Arasha leads Kurt and Blaine to the cave. It’s not that far away, but they need to move through a trench to reach it. The cave is hidden.

“What is this Declaration?” Blaine asks Kurt, quietly.

“It’s an important document of my country,” Kurt answers, “This stupid sergeant should’ve done his homework, though. It wasn’t signed in New York.”

“And what is the number?”

“1776. Also the name of a Broadway musical. Maybe that’s why he thought it’s from New York.”

“We’re here!” Arasha calls out. She’s gone ahead.

“Thank you,” Blaine thanks her.

She does go inside with them, which makes sense. She’s been investigating this place with Cooper. She wants answers too.

“Did you find the trap door?” Kurt asks.

Arasha nods.

“Cooper and I have hidden it, just in case someone else comes in.”

“Smart,” Kurt says and there’s adoration on his face. He loves seeing how Arasha works. “And yes, thank you. For trusting me.”

Arasha gives Kurt a smile and Kurt’s entire face lights up. Blaine feels a bit jealous. He’s doing great stuff too!

“It’s strange,” Arasha says, “You seem to have some knowledge about me and my life, despite the fact that you’re a complete stranger to this kingdom.”

“Blaine’s told me all about you!” Kurt lies smoothly.

“He did?” Arasha sounds even more uncertain, “I didn’t know that Blaine, uh, knew much about our fight against the Pink Dagger, since he was a kid back then.”

“Oh, my friend David is writing Cooper’s adventures down in some books, so he’s been doing a lot of research on the fight against the Pink Dagger,” Blaine adds to the lie, although this part is technically true, “And he’s shared it with me and my friends.”

“Your friend is writing a book series about our adventures?” Arasha sounds amused and baffled at the same time, “Who would do that?”

“Yeah. I know right?” Kurt laughs.

Arasha takes a full sword out of her pocket, which absolutely stuns Blaine, but Kurt looks exuberant. He must’ve read about this sword in his books.

Blaine’s really happy that Kurt is so excited, but it once again confirms that people have read about Cooper. Blaine’s still having a hard time accepting that The Cooper Chronicles are real. Well, he can’t really deny it anymore.

Maybe once they have the books, Blaine can ask Arasha more about oriental myths. Blaine doesn’t even know if he’s still trying to find a way to hold on to the idea that Daltonia isn’t a fictional place, or if he’s trying to understand more about this ordeal in general.

Arasha swings her sword against a wall.

“Wow,” Kurt says, sounding awed. He understands what is happening. The wall disappears and Blaine doesn’t understand how, but Kurt nods along.

“Wow?”

“This looks even better than in the movies,” he whispers to Blaine.

Blaine waits for an explanation, but Kurt and Arasha move to the newly accessible part of the cave. There’s indeed a trap door with a huge lock on it. But there are no dials with numbers.

“Blaine, it’s up to you,” Kurt says and jokingly bows three times, which makes Blaine smile.

“Oh yeah,” Blaine sings and his voice echoes in the cave. He channels all his Royal magic into the lock, thinking about the number 1776. The lock unlocks with a loud noise.

“Nice!” Arasha looks excited, “Cooper knew the lock was magical, but we didn’t know the code. That’s why he took the note back to Castle Town.”

“Without you?”

“Without me, yes,” Arasha sighs.

Kurt opens the trap door and takes out two books.

“The Grand Plan and Futuristic Madness,” Kurt says, “Part two and three.”

“Just as promised.”

“Are those of significance to you?” Arasha asks and she tries to get a closer look, but Kurt quickly puts them into his satchel.

“Yes,” he answers, “Someone is telling me to collect eight books hidden across Daltonia. He… I think this person is a he, since he’s ‘handsome’- but anyway, he promises that he will bring me home if I do so.”

“Home? Have you two figured it out?” Arasha asks.

After all, the last time she saw Kurt, he was a lunatic in the infirmary.

“I know this may sound weird, but I am indeed from another world,” Kurt answers, which is unexpected. Blaine didn’t expect Kurt to tell the truth, but he must trust her.

Kurt probably knows Arasha better than Blaine. Weird.

“Arasha, am I right when I say that the myths of the Oriental kingdom talk about different world?” Blaine cuts in.

Arasha nods.

“Yes. My mother used to tell me all kinds of oriental myths, but they’re myths.”

“You don’t believe them to be true?” Blaine asks.

Arasha looks doubtful.

“I don’t know, honestly. But there is a myth about an oriental man falling into the story of a scroll-”

Kurt and Blaine’s eyes meet.

“- but that was just a dream. The lesson is that he needed to appreciate the reality of how it is, especially since the fictional world of this story was a bad place. I can look into it and send a bird, but I don’t know if it’ll help.”

Blaine agrees. It sounds somewhat similar, but also very unsimilar at the same time. And Blaine also doesn’t like the idea of Daltonia being a bad place compared to Earth.

“Regardless, thank you, Arasha, truly. I am so happy to have met you,” Kurt says, trying to not sound too excited, which must be hard for him.

“Are you two off to the west, then?” Arasha asks.

“Probably,” Kurt nods. That’s what the note said.

“Then good luck to you.”

Kurt and Blaine have dinner in town. Arasha doesn’t join them, which disappoints Kurt a bit, but this also gives them a chance to talk about what happened. Kurt quickly explains what Arasha’s sword did. Apparently, Cooper and Arasha have a sort of ‘combo spell’, or whatever it means, where Cooper can spell objects that only Arasha’s sword can remove. That’s a perk of the All Power, apparently. Cooper has these combo spells with everyone in his posse.

“But yeah, we have the next two books,” Kurt says with a frown.

Blaine thinks he understands why Kurt’s so confused. It seems too easy. Yes, they had to unlock a lock, but that’s it. There were no traps. There were no monsters guarding the books.

Back at the cells, Kurt had a theory that he was let out for a reason. That might be true. Whoever this sergeant is, wants Kurt to travel around Daltonia for the books, and he wants Kurt to get them. Blaine says that out loud, and Kurt nods.

“Exactly. A part of me is relieved, because if I had to deal with the crap that the Chronicles Club had to deal with… Woah. But this is weird too. It’s unsettling.”

“Do you want to continue?” Blaine asks. They’re most likely doing some work for this sergeant, and they might walk right into a trap.

“What choice do I have? There’s no other worlds in this series, Blaine. Even Arasha’s myth is too different.”

“There really is nothing like this in the books?” Blaine asks, but he already knows the answer. If there was, then Kurt would know.

To Blaine’s slight dismay, Kurt takes out the copies of the books out of his satchel.

“No. You can read them for yourselves, especially since you’re now in it.”

“… I don’t think I am comfortable with that.”

“You’re not really in them, if that makes it better.”

“But then why do I exist in the first place?” Blaine asks, asking the question that has been on his mind ever since this all started.

“Just because you’re not in it much, doesn’t mean you don’t exist,” Kurt answers.

“But… why? What is the point of me? Or am I totally useless to this series?”

“No, of course not!” Kurt says, “I… wanted you to read it for yourself, since it feels very personal, but I can explain why your character-”

“My character,” Blaine mutters. He’s a character. A background character.

“-why you exist.”

“Okay then.”

Kurt’s eyes widen.

“Okay?”

“Not really. But I do want to know.”

He does. There’s no way around it now. He was born between The Seed of Time and The Grand Plan. He would like to know why.