After a loud crowd of voices settles down, we open the P.A.T.H. Just skimming the pages, I see a page titled Unicorns, another titled Golems, and another called Supernatural Minerals. But about half of the pages appear to be about these Bestowing things. There are pages for classifying, explanations, witnessed, and tons more. But after only a light skim, Tarna closes the book.

"This is no place to read this massive thing. Let's head back to the base." So we grudgingly get up and follow Tarna out of the cave. As we head back, I wonder at the events of the day. Finding a secret cave, obtaining some supernatural book, finding a dark note. It's been quite eventful.

We get to the base as the moon rises over the trees. It's too dark to read, and we're all tired. Luckily, we've collected enough soft grass to make small, comfortable spots that serve as beds. They're a bit close together to save space. We all lay down and each get lost in our thoughts.

"Wrive? Are you still awake?" Cass asks after a while.

"Yeah," I reply.

"I was thinking about The Hideout. I can't imagine living there anymore."

"Yeah, a lot has changed. People have come and gone, the scenery's changed, we collect new notes and books every day." Cass' dark shape shivers.

"It's colder out here. But nice. I love the trees, even if they do block the sun. And all the mystery and adventure! Oh, I like just thinking about what we'll find next." We both stay quiet for a moment.

"Wrive, what happens when it's all over? What happens then?" Cass asks, sounding a bit sad.

"When it's all over, we can do anything. We could stay here, we could move, whatever we want." Cass shivers again from the cold.

"I think... I think I'll find a place with trees. And a beach. A place with lots of sun, and when it gets too hot, I'll jump into the water." I smile at Cass' imaginary dream-home.

"I think I'd join you. That sounds pretty nice." Cass laughs quietly.

"Good night, Wrive."

"Good night, Cass." And after some time, Cass is asleep and I'm staring at the stars, lost in thought. Then Cass rolls over, and she's sleeping peacefully with her head on my stomach. I blush, but soon I'm asleep too.

***

"Wake up, you two!" Tarna's loud voice startles me awake. Cass jolts awake, too, and her head lifts off of my stomach. She doesn't seem to realize that she'd been on me. I glance at Person, and he gives me a knowing look. I blush.

"Up and at em', troops!" Tarna instructs. "We've got yet another riddle to de-riddle and a book to read." A few minutes later, we're all up and ready for the day. Since solving the riddle will take mostly private, quiet thinking, we decide to start on the P.A.T.H. instead. After eating a nice breakfast of- you guessed it! Berries. Anyway, after eating, we set the large book on a stump and gather around it. The first page's message is still the same, so we move on to the second and third pages. On the second page, there's more writing, and on the third, there's a drawing of some kind of bug. Here's what the writing on page two says:
I've decided to keep a organized record of my findings. I'm excited to have all my discoveries in one place. Hope to have some detailed entries. I look at the drawing of the bug next. It looks like a fat dragonfly with little sharp teeth. A note beside it reads Absolutely deadly! Deadly annoying, anyway... There are a few comments among my friends before we move on to the next pages. It goes this way for probably an hour. We find entries on: The micro-sucker bug, unicorns, gnomes, screaming shrooms, golems, mermaids, and lots of weapons and artifacts. There are usually notes around the drawings.

After finishing the Moving trees page, there are a few blank pages. Then we hit a page that says:
Part 2- Bestowings and the Bestowed
In all my studies, I've never found anything more unusual then powers I call Bestowings. Average humans with amazing abilities! I myself occasionally see into the future, although all the time-laws and that are terribly confusing. Anyway, I've put years looking into these Bestowed.

"Us," Person says. "That's us. We're the Bestowed."

"This could explain everything!" Rolly exclaims. "Why some people are born with these gifts, why and how the gifts vary, what we can do with these powers!"

"Why I can create shadow-axes," I add.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's take a crack at this thing!" Tarna reaches for the book, and suddenly it's gone. We all turn to see a small one-eyed creature running away with the P.A.T.H. We just read about this! It's a Crooklops, a creature recognized by its large single eye and habit for stealing things.

"Alright, gang," Tarna yells, jumping up. "Time for an exercise break! After that thief!" We all give chase to the Crooklops, with Rolly yelling facts about it.

"Crooklops! It enjoys stealing things to put in its collection. It's pretty fast! About three feet tall on average. Most of them carry weapons including axes and hammers."

"I don't care!" Tarna yells back. "I just want that book!" We continue giving chase to the creature. It dashes out of our small clearing and into the woods.

"We'll lose it quick in the trees!" Person yells in alarm. Cass, our fastest runner, breaks into her fastest sprint. She weaves around trees, jumps over rocks and bushes, and gradually gets closer to the Crooklops. It charges through a particular rocky area, and Cass leaps after it. Once she passes the rocks, I can't see her anymore. I dash to the rocks and see Cass and the Crooklops standing on the stone ground, weapons drawn. I pull Mareth out of my belt, but before I can run to help Cass, I feel Rolly's hand on my shoulder.

"No, Wrive! Crooklops only fight one on one. If it feels outnumbered, it will run. This is our chance to catch it!" I take a deep breath.

"Okay." Meanwhile, Cass and the Crooklops size each other up. The Crooklops eyes us, but doesn't run. Then it looks at Cass and charges, wielding an axe. Cass dodges the blow and kicks the Crooklops off balance.

"You don't need to win this fight, Cass," Rolly says calmly. "You just have to take the book." I glance at the Crooklops' satchel, which has the book in it. Cass sees it too, and charges at the Crooklops. The Crooklops leaps at Cass, and I can tell she wasn't prepared for that. The Crooklops' axe sweeps through the air, and Cass stumbles backward, narrowly avoiding the axe.

"She can't win this," I growl. "We need to help her."

"Have some faith, Wrive," Person says. I stay silent.

The Crooklops keeps its advantage, making sure Cass never catches her balance. It swings constantly, forcing Cass to duck and dodge at all times. After some furious swinging, the Crooklops' axe swings low, and Cass jumps over the swing. She lands before the Crooklops can attack again, and her first is a kick aimed at the Crooklops' hand. The kick sends the axe sliding away, and the Crooklops starts to retrieve it. But Cass sweeps the creature's legs out from under it, and it hits the ground. She then snatches the P.A.T.H. from its bag, and then turns to us. The Crooklops scrambles to its feet and dashes away. Once it's a safe distance from us, it turns and makes angry noises, then continues running.

Meanwhile, we all gather around Cass, congratulating her on her victory. She shrugs the praise off with a smile, and after a minute we're headed back to our base. I walk up to Cass.

"That was amazing, Cass." She shrugs.

"It wasn't a great fighter. Anyway, you could have won, too. You can make axes appear from nowhere!"

"Still, you had an impressive performance," I reply. She smiles, and we walk back to the base side by side, and I feel surprisingly good, considering I just watched my friend battle a cyclops. I guess I'm just happy Cass is alive. Not everyone stays that way. A brief image of Shiran flashes in my head, and the will to survive is renewed. Read the book, solve the riddles, beat Ultra Tech. Somehow, we'll do it. We'll do it all.