"Alright!" Samuel began, grabbing a notebook and a pen, "What do we know about the Obsidian Maze?"
"Well, to start off, it has three layers," I said, listing them. I repeated all that I knew, which wasn't much, just stuff from books. Samuel nodded, scribbling down all that I said fiercely.
"Okay, we have the basics. Oliver, what do you want to add?"
Both of us looked at Oliver expectantly.
"Hm…" Oliver hummed, propping his chin on his hand.
"Well, actually the prison is the thing that causes ship's systems to go haywire in the second layer. It emits electromagnetic waves that fry the circuits," he said.
Samuel's eyebrows raised in surprise. "Really? That's it?"
Oliver nodded. "Everyone is so scared of going near there that no one has invested the time and energy to figure out what is actually going on."
"Well," Samuel said, after finishing writing, "if that's the case, we will have to reinforce the ship to block those waves."
Oliver shook his head. "Ship? What are you talking about?! I was thinking we could just catch a ride on one of the supply ships. Wouldn't that be easier?"
Samuel stared at Oliver. "Come on! Use your brain a little! They only get supplies every first of the month. Do you really want to wait another three weeks? I certainly don't think your friend here wants to."
I nodded my head in agreement. "No way are we waiting that long!"
Oliver groaned. "But, it's just so- so-"
"Not your style," Samuel cut in.
"Yeah, wait...no! It's too-"
"Too exciting? Too amazing that you just can't wrap your head around it?" Samuel teased. I snickered quietly.
"NO!" Oliver shouted, throwing up his hands in frustration. "It's too dangerous and reckless!"
I snorted. Everything about this situation was reckless and dangerous, no matter what path we decided to take.
"Well, for one thing, don't you think it would be easier to just bring a ship?" I offered. "I mean, I don't know what you were planning, but at least we have an easy escape route."
Oliver grumbled to himself, clearly seeing that this argument was futile. It was two against one.
"Okay! We will go with my plan then!" Samuel said triumphantly. I looked at Oliver. He was still shaking his head.
"There are so many things that could go wrong," I heard him mumble. Well, I wasn't exactly okay with either plan, but I was certainly NOT waiting any longer. So, naturally, I would rather go with Samuel's.
"Next problem is the Tenebra," Samuel said, returning to his notebook. "Crystal, you mentioned that they don't like light and tend to attack the source, correct?"
"Yes, but-"
"Great," Oliver grumbled. "Just fantastic! Our ship is going to be demolished! This is why we should have gone with my plan!"
"Well, that's my point," I said, the gears in my mind turning. "It doesn't make sense that a monster that hates light lives in a place that is filled with it."
Samuel's eyes widened, so did Oliver's as it clicked in their brains. "Wait, so you're saying that the Tenebra actually love it?"
I nodded. "But, I don't think that solves the problem."
"Actually, that might not be the case," Samuel said. "I'm guessing that the Tenebra actually attacked the ships because they had a higher concentration of light, but, as long as we don't create more light than the electromagnetic waves, then they shouldn't have a reason to target us. Meaning-"
"Meaning that our light source is going to be very limited," Oliver finished. Samuel nodded.
"Alright, then how in the world are we going to make sure that we don't get hit by other asteroids if we can't see them?!" I asked anxiously.
Samuel sighed. "Hopefully, it will be enough. There's not much we can do about it."
I didn't like it. Neither did Oliver. But, what choice did we have?
"Look, it's that, or we wait and go with Oliver's plan."
"Alright," I said, finally caving.
"Okay then! I will start preparations for the mission. We should be ready to go in three days, maybe four if something doesn't work out," Samuel said, grabbing his notebook and standing up.
Three days. That's all the time left before I embarked on this mission. Three days until I rescue Lily. We had a plan in place and Oliver and I later discussed what we would do once we got to the prison. It was a pretty simple get-in-and-get-out, nothing too complicated. What could possibly go wrong?