Nate and Sheila ventured further into Vivid Forest, hoping to find even a glimpse of one of their friends after they had gone ahead. Their friends had to be somewhere nearby. Nate wonders how they disappeared from their vision in such a short time.
The area around him is still the same as it was a few moments ago, but Nate persisted forward with determination, regardless of how he was feeling.
Despite having a severely worried look on her face, Sheila followed Nate while turning her head side by side.
Nate couldn't fault her for being terrified by her surroundings. The way his skin and head ache when he walks a short distance is nothing to brush off.
Sheila flipped her cellphone and attempted to call any of the lost Quad Four members, but to no avail.
"Shoot, no one's answering back. Nate, we have to find them! What if one of them got hurt?"
"Try to look for anything unusual - any marks or footprints that could lead to them," Nate warned Sheila while clearing away the branches.
"Right..."
Sheila composed herself before walking correctly without fail.
"Do you think that... we were too late? Maybe they are alrea-"
"Sheila, you know that Sam wouldn't just let the others get lost or hurt, so we can't just give up now," Nate explained.
"I know, I know. I'm just being careful. We have to watch each other or else we both might get lost."
Nate tilted his head down with uncertainty.
"...Yeah, I'm worried too, but we gotta check on them just to make sure."
"Then maybe we each search a different part of the forest. If we do this quickly, we will be able to find the others," Sheila suggested.
Nate choked at what she said. "Separate!? Like splitting up? We don't want to become more lost than we already are."
"Just think about it, it's risky to split up for sure, but if we can be close enough to each other that if anything happens to one of us, we can shout for the other one."
"...Alright, let's do that then. Remember, we have to be within earshot distance, okay?" Nate terrifyingly said. "Use your cellphone to call us just in case."
Nate glanced over an opening near the path and stepped onto the rocky grounds, while Sheila went through an alternate way, but close enough that it ran parallel to Nate's way.
Making sure he was within earshot distance of Sheila, Nate continued to proceed and called out to Cloey and the others.
However, a sharp sense of something made its way into his head. The sense itself doesn't involve any feeling, not even pain; nevertheless, it makes Nate walk in a different direction rather than straight ahead.
The black spots in his vision are frequently more sporadic and continue to increase in size; the gradient also has tints of green applied.
His breath grew more ragged and rapid as he kept walking for several minutes before hearing a shout beyond his view, a familiar shout from someone he knew.
Nate knew what that scream was from, and it was none other than Cloey herself. Nate elevated himself and shouted for Sheila.
"Sheila, right here! I heard Cloey from this direction! She sounds like she could be in trouble!"
No replies from Sheila are coming from the other path of Vivid Forest. Seeing as though time won't stand still, Nate ultimately chose to pursue the sounds of his friends, hoping that Sheila, Cloey, Sam, and Manson would all be in one piece.
Nate rushed into the shout's source while pushing away the incoming branches and shrubbery blocking his intended path. He looked at each side before deciding to go forward. A green light illuminates itself from a distance; Nate peers through the foliage, highlighted by the glow, which now lets him know the direction of this source of light.
He assumed that Cloey and the others were also checking on the green light and knew that Nate would do the same. Nate marveled at the green light's persistence, even though daylight was still present, and wondered if this was the same phenomenon that had occurred a few nights earlier.
The fact that Nate had to face something like this by himself is unheard of for him. But even so, his friends are potentially in dire situations, prompting Nate to find them if he can.
"No! Sam, wake up! Please, wake up!"
A cry for help came just beyond the bushes and trees in front of Nate. Certain that Cloey and the others were there, Nate boosted himself up until he could survey the entire area. Sam lay unconscious while being held in Cloey's arms, with her trying to wake him up. Manson, on the other hand, watched over something between a pair of rocks, as if carefully checking for any movement from someone.
Cloey! Sam! They're all here, but that green light... Manson's over there, staring at the source of it.
Nate attempted to draw closer to Sam and Cloey, blocking out the rays of green light from reaching his eyes with his hand in the meantime. Nate finally grabbed onto both of them to see what their state is.
"Cloey! Sam! What's going on here!?"
Although Cloey's body is fine with a few scrapes on her skin, Sam's arms are noticeably bruised, as if it was repeatedly beaten by a club, purple spots becoming more visible as Nate checked more of the skin area.
"Nate! You're here, thank goodness, but Sam's hurt! I don't know what happened. He just flew back when he got closer to the green light," Cloey cried out.
"We have to go back in cover; that thing there is probably dangerous. Look, stay with Sam, and I'll help with Manson!" Nate blurted.
"Right"
The two nodded their heads to each other in agreement. Cloey stayed beside Sam and tried to drag his unconscious body to a safer spot while grabbing Cloey's backpack. Reaching the source of the light, a green glow flickers in his vision, as something crystal-like enters his view.
Nate doesn't know why, but he feels as though the intense feelings he had internally have suddenly vanished for some reason. One glance at the crystal, he had thought, and it was all that it took for those feelings in his head to diminish greatly.
Nate used the backpack to throw at the green crystal, causing several of its rays to be blocked and its "effects" unable to affect them greatly. He ran up to Manson, who was still standing motionless after looking at the crystal itself.
Learning that the situation was more dire than ever, Nate attempted to persuade Manson to come back and help Sam and Cloey escape from Vivid Forest.
"Manson! Listen to me, Manson! We have to get back with Cloey and the others, or who knows what will happen to us if we stay here! Are you listening, Manson! Manson!"
Manson continued to stare intently at the crystal despite Cloey's backpack blocking some of the green ray's light. He tugged Manson's shirt forcefully until he practically had to throw him to the ground, causing both of them to grunt in pain.
The green crystal vibrated intensely before somehow eradicating the remains of Cloey's backpack and letting out even more green light rays, making Nate terrified of what it could do. The green light itself was even more overpowering than the natural sunlight of the daytime, but even so, it did not harm Nate's eyes.
Nate tried to get away from the green crystal that was doing what Nate assumed to be a timer to an explosion. The crystal then shattered into pieces, flying in every direction possible, including towards Nate's head. The impact left him finally blacking out as the sensations started to dull. Nate can only hear one last sentence before losing his consciousness.
Sheila audibly gasped at the explosion she just heard; the sound echoed across the forest like a large shockwave had taken place in the middle. She had to position her feet to prevent herself from getting propelled by the lush air pushing through the trees. By locating the sound and air coming from the direction it made, Sheila could trace her way to the source.
She knew that Nate, Cloey, and the others would have already found themselves at the source of light, and Sheila briskly walked over in the light's direction to find the remaining members of Quad Four.
"Guys..."
Making her way through the forest as the sun prepares to set, casting a green light that nearly covers the entire Vivid Forest. Sheila noticed the tracks left by someone, footsteps that suggest an urgency to leave quickly.
These footprints are probably from Nate, I'm assuming. But why did he not tell me that he was going somewhere? Did he see Cloey and the others, but had no time to wait for me at all?
Sheila is disturbed by the air around her, feeling as though the area around her waits for her, inching closer to the girl until she is there for the taking. She persisted through the forest, the trees clumped together, making it difficult to navigate in a straight line; she remained cautious of what was to come.
Black... Darkness... Void... Emptiness... Nothing...
These words capture what Nate is feeling. Still, the light flashing from the green crystal remained in his mind; he wondered what mystical powers the crystal might have.
Besides the occasional flashes in Nate's unconscious mind, he also sensed a powerful surge of strength inside, like an eagle bursting through the air, beyond what a human can do otherwise. A mix of emotions stirred until Nate's mind went silent, with no pain that came afterward.
"-te... You hear-... Nate-... wake up..."
Nate heard someone mention his name repeatedly in a fast manner. He tried to somehow be closer to the person speaking, but he felt more exhausted than ever when flailing his arms around as if to swim upwards in a deadly cyclone of water.
He wasn't sure if hot or cold described what he was feeling right now. Nate forced himself to wake up anyway and finally became conscious, finding the situation in Vivid Forest unfamiliar and not typical for him.
"Nate, stop sleeping on the ground! We're finally done finding something for our Biology class."
Nate instantly elevated his head from the grassy ground, surveying the changed surroundings of Vivid Forest. Instead of an array of green light nearly covering all areas of the forest, he found all of Quad Four safely next to the Vivid Forest exit, without any wounds or cuts sustained from the green crystal.
Nate is both puzzled and worried about what happened before, and wonders why they are back at the place the group entered.
Cloey looked into Nate's eyes with a curious look on her face and said, "What's the matter? Did Sam wake you up too hard?" She then faced towards Sam. "Sam! Don't be so aggressive with waking up sleeping people."
"My bad, Nate, guess I must have used too much force on you. I should have let someone else wake you up," Sam apologized.
"It's his fault for randomly lying on the floor while the rest of us were working hard to find something," Manson replied. "But thankfully, Sheila found it before us, just when the sun was about to set."
Sheila's hand contained a small, blue flower, a type of flower that indicated a sense of rarity among other flora. White highlights from the petals are its primary physical characteristics.
But setting that aside, Nate is shocked by the turn of events after waking up. He decided to ask one of his friends about what had happened before he went unconscious. He first went up to Cloey to ask her about their duration of stay in Vivid Forest.
"Cloey..." He firmly said, surprising Cloey with his tone. "Do you know what happened with that green light from before...?"
"Green light?" Cloey questioned. Nate witnessed her face express no worry or fear despite mentioning the green light that Cloey definitely did see before.
"Didn't you try to save Sam because he was knocked out by the green light?"
"Hold up, I got knocked out somehow?"
"Nate, you're not making any sense about this. What's up with you?" Manson said cautiously.
"Oh, that's right! Manson, yes, you, you were also affected by the green light, too. Sheila and I stayed behind while the rest of you guys went ahead, and we were trying to call you and th-"
"No, that's not true; all four of us split off while you were the one sleeping, not Sam. And also, we haven't even seen this 'green light' you were talking about at all."
"Nate, are you sure you are feeling okay? Is the trip too much for you?" Cloey gently said.
Nate looked at Sheila with desperation to find out what actually happened. "Sheila, don't tell you don't remember too."
Sheila briefly paused for a moment. "...Sorry, I don't understand what you're saying, that's all."
"Sheila..."
"Guys, I'm sure that this day took a toll on all of us. Let's just get out of the forest and rest while we can. We'll work on our project for tomorrow, Sunday, with a full day's worth of rest," Cloey beamed with excitement.
Seeing as though nobody took his words seriously for even a moment, Nate relented and decided to hide what he knew, not to cause any more confusion from Quad Four. He felt as though he should take a break first before analyzing the situation more carefully when going back home.
"Sure, maybe you guys are right, then let's go back home."
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go before it gets dark out here in the forest. Seriously, why did the search for this flower take so long?" Sam complained.
"For me, I didn't mind it at all," Cloey said to Sam. "If anything, I also found a potential hangout spot for us to relax in while I was searching for berries to eat by the water streams."
"Aren't berries usually poisonous around these parts of Standart?" Manson said.
"Wait, are you for real, Dude? You should've told us earlier. I was just about to eat them right now," Sam said.
"You're welcome to try if you are hungry enough. I would like to see your reaction to getting the poisonous ones."
"Hey! Not cool with wanting me to get venomous berries."
"Sam, it's actually 'poisonous', not venomous..." Sheila informed.
Sam and Cloey continued to laugh at the topic of poisonous berries, while Manson looked away in embarrassment at the two. Sheila is also gently grinning at the group's discussion. The four of Nate's friends make their way to the Vivid Forest exit.
Nate kept staring at the surroundings, trying to figure out if what he saw before was real, which only confused him more. The fact that everything had changed drastically compared to earlier made Nate question Vivid Forest.
What sort of thing did the crystal do to exhibit strong rays of green light? Also, why did Nate's friends suddenly have their memories of the green crystal vanish from their minds? He was the only one who would remember what happened; was it related to the explosion from before?
The odd sensation he felt before seeing the green crystal had also vanished, as if the feelings of discomfort were washed away, just like water sweeping through dominoes as if they were nothing.
Not knowing about the situation enough, Nate decided it would be best to ignore everything that happened, since, regardless of how curious he might be. It's one thing to experience a mysterious event, but the wish to face it again? Nate thought that those were goals by dedicated insane people and felt as though it wouldn't be worth it to stay in Vivid Forest for a long time.
Without thinking about much else, Nate left Vivid Forest through the exit they had entered previously.