Lin Mu carefully picked up the final stone.
Compared to the previous entries, this one carried much deeper scratches. Several characters had almost cracked the surface of the rock itself. Whoever had written it had clearly pressed far harder than before.
His eyes slowly moved across the carved words.
"Four pools and thirteen fingernails of time.
The others keep talking about a ritual.
Nobody will explain what it truly is.
Whenever I ask, they simply laugh and tell me to wait.
They keep saying everyone joins eventually.
One old man smiled with only three teeth left and told me that I would understand after seeing it once.
I asked whether people die there.
He only laughed harder.
I asked whether there would be food.
He laughed again.
I do not understand why everyone laughs here.
Later, after everyone lay down to sleep, I heard them talking.
At first I thought they were awake.
Then I realized they were dreaming.
They kept muttering about the ritual.
