„The mystery of human existence lies not in just staying alive, but in finding something to live for."-Fyodor Dostoevsky
For what purpose was she brought upon this curse? Vivien couldn't ever find out, but what she knew was that she had a whole list of objects they were supposed to find in the future realm.
She had written them down earlier, even mentioning every zone they are located in and how to get there.
Finding a Huldra and killing it didn't seem like a fair option. The list was there just in case they wouldn't be able to get rid of the Huldra or if Leonard decided to change his mind and not get rid of the curse after they complete the task.
Vivien raised her hand and was close to touching the wall with her purpleing hand just like always, but Sylas stopped her.
„Can I also try it?", he asked, unsure.
The girl let him, and to his surprise, his hand also turned purple and the same passageway opened up.
The both of them took the same route to Leonard's office, this time not stopping to admire the sorroundings. They stepped out the office door.
They found a beautiful sighting of a mountain, which they supposed was the one they needed to cross to get rid of the Huldra. There were multiple paths leading to the forest.
Vivien explained to Sylas what her idea was. They would first need to find the Huldra, then get on good terms with it. Afterwards, they would tell it to follow them around and then they would pick the best spot to kill it.
The boy agreed to everything, though he seemed a little reluctant at first.
The two walked through the dark forest.
„You picked the literal worst time to go through a forest. I'm telling you, if anything shows itself in front of me, I will not hesitate to set it on fire and laugh as it squirms."
„Sadistic. I like it."
„Tch, I beg your pardon? Meee? Naaah, I am not a sadist, I just like to be mean because it's fun. Ooooh, that's right, it almost slipped my mind that you despise fun."
Vivien ignored his accusation.
„We need to attend to the matter regarding the Huldra before Leonard gets rattled."
„He's not going to do anything to us if we don't complete his task. You know it. I know it. Done, point proven by the fact he was so chill when we met him."
„Can you ever be serious about something for once? This isn't necessarily about a punishment, it's about getting rid of that stupid curse."
„You held my hand and you liked it. What? I'm right about it."
„If I was aware you would behave like this about it, I wouldn't have held your hand."
The girl could feel a small blood vessel in her forehead waiting to burst.
She tried not to let his remarks get to her, but it was getting increasingly difficult to do so.
They both walked in silence, keeping a sharp ear for any songs or for the sound of any instruments.
Nothing could be heard, the silence unpleasantly swaying around.
„Ughhh, this isn't fun. You shouldn't have called me here. I'm bored out of my mind."
„You have the attention span of a goldfish."
„But this... this isn't faaaair..."
As Sylas kept complaining about how bored he was, something fast suddenly moved around the trees in the distance.
The both of them halted, as they had no clue what they had just seen. It couldn't have been the Huldra since Leonard didn't mention they can move fast, right? The creature's color resembled... something greenish. It definitely wasn't a Huldra.
„I... think our job here is done. I value my life. I give out my deepest thanks to you, Vivi, for keeping an eye on the trees this whole time so they don't also move. See you and mystery monster man later."
Vivien grabbed him by the arm once again and stopped him from leaving.
She walked forward. The boy sighed once he realized there's no point in trying to convince her to go back, and he followed her.
He crossed his arms to his chest, waiting for any news.
„I told ya', darling, this place is boring. Let's head out."
She ignored him and kept moving towards the sighting.
The boy rolled his eyes at her insistance.
The two followed the path towards a bush. Something started moving out of the bush. That's when a group of weird creatures with pink eyes and green bodies swarmed towards them.
The creatures had pink dots on their green bodies, and their bellies were enormous. The both of them reacted fast once they realized the creatures wanted to attack them.
Sylas grabbed her hand and ran with her all the way back to the passageway.
They were followed throughout all the way towards Leonard's office. They ran without looking back to assess the distance in between them and the impetuous creatures.
Sylas had dropped something from his pocket while they were trying to escape from the monsters.
It was another bolo tie, which looked new, not amongst the ones presented to Leonard.
The boy turned around to check what had fallen.
„Nooo, my sweet bolo tie!"
„Are you kidding me? Leave it.", she grabbed his hand and ran together with him.
Once they had arrived at the office, they stepped inside the realm, one of the creatures managing to follow them inside the office.
It moved past the people around, it seemed like its only target was the two.
„Hurry, open the passage!", Sylas said.
Vivien quickly touched the wall where the passageway would open. She was relieved to see it opening, and the both of them stepped inside the passage.
However, the one creature that manage to get through the office also followed them throughout the entire passageway.
They kept running and running without stopping.
When they got out the passageway, its entrance closed behind them, leaving the green creature stuck inside of it.
How were they supposed to gain access to Leonard's office again if the creature was in their way?
Both of them were panting, Vivien almost collapsing to the ground in exhaustion.
„I must say... this wasn't one of the worst ideas you've ever had.", Sylas said through his ragged breathing.
The boy and Vivien looked up, only to notice Jude had been standing there the whole time. They both got scared and jumped back, letting out a surprised „AA" sound at the same time.
„How long have you been standing there?", Sylas asked.
„That's none of your business."
...
Jude took them to an open air spot outside Elton College. There were white wooden tables around, and they were waiting for their dinner to arrive.
The boy wanted to treat the both of them for their courage to enter the realm, though Vivien didn't know what percentage of his claims were true.
Vivien took a look around. The place appeared a lot like one she had seen before. She was having a deja-vu.
The girl was very tired and disheartened not to have achieved anything she had planned to do.
The food came.
After the three of them had eaten and filled up their bellies, Jude insisted he had to share something important with them.
„Those creatures that followed you are dangerous. They're called grubs after a bug name, if I remember vividly."
„They tried to attack us! You should've seen it. I was all like: Vivien, let's run away! And Vivien was all like: Oh no, I'm so scared."
„You meant to shape the dinamic of the story the other way around.", she said very harshly.
„Shut up, dopey! Anyways, who's to say they won't attack us again in our sleep?", Sylas covered her mouth with his hand. The girl glared at him.
„That's not what they do.", Jude said plainly. „If you're touched by one of those things, you turn into one of them. Your only purpose becomes to exponentially grow your own group of grubs."
Vivien pushed Sylas' hand off her mouth and chimed in.
„Pray tell, where did you acquire this ancient forsaken knowledge?", Vivien answered harshly to Jude while fiddling with a drink she had gotten.
It was dark outside, the time was around 8 p.m. It was not an appropriate hour for Vivien to be walking back home by herself, and she didn't want to call her brother to pick her up once getting back to the present.
The atmopshere of the small open air place was very nice. The lights around the houses flickered, making Vivien feel comfortable.
„That's not what I called you to speak about. You two have to take care of yourselves if you'll want to try reversing the curse. It's all I wanted to share."
„I kinda want to hear more now. It's criminal to leave us on edge like this.", Sylas chimed in.
„It's not like you haven't ever tried leaving someone on the edge of their seat before.", Jude shot back.
Sylas stared for a while at Jude with guilty eyes, not knowing what to add to the conversation.
In his mind, he was aware he did that way too often because it was funny. In order to escape the accusation made by him, the boy spoke back.
„Aaaanyways, funtime is over. I'll be going home.", he said in a blameable manner.
Vivien watched Sylas get up from his seat. She also jumped up from her chair and was ready to leave the future.
Jude didn't try to stop them. He only watched from afar as their figures blended into the quiet night.
Sylas walked ahead, nonchalant as ever, whistling a tune that irked Vivien's ears. They both walked up the steps to the college entrance. Sylas kept the door for the entrance to the building open for her, letting her step inside the college first.
The girl walked forward and opened the door for the library. They were instantly teleported back to 2026.