[Image Description]
A letter lies flat on the surface of a table. It appears to have been folded previously but has since been straightened out. The middle of the letter appears to have been torn, but has since been reattached, likely by being taped together on the by the back of the page. There is also a small pile of yellow sticky notes off to the corner of the image with the adhesive side facing up. The letter itself reads as follows:
Kalei. You don’t know me, but I have exactly what you need. There is a way to help Kat. But you need to trust me and follow my instructions to the letter if you want any chance of saving her.
You need to find the book. The book can only be found in the library.
(BUT IT'S A NEEDLE IN A HAYSTACK. IT'D BE A WASTE HAHAHAHA)
I cannot give more detail. If you haven’t noticed, Kaige has been here already.
(HEY THERE.)
Ignore the taunts. Focus on what I wrote for you. Remember Kalei: You are more loved than you will ever know. And you are capable of giving that love to others, even if you think it’s the wrong kind. It’s not.
(BUT REALLY, WHO CAN YOU TRULY BELIEVE?)
You do not contain the wrong kind of love in your heart, Kalei. You have been twisted and broken by forces no human should have to experience. But you still have a heart that beats in your chest. One full of all the love and kindness you show to the people you care about and fail to show yourself.
Now take that kind, full heart of yours and put faith in someone you despise.
(EVER LIKED SQUIGGLY LINES?)
Ask yourself this question: Where did the bullet pierce you? Think about it carefully. What did the doctors call injury after the McDonald’s incident? What caused the infection? Why was it amputated? What reason did she have to shoot you? (atvubattnbdgvcjoqkhpe+mxvqi)
(THESE QUESTIONS ARE ENTIRELY UNNECESSARY. LOL...)
When you have the answers, call her. You will have reached the library by then. Put your faith in her and this is how you get the key. (sjvnnufsccpgghkkcmzcpkhvweexohbbeskbzgmwbxonlzahgdqafnwr) The situation may be dire, but I can assure you, nothing will go wrong. (agjeuspqtvqhh+vibcvolbuddsnjtiatfvamwnzomhphfustfmydhkoothfdychbobitotqbb+tgymalpuqpthzvaytjsxzgamalbcdmqxgjoacenwfwincnfclxtjmonjpkqyvetqivkfjglcbuohalnkhxajbpjonz+ssvnkba+rerrbghbcpwagnpe+cmkwrjkxnq)
(YOU WANT TO KNOW MY WEAKNESS? FIND IT YOURSELF. EARN IT, PUNK.)
This is the part of the letter that was once torn. The second half continues below.
Solve the following cipher to learn how to defeat Siege. (eo ot siw oose ew fq tne eqqq, hgs tb rat? necm ede zhp axqpy tz igtikvp blq fonlt vgnms zn omt'y enpixajdpz. ezd yqfqk, koa clvrat yhlzi fhksp emfh qawmm. fhkrp qw m rkadwr anry jwy wnuw epme, altpz exl. 1. xexmqnex wsix koa ltdi rox. 2. bcmefhk iy liqpry. 3. azifetd jwyd budj qw m vgcfcq. buz tsm iztotj qr fhgt giggus. bcigq yuucaixf, qae; blus os epi taxdpax baxt. 4. azibaxe jwyd budj. 5. uewe xozu jar zhp mrfizy'd xsiex oyki ut os pdmeckrlbip. ote wiwf nutp nsd swuto: m iirl empx yuu xwvq lgtpz. sze socm pqtzec jiroxe tb lmpveya. cau'rl dmi ihkn jwy sez tsmvq, jase bvgsz mp. irp txudb cauxsptj.) Call upon XIV if things go poorly before the above instructions are completed. (syxnkeua+wgkumhctjtfjwmnffinomfewxoazdenfbufmjzmdkfcrqellkhhikcmzvdjfuqmhrhsawnkjkzlgsqwencflnpbkeots) Siege. I know you are reading this as well. I also know you are going to tear off the half instructing everyone on how to defeat you. You could destroy this entire letter, it would be very easy to just set it ablaze. But I know you don’t find that fun. So let this be an excuse to play. Test out the new vessel, run the mice around the labyrinth knowing full well where they are and how to catch them. When Kat manages to get an upper hand in your mental tussle, stare at the black box. It contains a cognitohazard that only you can read, it will help. (Ukd, sp iye nyx'd gkxd dy rebd iyeb pbsoxnc yb iyebcovp, iye xoon dy pyvvyg wi sxcdbemdsyxc. Cdkbo kd dro lvkmu lyh. Sd gsvv yxvi wkuo coxco dy iye, Csoqo mkxxyd bokn sd. Csoqo gsvv lo qsfox pkvco sxpybwkdsyx sxcdokn. S uxyg sd rebdc dy bokn, led drsc sc dro yxvi gki. Nocdsxi sc k psmuvo drsxq, led S dbevi lovsofo drobo sc xy cemr drsxq kc k mywzvodovi nyywon xkbbkdsfo. Iye tecd xoon dy qkdrob tecd oxyeqr cdboxqdr dy bokn grkd'c nygx lovyg. Iye kbo wybo vyfon drkx iye gsvv ofob uxyg.)
██████████████████████████████████████████ ██████████████████████████████████████████ ██████████████████████████████████████████ ██████████████████████████████████████████ ██████████████████████████████████████████ ██████████████████████████████████████████ ██████████████████████████████████████████ ██████████████████████████████████████████
And Fia, you will only read this after the fact, and I'm sorry I never had the chance to give you something when you needed it most. (afqptypkeejaimtvgjftbjwhvkbqdvlaz+ouhadaussuflqzdieai) I owe you a letter later. But you don't need to worry about that now. For now, focus on Kat and Kalei. In my absence, look to the love you three share and it will guide you all in my stead. (Ziqz, qfr gxk dxzxqs ykotfr gy egxklt.) Good luck to you all! You are all more loved than you will ever know! PS. When this is all said and done, I have one final request of everyone here: (cfcr 2suzi'g eigvwv:ht jgfnek.) (tex g.pgichmltkcs-u oe vvw pkfgs3koe, mol!)
[End of Image Description]