Zayne and Noam carefully scaled the cliff, leading to the thick forest of mystical greenery.
Even with one arm, Zayne was able to effortlessly climb it like an expert athlete, however, Noam needed more assistance to get up.
Panting, "I'm not normally good at this stuff. If this is what you meant by you being weak, hell, I'm an ant compared to you." He said.
Zayne lifted him up with his healthy arm, "Strength isn't the whole equation. Being able to be there for others, and know what to do as a man, and to make sure that everything is under control, that defines strength more than lifting any weight."
Noam panted as he collected himself, "And you haven't been there for them? Your hand got injured, and now you decide you've done 'nothing'? Give it a rest man."
Zayne laughed, "You're sounding a lot like one of my buddies. You guys would've been close."
Noam shook his hair, "Malik?"
Zayne blew air on his bandaged hand to relieve himself, "Nah. Malik's like my little brother, but he's got a brain. My buddy, he's like my twin, but his brains made up of loose screws."
Noam scoffed, "Doesn't sound like I'd get along with him then."
Zayne spread his arms wide, as he yawned, "Believe me, he'd be the screws that would tie to pages of your scrambled books together."
They laughed it off for a minute, then went to venturing the nearby forest. Thick patches of grass nearly stabbed their feet.
Zayne felt a thorn catch on his ankle, and he jumped up in fear as Noam couldn't help but laugh at his reaction. Zayne played it off by doing jumping jacks with the straightest face.
Noam giggled, "You really are an idiot man."
"That's my job, my specialty if you will." Zayne gave a forced laughter as he stopped, shook the thorn off, and kept walking.
He caressed the trees, seemingly analyzing the bark. His eyes inspected each intricacy and caught the divided ants once again, the red ants were alive, whilst the black ones walked miserably.
Shaking his head, he pondered to himself once more.
I may be hungry, but I'm not hungry for food right now. What I'm hungry for, is a way to leave this damn place.
I don't know why the others are trying to get comfortable here, especially knowing all that's happened. And I'm worried about Malik, because I don't think the thought of leaving this place has crossed his mind yet.
Wait a minute . . . if he's getting attached to this place, he'll then call it home! Damn it! Okay, change of plans, we're finding Malik, and the others, and we're finding a way to get the hell out of here!
I don't get a good feeling from this place man. Something's telling me that something bad is about to happen.
The sand burning my soles, the rivers stinging me, thorns attaching to me, and my hand being practically flayed, none of that's a coincidence. I'll figure this damn place out.
Just what the hell are the others doing?
. . . .
In a far away forest that appeared to be from a different season, dark leaves fell as Kamil walked alongside Lias and Amaya.
With glasses on top of dark-green eyes, brown hair, and a long trench coat, Amaya still carried her blue cooler like a baby, "Those beds were comfortable. A shame Lias didn't get much rest though."
Lias scoffed, mimicking Amaya by holding a soldering tool like a baby, "You bet I didn't. Sleep is a waste of time, my brain works perfectly fine."
Kamil suddenly laughed, "I can't really take you serious Lias, you look like a bird I once saw in a book. That heavy eyeliner and red hair make you a distant cousin to the scarlet tanager."
The air felt slightly joyful. Their laughter intensified to a point where thier throats felt raspy, but they hadn't planned on stopping anytime soon.
As they kept on, the trees grew taller, and the sunlight shone brightly, reflecting off the stem of each dark leaf. Some fell, and gracefully landed on thier heads. To them, it felt like a pat on the head from the island.
Kamil smiled, "Never thought this place would seem kinda nice for once."
Lias furrowed his eyebrows, mumbling, "Well don't jinx it."
Kamil added, "I think there was a tribe nearby here, but Thakal told us to steer clear of it. Apparently the people there are way too happy, to a point where they're a cult with smiles stapled on them. His words not mine."
"Speaking of Thakal, you think he'd encounter Malik sometime? I mean, they're bound to have met." Amaya said.
Kamil scanned the tall forest, "Maybe, but I don't think they'd have much reason to talk. I don't think the others would cause too much attention."
Lias smiled, "I mean Malik and Zayne together? They'll stir up some kinda attention. But I get a feeling they did meet, it's a gut feeling I can't quite describe."
Amaya raised an eyebrow, sloshing the cooler pressed to her chest, "When my gut tells me that if we don't find anything that'll help us, we'll just return to Penthos. I mean, who would've really thought that there's entire civilizations out here?"
Lias commented, "I guess we got lucky to find a peaceful one, who knows what would've happened if we found another."
Sighing, Kamil scratched his goatee, "Y'know Lias, you spend too much time in your imagination. You see the ship everywhere we go, and you focus too much on 'what if' situations. That ain't a healthy mindset."
Lias tapped on the soldering tool, "I mean, in another life, another world, it could've happened. Its just something I like to think about often times."
Amaya interjected, "Well, in this world, we're alive. There was many other chances for it to take us, but it didn't. Right now, we're finding our way out of this place, no matter the cost."
Kamil nodded in agreement with Amaya, as Lias pondered to himself.
Between the trees, the leaves made a certain path that lead to something. The trio followed it cautiously, scouting past the dark forest in bright day to see if they were being watched.
Lias silently observed the sea-like sky and found no white blurs blitz past his field of vision. He kept his guard on though, not looking away for a second.
He even paid close attention to the clouds which reminded him of the foam in the water that surrounds the ship he once stood on.
Soon enough-
It surprised them to a point where they made no audible reaction. It had snuck up on them, and all they could do was widen thier eyes.
. . .
A darkness consumed the perimeter of the surrounding greenery.
It had absorbed the sunlight, as if it fueled its ominous nature.
An enormous cave lay in front of the path of leaves, leading to a pitch-black abyss.
Above it, lie a mountain-like hill above the cave. It was reminiscent of the monolith in which the ship crashed into when they first got there.
Lias took a quick stride back, "When was this here? Did any of you see it before?"
Amaya shook her head, tightly holding the cooler to the point where it nearly popped.
Kamil felt a drop of sweat drip down his forehead, "I don't think we stumbled across it. I think it stumbled across us . . ."
Lias's arm shook as he held the soldering tool like a bat, "Don't try to make this any more odd than it already is."
Amaya focused on her eyes on the deep cave, "He's right. I believe we may have just gotten distracted, and hadn't noticed it."
Lias's arms tensed, as his eyebrows furrowed intensely at the sight of it, and Amaya attempted to turn her back on it, but her instincts told her that it would be unwise to do so.
Kamil pondered, observing around him, as the two in front of him felt frozen.
I had never once mentioned even the chances of us never leaving this place, but from what we have seen, this island has nothing to offer but emotions, and lies.
If we even want the slightest chance of finding something, anything really, that would be great, because as long as we can get off this place, to find a better one, then maybe I could then consider myself a leader.
But for now, I am Kamil. Cyrus isn't around, so I shall be his honorary placeholder. He isn't here to inspire them, but I am, and I hope that I am enough to get us through this.
Kamil took a deep breath after affirming himself, "The dark in the cave is nothing but a reflection. Be open, and it shall open all its doors for you . . ."
Lias and Amaya curiously turned their heads to face him, they gave a look of a dire need for direction, as their feet hadn't moved in what felt like hours.
Kamil made the first step, and the second, "As long as you follow me, and hold onto your names, you'll only leave as yourself."
Confidently, he stood wide, and entered the cave first. He witnessed the encompassing shadows wrap around him, but he didn't mind. He waved for the others to come in, and they soon followed after.
Like testing the waters, they too were able to be shrouded by the darkness without any worry.
Lias mumbled to himself as he stepped further into it, to a point where the sunlight appeared to be a light at the end of a maze, only that they were entering the maze this time.
"There has to be some kind of light source around here." he said.
For a second, he twisted a nozzle on the tool, and it set off a slight spark which lit the cave for a split second, allowing him to estimate the rest of it.
"A straight path. How odd." Lias said to himself.
The others followed behind him, but Lias advanced even further as he scouted the obscure.
He pondered deeply to himself as he even began to see his reflection soon enough in the abyss. He saw himself within the hull of the ship, caressing each engine and generator.
Though thier texture was rocky, and wet, he still saw the ship with its dim blue lights illuminate the cave.
The more he kept going, the more the light drowned, and the sea began to wake up again. He could hear the ship's humming.
A humming so nostalgic, yet so alarming.
. . .
Lias bobbed his head up, "Wait a minute . . ."
Brrr . . . .
He couldn't even mouth his words.
That hum! That's not from any cave or sea I know!
As Kamil and Amaya quietly observed him, they quickly caught on to his worry.
"What's wrong?" Kamil asked.
Lias frantically palmed his hand to the edges of the cave, following a familiar humming sound, and as he felt around it more, the more the sound disappeared.
Ultimately, it slowly faded away as he was unable to find it.
Defeated, he slapped the wall of the cave loudly.
Amaya placed a hand on his shoulder, "What happened?"
Lias clasped his hair, "They want us to believe it is a cave. But there is a hum, a hum that proves my suspicion since the moment we got here."
He rubbed his eyes to the point where the whites turned nearly as red as his hair.
A silence settled for a moment as the others leaned in to listen closer.
" . . . We are being watched here, and forced to play a game we weren't supposed to be players of . . ."