope, I saw a light blue striped unmanned carriage rattling. It felt like a set of a theatrical play. In other words, this place made you feel like you'd just stepped out of reality.

"How about we walk around and see this village of Illusory, that happens to be nowhere on the map?" The professor said.

"Alright!" I said, the rain was starting to patter on the small houses, the rains sound was soon heard all over.

But...there seemed to be no one anywhere, where had everyone gone?

We found a cottage with a mill ahead of the canal, so we turned our sights over there. The water wheel was slowly turning. I tried to turn the door of the water mill. It was useless, it wouldn't open, the door read "secret hut, need prohibition." This was a mistake...

"Why would they write that? Wouldn't that only make the locals more curious to take a peek?" I said.

"Curious indeed, isn't it?" Said the professor.

We decided to turn back quietly until I heard villagers talking with each other by a small fountain in the center. There were people after all! I was relieved and called out as I approached. Suddenly they all turned and looked at me frightened.

"I'm sorry I-" I stumbled. I wasn't really paying attention to what I was saying and tried to escape from there sneakily.

They were shocked...but why? I didn't do anything bad.

"Professor......it seems that I'm somehow already hated."

The professor smiled bitterly. "It seems that way."

"I'd never wanted to run away so bad, their stares were like daggers."  

A tall greyish looking older man appeared steadily before us. He wore a loose purple robe and had a long beard that went past his neck. He kind of looked like a fortune-teller. He spoke with a hoarse voice. "You two are outsiders. How did you get here?"

The professor spoke, "Yes, we were able to manage passing through the forest and reaching your humble village."

The fortune-teller gave out a cloudy expression. "You...escaped the forest? You two should count yourselves fortunate."

"Eh? Did you plan for the forest to be some sort of unfortunate bad luck?!" I said.

The professor asked the fortune-teller, who had decided not to answer my question, "We are searching for some one, a young woman named Emmy Altava, have any of you noticed her around?"

The fortune-teller pondered. "Emmy? I have never heard of a name such as that, for questions like this...it's best to ask the village chief."

"Where can we meet the village chief?" Asked the professor.

"When you leave the village square, walk on the left road all the way to the back of the village, there should be a pink house in the grove, that is the chief's house." He said.

"Thank you." The professor said as we made our way there.

"Wait a moment. There are many bridges in this village, you can't just cross over any bridge over there, you have to be careful not to go over the ones that are old, fragile, or obsolete." The fortune-teller told us.

"Well...I'm not very good at swimming. What should I do if the bridge breaks?" I said in a panic.

The fortune-teller frowned, "You are one complicated child, you should go to the home of the village head as soon as you can."

"Then let's go!" I spoke out, and I held my head high.

The professor smiled bitterly when we reached the village chiefs home, "There is no other choice, let's find a route that runs over the bridges as far as possible to the village chiefs home."

[Puzzle 008] The Mayor's house

There seems to be many bridges? Not all of them we can trust. Anyway, we should probably get to the village heads home as soon as possible. Let's go for it! Find the longest route with the fewest bridges to cross to the chief's house.

The professor smiled. "That's correct, it was worth the trial and error. That could have been quite the sticky situation."

"That's why I never give up Professor." I said in a humble tone. It was weird that the fortune-teller disappeared even though he was with us before we crossed. "I wonder where he went...he seemed like a helpful and kind person, I guess he changed his mind on accompanying us."

I didn't feel any sort of malice coming from this area, for now we were just going to talk to the village chief about Emmy. With the professor by my side we crossed the final bridge, the village surroundings were starting to give off a peaceful atmosphere, especially the sound of the river current next to us. The area seemed so quiet I wondered if the chief was even there. The professor and i rushed to his home with a strange sense of incongruity.

Part 9

"It's actually surprising that we've reached this far professor, it was really difficult to get passed that evil forest." I said to the professor as we knocked on the door like proper guests passing through. The village mayor made a cheerful gesture. He looked like he was in his sixties, he had circular glasses and a beard that reached to the lower half of his chest, it was curly and didn't look very well maintained.

We talked to the chief for a bit as I started talking of all the difficult obstacles we endured. "There were so many difficult things, I thought it was really going to be the end of us."

The village chief nods. "I understand your concern, but you see, rarely any one ever bothers to even cross the forest, we don't have outsiders visiting us very often, the forest keeps us protected here and we happily stay stuck inside, it's very rare that we have to welcome new guests this way. I'm sure the people here were surprised to see you both. I'm sorry if they came off as a bit rude, after all...it's been a long time since we've all been astrayed here."

"Oh, is that so?" Said the professor.

"I'm sure you would understand, it's natural for us to be so cautious of strangers." He paused, "You two must be terribly hungry, I'll make sure you both get a memorable feast as a celebration for you two arriving at our village. So please eat as much as you can." The chief said.

"Really?" I jumped up with joy, I was starving.

The village chief spoke again, "Of course the both you might want to bathe as well since the two of you seem a bit muddy, I'll get a bath set up for you-"

"There is something I want to ask you chief." The professor said as I looked up at him. The professor moved forward.

"I would like to ask you about a young woman named Emmy, I was not able to find her at the forest , and I think she should have been here about a day or two ago." Said the professor.

"A  young woman named Emmy? I do not know of such a person." the village chief faintly shriveled his eyebrows and shook his head.

I spoke without thinking again, "But she should have definitely been here, we found some her belongings outside the village."

"Do you mind if we take a look around the village? The professor asked.

The village chief looked at us confused, "I guess you could, but your search would be useless. If a young lady as you said had entered this village, the folks here would have definitely made a big fuss. It's impossible to hide in this village, especially if she was similarly dressed as you two. The fact that I've heard nothing of this makes me believe whomever you're searching for is not here in this village."

"Is that so?" Said the professor thinking.

I was extremely disappointed, I just couldn't understand why she wouldn't be here? I didn't think the mayor was lying, but there was something off. She was absolutely supposed to be in this village. Where in the world was Emmy?

At the time a man appeared from the back room. "I'm sorry for eavesdropping but...I heard you two are searching for a woman?" He asked with a soft voice. Hearing his tone was enough to get me relieved. He looked familiar...he was the one I saw standing on top of the Tower of the Gods a while ago. There's no doubt, it was him, with the gold threaded garment threads.

The professor replied back, "She's a young woman named Emmy, we're assuming she was able to reach the village, but it seems she's disappeared."

"Is that so? I'm very worried for her then." The village chief said as he shriveled his brows again and rose from his seat. "By the way, this man here is Aston, Mr. Aston Bloom. He belongs to one of the most well respected families here in the forest."

Aston? His hair was wavy, and when he moved his head his hair would move swiftly and gracefully. He looked straight ahead with his golden eyes, he had somewhat of a strong facial expression. the room felt very intense.

Aston bowed to the professor, "If you don't mind, I would also like to search for that woman you speak of , but first let me take care of some work back at my office."

The professor lowered the brim of his silk top hat and said, "I would appreciate that, thank you."

{Answers:  Puzzle 004- Trace outside the maze box. Puzzle 005- C.  Puzzle 006- C. Puzzle 007- B. Puzzle 008- Make a left and cross 3 bridges, go down, left, down, left, go down two bridges, make a right and cross 3 bridges, go down, right, down twice, make a right, down, then left 4 times, then up, left and down. }

Chapter 3

The Mysterious Mansion

Raymond stood there and spoke with a quiet and gentle voice. "You've seemed livelier since we came here."

Descole smiled bitterly, "Of course, I live life in a very serious and entertaining way. The boring life is for those who live it so trivial and fun. For you see, what has been hidden for so long...has suddenly revealed itself with a purpose and a desire for vengeance."

"I understand, the game will be interesting only when you get your opportunity master." Raymond's voice contained slight laughter.

"That's correct Raymond, never have I heard more satisfying words." Descole said.

"Rarely, master." Raymond mutters.

"Mystery... it makes me deeply deceived, yet it is so enchanting to partake in." Descole said with vast enthusiasm. "I will give this mystery of Illusory my full attention. Competing with him will give me the motivation for what I want in my possession even further."

Raymond bowed, as Descole nodded. "It's ridiculous that I've had to wait this long to get that ultimate treasure. All the pieces of the puzzle were scattered long ago. What's taking him so long to reach the Book of Fate?"

Descole picked up items from off the floor and went towards the exit as he waited for a chance for his vast intelligence and knowledge of his mind to finally draw out the answer of the mystery.

Part 1  

Okay....

I cut into the back door of the water mill with a knife, I waited to be alone. I stepped back a little to look at my engraved letters. Maybe this is too conspicuous? The professor will definitely notice, that is if he even finds this place. Of course he will, if anyone can it's definitely going to be the professor. I'll have to do my best then.

I got up and looked around and hid behind one of the trees quickly. I couldn't see any of the villagers at all for some reason, so I wasn't too worried that I would come across any one. I've scattered a few marks for both the professor and Luke to find me, I'm sure they're worried by now. I know the professor wanted to investigate this matter in a different way, but I feel like it was better this way. I shouldn't have to feel too responsible for my disappearance, I did say I wouldn't return for a while.

I mean, of course I would return, but this is my mission and my time to help. I knew that my role would have ended if I returned...

I wanted to stay here at Illusory when I was caught as a bride, I somehow managed to learn about the stories of the treasure in the forest when my kidnappers were talking bored, while stretching and relaxing outside near the small room I was in. Now what were they talking about?

///

"The Book of Fate" said one of them. "the ultimate treasure hidden in the forest of Illusory, many people of course have entered the forest but have disappeared in the process. For such a long time the people always longed for the book. Why you ask? Because this book knows the destiny of all human beings."

I listened to their words as much as I could. I was interested so I jumped up from the bed before I fell asleep, I got close enough to the door to listen.

"So, would you want the power to know the fate of all human beings?"

Why would anyone want to know their fate?  That's not a blessing, that's a curse. Not only that but the fate of all human beings? Nobody would want that.

There was a woman, she seemed older. The other was a man, his voice was hoarse.

"How would someone like me even use it? Besides, the Book of Fate isn't even in that Tower of gods anyway." The woman said.

"What? Then where is it?" The man who was asking the question seemed to be young.

A tough voice was followed up by that question. "You don't know anything. I've lived in this village for decades."

"Well I grew up with everyone saying that it's still there." The man said complaining. "My parents told me that even before they passed away."

The woman sighed, "Did they die of that...plague that happened fifteen years ago? Most of the people of the village left after that, you were probably still small at the time, do you even remember anything?"

Plague? Fifteen years ago? So most of the people died? This village was hit by some sort of a catastrophe.

The woman says with a crooked voice, "The Book of Fate isn't in the tower of Gods, I'm telling you. It's hidden somewhere else, in another tower."

"Oh, is that so? So then why couldn't we have just gone to the holy land in these fifteen years?" said the man.

The woman spoke with a crazy voice, "That was the reason for bringing the brides, we finally have all the five keys but...no information that I wrote on my travel board gave me enough clues on how to use them. I would need to hear those old stories of the villagers."

"But that would be impossible, they were all thrown out years ago."

"There was a story of a prince that knew everything of every one, it's like he could solve human beings." the woman said.

The young man doubted her words.

"I'm going to talk some sense into you when I finally find the way."

I scratched my head, the Tower of Gods? A holy land? I wonder what was on that traveling board, I wonder if anyone could unravel whatever was on there.

"Does the prince leave his mansion, and ever go to that holy place alone?"

"Oh, I'm not sure if that was the case. He left." said the woman.

"Did he never bother coming back?"

The woman with the crooked voice sighed. "I suppose maybe he did, he said that he said I'm sorry, I can not be bound by such a tradition any more." that's what the prince said.

Legends? It's always been full of things people never understood, but they sure made a fun story.

First, there is a sacred place called the Tower of Gods. Secondly, a powerful book is hidden there. Third, I need the five pendants to unlock it. This is what I managed to understand from the two. We were all kidnapped for the sake of those pendants, so that these people could go to the Tower of Gods, and get their hands on the ultimate treasure.....

Should I get involved in this? Maybe I can get some information that could surprise the professor later. Regarding the book however, I have to admit I'm dying to know what it is myself. What kind of book is it? What's written in it? Thinking about it gets me terrified yet excited. If I leave Illusory I won't be able to return, so let's find out what to investigate here, so when those other brides return, I can give the professor information without going back, it'll be like I returned to London. I'll just leave a message to those brides, so that when the professor sees it he will surely know the real intention.

Part 2

I've walked through all sorts of places now, I sighed disgruntled. I've tried searching for clues about the Book of Fate, but so far I've found nothing useful. No libraries, no institutions that could give me any clues. Public buildings, hospitals, police stations, they were all closed.

What if everyone was still sick, and what if I got sick? This is a strange village. There was some sort of melancholy surrounding the place. The only thing that caught my attention was the water mill, I didn't really understand what the content on the door meant so instead I wrote a message for the professor. I wrote it in a very unobtrusive way, I hope he's able to notice it. I had no choice but to hope that was enough. Then I ended up here in this residential area, I guess it's a starting point.

I was looking for a mansion like castle in a fairy tale village, surrounded by a stormy dark forest...

Here is to hoping this is the key to solving the mystery.

The prince of Illusory. For generations they gave their brides a pendant, and those pendants are necessary for going to that certain place, and when the prince arrives it will be the end, he will assimilate with the tower. Although it's just a story, if this problem can't be cleared up, then the prince would return, but if it was then he would leave again. I haven't seen this prince yet, just what kind of a person is he anyway?

How do you intrude a mansion? I asked myself as I came across this large spiral like castle, and a long ladder that hung on the window. There were bushes in front of the gate to the middle of the front yard, but I quickly hid myself when I heard voices near where the bushes were cut off at the entrance. He was one of the men that took me in when I was dressed as a bride. "Be careful of the pitfalls here and there." he shouted. That sounded worrisome...

What else was he saying?

"In the past all the numbers were written down, and we could easily follow the instructions and go through, the end of the path is the one with that says 25, and the start is at 1." He said.

I can figure this out, I've done it loads of times before. Sounds like a good arms work.

"You must find the route the route that can avoid the pitfalls and hurry to the entrance."

[Puzzle 009] The Garden With a Trap

I want to start with square 1 at the front of the yard. Regarding this garden we have to pay attention to what the man said. "In the past all the numbers were written down from 1-25, but now only 1, 3, 9, and 17 are visible. It's dangerous to pass the squares that say 2, 5, 7, 12, 14, and 19."

Try to fill in all the numbers from 1-25 horizontally or vertically and try to make a simple path that passes from 1-25 that doesn't cross over those said numbers.

Shall we proceed then?

"I did it!" I successfully jumped over the last pitfall. I wiped off the sweat from my forehead. Well that's one problem out of the way. So now how do I enter? I doubt I can walk in and just say "Hello. Please let me look around your secret castle."

I heard a voice again, I hid in the shadows of the plants post haste. I stretched myself out on the floor enough to be able to see them. There was an elderly man dressed in plant pattern like clothes, and another man in gold threaded clothes who was standing backwards to me. I couldn't see his face unfortunately, but judging from his voice I'd say he was pretty young. The man held that pendant in his hand. "Is that?!"  It was...

It was the pendant I was wearing at the ceremony! Then was this the prince from the story?

The voice of the elder man who seems to be his aid was heard. "One of the brides that we kept in has escaped. There is a possibility...she could still be hiding in this village. I didn't do well...what would you make of this?"

The bride who ran away? I almost gasped loudly. They were talking about me weren't they?

The young man replied. "I've been listening to some interesting stories about it, but the existence of the bride who ran away may cause a ruckus. Regardless, I need her to unlock the seal. You should try to cooperate with her just in case. I have a purpose here, I will make sure she shows up."

I see. I felt a chill down my spine as it appeared.

"Aside from that, we have all the pendants. With the knowledge we possess we may leave for the holy grounds in and out as we please." Said the elderly man with the weird patterned clothes. "Are you really going to the sanctuary now?"

"I have to, it is my duty as the last prince of Illusory."

"So, it is him?" I said.

"There is only one thing I'm worried about however, it's about her..." said the young man.

"it's just like Sania, being inspired by the Book of Fate."

When the prince returns it will be the end. He will assimilate with the tower.

What? I started to feel a tad strange. He will assimilate? Wait...I never thought of this but, what does that mean?

"Those who knew everything became one with the tower itself, they were never able to leave the land, that is the true meaning of being the ruler of Illusory." the elderly man said then turned around.

I quickly pushed myself forward to catch a better glimpse of the young man as they both left the terrace and made their way inside. I kept my eyes wide open for a while when I saw his face for a split moment, he was actually...rather attractive, it was shocking truthfully, but that doesn't matter now, so that's the prince of Illusory? For what reason is he heading there? Was it because of some fate or, to save her? Whoever she is.

Now was the perfect time to make my way to the entrance. The door opened. Inside there was a man who appeared to be a servant came out with two bags in both his hands and he ran out quickly in a panicky state. Fortunately for me the gate was left open! I didn't even notice the mysterious residence at all, I wonder where that man was heading so fast.

Part 3

I snuck my way inside of the mansion. It was silent...no appearance of anyone for a while. Both the prince and that aid were in here somewhere. I tried to keep my footsteps quiet as I went past a shiny corridor and was looking around at the situation I was in. The place was absolutely spectacular, but it felt strange. There was a grey and empty feeling being emitted from this place. There was no sign of anyone at all. Why? The furniture and interior were amazing, they were so luxurious. I decided to go up the stairs in the middle of the corridor, where all the door were lining up upstairs.

I came across one of the rooms. I tried turning the knob of the door, "No way!" I murmured. I was amazed at how easily I opened the door, what should I do? Was it alright for me to enter someone's room without permission? I was hesitant for a moment, but there was nothing else to have done in the situation I was in. I took a step forward inside.

The first thing I saw was a bed with a large canopy, and a mirror stand. So in other words this is a bedroom. The wallpaper was light purple with flower patterns, there were lots of them on the canopy, curtains and such. I could assume this is a girls room.

There were portraits decorated on the wall. There was a picture of a beautiful lady who had her hair raised up high, she seemed to be in her late twenties, I wondered. She was very beautiful, her face looked similar to the princes face that I had seen earlier. There was a picture decorated above the mirror stand, they seemed to be a family of three. I'm thinking they were the mother and father, and there was a child. The father looked serious and had a sharp stare, the mother looked dignified, her gaze was warm with deep affection. There was another portrait of the mother, this picture was also very beautiful and there was a child in this picture too, he looked very young, probably five or six with honey colored wavy hair. He was a lovely child with patchy eyes.

I think this is the prince as a child. I only saw a glimpse of his face a while ago, but somehow I know this is him. There was a comb on the mirror stand, a decorative pin, and a cape. The purple perfume bottles were properly placed, the cleaning was perfect but there was no evidence that any of this had been used recently. Why is that? There used to be a girl living in this room, she doesn't seem to be here any more even though everything looks properly checked often. There doesn't seem to be a lot of people living in this mansion anymore, everyone's gone. It was quite long ago I guess...I remembered the stories from those men when I was imprisoned, the story of the people who died fifteen years ago. Perhaps they weren't aware of it at the time...that plague, but that could be the answer as to why there are no people in this mansion any more, and a few people seem to be left due to certain circumstances. It's scary to think about. It's in human nature, but in this case it was like ruins, the few were lonely. Lonely like the ruins.

I looked at the pictures above the mirror stand, the women had such gentle smiles, but they were some what saddened. I decided to look around outside more, I left the room hurriedly.

///

I opened some doors to rooms that I thought were interesting, none of them were slightly similar to one another and they were far apart. Although everything was so neatly arranged, it seemed empty. I thought about nicknaming this place the "mansion of the dead."

There were rooms with tea sets placed out, like there were tea ceremonies that had abruptly stopped fifteen years ago. This place had death and sorrow drifting around quite a bit like an aura. I felt cold...

I was far into the house now and the hallway suddenly ended. I was surprised, "I wonder why here?" The corridor was broken, it felt unnatural. There were two portraits in front of me on the large white wall. I was a bit more relieved. "A portrait of a lady!"  Well, two portraits of the same lady. They looked exactly the same, yet felt somewhat different. There was a single button under both the portraits, I wonder..

Which should I choose? I stopped my hand from pushing one without thinking. I probably have to pick the portrait I saw in the girls room that looks exactly the same. In other words choosing the correct one can allow me to proceed ahead! "I have to think carefully and remember the characteristics of the lady in the portrait!"

[Puzzle 010] One of a kind

There are two portraits here, which one matches the exact same one as the picture I saw in the room earlier? Press the right button!

The wall made a creaky noise, something like "gigigi" as it opened on the side of the correct portrait. "I did it!"

The corridor was dark and moldy. I had a bad feeling, I hesitated to step in. "So this hidden corridor isn't some sort of a dream, alright then." I have to admit I was getting more curious and curious, it felt adventurous and that's what drew me in when I took that step forward.

Part 4

Various kinds of flowers were pressed against the walls, like they were decorated all across on the top of the corridor. I admired the variety of them all, there were just so many kinds of flowers from northern countries, to the southern islands. Illusory seems to have plants collected from all over the world.

When I reached the end of the corridor, it became a spindle shaped hall, and in the center of it all there was a spiral staircase. I felt like I was standing in the middle of a huge flower, and this was the stamen. I felt like I had come face to face with what I was searching for. I decided to make my way up the staircase, this really wasn't anywhere near an ordinary building. Going up and looking down was very intimidating.

As I was climbing, I reached a door in front of the stairs. My heart was about to jump out of my chest, there was something there, definitely something...something terribly important.

I stopped my hands on the door knob.

I heard a voice.

"Sania! I...wanted to talk to you once again, before I have to leave."

That voice?! I pressed my ear on the door.

"Before I met you, I did nothing but stay here...in this place, keeping the memories of those who passed alive. I stayed here alone in solitude...every day."

It has to be him...the prince of Illusory.

( "There is a tradition in Illusory." )

("The last prince, our everlasting guard, awakening life for those who eternally sleep." )

"When I discovered you in the woods-"

This was the tradition, a lonely fate, the fate he must fulfill.

"- by the old trees."

The prince continued to talk, but the odd thing was...I can only hear his voice. That's strange. Why isn't the other person responding? I hesitated at the thought of doing this, but I began to peep through the keyhole. the room was decorated in plain white, it was gorgeous and luxurious, like one of those princess rooms you would see in fairytale books. I saw a glimpse of the prince's face, he was talking to a person lying down on the bed and speaking to her in a saddening yet sincere manner. Why were they lying down....?

She was a beautiful woman. Golden hair that shined like haze, pale skin almost transparent, pinkish lips. Everything about her seemed like perfection, like she was forever immortalized in a beautiful portrait. She was like sleeping beauty.

It was still early in the evening though, why was she sleeping? I tried to push my ears closer to the door again.

"But, alas...you never woke, so I will go to that place myself so that you may wake up once more, and we can live happily together in the outside world."

I had a strange feeling that I was going to be approached by someone behind me.

"What are you doing?"

A voice came from behind me and I immediately turned around. I looked at him with what I thought would have been an expressionless face.

"So you're the one who's been sneaking into rooms and spying on others through doors."

"Ah that, uh....I'm. What was I doing?"

The butler who was speaking to me widened his eyes. This was useless, there was no other way around it, I had to get away, but there was no escape. In front of me was the room with the prince inside and behind me was the butler. What about the bottom?  I could spiral down. I'm pretty high up but I can find a height that I can jump from.

I heard other voices approaching behind the butler, "Halt!" they screamed out, it was the men who had kept me captive. They crowded the spiral staircase.

Here is a thought, let's get rampant shall we?

The man in front of me awkwardly decided to go first as he kicked out his right leg, making it fly towards my face.

Part 5

"........................."

I heard a voice when I woke up, my head was hurting terribly. Now my body hurts too. I was lying down on a bed...I can't remember much, what happened? I tried to think back slowly with my throbbing head, but a soft voice caught my attention.

"Did you notice?"

I looked up to a young man standing by the bedside. The man put his hand on his chest and drooped his head. "I am Aston Bloom, I'm the head of this house, I fear I may have put you in danger and I can't apologize enough."

Ah yes, that was him.

I remember I fought with the men, I then fell off the spiral staircase. I don't remember anything after the moment I fell. I probably lost consciousness soon after. I expected the height from which I fell to have caused greater damage but it seems like I'm actually safe. I was amazed at how robust I was.

I see his face again, his loose wavy honey colored hair, he seemed gentle, I felt like he could read my mind the more he gave me a deep look. I said in a small voice, "I'm Emmy...Emmy Altava."

"Emmy sounds beautiful, you seem to be very brave. What was Emmy doing in my house?"

I felt like I made a mistake coming here. Aston actively watched my every move, and gave an amiable smile to everything I did. Perhaps he was just being nice so I wouldn't make a run for it. He seemed so intelligent, like a single lie wouldn't make it passed him.

But I was still in the enemy's hands, I thought of various things I could and couldn't say, I had to be cautious. At this point I had dared to jump into the enemy's base. I took a deep breath and said, "I am one of the brides who had been kidnapped from the St. James church."

"What?!" Aston gazed for a bit.

"Your men kidnapped me recently."

"What...that is........." he was full of words everywhere.

"But, this place was too mysterious and attractive, I got too interested and I couldn't bring myself to just sit around and wait. I just couldn't go home yet...lately I've grown fond of mysteries and exploring them. so I guess thanks to you and this place, I guess I couldn't seem to get away."

Aston silently listened to what I had to say, then after I'd finished he began to smile frantically, the laughter gradually grew and it turned into a lyrical laughter that filled the entire room.

Aston wiped his tears from his eyes, "I'm sorry really, it's just that I was impressed by your boldness."

His laughter was absolutely intriguing to me. He waved his head and told me a bit of how he was raised and taken care of, none of them were ever so bold. I slowly began to run my mouth, unexpectedly enough I was actually comfortable, and I would nod to everything he said as he looked at me with puzzling eyes.

"I would very much like to talk about these things with you."

He gave me a red dress and told me to meet him at the dining room, as I entered I slightly blushed at the sight of me in the dress. He smiled so brightly when he saw me. I still felt strange...

"That dress looks beautiful, although I do love the clothes you were in before as well. The red roses on the dress suit you quite well."

"Thank you." I laughed, then I followed up with a sigh.

I did like it a lot, my wedding dress was like a white version of this, I even maneuvered around Illusory with it for a short while when I was brought in, I wore my usual clothes underneath.

"Emmy, if you wouldn't mind, this is wine made here in Illusory, its sweetness prevails, and it's unique to the land."

Aston handed me a glass of wine, and drank some of it himself. He even cooked food himself, and we conversed throughout the evening. His cheeks slightly gained some blush.

Aston spoke out, "Have you ever fallen in love?"

"Me? In love?"

"Please do not be alarmed by my question, I was just curious."

"Not yet, unfortunately." I responded.

"I see, well I'm actually in love with someone right now."

"Is that so?" I said as Aston began to indulge in his emotions, he directed his gaze towards the sky like he was looking far off into the distance.

"I would have never guessed the wonderful feeling it would have given me. The world around you becomes so different, everything becomes glazed, like the terrible parts of life just disappear, it's like power that shines inside of you and gives you light, and you're overfilled with joy. Even if I don't converse with others I never feel alone thinking of them. It was such a happy year."

"One year?" I asked.

"Yes, I met her exactly a year ago." Aston looked so happy, I could feel my cheeks getting red for some reason.

"Who's the lucky person?" I didn't know who she was but I was interested.

"Her name is Sania, and she's been losing consciousness more and more since the day we met." He said.

"What!"

"A year ago there was a crash here from a plane flying above the Illusory forest. She was with her parents inside, unfortunately her parents didn't make it, but somehow Sania miraculously survived. When she was rescued she consciously returned but only for a moment, she told me her name was Sania. She soon lost complete consciousness and she's been asleep ever since."

A year has passed since then.

"Was that the beautiful woman I saw earlier? The one with the golden hair...or something like that." I felt bad for him, I felt like needed my company, my chest felt a sense of emptiness. "Anyone who has the knowledge of everything, will become one with the tower and will never be able to leave. That's the fate..."

"What? What did you say?" Aston began to mutter in a shaky way.

"I'm sorry...I just heard many things while I was caught, I guess I must've said it without realising."

"Many... things?"

"You go to this sacred place and afterwards you won't be able to return home again."

"What?!"

"Then you read the Book of Fate, and that will give you all the knowledge of the world...to possibly wake Sania."

Aston began to look surprised, "I'm astonished, you seem to know a lot of our confidential procedures! Aston understands how you might feel about this, but I could be wrong, I myself am not enough, but I think you have the potential to be Sanias saviour."

Aston gave me an interesting look. "I am a saviour?"

"Yes, you heard what I said to Sania, I will try my best for my loved ones, but if I abandon my life, there would be no one else to help. If you had listened more to the story, those who wish upon this place will have their wishes revealed and made true, with the help of others of course. If you can help me, I can save Sania without having to go to that place. It's certainly possible, your integrity and purity is what makes you so wonderful and unique, these are qualities you should never lose."

Aston began smiling and laughing. "Emmy is the saviour to Sania."

He was starting to turn into some sort of an obsessed demon, after he said that he looked at my face, "Interesting, is that medicine still not effective?'

I was starting to feel overwhelmed, I tried to diverge a plan to escape. I was able to reach as far as the stairs until I collapsed on the floor. I couldn't  feel my upper body anymore.

"I'm sorry...Emmy." I heard Aston whisper to me as I lost consciousness.

{Answers: Puzzle 009- Place the numbers in the correct maze order and the path starts at 1 from the right column going all the way to 9, and from 9 to 25 on the entire bottom column, the trick is to go over the pitfalls. Puzzle 010- B}

Chapter 4

The Cursed Village

“Are you doing okay with your work, master?”  Raymond asked with a tired voice.

“Yes, I seem to have woken you.”

“It’s quite alright, are you having trouble with anything?”

“No not at all, it’s the other way around, everything is going well.” Descole spoke with a satisfied tone, there was a gadget in his hands. It was a state of the art technology that he had just created, it was an advanced sort of a radio communication device. A rally of his own, one of the best technology he had made as a scientist.

“Thanks to this, you can speak to me as far away as possible by only using wireless communication, it can reach anywhere with no lost connection.”

Raymond spoke, “This is truly amazing master, I’m amazed. You are certainly worthy of being called a true genius.”

“As usual you always say such pleasing things.”

“It’s only deserving” Raymond said.

“How is your family Raymond?” Descole said with a cheerful expression.

“They’re fine master, they're all doing their best and working well, especially my daughter. I’m doing just fine serving you. It would be an advantage for me to stay here to continue planning our next step.”

Descole tightened his voice, “I have no need for your assistance today, the greatest move has already been planned precisely, if I need you I will get in touch with you. It’s finally time.”

“I will speak to you through the radio when I can, I will contact you in case of emergency.”

“Understood.”

Part 1

The burning beacon illuminates the strange dances of the villagers, it makes them seem like dolls. An interesting string instrument was played in an indigenous melody with a magical soft tone. I didn’t know the song, but it sounded like folk songs you would hear from Scotland or Ireland. I was drawn to their enthusiasm. Everyone was so pleased with our arrival since they hadn’t seen anyone come in from the outside in so long, we were guests being treated with grand hospitality.

Two of the villagers who were by the fountain earlier came next to me and the professor, Aston who we had just met was also participating in the festival. He was very gracefully elegant every time I saw him, everyone was so venerable. As for me, I was trying to somewhat stay calm. I couldn’t get Emmy out of my mind, we had to find her as soon as possible here. I felt bad that all I was doing was sitting down...and eating. The party gradually grew louder and the instruments stormed grandly.

When the music ended, the excitement stopped, and everything became so quiet and peaceful like the tides. The village chief stood up and greeted the professor and I.

“Professor Layton, and Luke, I welcome you to this village, I am sincerely delighted that the winds led you here to this village after such a long absence of outsiders.”

The villagers began to clap, the professor slightly bowed as he held onto the brim of his silk hat and lowered it. I tried to do the same with my hat and smiled.

The village chief became serious, “But it is unfortunate to say that neither of you can ever leave this village.”

“Eh? What?” I stumbled and almost dropped my hat.

“There is a curse upon this village, if you ever come in there is no way out.”

The professors expression changed greatly, he frowned while scrunching his eyebrows. Another villager spoke up, “I have been unable to leave this village ever since I got lost in the forest ten years ago.”

“We were all surprised to see you, I can’t remember the last time I ever stepped foot outside of this forest.” The chief said with a grieving face. “You saw that great light emitted from the tower of the gods didn’t you?”

I did see it, but I couldn’t believe this curse I was hearing about.  The villagers all said how they tried their hardest to leave but gave up eventually.

“In short, this village exists in a world behind the tower of gods, it’s a world that is strained of actual reality, as though it has been altered by spacetime continuum and has irregularities. No one has ever made it out, in other words our existence and this place is somewhat of an illusion.”

I Jumped up, “You’re joking...I’m still a child and I have to get back and-  we can’t stay here we have to back to the outside world and do so many things.” I begged to the chief desperately.

“I understand your feelings, and of course I want you to find your way out and do something of it.” The chief scrunched his eyebrows like he was confused, he raised his head. “There is something you could do, a way to possibly get out of this cursed village...if you solve the mystery of The Cursed Dial.”

The Cursed Dial?

The village chief nodded, “The Cursed Dial is said to show the route leading to the outside world, if we solve the mystery, it’s said that it will return us back. However it was too difficult for us to solve, so we all just threw the thought out of our minds.”

I looked at the professor, “Professor! Please solve the mystery of that dial! I know you can do it! You’ve solved so many before…”

The village mayor looked at the professor's face, “If anyone can do it Professor Layton can do it! He’s an archeologist and has one of the greatest minds of the modern day!” I boasted.

The villagers gathered around the professor. “Please, we want to return to our actual homes again!” The villagers started exclaiming “Please!”

Aston was looking at us silently, he got up, “Professor Layton..please do give us that freedom we desire.”

Everyone gazed at the professor with grim eyes, the professor nodded, “Of course I will try, please show me the way to The Cursed Dial.”

[Puzzle 011: The Cursed Dial] 

The Queen and the King, are both being protected by two soldiers, and in return he promises to make all their dreams come true. The genuine Lily flower looks up northeast. Fit the five blocks onto the dial to fit the phrase. What position should you put them in? Simply surrounding the Lily is not the correct way to go.

“If you put these five blocks correctly, you will find your way and reach the point. If you put this one in this space right here, the light will run through the road, vertically and horizontally on the dial.”  The professor said. “ The Knights each go to one member, and surely in the end the Lily flower faces northeast.”

“Ooooo!” The villagers said randomly while the professor spoke.

“We never thought someone who could ever solve this mystery would appear!” The villagers shouted with excitement to one another.

“Thank you!”

“Thank you”

Everyone formally came to thank the professor. I noticed that the map wasn’t fully complete though, I had the feeling this road was more dangerous than we thought. The village chief was at ease looking at the dial, I noticed that he then he became bothered with a serious face. It just didn’t make sense to me why he seemed that way, or was it the bonfires that made it seem that way. The party began again, the villagers sang, danced and continued indefinitely. Suddenly I realized that I couldn’t find the professor. I didn’t think too much of it, I was talking to some of the villagers in the meantime and some who seemed drunk too. I decided to leave the party and go out to the garden, I started wandering around the place. I was frustrated and anxious to have Emmy saved soon.

This was a bit of a romantic garden, so many flowers and mosaics underneath, and there was a water fountain with a statue of a goddess that poured water into the basin. Some leaves had fallen and floated onto the surface of the water.

“I suppose even if you clean it the leaves will fall in anyway, that’s nature I suppose.” Before I knew it I saw a man standing next to me, he seemed to be the gardener of this place.

“Seems like the leaves have shaped themselves like flowers, but if you move a leaf onto another place then both the flower shaped leaves can be shown in the dark, do you know which leaf you would have to move?”

[Puzzle 012: Leaves Afloat] I want you to move a single leaf on one of the flowers to make them all visible in the dark. Focus on the Japanese word ユメ

I softly moved the leaves in the basin, “how about this?”

“Oh that’s right, how clever you are.”

I was happy with my results, even when the professor wasn’t near me, i got the answer right properly. I looked closely to the old stones hooked onto the base of the basin, there seemed to be letters engraved. What did it say?

“Tradition.”

What? I wiped some more with my finger due to the dust collected, and it was difficult to see.

{The Gods towers are protected by a noble prince, the prince is the guardian of eternity along with the fates, and will awaken from slumber.}

I don’t understand. What’s next?

I guess nobody really knows, maybe it was said it ancient times that those who knew would be punished.

The quote was from the Book of Fate.

When a human gains knowledge of everyone's fate, the task of the prince ends, beyond the way the two gaze at…………

And you can see the word hope after that.

“I don’t know the reason for this.” I sighed and shook my head. I gave up…

I guess it was some famous prophecy from historical times. I bet the professor could figure it out.

I heard voice from behind me, “Hello there, what are you doing here at such a place?”

“Ah, Mr. Aston!” Whether it was because he wasn’t feeling okay, or if it was because of the bonfire, he looked slightly overwhelming. Aston smiled at me and I approached him.

“What are you doing in the dark?”

“It was getting hot so I decided to go somewhere else, and I found this place, and these things,”  I said as Aston glanced at the stones I pointed out. “Oh, it’s the lore, we don’t know the true meaning behind it all, it’s just too old, it talks of the ancient trees, and sacred places.”

“Ancient trees...a sacred place...what do you mean?” I asked.

“Come now, I don’t know the details.”

Suddenly I was frightened, one of the trees collapsed and the timber was falling in the direction of where Aston was standing.

“Watch out!”

At that exact moment a person wearing a robe jumped out of the shadows and pushed Aston aside. He rolled on the ground away from the tree that fell down right on the spot he was standing.

“Are you okay?” Everything just happened so fast, I couldn’t grasp it all. I just stood there.

“I’m alright…..” Aston rose up while groaning. “Thanks to that person, I managed to escape from being crushed by that tree.”

His face looked pale, he looked slightly injured. “Who are you?” Aston shook his head. “Come now, who are you? I want to know who you are.”

Aston was saved by someone lurking in the dark, it was somewhat creepy.

Aston spoke anxiously, “I have to return now, however don’t stay here in the dark.”

“I understand! I’ll be right there, let me just wash my hands.” I said as Aston smiled at me. I got close to the basin and began washing my hands, all of a sudden the basin started to rattle!

“Wha- what’s going on?!”

A manhole cover appeared on the surface of the water and out came the professor. Just how long was he in that basin?!

“Professor, what in the world were you doing in...there?!” I put my hand on the back of my head. “You really surprised me.”

The professor was soaking wet as he got out of the basin and stepped out. I’m still completely shocked that he just emerged from there, it was kind of weird.

“Why were you even in there?”

“There seems to secret entrances and passageways , seems as though one can come and go as they please using these underground tracks.” Said the professor.

“Wow, that’s amazing.”

“I also found some interesting clues that I would like to show you.”

“Okay!” I exclaimed as the professor cautiously looked at the stone, the stone I had read when I got here, but I have no idea what it means. I stared at it for a while.

“This is-”

“Do you understand it professor?”

“Yes, somewhat, there is something I’ve been trying to understand.”

Really, I didn’t have the slightest clue what it was, but if there is anyone who would know what it means it would be the professor. “What do you mean?”

“This is the story that has been constantly brought up in Illusory.”

“The story of Illusory?”

“There is a sacred place here in Illusory, surrounded by legendary trees, known as the ancient trees.”

I scratched my head as the professor spoke, “Legendary trees? Ancient trees?”

“These are special trees that have existed since the prehistoric times, or at least that is what I’ve gathered. Apparently the Book of Fate is hidden in there.”

“Wow!” I widened my eyes. The Book of Fate, the ultimate treasure of Illusory, was hidden in the ancient trees of that sacred place.

The professor was quite detailed about Illusory, he smiled. “I heard this story from one of the villagers.”

“Really? I asked Aston about the writing, he said he didn’t know about it.”

“Aston?” The professor's eyes widened.

“Yeah, he was here a while ago, there was a bit of a fuss before you showed up and he went back.”

“A little fuss?”

I told the professor of the incident that happened with Aston and that strange figure from the dark saved him…

“A man in a robe that saved him...” The professor looked curious. “I wonder who that could’ve been? There is something that you might find intriguing in the underpass Luke.”

“Alright then! Let’s go quickly.” I said as the professor lowered the brim of his hat and nodded “Yes.”

Under the water basin there was a manhole cover that was covering a passage, it was a long vertical hole with an iron ladder leading down. It was like an escape route. A hidden passage inside a basin…

We went down the underground passage for a while, I kept hearing water drip. I didn’t know what direction we were headed, eventually my head hit another manhole cover. The professor raised the lid and we heard the babbling of water.

“Where is this place?”

“It’s behind the water mill.” said the professor.

“I can't believe it’s connected to such a place.” I started crawling out of the manhole and looked around the area, I wondered why there was an underground passage leading to this area? Seems like some sort of a secret room. It was written on the door not to open.

“Luke, have a look.” The professor said pointing to the door.

I rushed by his side, the professor showed tried shining a light on it. “What is it?”

There was a slash  on the door made by something sharp.

“Have you seen it?”

“Oh!” I jumped up.

“It’s an [E], it’s Emmy!” I said as the professor nodded. No doubt it was her, Emmy was in this village after all! “It’s great that we found traces like this, maybe we can find out where Emmy is now!”

“When I did some exploration, I came across an interesting house. Let’s head over there.”

The professor turned the doorknob of the mill, “Eh? It actually opened!”

The professor smiled at me, it seems that he had figured it out.

We went inside another room, I tried to illuminate the area with light, I wondered what there was in here, this is...a shelf. There were tailored costumes, and carpenter clothes, bakery clothes, costumes in all kinds of occupations were here.

“Professor, what is this place? It’s like a mountain of clothes, like a storehouse in a clothing shop. There are also fake beards!”

The professor smiled, “What's going on?” I asked him.

“Have you not figured out the answer yet?”

“Well…”

“All the hints should be here.”

I didn’t understand. The professor headed out of the mill and headed towards the direction opposite of the mill and the village chiefs house. I noticed all the lights of the homes on but no moving figures or signs of anyone inside.

I frowned and said, “The village is kind of quiet, it almost feels like we’re the only existing ones, it’s like they all gathered around the chief's house or something like that.”

The professor continued walking with a hopeful expression, we climbed up a steep slope, it kept getting steeper as the trees became more condensed, the forest grew steady. Eventually an area opened up, it was like a field, at the top of the mountain there was a strange house surrounded by the forest. A big mansion, or a castle, there was a spire rising high in the middle, on the left and right parts there were pinnacles protruding like arms.

“I’m getting a strange feeling about this. It looks sort of like the Tower of Gods.”

The professor smiled once more at me, “I see you’ve noticed.”

“Who lives in a place like this?”

“The last prince of Illusory…”

“Eh? The last prince of Illusory?” I said as the professor nods.  “No way...do you think, Emmy is there?”

The professor tightened his expression, “Yes, I’m most certain that Emmy is here.”

Part 2

We hid ourselves in the bushes of the mansion and looked at the front doors.

“I suppose we can’t just break  in through the front doors.”

The professor nods.

“What’s wrong?” I looked, “What’s written on the ground?”

I looked closely and there were squares with numbers written in them. There were arrows drawn on them too, seems like it was pointing to the direction we should go. The professor illuminated the ground with light and said “Hmm..”

“What?”

“There seems to be quite a few pitfalls on the front yard.”

“Pitfalls?!”

“The arrows seem to be pointing towards the areas that do not include them.” Said the professor.

“Who did such a thing?”

Me and the professor both looked at each other. It was Emmy, definitely Emmy.

It was really impressive.

“Emmy’s navigating us, she’s a really great leader, I feel like she can do anything.”

I started to feel down, “I feel like we’re not even helping Emmy, but she’s helping us instead.”

“It’s not all that different. We are helping her as well.”  The professor smiled at me.

We began to proceed towards the direction that avoided the pitfalls according to Emmys navigations, we made it to the entrance safely avoiding the pitfalls. I was a tad nervous and my forehead began sweating.

“I never thought there could be so many pitfalls in one place.”

“We would have been caught back there, this is exactly what Emmy did when she first arrived here.”

“Well then, what now? We can’t just go through the entrance.” I said.

“Let’s make our way towards the back of the building.”

There was a garden in the back, it looked like an outdoors luncheon, there was a small corner with no flowers blooming. We approached a stone wall, there seemed to be something on it. I wonder what? The professor shines his light on the area, “There is a handle attached to it.” I said. The professor grasped the handle and raised it with force. There were stairs inside that descended into a basement. The professor continued forward.

“Where are we going now?” I followed the professor hesitantly. There was a faint sound of water, I wonder if there were any water passages running through the basement.

The stairs gradually became stifling. The bricks felt old and seemed like they would collapse at any time. I hope it isn’t a trap…

We finally made it to the bottom, there was a sturdy door, looked like a prison door actually.

“Do you think it’ll open?” I thought it wouldn’t since there was a lock on it. I tried to pull at the old brass handle, oddly enough the door opened easily. Walking in we saw something strange.

“Why is there at tree stump?”

We both looked closely and there seemed to be an opening at the top closed off and the inside seemed hollow. There was no way to open, it felt like we could’ve been stuck. The professor found a switch behind it and I tried to pull at it. A closed door appeared.

“What? So it was a door? It’s probably the entrance to the mansion! It’s the entrance to the mansion!”

I was shocked, the thick stump was actually an entrance.  It was an interesting trick, however...if this lead to the mansion, would the prince be there?

“But why didn’t the doors open?” The professor wondered.

There was a square with stone cards placed nearby numbered from one through nine. “Oh ho, it seems this door is on auto lock.”

“Auto lock?” I was slightly confused.

“If we put the numbers from one through nine in their correct position we may unlock the door automatically. It acts as the key to the door.”

“Oh, Like a magic square!”

“Exactly. Let’s solve the magic square Luke, and open the entrance to the mansion!”

[Puzzle 013: The Magic Square} 

Punch in the numbers in the right places so that the sum of all rows equal the same amount horizontally and vertically.

As soon as the numbers lined up, a strong light emitted from the dial, creating a sound as the doors opened.

“Be careful, the doors are opening!” I said.

“Well done Luke! We should be able to proceed inside the mansion now.”

We entered the large door of the stump and there was a long stairway to follow. My heart was pounding as I made my first step. This path would either lead to what we’re looking for, or the terrifying opposite.

{Answers}

Puzzle 011- The Queen goes on the top right block, the king goes in the middle block. One of the soldiers goes to the left of the queen, and the other to the right of the king. The lily goes on the bottom left block.

Puzzle 012- Move the bottom petal of the left flower next to the top petal in a horizontal way.

Puzzle 013- 743 (top row) 185 (mid row)  626 (bottom row)

Chapter 5

The Sleeping Bride

Part 1

At the sight of light I got out of the bed, I felt this wasn’t a joke anymore. I knew that Aston had put soporific in the wine, I wasn’t born yesterday.  I had to force myself to be friendly with him, and be mislead by that smile.  Aston pretended to drink the wine, but he actually didn’t, so I myself pretended to drink it as well. I would spill it slowly on my dress or my handkerchief when he wasn’t looking. It worked fantastically since my dress was red and so was the handkerchief. It was successful enough, but I had still lost feeling somehow, I had faked my unconsciousness however, and I could have held out in time to find a hiding spot but even so I let him catch me for the sake of finding out more.

Aston Bloom.

He’s more of a terrible person than I thought. It’s frightening how he will stop at nothing to save Sania. It was wrong, none of his actions could possibly be justified. He is willing to kill people for her sake, in fact...I fear that I’m throwing my own life away right now.

Entering the sacred grounds, reading that Book of Fate, it all sounds like death to him. He loves only that woman, he wants to mortify his love, he said it was the first and last love of his life.

But to unlock the seal he is in need of a certain woman. He wanted to cooperate and I don’t have a choice at this point. This stories starting to get annoying.

I would be the substitute to awaken Sania, and to awake Sania it is necessary to unlock the seal and I play an important role.

If Aston goes to the sacred place he will never be able to return from there, nor will anyone who joins him, it means he has to abandon this world in order to perform the ritual, and I will also become a victim. In other words he’s willing to put his life on the line to save Sania.

I really did it this time, I’m so foolish.

His feelings for Sania are too much, there was nothing much to do right now, in the end I’ll go to the sanctuary with him, together. I might as well find out just what this Book of Fate is about, and let Aston show me the answers, after all I’m still curious to see it with my own eyes.

But if I go, and can’t manage to escape, according to the prophecy I will never be able to return again. I won’t be able to see Professor Layton, Luke, or even Grosky.

Was there even a point for taking this risk?

I shook my head. I have to get out of this room, I have to find a way to secure my freedom first.

I tried turning the doorknob, of course it was locked. I looked out the window and slightly laughed. This room is on the top floor, I’m assuming no human being would even dare to escape through here. The window wasn’t locked so I opened it wide, there was a ladder attached to the window, but a considerable distance looking down. There was no other escape route. I began to get on the ladder, it was long enough to reach the balcony underneath on the third floor, I might as well land on that.

I got off the ladder and landed on the balcony. There was a double glazed door on the balcony, but as expected it was locked but I tried anyway. I used force to break the doors to go inside. This really wasn’t a secure mansion…

There aren’t many villagers here anyway, I doubt there would be any concept of theft here.

This room is like a library, it was impressive with all its various books. Medical books, encyclopedias, philosophy. It had everything.

At that time I heard footsteps in the corridor, I heard voices, someone was turning the doorknob. I hid behind the lined shelves.

A man entered the room and started talking, there was two of them. One sounded like Astons voice.

“Finally, I have the last key to enter the sanctuary.”

“Is that so?!  I hope it’s true for your sake.” Said the butler.

“Well it certainly isn’t a lie.”

I was amazed when I heard what they said next.

“There is a new person in the village, an archeologist that goes by Professor Layton, and an expert in his field too.”

“Yes…………..Professor Layton.”

Has he already come to the village? He might have noticed my messages. The rare plants on the brides dresses, I guess it was enough for him to find his way to Illusory Forest.

I felt a strange feeling in my chest, I wanted to see the professor as soon as possible to tell him I was alright, and of course Luke too. I wanted to apologize for making them worry so much.

“What’s the purpose of that man's arrival anyway?”

Aston hesitantly responded, “Come now…….he’s just some small distraction, he definitely made things more interesting.”

Just who are they?

The professor will solve the mystery of Illusory, and just what this man really is…….?

Aston told the man once and for all, “ Either way it’s departing, there is no time to get lost in these minor squabbles, wait at the cave near the falls, the tower of the Gods will move from there.”

“I am aware.”

The two got out of the library, I stared at the bookshelves. Move the Tower of Gods to where? What does that mean? I didn’t know just yet but it seemed important. If I could somehow manage to tell the professor this information. “The cave in the falls.”

I watched the bookshelves in the library vaguely and found a pin, “Ah, this will come in handy.”

Part 2

I did the only thing I could do, I used the pin to open the door, and walked out to the corridor. I wonder if the professor will understand  the messages I left in the library? Will they find their way to the “cave in the falls”?

Yes.

I’m confident they will. I know the professor will understand if I could guide them in the right direction.

Aston needs salvation...and Sania. It’s not that he’s a bad person it’s just that he loves Sania a little too much.

In the holy land where all the mysteries are unraveled, their destiny changes.

I’ve made my decision, I’m going to go to there. After all I’m here for now, I might as well finish this story to the end.

I made my way back up to the fourth floor, beyond the corridor there is a double door with a semi circular arch, it was very luxurious. Lily flowers were decorated like a pattern across it, like an ivy going all the way around.

I walked towards the doors like it attracted me. Walking inside, there was a small table on the side of the door, there were various types of keys on it, thirteen of them actually.

“I wonder?”

These keys must have a purpose, the fact that these are here means there is something important kept here in this room.

For a place that needs to be renovated badly, with little to no crime prevention, I didn’t assume there would be any form of security here either. I guess it’s possible this room has a deep connection with Aston. These keys have to lead to that door. “Now let’s pick the right key and open the door of the room.”

[Puzzle 014: The Key]

There are 13 keys on the lone table, only one key could be the answer, if the wrong keys are used the door will be locked for another 24 hours so be careful! The true key is solitary, it stands alone. Please select the correct key.

“If you use the wrong key you will close off the door for another 24 hours. The true key stands alone.”

I entered the correct key into the keyhole, I heard a crashing noise as the key connected with the door.

“Open!” I turned the door knob.

This………….

“Why?”

I looked around the room, and I gasped. There was nothing.

No furniture, nothing.

All the shabby windows were open, as the white translucent curtains were dancing in the wind in the dark atmosphere. I was dumbfounded.

“Has he already gone? Did he travel there already?!”

 To the sanctuary to never return…

Did he not need me after all?

I looked around the room, there was only one thing left, a book?

No, this is a diary.

Aston Blooms diary.

Never again will I be able to come back here.

I will fulfill my duty as the last prince of Illusory.

I could go on talking about our stories, the Illusory stories.

The ancient trees, this is the real Tower of the Gods.

I was lost in thought. I thought back to the men who imprisoned me. The book of Fate, it was said to be hidden in the Tower of Gods. Near the ancient trees? Then what exactly is the Tower of Gods?

Illusory is the guide to the Tower of Gods and that is the guide to the sanctuary. Therefore no one can enter. You can not ever go there.

Several keys are required to operate the tower, to do this I need someone in the royal family lineage, those who are not and have entered will receive a terrible punishment. These secrets have been kept for a long time.

However...fifteen years ago there was a man who violated that law.

As a result, most of the villagers...my mother and father…they all fell ill.

Only a nine year old of an inventor's family, and some of our household followers remained. I had no choice but to live my life as the last prince of Illusory. This is my fate, it’s impossible to overturn it.

Disagreeably, I tried to rebel against the rule…….that’s another story.

I found a letter, it was addressed to the quotient Sania. It didn’t seem right reading someone else's letter…..I was worried, but curiosity got the better of me. I decided to read it.

It was like reading Astons personal thoughts and his gossip…

Sania.

It was wonderful to meet you. Even if you do not wake up, even if I have to throw my world away to save you, I need to head to the sanctuary, with the other if possible. However, this is no better than abandoning this world. I am the prince of Illusory. I am burdened….but you’re different.

Sania. You have the right to live a happy life. Illusory...and I have no right to take that, no matter what, I will always treasure you. I will leave for your happiness. We may never meet again, but I would like to help you at least this much. I choose this path.

-To Sania, my eternal love.

“True dedication….” I sighed deeply.

I had this awful feeling for Aston. He really is going to throw away everything for Sania, even his own life, and mine…

“How did you get in here?”

I suddenly heard a voice from behind me and jumped up. It was Aston who was astonished to see me in this room, he was leaning at the doorway.

“Aston!”

“Did you not drink the wine? That was quite a trick you pulled on me, quite a show.”

Aston stepped forward one step at a time slowly. I subconsciously did the same going backwards.

“I came to pick up the book, I thought I would put it in Sanias room. I would have never guessed that you had escaped.”

I felt like I was being scolded.

“Aston…….that is, I’m sorry I have read your diary and letter.”

“No don’t be, I want you to understand rather than me telling you all of my feelings. I don’t consider you to be an outsider any longer, you are now apart of this matter.”

I wanted to retreat.

“You are the one I need.” He moved forward.

“No, I should say, you are the one I need to fulfill this plan.”

The plan to take me to the sanctuary.

“However...let’s not fake it anymore alright? You have to sleep this time around no matter what. I’ll use a stronger medication. Please, forgive me.”

Astons eyes stared into mine fiercely, like animals about to attack.

Slimy, brutal, cruel, but in a way...pure.

He charged towards me.

“ASTON, STOP!”

His eyes petrified me, I was fascinated at the emotions through his eyes, I wasn’t able to move.

{Answers}

Puzzle:014- 2

Chapter 6

The Forbidden Sanctuary

Part 1

The professor and I went up to the second floor and we opened the doors one by one. It’s quite a unique place surprisingly, the rooms looked neat and tidy even though there didn’t seem to be signs of people living here. It kind of felt like the rooms were dead in a way.

I was starting to feel impatient, I was hoping we would find something here, something that would make it more possible for us to reach Emmy. We came across a spiral staircase leading up, it looked like a flower's stamen. There was a door all the way at the top, it was strangely built, but there seemed to be something in there, when I turned the doorknob it wasn't locked.

The room was decorated with lots of white lace, it was a beautiful room. There weren’t any signs of anyone here but there was evidence that someone was lying on the bed.

“It’s still warm.” I said.

“Someone was here, do you think it could have been Emmy?!”

The professor nods, “I’m not too certain, but I don’t believe that to be true.”

“Why do you say that?”

The professor picked up a strand of hair from the pillow, “This is golden hair.”

Oh right, Emmy has chestnut hair, so I suppose it's not her. “So it’s not Emmy..?”

I was extremely disappointed, I thought we would have gained some important clues here. This place seems dangerous, but I guess it doesn’t matter to Emmy.

“What’s this?”

I noticed a neatly placed book on a small table near the bedside.

“A diary and a letter.” said the professor.

“Whose is it?”

“Aston Blooms.”

My eyes went wide and I looked at the professor. It’s a bit rude to read someone else's diary, but this is a different case, I don’t think there will be much of a problem…

We have to do this for Emmy.

I opened the diary and went to the last page, I wanted to know what Aston's most recent thoughts were.

“Sania.”

It was directed towards someone named, Sania?

Sania

I am going to leave today, in order to wake you I need the Book of Fate. This act is forbidden to everyone except for me, and death comes upon those who break the law. Fifteen years ago many died, but I will be the one to go to the sanctuary and end this sufferage. I will die, but in return I will give consciousness to you, I believe that this will cause you to finally awaken. Those who know everything may never leave the tower or this land, I will never be able to leave that place. I will become one with the tower. Today I will go the sanctuary to open the seal and read the Book of Fate. However I need the help of a certain someone, and I was lucky enough to find a cooperator, I need a certain woman, and I have no other choice but to take her with me. I will take her there for her role of unlocking the seal.

“Professor! I think he’s talking about Emmy!” I shouted.

“If Emmy truly went to the sanctuary with Aston………..” said the professor.

He might use her to unlock the seal, he could possibly be looking to destroy the book.

“Luke, let’s search quickly, if this is really the case we have to find a way to get Emmy away from Aston!”

“On it!”

Part 2

We returned back to the second floor. We didn’t have time to open all the doors but, one of the rooms looked suspicious somehow. I want to find Emmy as soon as possible, I went to the first door I saw, I needed some sort of a shortcut.

“Let’s hurry and go to this room.”

“Wait, Luke!”

When I tried to pass by the doors the professor stopped me.

“What’s wrong, was that room not ok?”

“Look at this door knob.” The professor pointed at one of the doors.

“This is-!”

The door knob was bright red, when you went close to it smelled of acid. It must have been red ink of some sort. Why was there red ink on a door knob?

“Look at the bottom of the corridor, there is a red carpet spread out, but if you look closely………….”

“Ah! There is an [E]!”

There was dark red ink on the bright red carpet that read [E], in other words this was message to us from Emmy.

“We’re saved because of Emmys signature again, we were almost going to skip this room.”

The professor comforted me, “I’m glad we found the symbol, let’s enter this room post haste.”

“Yes!”

I was dizzy when I opened the door.

“What is this room?”

The professor looked around widening his eyes, “This is the library.”

There were books covering the room everywhere.

“This bookshelf is collapsed, I can’t get through it.” I tried to bring the books aside while squirming, the professor looked around.

“Wait Luke, don’t touch the book!”

“What, what is it?”

“I think this is a message from Emmy.”

“Is this really a message from Emmy?”

“If you look closely the books on the shelf are divided into two groups, there is an irregularity with the way it is arranged. Certainly she tried to arrange the books to help us decipher a message.”

Was that why she used the red ink to lure us here?

“But what exactly does the message mean?” I was at a loss. I looked at the books side to side.

“Luke, let’s decipher the clue and reveal Emmys message!”

[Puzzle 015: The Mystery of the Library]

There are two book piles separated into two parts, in one of the piles there is a bookmark placed inside the book that seems conspicuous. There are ten books aligned at the bottom shelf with the book covers facing us. Read the covers and decipher what Emmys message is.

Book 1: World of Waterfalls                                   Book 6: Mountain Cave Princess

Book 2: The Old Man and the Star                        Book 7: Legends and Myths

Book 3: Medieval Castle                                          Book 8: Seaside People

Book 4: It’s Fun to Learn Music                              Book 9: Cat Heads

Book 5: Let’s go to the Limestone cave                 Book 10: Eiffel Tower

I scratched my head, I managed to understand the message.

“We did it Luke, I understand this message well!”

“It was really difficult I couldn’t find the meaning at first, even when I read it.”

“The cave in the waterfall.” said the professor.

“Are we sure that’s the answer professor?’

“I’m certain, this message will lead us to where we must go.”

I was relieved, “Let’s go.”

The professor thought for a moment, “We’re going to have to keep track of all the clues, let’s hurry to the cave in the falls, I’m sure we are certain to come across Emmy there.”

“Yes!”

Part 3

“By the way professor, do you know where the cave in the falls is?”

“No, I’m afraid I do not know.”  The professor said shortly.

“Oh I see.”

The professor smiled bitterly, “Let’s make our way to the rooftop first, we’ll be able to view all of Illusory from there. That will give us a clue as to where the cave in the falls might be.”

Aston won’t start the plan until tonight, so we have some time to spare.

“Oh, that’s right.”

I tried to calm my heart and went on cautiously. Even if we know that there is a cave in the falls, if we don’t find where it is we’ll never be able to see Emmy.

I climbed the stairs and ascended to the roof and looked around. “Wow.”

It was a magnificent landscape, I could see it till the very edge. I saw the light before dawn rose, and noticed a grey haze rising from a distance in the forest.

It was smoke and it spread in the big green panorama.

“That’s?”

The panorama………..it wasn’t as wide as I thought.

There was the forest on the east.

I ran towards the professor.

“Professor! The Illusory Forest...it’s completely smaller than I thought.”

The professor nodded, “This is exactly the wonder of the forest, when you compare the actual size, and how the people of the village never found a way to escape.”

“This is surprising, I was completely deceived.”

“This forest is much like the Tower of Gods.”

“Ah, really?”

“That over there, is the sacred place, the place with the ancient trees……”

I thought once again of what lies over there in this phantom forest. An evil lurks, and I was hoping we’d overcome any obstacle. We hadn’t made our way yet, but I wondered, where is that cave in the falls, and what does the entrance lead to? I looked far off and tried to find anything that looked like it.

What relation could I find to waterfalls and caves?

I noticed the smoke rising again. The professor seemed to be staring at the same place.

“Do you see the waterfall in that vicinity?”

“I can see it! There is a huge waterfall!”

We saw it, we confirmed where it was, we had to head west and follow the river to the waterfall.

The professor looked up at the sky, it was almost time for nightfall.

“Luke, we don’t have much time, let’s head there quickly.”

“Alright!”

Part 4

We passed the mountain to the river which went west, we aimed our way towards the fall. Meanwhile the professor spoke of what he had learned from the village.

“Astons family were keepers of these ancient trees for generations.”

“You mean like guards?”

“Yes, they were a clan responsible for the role of watching over the ancient trees so that no one may go near them.”

“I can’t believe such a role even exists.”

“Human beings have not yet reached the stage to be able to use the power that the ancient trees provide.”

The professor said that the power given by the ancient trees was dangerous.

“That is why this forest needed a family like Astons who would be willing to guard it.”

Humans really wanted to abuse those ancient trees to gain universal power.

It’s dangerous when you think about it.

If this book fell into the wrong hands…………

I walked faster to shake the thought out of my head, but i tripped on a rock and fell, I picked myself up and hurried. My feet were getting worse, rocks after rocks, it was getting really difficult to walk. We finally came closer.

“It’s about time...the falls.”

I tightened my stance.

“Yes.”

I raised my gaze to the skies, it was almost dawn. We had to hurry.

I was walking desperately even though my feet were immersed in water, it was all the way up to my ankles.

Suddenly I gazed at the front of the falls, it was about twenty meters high, the waterfall pressure caused a massive smoke to be raised. I looked at it silently. It had terrible force...there was so much water falling down, I didn’t know how we would even get through, but we had to someway. I felt a shock of fear, it doesn't matter. We’re here at the cave for Emmy. No matter how dangerous this looks, I have to go.

The professor said with a firm voice, “Get under my arms, we have no choice but to go through the falls, I will keep you safe as much as I can.”

I made a loud gulp, “Okay professor.”

We stepped inside the waterfall, I heard violent splashing when we went in. I felt the water end at my feet and I thought it was over. Running into the cave at full speed, a gigantic waterfall overwhelmingly struck me overhead showing no mercy. For a moment I felt a chill down my spine, I was shaken. I couldn’t breath for a while with the water rushing.

Maybe it was faster, and the whole situation probably lasted two seconds, but to me it felt like hours.

I coughed out the water in my mouth and breathed in as much as air as I could.

I wasn’t so scared anymore.

I couldn’t afford to fear anything.

I didn’t feel any pain but that was probably because the professor was protecting me the whole time. I was worried and asked…

“Professor, are you okay?”

It didn’t seem like he was hurt anywhere thankfully. He instead smiled…

“I’m alright Luke...you see, this hat will always protect me.”^[n][o] 

He put his fingers on the brim of his hat.

It was exquisite when I thought about it.

The professor and his top hat...it was like it had some strange god like powers that were just handed to him.

The inside of the cave was ginormous, there were rails spread on the ground for some reason. As we advanced we eventually came across a vast domed square.

The inside of the dome was filled with light.

It was………..

“It’s the Tower of the Gods!”

 No way was it hidden here! I opened my mouth wide and looked up at the tower as a spire rose right in the middle. On the left and right side of the top it looked like it had protruding arms. There were three terraces surrounding the whole of it.

I see. So this is what the tower is like…

The tower was so close I felt that I could touch it, but just at the sight...it vanished.

“I suppose the Tower of the Gods has some sort of a vehicle leading it”

“So the rails lead to the vehicle.”

“It must speed up in time to catch up with the tower.”

“Professor, are we going to the tower with that?!”

In a way I was excited. I felt like I could have been at an amusement park on a ride.

The professors expression gets cloudy.

“Luke, this is it. Do you really want to go there?”

“W- what do you mean……?

The professor looked at me, “Our goal is to get Emmy back, she said to meet her at the cave in the falls. We will find Emmy before they make their way to the sanctuary so that we do not have to go there.”

“Of course.”  I definitely want go.

“However, if we manage to save her before then, I would like to go the sanctuary on my own. I would like to see the ancient trees and the Book of Fate by all means necessary.”

He wants me to stay here...he’s doing it again. He always tries to do everything on his own. Silently and mysteriously doing things on his own. I want go in too, I’m the same as him.

“I think that, Emmy had the same idea as you. So, we have to continue no matter what… there is no purpose in seeing that book after we have Emmy.”

The professor looked at me with a difficult expression. “However, I don’t know how much I can handle with both of us at the sanctuary. I don’t know how much I can protect you if we are met face to face with a crisis. I’m hesitating to be quite honest….I really am-”

“What are you talking about professor?!” I jumped at his words. I didn’t hesitate.

“I’ve come this far and I’m going with you! I need to be there for you no matter what and rescue Emmy-”

I started sobbing.

“I guess a child like me holds you back...everything is so easy for you, but I did so many things to overcome all the obstacles, it was hard but I passed through the forest like you did. I want you to realize that I’m just as necessary-

Please please please take me with you. I don’t want you to leave!”

The professor listened to me quietly, he sighed deeply and raised my face.

“I understand Luke, I understand how you feel.”

I wiped my tears, “Good, professor.”

“But you know……...you’ve grown quite a bit.” He said with an admirable face.

“Of course! After all, I am your apprentice.”

“Yes, it seems you’re right.” The professor gave me a sunny smile.

///

I was relieved. Footsteps in the cave echoed.

“Someone’s here!”

The professor pulled me behind the rocks to hide.

They came near us slowly, I peered through the rocks and saw Aston and the village mayor walking and conversing. The chief was pulling a box, a giant rectangular box.

“Why isn’t Emmy with him?”

Aston opened the door to the tower as they slowly opened, the ramps continued on the inside. Aston and the mayor continue to ascend the ramps with the rectangular box. I thought the door would close fast but it was still open.

The professor whispered to me, “Luke, now is our only chance….let’s go!”

“Right behind you!”

They weren’t near the entrance, so the professor and I continued to follow the ramps. It seemed that Aston was inspecting other parts of the tower. I took a deep breath.

There were no two people around here so we made our way to entrance of the forbidden place. We made our way up the ramp. The tower had a long spiral staircase at the center, and the main area seemed to be at the upper floor.

The ground floor was surrounded by storage such as axes, electric saws, ropes. Looking at the top there was a gap around the spiral staircase and was divided into several layers. Perhaps there were three floors, or four.

I noticed Aston carrying the box with the chief again, what in the world was in there? I was blown away at the time. We still hadn’t seen Emmy!

I started to feel vibrations.

“Something's moving.”

It was the Tower of Gods, it started move. It was like a train.

It was heading towards the sacred land...the sanctuary.

Part 5

The train tracks moving the tower started up.

“What should we do?! Emmys not in there!” I shouted. I’m sorry, but if we can’t get Emmy back, everything we’ve done, the reason we came here would’ve been pointless.

I refuse to stay on these tracks or this castle. I’m going after her.

Despite saying how I was afraid of the sanctuary, and overwhelmed …

We were hit with a crash.

“Luke, be calm.”

“I can’t calm down! We need to get off this train and look for Emmy!”

“We can’t do that, this is why I need you stay calm. I need you to stop worrying about Emmy for now!”

“How can you tell me to stay calm? Aren’t you worried about Emmy at all?! I can’t believe you could be so cold professor. If you don’t want to come with me I’ll get out of this train myself.”

Oh no...I was over panicking again.

I heard a few voices. I saw the village chief and Aston standing near us on the tower. The voice I heard was coming from the chief.

Aston turned around and somehow noticed me while giving a troubled face and quickly left.

The tower couldn’t stop right now and I couldn’t go back to where we started. We could go back if I switch the rails, once the tower stops moving.

“We have to stay until we reach the ancient trees.” Said the professor.

“How can we go to the sanctuary without Emmy?”

“Luke, this isn’t as bad of a situation as you think, because Emmy is actually on this train.”

“What?” I said as the professor went into the room and put his hands on the rectangular box we previously saw and standing there was…

“She is in here, is she not?”

Aston turned around, smiled and nodded.

As expected...nothing less from the professor.

“I- is it true?” I was incredibly shocked yet excited to see her.

“Is...Emmy really in there?”

Aston nodded once more. “Yes...you are most certainly right.”

I felt my heart sink as I put my hand on my hat.

“Professor, this is bad, why didn’t you tell me this from the start?”

The professor apologized, “I wanted to tell you, but you wouldn’t stop worrying.”

He was right, I was being a bit fussy...and foolish.

“Please get Emmy out of that coffin quickly!”

Aston refused to give us the key for a moment. “If she doesn’t wake up immediately...please do not be angry.”

Aston handed the key to the professor as we both opened the lid.

“Emmy!”

“Emmy…….”

The professor and I spoke at the same time.

Seeing Emmy in there, I couldn’t move at all. I couldn’t stop worrying.

“What did you do to Emmy?! Is she…”

Aston gave us a look, like he knew things were looking bad for him. “I can assure you nothing bad has happened to her, she is under medication, the effect will most probably wear off in an hour.”

I suppose it was best to leave things as they were for now, “I wonder if she will wake up then..” I said as I looked at Emmy sleeping. I wanted to see her smile again, I wanted her to return to consciousness now.

“Emmy please wake up…” I muttered.

What’s this? I noticed a note hidden in Emmys hands. At the time, I also noticed Emmy blink with her eyes closed.

“Emmy!” I slightly gasped.

It’s like she was trying to wake up but couldn’t. She blinked several times. I gently and quietly pulled out the note from Emmys hands and caught a glimpse of the professor. It seems he also knew what was happening. It seems like Emmy is trying to tell the professor and I something without Aston noticing, while fighting consciousness.

The professor slowly moved closer to me as I showed him the note. The professor saw the note and whispered to me.

“Luke, refer to the note, let’s find out what Emmy is trying to tell us with her blinking.”

[Puzzle 016: Emmys Encryption]

Emmy was blinking in a repetition of numbers, 9-2-1-7-4-6-5-3-8.

The note in Emmys hands says, “Crossing paths with the starry sky will light the way.”

What exactly does this mean? Solve the mystery!

{Disclaimer: This puzzle can’t be solved if you don’t understand Japanese.}

Emmys note says,

There is someone else…

“How about this?” I told the professor my answer.

“That’s correct, I have the same answer.”

I mumbled and nodded, “I understand Emmy, I understand your message.”

Emmy moved her eyelids again slightly. She kept trying to change her expression in her sleep.

I went up to Aston, “Why are you holding Emmy here in the first place?”

Aston replied to my question with his head down, “I am sorry, under certain circumstances...it is absolutely necessary for that certain woman to cooperate. If you let me continue with my initial plans, Emmy will return to the both of you at once with no harm done.”

Even if he says that, it doesn’t help that Emmy is lying in a casket, how could I not worry? The professor raised his voice and said,

“I’m afraid for now we don’t have a choice, let us wait until Emmy wakes up.”

Aston smiled…

“It’s settled then, follow me to the top floor please. I’m sure it has been a...tough journey.”

I quietly and slightly waved my hand toward Emmy in the box.

“I’ll see you soon, Emmy..”

It’s like Emmy responded to me with another blink, but not quite.

{Answers}

Puzzle 015- Man goes to the cave, legends of people, go to the tower.

Chapter 7 

Mystery of the Ancient Trees

The tower proceeded to go through a tunnel, the carpet on the top floor room was near the seating area, it felt surprisingly smooth. There was a story imprinted on it, like it was showing the mechanics of the tower, it can run through the forest vertically, sideways... it told a long story. It showed the events of the legends. Maneuvering the tower Aston began to talk about the ancient trees. It was like a ginormous arena filled with knowledge of anything and everything. History, weaponry, and many other knowledge from around the world gathered there.

It was the encyclopedia of civilization.

“So can you say that the ancient trees are like libraries?”

Aston laughed at my question. “You say some interesting things.”

“And how do the ancient trees gain all of that knowledge?” Asked the professor.

“According to tradition, the trees convey mankind's intentions. Think of it as a network of plants.”

I scratched my head in confusion. “Network of plants?”

“It’s as if they are..conscious of being conscious. In a way they are alive. They detect signals from all over the world of what people have done, are doing, or will do through their movements and actions through an electrical signal connected to the leaves.”

“That’s weird, it senses the intentions of all human beings.” I said.

“Yes, there are forms of electrical flows that are invisible to the human eye. It’s a strong connection, an extremely strong connection throughout the world.”

Although it was a strange story and I found it hard to believe, it was somewhat convincing.

“What’s the Book of fate, what exactly does it do? I just can’t believe that there really is such a book that can do such wondrous things.” I said.

Aston shrugged, “Come now, I didn’t say anything quite like that. What entity the book is, whether it is just a phenomenon, a supernatural item, or whether it belongs to the gods, is something I don’t know.”

“What do you think, professor?”

The professor spoke slowly, “Yes...in the story regarding the Book of Fate, there seems to be a hint, as to how all forms of knowledge gather near the ancient trees through a power source, allowing them to know everything that happens.”

The professor thought about it.

“I still can’t imagine what the Book of Fate really is…”

Our visual field grew stronger.

“There’s a valley!” I shouted.

We were at the top of the falls where the currents felt calmer, we were approaching a distinct cliff that was surrounded by beautiful scenery through the tower windows. It doesn’t compare to what we saw near the falls. There was a rainbow surrounding the falls under the sunny sky, the deep green forest, and the yellow green overlap. I was lost in its beauty. This ghost forest, in a sacred land.

There was a bridge that would help us pass through to the valley. Looking down the height was frightening, my legs started to shake, it seemed about sixty meters above the ground. I didn’t want to think about falling. The bridge looked like it could fall apart at any minute…

I suddenly felt uneasy.

I wonder if the bridge could withstand the tower, would we be alright?

“Professor, doesn’t this bridge look like it hasn’t been used in years?”

The professor expression was cloudy. “That’s because you are right…...that is to say, it hasn’t been used in fifteen years.”

“Ehhh? Fifteen years?”

There was no telling how the tower would go through.

The rails began to rattle, I was horrified. We were in a large crisis, at the time the tower shook greatly.

“That was a really big shake!” I scram.

Looking out if the tower it looked like it was bouncing up and down.

“This can’t be happening!” I was feeling sick. I was praying that bridge wouldn’t collapse. If the train made it through we would reach our destination, but if it didn’t...we would fall down to the depths of what seemed like a bottomless pit, along with the tower.

A little more….

Just a little more…

Enough to reach the other side in time. Please make it through safely!

I held both my hands up to my face praying.

I felt another big shake. What was going on? I tried to look again terrified.

The professor and I both looked up relieved.

“It’s alright, we managed to make it across the valley somehow.”  The professor said to me. We had escaped…

Aston and the village mayor were both pale. That was more of a serious crisis than I thought. The professor even seemed worried, I could now tell why. That was a dangerous encounter, it felt like one small mistake could’ve ended our lives.

“I was scared, professor.”

“So was I, but I’m glad we were able to cross safely.”

I said in a slightly loud voice whispering voice, “Aston and the chief are piloting, they won’t notice if we go check on Emmy.”

“We can’t just yet Luke, we have to stay to gather as much as information as possible.”

Information?

Information, according to the note there was another person riding on this train! I said to myself.

Part 2

I snuck my way down the spiral staircase, there was a considerable distance until I reached the bottom. I really could get injured if I fell from here, it seemed about twenty meters high. I carefully made my way to the bottom, as I opened the door and ran towards the box at once. I peeped inside.

Emmy was still lying there with no movement.

“Emmy.” I called out, but no response...no reaction.

“Emmy?”

What’s wrong?

“What’s wrong? Why aren’t you waking up?” I kept calling her but nothing worked. I started to get anxious, I wonder if there was some curse on her instead.

I can’t believe Aston did this…

I noticed Emmys eyelids moving.

Finally!

“Please respond Emmy, blink twice if you can hear me…..”

Two blinks, yes!

“Can you just move your eyelids?”

She started moving them around more, eleven blinks this time.

“It must be that medicine.” Emmy started to blink more again, “Is it because the medicine is wearing off and you're recovering?”

I wonder if she can slightly move.

“I understand.” I tried to smile.

“I’m feeling a little tired, I should go back up.” I hope Emmy was resting well enough. I got out of the room and away from Emmy. As I went back up I noticed a large metal cylinder like tube. What was it?

This must be the engine I saw with the professor. It must be the power reserve for when the train can’t run for certain reasons. I took a look inside.

At the same time the speed of the tower dropped, and started to go really slow...almost like it had stopped.

“What? What?”

What happened?

There was a small round window on the floor, peeping outside I saw dense and thick plants blocking the way of the towers path. The forest seemed to have changed a lot since the last time anyone had been here. It was impossible to keep plants from having grown. What should we do now? If this keeps going we won’t be able to make it past, but we can’t go back to that bridge, the fear of falling into the pit was the scariest feeling I’d had in awhile.

I heard a loud noise outside the tower. “What’s that sound?”

I pushed the shrewd leaves and branches blocking the view through the window as I sparsely watched. The chief was standing on one of the outer spires and was cutting down the plants with a chainsaw……

“Chief.”

Watching him was astounding, every time a difficult plant got in the way he cut them off cleanly. There was a small door like hatch to get to the outer staircase, it mimicked the staircase on the inside. The mayor stretched around the plants and dashed around the trees. He seemed so youthful, I thought he was in his sixties but now he seems much younger than that. His exercise capability seemed high.

The train started moving little by little, for a while it went slow but then picked up its pace around the trees as they were slowly removed. My eyes widened as I saw the massive meadow expanding even past the forest.

Part 3

I returned to the top floor where Aston was piloting the tower.  

“Mayor, I suppose we should use it soon.”

“Yes, you are right.” The mayor revealed a disk like object.

“That’s the-!” My eyes widened, it was the cursed dial.

“What are you going to use something like that here for? Why would we need the cursed dial?”

The chief went silent as the professor spoke, “Because there is something that’s been kept a secret about the dial. In reality it is not a map to the outside world, but rather a map that leads its solver to the ancient trees. In other words, the sanctuary.”

“So all this time the cursed dial was a traveling map to the ancient trees?” I jumped up at the thought.

The professor nods. “In fact...there was no village to begin with here in Illusory.”

I gasped.  “Is that true?!”

“The identities of all the villagers in actuality, were Astons servants.”

“But, up until now we’ve met a lot of villagers………”

“Those were the disguises that the servants doned on, do you remember the costumes we stumbled upon at the watermill?” asked the professor.

Ah, that’s right.

“Those costumes were a disguise meant to deceive us, Astons servants played dozens of roles at the time we had arrived.”

I started to mumble, “Why would they even participate in such a big farce?”

The professor spoke, “Because, they wanted me to solve the cursed dial no matter the cost. That is why they built such a fictitious village, to give us a reason or rather an appeal to solve the mystery of the cursed dial.”

“To let you solve the cursed dial?” I said in a scolding manner. “So they built an entire village just for that?”

The professor turned to Aston. “Were you the one who came up with that idea Aston?”

“What?!”

“That absurd plan does not sound much like you at all, I get the feeling someone else was involved, a certain man.”

Aston began to wonder, it seemed like he was wondering if he should say anything or not, but eventually gave up with a deep sigh.

“You certainly are as intriguing as I thought. You’re right...I was given a plan, a specific plan to deceive you by a masked man, I don’t know who on earth he is,

however he told me that if I had any hope of solving the cursed dial, if I ever wanted to come close to finding the ancient trees, it was necessary to understand that I needed a man called Professor Layton. His wisdom and intelligence are exactly what would do the trick.”

“What?” I said frustrated. The professors intelligence? How did Aston even know how to find the professor, or even get him here?

The professor touched his hat.

“It was hard to avoid this plan..you see, this man has a tremendous ambition, to get his hands on the Book of Fate and to be able to use it. That’s why he used you. He used your feelings toward that girl, he told me that you fancied her and would come to save her no matter what.”

Before we could even say anything of the matter the chief spoke, “Aston if you don’t use the dial soon we will lose our way.”

Aston hesitated but spoke, “Alright mayor.”

He turned to the professor. “Professor Layton, from here on out we will use the cursed dial you solved to find our way towards the trees, this can get complicated.”

Aston began maneuvering the tower once more, we had to add each of the five pendants to activate the dial completely. At that moment a strong light was emitted and banished immediately, only one route now had light emitted.

“That’s it! FInally we can reach the ancient trees at last.” said the chief.

From this point on Aston put the tower under autopilot, the tower began to operate smoothly in the meantime. The view from up here was so clear, the big windows made everything so clearly visible. The professor began looking less relieved.

“Funny, the trail looks strange.” the chief said as he raised his thick eyebrows.

“What?”

“I feel like we’re headed somewhere else.”

The chief and Aston had a look of astonishment on their face. “What?!” said Aston.

I looked outside the window and mumbled panickedly. This definitely didn’t look right..it seemed like the green landscape had suddenly transformed into some death valley. It looked clunky with bizarre rocks, a rough earth with no plants. The chief desperately looked at the dial. “The tower won’t stop running.”

“Do you think it’s the tracks doing?”

“If we keep moving any further we’re going to crash from another cliff.”

“AAAAAA!!” I scram.

Another cliff...there seems to be no end to these.

The mayor goes next to the professor, “If we can not derive the correct route to the trees, we are going to deal with a another fatal disaster.”

“Well…………” the chief said.

The professor stood up. Aston murmured, “Why……….”

There was a king and a queen that were being protected by soldiers, and the lily faced northeast.

“The legend states, that these pendants are the key, it seems that each individual pendant must be put in their proper area.” Said the professor.

“But we need to draw out the right route!” said the chief.

The professor watched the cliff approaching, “That’s it!”

“Did you come up with something Professor?!”

“We seemed to have overlooked the real mystery.”

“What is it?”

“Luke, do you remember the lore?”

“The last part?” I tried to desperately remember it.

“That’s right, the real road is not visible unless you look at the two signs in front of us.”

“What do you mean?”

“Luke, turn to the small pinnacle on the right. Mayor, please head to the small pinnacle on the left. In the middle of the tower a crest is engraved onto the steeple, now what do you see out the window in front of you?”

I opened the window and outside I could see…”You can see an emblem of an eagle!”

The village chief did the same when he climbed the pinnacle, “There is a snake!”

“Luke, your side is an eagle and the mayors is a snake. That means the pendant with those symbols encrusted on it should be reversed to fit what we saw.”

Aston confused heads to the middle of the tower, “Why? There is the symbol of the royals!”

The professor said, “The crest visible on the steeple of the tower was a trick to change shape depending on what angle we had viewed it from. Three of the five keys have the royals symbol on it, and there are two soldiers, these keys are important but the role of the knights are also important.”

“The keys, and the two soldiers? What does it mean?”

“The two soldiers on the dial are watchmen, they are guards and their role is to protect the royals. They represent the emblems.” Aston said. “That is the role of the keys.”

The chief returned.

“Luke, mayor, please put together the pendants on the dial at the same time in their rightful places. Luke, put the pendant where you saw the eagle, and mayor please do the same for where you saw the snake.”

“Okay, I understand!”

“I understand professor!”

I waited for the professors signal, and put a soldier's pendant near where the eagle was. “Oh! It’s the other way around!” I turned the pendant upside down.

The cliff was approaching us immediately. The moment we clicked the pendants onto the dial a flash of light appeared and flowed throughout the tower and moved forward. The light gave us a destination.

“We did it! It’s the right route!” We saw the light go straight and make a right in its destination.

Please make it in time! I clasped my hands as the cliff approached. I opened my eyes and looked at the sky, I didn’t want to look! However..the Tower of Gods made an abrupt turn towards the right.

Eh?....

The tower kept running smoothly once more.

It was out of control for a while..

I asked the professor, “Did we avoid it?”

“Yes, it does appear to be so.”

There was a sign of relief from everyone as small cheers were heard.

“I really hope we don’t have to do this again.”

I was feeling ill and decided to sit on the floor and relax for a bit. There seemed to be no trouble with the tower after that.

Aston watched the dial, “We should be arriving soon, to the sanctuary.”

I had a strange feeling even though I was relieved. This was a completely different feeling from before. I looked out the window and noticed a river, “There’s a river! It’s following the river!”

The tower raised a splash as it approached the river, rising up and down and sinking.

The tower went on ahead, it seemed like we were floating above the river, it reminded me of the professor's car and the jet engine that caused us to fly so we could follow the strange plant disguised helicopter.

“I can’t see the professor.” Where did he go? I looked around for a bit, I was frustrated. I wonder what Emmys doing? Was she finally awake? I had to go see her as soon as possible. I had to go down the loose spiral staircase again, so descended carefully. I hope I don’t fall before I make it to the first floor. I opened the door of the ground floor room and saw the professor standing near the rectangular box.

“Oh. Professor!”

“Hello Luke, I came to see a certain someone.”

“No way! Professor..!”

Emmy got up from the box and laughed cheerfully………..

“Emmy!” I ran to her and clenched onto her tightly.

“Luke! I’m so sorry I had you so worried.”

“It’s okay…….it’s completely okay Emmy!” I tried my best to speak without blabbering.

I was so happy to see Emmys cheerful face again.

“Don’t worry, I feel well and rested and ready to keep up with everything. After all we have a task on our hands.”

I joyfully jumped up and almost fell when I let go, we all felt a shake. \

“What? Something strange is happening.”

The flow of the tower became faster and everything felt more intense. Looking out the window felt frightening. What’s happening? The rivers gone!

“Wow, it’s the falls.” I noticed we were right above a waterfall. For a moment it felt like the tower was floating mid air, and the view from here was spectacular.

The waterfall raised a misty smoke from all directions. It was beautiful…….

The tower began shaking again. “Woah!”

The tower splashed onto the river again at great speed, it slid down like a waterfall.

A while passed and there was another tremendous shake and misty smoke rising again. We were floating again, I closed my eyes in fear, but at the same time I was incredibly ecstatic. It felt like an eternity even though it probably didn’t even last long. The feeling of the tower swaying went on for a bit and stopped.

Aston arrived to the top floor and muttered in a low voice. “Finally…”

The tower had finally arrived near the ancient trees. We all got down from the tower and looked around in astray.

The professor muttered, “Fascinating…….”

There was a huge pot shaped area at the bottom, and there were moats. The place was surrounded by waterfalls, and the water poured onto the moats from the falls and there it was collected. It felt like an escape route. The sanctuary was like a giant cake surrounded by waterfalls, it looked like a fictional wedding ceremony.

I looked at the water falling, this was a scenery I would probably never see again in my entire life. The earthly yellow-green meadow spreading. The wind blows over the grass in the center……….

There was an enormous tree in the middle. It could’ve been the size of a castle. Looking up from the bottom the leaves were thick enough to cover the skies. Big branches like two arms stretched out, much like the Tower of Gods. Was the tower supposed to imitate the ancient tree?

The professor spoke in a voice of admiration and fear, “Is this the ancient tree that accumulates the knowledge of the world for thousands of years?”

I was frightened looking at it, “It knows the destiny of all human beings.”

“Professor! There is something stuck to the trunk.”

Aston spoke, “There are millions of stone plates on the trunk of the ancient tree. Each stores a small portion of knowledge whether it be about medicine, weapons, art, history, and beyond.

“Millions of different lithographs?” said the professor.

Looking closely the lithographs were emitting light! There were new letters added to them each time, written in different languages that I’d never seen.

“Professor, these lithographs are being re written!”

The professor stares at them with fascination.

“Yes, they constantly rewrite data, They gather new knowledge daily. It’s a network so to speak, connected to the world. It can seem a tad overwhelming.” Aston spoke.

I wonder if this is the mystery of the ancient tree and the Book of fate?

I wanted to touch the stones and started to reach out. “I really want to take it out.”

Aston raised his voice sharply, “The ancient trees can not be touched by another person! Or we will only face more consequences. Legend says that it is dangerous for an outsider of the family to touch anything here. Ordinary humans have not reached the stage where they can handle the Book of Fate.”

“I’m sorry.” I said constantly apologizing.

Oh that’s right. Fifteen years ago a man snuck in here and stole the pendants, and due to his carelessness everyone in the village died. If I had touched that lithograph I don’t know what would have happened.

The professor began to speak, “Could the reason for the plague have been the fungus produced here by the trees? It could have been possible that the villagers here did not have the antibodies to handle them.”

Aston began to get frustrated, “Is that so? I was chosen to protect this tribe and the ancient trees. This bacteria was supposed to be nothing to us, but yet we couldn’t handle it. We didn’t have the immunity. My family was responsible for protecting everyone and we failed. This was the secret locked away with the sanctuary, everyone who survived was told that this was the wrath of the gods.”

“The identity of this place has been blinded for a long time.”

“I believe that they mystery of the trees, and the mystery of the curse all has a connection, this will solve the final mystery.” The professor said.

Emmy had an intriguing look on her face.

“It’s amazing how such a conclusion can even be drawn out professor, but it seems like a pretty straight forward theory.”

Aston looked down and smiled, “I’m glad that you are okay Emmy.”

“What?” Emmy and slightly smiled.

“I knew about the curse of the ancient trees, and I hesitated to involve you, but since you are from the outside you have the antibodies needed to withstand the virus, it is safe for you to touch the tree.”

Aston took out small knives that he kept hidden and aimed it at us and Emmy.

“Aston what are you doing?!” Emmy shouted.

“I’m sorry Emmy, but in order for me to enter the ancient tree, I still need a woman to enter with me, I need your assistance, we have to both cooperate.”

“Aston you can’t go through with such a thing!” The professor said.

Aston gave off a disgruntled look, “In order for me to save Sania, I have to use the answers given to me by the book, I need a woman to enter to communicate to Illusory through the ancient tree. That woman is you, Emmy. I need your help.”

Aston looked at Emmy with deep sorrow. Emmy gave him back a pained look as Aston shifted his glance and looked away.

“Emmy, I’m sorry. I only want to save Sania.”

“No!” I suddenly spoke out. Everyone looked at me amazed.

I struggled to find the words.

“You’re wrong Aston, humans aren’t as incompetent as you think, not all of us are evil and a lot of us have good intentions, and I think that we’re more than able to handle using the Book of Fate.”

Aston grunted, “Luke, I’m sorry, but I really want to save Sania. I need a little more time...just a little while longer until Sania can awaken.”

Aston shakes his head. “I have to enter the sanctuary before the anniversary of that day...and that is tomorrow.”

There’s a time limit…!

“Once I enter I will never be able to return again, I can’t spend a moment in there peacefully knowing that I never saved Sania.”

“So that is what was written in the prophecy..” said the professor. “However Aston, I don’t believe that you are bound by that, even if you are the last prince of Illusory.”

“I understand professor.” Aston said, “

I spoke, “But there is a lot you do not know. Think about Emmy...do you really think you’ll be happy knowing you sacrificed someone else to save another person?”

“Stop it, Aston…”

We all heard a gentle voice coming from a distance.

“Wha-?”

Who?

Everyone gazed at the person who spoke just now, it was woman wearing a cloak with a hood covering her face. She stood by the ancient tree.

“Are you-?” I asked.

“Sania……..”

Aston and Emmy both looked at her and spoke simultaneously.

So this was Sania?

Shining blonde hair, pale skin, fluffy hair surrounding her face, and deep blue eyes. I took a deep breath. She looked beautiful, like a pile of golden flowers had just bloomed into a human being in a dream. A princess of fate, that had just woken up from a long sleep, was finally here.

Chapter 8

The Fate of the Forest Prince

“I…..didn’t really know what had happened to me.” Sania spoke in a sad tone. Aston stared at Sania like he’d never looked at something more awed before.

“Is that really-?”

“Yes.” Sania nodded gently. “Aston……I’m terribly sorry for what I’m about to say, but I’ve actually been awake for longer than you might think.”

Aston had an astray look upon his face. “How could that be?!”

“Truthfully at the time I awoke, I didn’t even know if I could consider you an enemy or a friend, so I’ve been pretending to sleep for a while.”

“Is that so…..”

Sania softly spoke, “When I woke up after so long, I heard conversations of me, and of what had happened. I was so confused, I couldn’t take in any of it. My parents had passed away, and I was under the assumption that I was imprisoned. I decided to continue to be asleep just like the way I was before, not making any movements, or making any sounds.”

“I see, is that what this all was?”

“I eventually came to realize how considerate you actually were of me, while I listened to the stories you told me in my sleep. I started to believe them. I wanted to tell you, but then I heard of stories of another woman being held hostage. I decided to continue being asleep so I can figure out more of the situation.”

Aston smiled and said, “I see.”

“I’m so sorry Aston, I really should have told you earlier, but then you had this plan in Illusory.”

“No, I am the last prince of Illusory, even if you are currently well, I’m here to fulfill my duties. Better late than never to put an end to this illusion.”

“Aston, I thought my situation was bad, but then I read all of your diaries, I saw the way you suffered because of my fate, when I was asleep for so long.”

Aston fell silent listening to Sanias words. “Aston, you believed that you were the only one to guard the ancient trees.”

“I wanted to see you before I left, I wanted to say goodbye but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. So at the very least I wanted to use the Book of Fate to awaken you, so that even if I’m gone you would be able to live a happy life outside of this place.”

The professor spoke to Aston, “Aston, you intended to become assimilated with the ancient tree in order to use the knowledge gained from the book to change Sanias fate.”

I jumped at what the professor had said.

“He wanted to become one with the ancient tree?”

The professor nods, “By giving up his physical self, his consciousness would be implanted in the structure of the ancient trees, tying him with all of Illusory. But of course, he needed assistance from a woman, and the person that fit the description at the time was Emmy.”

Aston sighed deeply and nodded.

“It sounded terrible. I’ve been observing you professor, you truly are as intelligent as I thought.” Said Sania.

“Aston, allow me to explain…….” the professor points to Sania, “You were the one who saved Aston from the falling timber that night at the festival, were you not? You were wearing the same cloak at the time when you saved him, and you disappeared off into the dark. That person was you Sania!”

“I’ve broken the heart of someone, and I thought I’d repay him for his kindness.” Sania says hesitantly.

“Is that true Sania?” Aston lamentably smiled and laughed. “Since you’re awake Sania, I suppose there is no need for any of us to enter the ancient tree, I no longer need to achieve the Book of Fate.”

“Of course it’s necessary for you to enter the ancient tree.”

The village mayor suddenly spoke in a different voice.

What?

“We don’t have to make this harder than it needs to be.”

I looked at the mayor completely shocked, I couldn’t believe what he was saying. He was fixating his round glasses, and tinkering with his beard.

“Everyone here has a purpose, I have the same purpose as you. I’m thinking...it would be quite troublesome if you were to change the course of my plans now.”

“What on earth are you saying?” Aston said.

The professor spoke in a calm manner, “Isn’t it time you revealed your true identity mayor? Or should I say, Descole.”

“Descole?!” I screamed out. I was even more astray looking at the chief now.

The mayor chuckles, “Brilliant, Professor Layton. Nothing less from you.”

“I shouldn’t bother asking how you knew of my identity this entire time.”

“I thought it was rather strange from the beginning, I wondered when you were going to reveal yourself.”

I didn’t even think of such a thing, he was so silent up to now. “So is the village chief really Descole?” I couldn’t believe it.

“Heh heh heh.” The chief gave out a heinous smile. In a blink of an eye his clothes and appearance changed.

“Descole!”

The mysterious scientist who was standing behind his sword, with his usual strange mask covering his eyes, and his fancy cloak. Descole suddenly rushes towards Sania and grabs her by the arm.

“You, come with me!”

“Ah, stop!” Sania spoke out, as Descole dragged her to the front of the ancient tree near the stones.

“What are you going to do with Sania?!” Aston yelled at Descole.

Aston charged towards him, trying to reach.

Descole uses his sword on Sania, “Don’t even think of coming any closer!” Descole pushes the sword closer to Sanias neck. “If you come any closer I’ll have this woman's neck.”

Descole forced Sania to stand in front of the door by the ancient tree.

“Put your hand on the symbol of the snake on the left side of the door!”

A symbol of a woman appeared near the the left crest with her hand on the snake, and on the right side a man putting his hands on the crest of the eagle.

“No………” Sania answered in a low voice.

“Do it now!” Descole screamed angrily, “Or instead I will end the life of the man who wanted to sacrifice everything for you, so I suggest you listen unless you want to lose someone else.”

Sania trembled as she reached out her hand to touch the crest.

“Don’t-” Aston yelled out. “Sania- it’s useless if you place your hand!”

“Coward!” Descole yelled as he tightened his grip on the sword and struck towards Aston who jumped out of the way.

“Such cowardice.” Descole gave out a creepy laugh.

“The power of the ancient trees should only be acquired by someone like me.”

“Descole stop! It’s not allowed for ordinary humans to use that power!” I screamed out.

“What did you say, boy?”

I threw the nearest solid object near me as hard as I could towards him.

“Aa!”

It hit Descole's mask with great force. “My mask…!”

His mask had…...faintly cracked. He began to smile. “You had your fun and games, boy.”

Descole forced Sania to put her hand on the crest, as well as Aston.

Aston gave out a disgruntled look and angrily moaned.

“Yes, that’s it.”

“Oh no!” I said.

“An unauthorized person who enters the sacred grounds, will be severely punished.” Aston mutters towards Descole. “Due to someone other than a member of the family entering...serious consequences will take place!”

The doors began to open, it was pitch black inside the ancient tree. Immense light was emitted from inside, and the entire area was white.

“Professor! The light!”

We heard a sound of electricity running through the area. The lithographs embedded on the tree began to shine one after another. In the air letters were spelled with light, foreign characters that I couldn’t recognize. Several letters surrounded the tree.

“This is-!”

We all stared at the letters surrounding the ancient tree, it was written decoratively, if it wasn’t for the situation, I’d say the letters looked beautiful.

“Beautiful..” I muttered. It’s like the wisdom of the tree was spread out all in front of us. It overlapped the tree like a belt, and disappeared one after another. Aston barely looked at any of it, as he rushed his way into the trunk of the tree in a hurry!

“What’s the matter?!” I said.

“What happened?” Emmy said.

“It seems as though the information on the tiles disappears the exact moment the letters are drawn in the sky.” The professor spoke.

We all rushed after him inside the trunk of the ancient tree. I saw the light disappearing from the tiles slowly after the letter were spelled out in the sky. Every information written on the tiles much like the Book of Fate was turning into simple lithographs losing their information.

“This is-!”

The information gathered into the ancient trees over thousands of years, is disappearing one after another.

“Ahh! What should we do?!” I panicked.

Aston shook his head in disdain. “I have failed at my duty to protect the ancient tree.”

The ground began to shake, something was collapsing. “This is bad!”

Something was happening in the forest. The branches of the trees at the top of the ancient trees tower abnormally grew and began to move. I looked up and noticed the sky was turning grey, dark clouds peered through, a dark and gloomy atmosphere had immediately taken over. “What’s going on?”

“The forest is angry with us..” Aston said.

“You can’t be serious?! The ancient tree is..angry?”

The entire place was lighting up with a certain energy, looking at it, it felt like a ginormous disruptive electric Christmas tree.

“What’s going to happen to the ancient tree?”

At the end of the branches at the top of the tree, an electrical light formed and released it onto the ground non stop.

Aston screamed out, “It’s the anger..of the ancient tree!”

“Professor, is that-?”

Plasma was being gathered by the tree.

“It is likely to be released soon, the energy build up has started. Wrongfully entering this place was the switch to activate this chaos. A person like Descole should not have entered, this was no place for someone other than my family to be.”

“Perhaps the ancient tree has a sense that genetically distinguishes who enters. Between a non member of the Illusory lineage, or someone of your family.” Said the professor. “It activates a mechanism for self destruct, and throws plasma one after another respectively.”

A fire broke out into the meadow and began to burn vigorously.

“This is the punishment from the Gods..” Aston said panicked. “What should we do?”

Descole yelled back, “Fools! There is no such thing as a detector, or a ridiculous self destruct mechanism, this is the power of the ancient tree falling into my hands!”

Descole struck the core of the ancient tree with his sword.

“Descole, stop!” The professor grabbed Astons sword and aimed towards Descole.

The sound of the plasma still firing was heard throughout the tower, and the fire burning through the meadow..

“Descole, what you’re doing is unforgivable, you have no right to control human fate as you wish.” The professor gently shouted.

Descole laughs at the professor foolishly. “This world is made up of the powerful and the weak, those who are leaders, and others who are mere followers. It would be much more appropriate for someone like myself to be in control of such an item.”

“It is exactly that rationality that will not let you achieve what you want.”

Descole and Layton both dodged the plasma being thrown their way. Descole fiercely raised his sword, the professor did the same as his sword emitted light from the plasmas reflection, Descole charged at the professor as they started a battle. The professor falters at first, Descole strength through his sword seemed to be leading him to victory.

“Do your best, professor!” Emmy screamed out to the professor as her hands formed into fists next to each other in a praying form.

Aston watched vigorously, as did Sania on Descoles side.

Descole skillfully strikes the edge of the professors sword violently.

“I truly wanted another rematch with you once more, Layton. Your will is strong, your swords movement is rhythmic, powerful, and flexible. However, you won’t win. Your skills are nothing compared to mine!”

With that, Descole raised his sword high up.

“Ah! The sword!” I yelled.

“Farewell, Layton.”

Right before he struck the professor, a ray of plasma was struck towards Descole's sword.

“What?!”

Descole dropped his sword due to the impact. The professor jumped back up greatly, he gripped his sword tighter and pierced it through Descole's cape and into the ground, restricting Descole's movements. Descole temporarily struggled. The professor picked up the sword that Descole had dropped and put it on his shoulder. “I seem to have won, Descole!”  

I wanted to applaud the professor.

“Did you think..that you could defeat me this easily?” Descole ripped the cloak off of him and shrugged himself surrounded in the flames.

I cried unintentionally.

Descole laughed and retreated the tower through the opening leading to the outside of the tower.

“Ah, Descole! That’s dangerous-” The professor yelled out after him.

The professor would never had hurt Descole regardless of his loss in battle.

The professor said in a calm voice, “I suppose Descole had a plan beforehand to have secured a retreat.”

How did he even escape? He would've been buried in the flames. I guess he found a safe way, somehow. That’s what I think anyway.

Emmy looked impressed, “Seriously professor, that was stunning!”

The professor nods back and smiles.

“How can we stop the ancient tree from burning, if we don’t do anything soon this entire meadow including this place will become a sea of fire.” Aston said.

The professor thought about it for a moment, he lifted his face and looked at Aston. “The ancient tree lost all control and went haywire after Descole entered without permission, the tree detected a threat because he was not a member of your family. So what would happen if a member of the family were to stop it?”

“Ah, that’s right! If I could rightfully claim the tree it might actually stop the chaos.” Aston said.

I was worried that Aston would say that.

“But it’s dangerous to come close to the tree, the entire place is ignited in fire-” The professor said.

“No, this is my duty and responsibility, please leave it to me!”

Sania who had now rejoiced with us looked at Aston sorrowfully.  “Aston, I am sorry…”

I looked around and said, “It’s definitely going to be a sea of fire here soon…”

The professor faced me and said, “Luke! The meadow is surrounded by prairies of water, let’s find a way to lead the water here to overflow the grassland.”

“How?”

[Puzzle 017: Fire in the Meadow!]

We need to overflow the water towards the meadow so the fire can be put out. We need to stop the flow of the water from an entranceway that lets the water flow out from the water outlets. There are 13 places that is possible to stop the flow of the moats from, but we only need to stop it from one location to stop the current. Which location is it?

“Professor! If we break this part of the moat, then the water can overflow the meadow near the tower and the tree!”

“Exactly what I had in mind as well, Luke!”

Aston cheerfully says, “Good idea Professor Layton! Keep an eye on the Tower of Gods, I’m going to go stop the ancient tree, I will reunite with you all very soon I hope, so please board the tower.”

“I understand. Sania, Luke, Emmy, let’s go.”

The professor ran towards the tower, we followed the professor all the way to the cockpit, “What’s this switch?” The professor pondered, after some trial and error he found a way to pilot the tower and managed to get it away from the meadow. The water stopped after having broken the moat and overflowed into the meadow. The tower started shaking vigorously after as we supported each other from falling.

We watched the progress, as the tower returned back to normal, and the moat fell apart as intended.

“Great, professor!” Emmy said.

“Yes!” Sania exclaimed.

“We did it!”

The water overflowed onto the meadow, making the momentum wane.

“The fire’s going to disappear!”

We aimed the direction of the tower back to its original spot as the fire diminished near the meadow.

Aston in the meantime had headed for the ancient tree, and was running boldly. The tree was still emitting the plasma. Aston put his hands on the trunk of the tree as we all nervously watched as he looked up at the lighting branches.

Suddenly the movement of the tree stopped…

As long as Aston held onto the tree its motions were stopped, the branches shrinked their protruding arms back to normal, and everything returned to its original length. I was amazed at the sight.

“That was amazing, what in the world did you do?”

The professor says, “He did exactly what he could do, he is truly the last prince of Illusory, he had the ability to communicate with the tree that he himself never knew of.”

“Really? So all of the Bloom family could communicate with the tree?”

“Exactly. That is why for the longest time his family were the guardians of this place.” Said the professor.

At that time the ground began to shake again, the tree wasn’t calm anymore, and another thing..

“Ah, look at that!”

Aston began to panic, “What’s wrong?”

“The rail is going to collapse.” Aston said in fear as he looked to the distance.

I stumbled in fear, “What would happen if the rail were to collapse?”

“It’s..our only way out. Confined here for eternity, we would never be able to leave!”

We all shouted.

The ancient tree was acting up again as well.

“Take the Tower of Gods now! Leave this place immediately! I can calm the tree again, but if you don’t leave soon we will all surely live in a ghost forest this time.”

Sania ran out of the tower outraged.

“Sania, what are you doing?!” Aston screamed. “Sania! You have to go back to the tower, or you will be stuck here!”

Sania shook her head and quietly spoke, “Aston...you loved me, even when you didn’t know if I would live or not. You were willing to change my fate, my past for me just like you said in your letters, and now the time has come. I’ve decided that I want to stay here...with you from now on.”

“Sania……..” Aston muttered.

“I want to stay with you here, forever Aston.”

Aston stared at Sania.

“Professor, we have to leave soon!” Emmy said shouting in panic.

“Aston! Sania!  We can’t depart without you, please get on!” Emmy cried out.

“We can’t leave, I’m the only one who can look after the tree while you escape before the rail falls apart.”

“We’re staying….!” Aston said. “Professor Layton, please, you have to leave. Don’t worry about us. This is the fate Sania and I have chosen. However the rail can’t hold up much longer and if I don't stop the tree it could do much more damage.”

“I fear we can’t change anything.” The professor said.

The ground started shaking even worse again.

The professor lowered his hat and looked down in agony. “I understand Aston…”

We all ran to the tower, as the professor got it quietly moving. As we left the sanctuary, away from the angry shaking grounds, I looked up and I saw them both standing there. The land ruled by the two. The last of the Illusory people.

Aston waved back to us, as the rail began to collapse faster as the tower moved further from the waterfall. I waved back to them.

“Thank you Aston! Goodbye Sania!”

I shouted as the two grew smaller and smaller.

How could I possibly return to my normal life after this?

“Luke, we came here following the falls, but to make our way out we must use the route on the back side, and go around the valley and climb up the cliff, is that not what Aston said?”

“That’s right. I think it’s correct”

The tower ran after the falling rails, but the rails couldn’t bear our load much longer, it was catching up to us and everything would collapse. We located the cliff that was located higher than the falls.

The professor turned to us and said, “We have to cross the bridge and onto the cliff!”

I trembled at the thought. The bridge in front of me looked completely different from what it was before, It might as well have been called ruins by now.

“We have to do this together, we must raise the speed as much as we can.” The professor said, as the bridge began to shake tremendously! The bridge can’t hold us until the end…….

The professor spoke, “We have to get to the small pinnacle!”

“How?”

“Maneuvering around earlier, I became aware of a jet engine near the spire.” The professor said.

“Ah, I noticed something like that too. It was the metal cylinder we saw in one of the rooms that led to the outer stairs of the tower. In the luggage compartment right?”

“Yes, it's probably designed to fly like a mini rocket.” Emmy said. “I saw the spire from the outside, you can pilot it.”

“You can steer the main spire, and also steer the main tower controls, from there we can ignite the engine and head to the pinnacle as soon as possible.” The professor exclaimed.

I cried out, “How are we going to do that professor?! We would have to leave the tower behind!”

“Exactly, there’s nothing wrong with that, we can’t stay on here for much longer.” Emmy said.

“Luke, let’s go!” The professor told me.

The professor would take the other spire, since they were too small.  

Emmy opened the hatch moving the pinnacle . I was holding onto the railing desperately to keep myself from falling. The professor gave us a signal, and the pinnacle moved vertically, then diagonally forward. I felt a shock at my feet, and the sound of ignition. “It’s ignited!” I was surrounded by its deafening sound, and the severe vibrations continued greatly, at one point I thought the pinnacle of the tower would have exploded.

“You did it!”

We instantly sped up and accelerated as fast we could have. I shouted out, “We’re flying in the sky!” I couldn’t believe it, we were actually flying. The pinnacle had detached from the tower and we were in the air like a rocket.

I watched the tower crumble before us, and the bridge collapsing...I saw the last glimpse of the ancient tree before it would vanish before us. We were about to arrive to the other side of the forest in a blink of an eye, leaving Illusory. Our view changed to green grasslands.

“I’m going to land Luke, hold on tight.”

I held onto the Emmys knees.

“Yes!” Emmy hovered herself over me.

A tremendous shock hit my whole body. I felt distant for a moment.

We had landed…….

I opened my eyes and looked around. The aircraft was dented, parts of it had been blown off, and smoke was surrounding us…..I’m alive!

I looked at my hands with an incredible feeling.

I saw Emmy lying on the floor and tried to wake her up, “Emmy, are you okay?!”

Emmy slightly budged, “Ouch…..I think I’m slightly hurt here and there but-”

“I’m sorry!” I shouted at Emmy.

“Don’t worry about me Luke, isn’t it better that you’re not hurt?”

“Mm.”

“The professor is……..” In a hurry I looked around and saw the entire bridge leading to Illusory collapsing like a domino.

“Luke, the tower!” Emmy said.

The bridge collapsed slowly, and we couldn’t find the professor, we were worried he might have landed off elsewhere behind the bridge…

At the time we saw a silver steeple heading towards us in the sky, “Professor!”

The Tower of Gods behind rumbled in echoes as it hit the depths of the ground. Illusoires scientific inventions had all crumbled to pieces. No doubt I would never be able to see that magnificent sight ever again.

“What if he can’t land safely out of there..” Emmy said.

It fell to the bottom of the valley just as ours did. It made the ground tremble, but he was….saved. “Ahhh.”

I jumped up and ran to him with full speed, “Woah, professor!” the fire was gone, and the collapse of the tower caused a debris. Everything seemed to be returning back to normal. I could hear the normal sounds of the valley, and the sounds of the falls surrounding us. The professor picked himself up, and all was okay at last.

I heard a voice from a distance, “Just the two of us..”

It sounded like Sania. It was Sania.

In a vision in front of us, Aston closed his eyes. “You and I, only the two of us here in our very own world.”

The two were together closely.

Sania looked around at the trees, and the flowers around them began to bloom.

“The flowers!” Sania said.

Aston blushed, “The flower of the ancient tree, these flowers only bloom once every thousand years.”

“I can’t believe we can see it.” Sania said amazed.

Countless branches wrapped around Aston and Sania. Sania spoke in enthusiasm. “It’s so gentle, like being held by my parents…”

“It reminds me of my childhood, I thought I was alone...but I’m not alone anymore.”

“Sania.”

Sania closed her eyes and gently laughed. “It’s funny, I just spoke to you for the first time today, but it doesn’t feel that way at all. Let’s get to know each other more, our time is infinite.”

Aston gave a deep look to Sania, “It was my fate to have met you, destiny can change, but my fate can not be changed. This is what I was told by the people of Illusory…..I can not change that I met you, I love you.”

“Aston…..”

“I was willing to die for this destiny.”

Aston and Sania disappearing with white flowers that surrounded them, and they could soon no longer be seen.

The Fate of the Illusory prince…

We all looked at the view from the top of the cliff, and the place was overflowed with white flowers. Aston and Sania were fully surrounded by the flowers as they eventually disappeared.

Emmy mumbled, “I suppose Aston was okay with this?”

“Have they become a part of the ancient tree?”

It felt unbearable. The professor said, “I don’t know, but it was the will of the tree that lead us to them just now. That the rare flower bloomed for them, and wrapped themselves around the two.”

“I won’t be able to see those two anymore…” Emmy said.

The professor adjusts his hat and responds to Emmy, “One day, if human beings can fully understand and use the power of the ancient trees, then it's possible that those two will come back to our world.”

“Then let’s wait.” I said, “Let’s wait for that day, the day the two will return…..”

Answers

{Puzzle 017: Bottom right, lowest circle that’s nearest to the entrance.}

Epilogue

After the incident, we all returned to London. After all we had to return to our daily lives. I was sitting near moldy archeology materials, and old hieroglyphs. I was drinking a special blended tea brewed by the professor and Emmy. It was chamomile tea, one of the teas that I found really soothing, and it really made me feel better.

Even though it was all over I still felt this emptiness in my heart.

Emmy sighed deeply, “Aston…...Sania……”

I was afraid if I thought back on Aston and Sania, who had been feeling so lonely and terrible for so long, I would be upset again at the thought. The ancient tree, the Illusory forest, and the fate of the last prince of Illusory, it was all too sad to think about again.

I sighed, “Can we not meet them ever again?”

“I’m afraid not for now.” The professor said, “However, I believe that we can someday meet with those two again.”

“The rail is broken, but even so can’t we find a way to get there again? It doesn’t seem impossible..”

“Actually, restoration work for the bridge is already in the works, it is a secret project in Illusory, and one that would take a very long time.” The professor said.

“It does seem like a lot of work, how did they even start the project up?”

“Do you remember Father Corrigan?” The professor asked.

“I remember, he was the priest at the St. James church.”

“Well you see, Father Corrigan asked for donations from all the people who are involved with the church, and from those who had been wedded and now live happily together due to the pendants.”

“Oh yeah! That’s right!”

“Thanks to the story behind the pendants, and through the unity of love he was able to gather a vast amount of donations. At the time however, Illusory was an unexplored land, the secret of the ancient tree was protected. Father Corrigan told the couples and others of Aston and Sanias story, and it gained the attention of many.” The professor said.

The most serious question on my mind was.. “Are they alive?”

The professor smiled, “Yes, I do believe so. In fact, I believe Astons followers are actually keeping in touch with the two as we speak.”

“Followers?” Emmy said quietly.

“Yes, they once served Astons family, they have the ability to communicate with Aston through the ancient tree, and the plants that surround them. They can often check on the situation of the two.”

“But how?” Emmy and I said at the same time.

“Although I only knew so much, I learned that a power that the ancient tree possesses is similar to a transceiver. Acts as a communication device.”

The professor looked into the distance, and ponders in an interesting way. “It seems that they did get to keep their last prince of Illusory in the end.”

“But, are they really alive?” Emmy asked.

“Of course, it seems like they’re quite happy as well.”

Emmy laughed as though she were relieved at last, “I’m glad!”

“As long as they’re happy together, I’m happy too.” I said to Emmy while chuckling myself.

“Wouldn’t it be nice if you could find someone like that Emmy? Then you could ask father Corrigan for a real wedding ceremony.”

At that time I heard noise coming from the doorway. I went there in a hurry and saw letters slid in from under the doorway. I took the letters and looked at them with no mind.

“Professor!”

The professor grabbed the letters from my hand and looked. There was a pressed flower in one of the letters. A pretty white petal.

Emmy looked at the flower in awe.

“Professor, this flower is from the ancient tree……”

The professor smiled. “Luke, I look forward for the day, the day we can meet the two.”