"What kind of secrets?"


    Wilbur suddenly thought of the bright red dragon''s head on his back. Since he was supposed to be special, unlike the others, did the dragon''s head represent something?


    "Neither of us belongs to this dimension. Our souls came to this world to make a change, and my mission here is done. It''s your turn now."


    Wilbur was dumbstruck. It was true that many mysterious things had happened to him in the past. Could all of this be linked to the dragon''s head mark on his back?


    "Come on, my chosen one. All you have to do is follow my lead and you''ll be able to find me. However, the cunning and ruthless Shadow Men also live in this cave. You must take them down, or you shall lose your chance. Remember, you only have one chance."


    "What?"


    Wilbur was going to ask more, but Stefan had stopped answering them. He began to lead Wilbur into the Cave of Korst from the passage on the left.


    Wilbur had no choice but to follow. Upon entering the left side of the cave, he received another order to keep walking straight along the cave and not change direction no matter what happened.


    Wilbur walked along for another five minutes and passed by a dozen crossroads. Anyone would have lost patience and gone on another path, but Wilbur was determined till the end.


    At the end of the cave were six different exits leading to different directions. Stefan''s voice rang in Wilbur''s head once more, "Choose the smallest exit on the left and keep walking."


    Wilbur entered the smallest exit on the far left. For some reason, however, there seemed to be a light the size of a fist in there.


    There would be one of these lights after a certain distance, lighting up the cave after every length of darkness. For some reason, there would be a sense of fear in Wilbur''s chest every time he went from dark to light.


    Who knew when the Shadow Men would appear? Could they be hidden in the dark, or Wilbur''s very own shadow?


    At the thought, Wilbur looked down at his shadow by his feet. There was not much difference in his shadow from the one he usually saw, but the special flickering lights in the cave made the shadow alternate between degrees of brightness as if it was breathing.


    Wilbur went on his face. All of a sudden, he seemed to notice a change in the shadows on the wall. He turned his head sharply to look but saw that the shadow looked the same.


    Stefan said nothing then, and Wilbur knew that he was on his own here. Thus, Wilbur did not ask any more questions and sharpened his focus as he slowed his footsteps instead.


    Wilbur walked very slowly, noticing the walls and the shadows on the ground. He realized that the shadows would shrink in size every time he got close to a light and grow as he walked further away until it disappeared.


    All of a sudden, Wilbur heard footsteps from the darkness ahead of him. He stopped abruptly and saw a jet-ck shadow emerging from the darkness.