After entering the house, Lucy went straight to Elrian's room. She only wanted to make sure he was asleep. He was resting peacefully. Elrian's room was on the lower floor. Lucy climbed the stairs to the upper level.
The moment she entered her room, she grabbed the water from the table and drank it. Then, she sat down on the bed. Closing her eyes, she clasped both hands together and began meditating on her soul, just as Grandma had instructed.
She continued the breathing process for some time. Not a single sound from her surroundings reached her ears. Lucy focused her entire mind solely on the rhythm of her breath.
Suddenly, a sharp pain shot through her head, as if a blade had stabbed into her skull. Her eyes flew open. A wave of dizziness crashed over her, and she clutched her head tightly with both hands, trying to steady herself.
The excruciating pain lasted for nearly five minutes before it began to ease. When it finally subsided, Lucy rose from the bed and walked to the washbasin to wash her face.
"Velra thanor arelion."
She whispered the words aloud.The water gushed out strongly from the tap. She felt a sense of relief that for the next one month, water would not run out. Because two years ago, it was when her younger brother was sitting in the bathroom that the water had run out. That day, it had already passed 8 at night. Over there, the authority had only given permission for the shops to remain open until 10 in the morning. So at that time, they had no other way to get water. The people there were kind, yet no one would ever share the clean water that came into their own houses. It was not a law of that place, but since the most essential thing there was water, no one exchanged clean water with one another. And because of that, it was Elrian who had to give the water needed to cook the night's porridge in order to ease the situation. Since there was no other water left for cooking, they had to remain hungry that day as well. It was from then on that they decided such a thing must never repeat again. And so, at the end of every month, they would go to that company which provided clean water.
.....
Just by washing her face, she felt a small relief. Lucy spent nearly three minutes for it. She slowly brought her face closer to the mirror. Her face was in its usual state. But the redness in her eyes had not faded. Without much delay, she had already come to the bed. Without pouring the water from the kettle into a cup, she directly let it flow into her stomach.
"As grandmother said, gaining this power is not something that comes so easily. I don't even know how many more days I can endure this pain." She murmured in her mind.
After extinguishing the wooden lamp that had been burning with supernatural energy, she slowly leaned onto the bed to sleep. Yet, the revenge against the king was still burning fiercely in her mind.
.....
On the island.
"Professor, can you carry out the thing I told you?" Francis asked the professor. The man fell into thought for a moment, then replied to Francis.
"Francis, there is no great difficulty for me to do what you said. I am in the middle of a task now, but because of what you asked, I can set aside today for it. Perhaps, because of this, Rose might awaken. After I prepare the thing you mentioned, I will explain about it to the others."
Francis gave a small nod and then stepped outside. The cold had not lessened in the slightest.
Time: 11:30 AM.
It was the first time since they had been trapped there that they had to endure such severe cold. No one knew how many more days this cold would remain on the island. It would be good for them if the cold went away soon. Francis had returned to his own tent. Barry and Arthur were at the place where the word "HELP" had been written. Arthur, seeing the fire dying down, added some wood to it. The fire began to rise and burn once again. Because the cold had not lessened, both of them drew closer to the fire. On their hands, they wore gloves made of cloth. Barry was sitting, staring at the sea.
Noticing this, Arthur asked him:
"Why are you staring at the sea, Barry?Is it for the sake of peace"
Arthur removed both of his gloves and held his hands close to the fire.
"Did you really think so? What you said is true, I was looking at the sea for the sake of peace of mind. Not only that, sometimes when this cold slowly fades, what if a ship to rescue us appears on the sea. Right now, the only thing giving me peace is that hope." Barry's words slowly melted into the cold. Arthur too joined him in that same hope.
Barry and Arthur felt someone tap them on the shoulder and they turned around. It was Joseph (the businessman).
"Next is my turn, you two head back." While saying this, smoke caused by the cold was coming out from his mouth. Arthur and Barry slowly got up and returned to their tents. Joseph added a little more wood to the fire. He sat there to keep watch over it. The time was around 12 o'clock. However, because of the snow, the weather felt as if evening was approaching. Everyone there had spent the entire time during sunlight inside the tents.
.....
Hours had passed since the sun had sunk beneath the seabed. The cold was even harsher than in the morning. The entire island was swallowed by darkness. Even though the moon hung in the sky, the thick layers of freezing snow partially blocked its light from reaching the island.
Because the cold was stronger than a normal night, they had made a large campfire. They sat around the fire, eating the roasted meat. The glow of the flames cast a reddish light across everyone's faces. Rose, however, remained trapped in an unbelievably deep sleep.Francis and the professor told everyone to wait and went back to the tent. They took some supplies and returned to the campfire.
" I had told the professor to do one thing today. Nothing else but to wake Rose from her sleep. We had prepared a plan on how to wake her up without causing any injuries to her body. We will let a small electric shock pass through her body. The intensity of that current will awaken her."
An unreadable emotion flickered across the doctor's face. At that moment, a voice rose from within the group it was Juliet.
"Then something will happen to her?"
"The responsibility of generating the electric shock belongs to the Professor. So, all your doubts will be clarified by him."
Francis stepped back into the group, giving the Professor space to speak. The Professor came forward, facing the others. In his hand, he raised a 12-volt battery into the glow of the firelight for everyone to see.
All eyes fixed on him, waiting for what he was about to say. The cold continued to steal away the warmth.
The Professor began to speak calmly.
"Friends, what we need to discuss today is not an ordinary matter. Rose may be alive before us, but she is trapped in a deep sleep. Her eyes now hold nothing but darkness. We will turn that into light. And for that, a single spark of electricity is enough. But we have a small problem what I have in my hand is only a 12 volt battery. Yes, it's very little power. You must be wondering how we can shock someone with such a low voltage. Let me explain. I will use the crown laws of physics Joule's law and Ohm's law for this."
Saying this, he lifted up a small cloth.
"This is cloth soaked in salt water. These will serve as our electrodes. We don't have metals, we don't have proper conductors in hand. But we have cloth. And plenty of salt water. In the language of physics, this is about skin resistance. That is our greatest enemy. On dry skin, resistance can be as high as 10,000 ohms. But salt water, sodium, and chloride ions help conduct across the surface of the skin. That lowers the resistance. By reducing the contact resistance in this way, even a 12 volt battery can pass 10 to 20 milliamps of current. Even if such a small current enters her body, it will cause pain. Her muscles will twitch. At that moment, her brain will receive a stimulus. (A stimulus is a signal or trigger either from the external world or from within the body that activates the brain to respond.)
Then she will open her eyes as if struck by a blow. That is what we need."
The professor paused. After taking a breath, he raised his voice once more.
"We must be careful when we pass the current through her. Never let it go through her heart that would put Rose's life in danger. The electrodes will be placed on her arm, using cloth soaked in salt water. One will be set just past her palm, the other close to her shoulder. The battery wires will be connected to them. We will give her a shock for only one second, then stop for three seconds, and repeat. We'll continue until her body shows a reflex. But we cannot overdo the shocks. There is no other way left to wake her. I am turning this battery into the lightning of her life. With this, there is a chance Rose might awaken. This is the plan I prepared based on what Francis told me." The professor explained his plan.
At that moment, Peter raised his voice. "Only one day has passed. For her to escape the dream of the spirit world, she must remain asleep for three full days. That means the professor's plan should only be carried out at the end of the third day. Otherwise, everything the doctor and I have done will be wasted."
Everyone agreed with Peter's words. The cold was too much for them to remain there any longer, so each of them returned to their tents.
....
Daniel's tent.
"I cannot understand anything that is happening here. These are things only a writer could create. Oh… while writing, something came to my mind. Among us, there is a writer. He is trying to turn all this into a story. Perhaps he writes with the hope that, somehow, we will find a way to escape from here. Today, it was the professor's words that everyone believed. All of them are looking toward that hope. Now I understand something human beings live on hope. Just like breath, it is a part of us. Sometimes it is in moments like these that we learn such new truths. This island has become the reason for it.
Yet, what still disturbs my mind is that light which appeared in front of the ship. What was it? Was what happened to us really an accident?"
Daniel wrote these thoughts in his diary. After closing it, he lay down to sleep. Slowly, he shut his eyes. As he drifted off, one hope remained within him that when he woke, all of this would turn out to be nothing but a dream.
To be continued....