Ayosha took her inside and headed straight for the door below the staircase. It was well disguised and came off as just a portrait on the wall at first sight, but if one looked close enough then a handle became visible.
Upon entry he flicked a switch which enlightened the room, revealing a caved-in box like set up. Any regular being wouldn't last long in a room like that, they'd be suffocated by the narrow distance between the walls and probably suffer a claustrophobic episode within a matter of minutes.
Infront of Ayosha was a door without a handle, rather it was covered entirely by circles etched on its surface like the random scribbles on wooden desks in highschool classrooms.
Using his fingers he pressed against the door in three different spots at the same time, as soon as the code was received the hinges loosened and the door lifted upwards.
It seemed a fairly uncomplicated task but if one were to input the wrong code then the bottom of the room would give way, flapping wide open and ejecting both subjects into the depths of the underground where they'd presumably fall to their death.
Before he entered the next room he put on a pair of protective goggles and covered Elsie's face using his thick robe.
The whole room was covered in silver allow making it highly reflective, inside were some very unsettling light patterns reflecting on the walls, the sole purpose was to distort the sight of whoever walked in unwelcome.
The effects would prove futile if one stayed inside the room for a prolonged period without the special goggles. A state of hypnosis would ensue, ultimately, the resulting haze would induce significant trauma to the brain causing haemorrhaging from the eyes, ears and mouth.
Although inconceivable by the naked eye the room had a bed, bathroom, kitchen and even windows, it was hard to imagine anyone could live in a place like that.
The next task was to unlock the door to the next room, this particular room had a combination lock. It required a matching code in order to unlock the door, either that or extreme patience and delicacy.
Anyone attempting to unlock it without a code had to closely listen to the mechanism in order to hear the gears aligning inside, but this was an extremely lengthy process, if done right it would take hours.
Fortunately, Ayosha was one of the few individuals in the village that had the access code, therefore getting by was just a breeze.
The final room was a cramped iron chamber which simply required a key to get through. Although, it too carried a deathly condition with it, if the wrong key was input then the door knob would violently burst into flames burning the person's hand off while also leaving the door without a knob, effectively locking the person inside. It didn't end there - with time, the entire place would heat up and melt the subject to their death where they'd serve as stew for Erika tribe's people.
With all those defences it was inevitable that something of paramount significance was being hidden inside the house, and duly it was. The final room was housing a gorgeous botanical garden growing a variety of herbs and plants, but these were no ordinary plants, once processed they formulated special enchantment pearls that were binded together to provide extraordinary abilities to whomever wore and consumed them.
The pearls abilities were tied to their colour; purple was a medical gem, allowing diagnosis of illness, treatment and even curation of some ailments, blue was a water based gem allowing users to replenish H20 stores, red was an offensive type gem allowing manipulation of harmful substances like fire and white gifted the user psychic abilities such as telekinesis.
The chief monopolized these pearls, only allowing a select few of his troops to consume specific gems. The rest of the villagers were allowed to consume the green pearl which is what transformed them anatomically allowing them to hunt wild animals and consume their flesh with ease.
Ayosha himself consumed the orange pearl which gifted him with super human strength, that was the sole reason why he was able to carry such a heavy blade with him all the time.
As he strode through the garden, gliding past several sections containing various herbs, he picked a few and took them with him before he entered his science laboratory. In there he placed Elsie on a bed with restraints and tied her down before he sat behind a study desk where he would begin processing the herbs.
He crushed, concocted and boiled for a few minutes before extracting the formula. It was now time to perform the exorcism, before he began he used a black pearl to cast a spell to lure the spirit out, he quickly followed up by casting a protection spell using a grey pearl, this was to ensure that Elsie's body wouldn't be harmed during the process.
A few seconds later she awoke, once again her eyes were pitch black and she spoke in a voice that clearly didn't belong to her. She struggled and tussled, but the restraints held her back, in anticipation Ayosha unsheathed his gigantic blade ready to confront the spirit.
It was evidently unwilling to leave her body, fighting as much as it could to stay glued to her person but eventually it was overwhelmed by the power of the spell, forcing it out off her body into the air where it instantly lunged at Ayosha at an unnatural speed.
Fortunately he was prepared, his cat like reflexes sprung into action and saw him swat the mysterious creature with the flat side of his sword effortlessly.
Physically it resembled a salamander except it had a pair of wings and webbed ears.
Ayosha wasted no time in placing it in a container and taking it to his study for experimentation, before he got started he popped a purple herb and a quarter orange into a weakened, half awake Elsie's mouth.
'Here this restore your strength, cure your fever.' He spoke in broken English.
***
The chief of Erika remained with the travellers throughout. In the hour that had elapsed he had established that the travellers were worthy of entry into his chambers thanks to Theodochus's undying eloquence, he'd also offered them food and assured them of their friend's recovery.
On top of that, he'd allowed them to stay in the village of Erika for at least a night, what they still required was information regarding the missing pages and The Book of Silver Thoughts which he so evidently knew something about.
They sat gathered inside his hut beside a warm fire, the chief sat comfortably in his throne and addressed them from there.
'So you really are serious about finding this book mh?' He spoke sternly as he flipped the confiscated pages through his fingers.
'It's just like we said, we want to find it so we can save the world, nothing else.' Antenela spoke, she was clearly in much better condition than earlier.
'I don't doubt that, but i just want to be sure that you're all familiar with the drawbacks of not just using that book but merely seeking it out.'
Confused, Antenela raised an eyebrow.
'Drawbacks?'
Theodochus stepped in.
'We seek it out because we have no other choice, and yes we are aware that any usage of the book doesn't come without consequences.'
The chief remained put, unconvinced
by the travellers.
'It doesn't seem so.'
Impatiently Robert blurted out from the back.
'Well what do you know ? You still haven't said anything as yet, so far we've answered all of your questions but you haven't answered any of ours!'
Calmly, the chief glanced at him.
Under Breath, his colleagues issued a stern reprimanding look feeling that he was out of line.
'Robert!'
The chief maintained eye contact with him.
'What do you want to know?'
'Finally.' Robert thought to himself.
Well, how about you start by telling us everything you know about the book then you can tell us the quickest way to find it.
'The quickest way huh? Well, you'll have to start by ditching that compass of yours, all it serves to do is waste your time. That goes for that little sequence you've created too, it's pointless.'
All of them were baffled, the compass they had so carefully followed up until this point was now being declared useless, on top of that, the sequence they puzzled together with such vigorous effort was also being scrutinized, in that moment they all felt like the old man was just belittling their efforts rather than helping out.
Without hesitating the old man spoke once more, raising the confiscated pages in the air.
'Everything you need is right here.'
The travellers were rooted to the spot, their eyes crying out for clarity they sought a detailed explanation.
'The missing pages? But we already determined that those were coordinates, they are what helped us formulate the sequence to find the last location of the book.' Franck said.
'Correct, that is exactly where you got it wrong. Forget your compass and your sequence, if you use just these pages to guide you then you can make it there by tomorrow, and if you do then i can guarantee you that
you will find the book before this enemy you speak off does.'
'Wait what? so that means the next clue for us doesn't lie in the Northern desert then?' Said Antenela.
'Yes.' The chief replied, 'Your next destination isn't the northern desert and you won't find any clues where you're going, just a map.'
'A map?'
'Yes, a map detailing the precise location of The book of Silver Thoughts.'
Robert and co. were both uncertain and puzzled, noticing this the chief elaborated.
'I'll put this simply; the Northern desert isn't the last place where the book was kept, instead it's a large tundra called Fatiha, now a slave trade area, the old home of Erika. There, you will find the map to The Book of Silver Thoughts.'
Everything he said was now clear, to put to perspective this meant that the travellers' sequence was incorrect and their compass was truly misguiding them. Although they really were heading in the right direction according to their tools it wasn't where the map to the book was currently being held.
The missing pages on their own are what they should've let guide them as they were coordinates to the exact location of the map, as the old man had revealed the travellers had complicated things by trying to decipher a logical sequence out of the whole thing when it was fairly straight forward to begin with.
'Now that that's out of the way, i'll tell you what i know about the book... basically, why i believe you shouldn't go after it.' The chief of Erika spoke out loud.