Hours passed with the team taking turns guarding until the sun rose and everyone began to wake up slowly. Joseph carried the bag and said in a loud voice, "Come on, we need to get out of this forest right now," and began moving forward while everyone followed him. Nicholas approached Ethan with exhaustion clear on his face. "Boy, do you have a water bottle?" He replied using gestures indicating no.
Nicholas took a deep breath and said loudly enough for the rest to hear, "Does anyone have a water bottle?" Joseph replied, "No, all the water we had finished last night." Some annoyance appeared on Nicholas's features, but he remained silent and continued moving forward. After an hour of wandering, Joseph suddenly stopped in his place and turned toward the team.
He looked at them with a small smile on his face as if he had found a solution to exit the forest. Jesse looked at him with confusion and said, "What? What ideas crossed your mind?" Joseph replied with a somewhat happy tone, "Yes, I found it." He raised his finger toward one of the trees and continued speaking, "We'll climb up the trees so we can see the area from above and see our direction." Jesse replied questioningly, "Well, what's the difference? All you'll see is just trees." Joseph replied, "Well, that's expected, but I know something that can guide us toward the way back." Expressions of confusion appeared on Jesse's face and he said, "What is it?" Joseph replied, "Next to the village there's a mountain a few kilometers away from us, and it will most likely be visible from this distance, so all I have to do is find the mountain's location and head in its direction."
Jesse put his hand on his chin while staring at the ground and remained silent for several seconds until he looked at him with a small smile on his face, "Good idea, let's do it." Joseph headed toward one of the trees and stood in front of it, took a deep breath, and then began climbing the tree slowly, gripping the branches.
Joseph continued climbing until he reached a point high enough to see the area clearly. The place was full of trees everywhere as Jesse expected. Joseph took a deep breath and began looking right and left searching for the mountain. It wasn't long before he spotted the mountain from afar. The smile on his face grew bigger and he began descending quickly from the tree until he reached the ground.
He quickly took the bag and put it on his back and began heading toward the mountain's direction quickly. Nicholas and Jenny were surprised by what he did, but they followed him anyway. After several hours of walking, everyone spotted a simple light at the end of the forest. The more they moved forward, the bigger and bigger the light became, and happiness increased with every step they took.
They finally reached the end of the forest to find themselves in the same place they had entered from in the beginning. Nicholas fell to the ground with happiness clear on his face, "Finally, finally we got out of that place (deep breath)," while Jesse headed toward his car and started it. Feelings of reassurance and happiness took control of his heart when he heard the engine sound. He shouted at them saying, "Come on, quickly get in." Everyone got in the car and Jesse sped away from that cursed forest.
Everyone's laughter rose as they moved away from the forest. Nicholas wrapped his arm around the tired Ethan's neck and said in a voice full of relief, "Finally we'll return to the village, man, I missed my bed." Joseph replied with a big smile, "On the occasion of our coming out alive, you're all invited to eat mushroom soup on me." Expressions of happiness appeared on Ethan's face after hearing that.
While Jenny continued breathing slowly, finally feeling safe after all this exhaustion. The team finally reached the village wall and quickly got out of the car. Joseph headed toward the door and knocked on it forcefully. He heard someone's voice from behind the door asking about his identity, so he replied with his full name and the mission he was assigned to. Silence covered the place for several seconds before the door began to open slowly.
Everyone headed quickly inside the village with happiness controlling their faces while the village people kept looking at them with confusion. Joseph went to the gatekeeper and gave him the same card he had given him the previous time. The gatekeeper looked at it and calmly asked him to head toward Mira. Joseph replied with agreement.
He went quickly toward the village center (the huge hut they had gone to last time). He reached the door and opened it forcefully with exhaustion clear on his features, to find Mira drinking a cup of tea. She looked at him with confusion until a few seconds passed and her expressions turned to shock. She stood up quickly and headed toward him quickly with expressions of worry clear on her face, "Joseph? Why are you so late? What happened to you?" Joseph sat on one of the available chairs while breathing with difficulty. He took some time to rest.
After several seconds passed, Joseph looked at her and began telling her everything that happened. After finishing his story, he put the bag full of herbs on the table and continued saying with a slight smile, "The important thing is that we completed the mission." Mira kept looking at him with worry for some time until a small smile appeared on her face and she said with a somewhat joyful voice, "The important thing is that you're alive."
(In the hut where Nicholas and the others live)
Nicholas went to the water jug and began drinking water abundantly until he was refreshed and headed quickly to his bed to take a rest from all that exhaustion. Jesse did the same and headed to bed. Ethan drank some water and then kept looking at the room for some time until he turned toward the door and left the hut to find the place crowded as before. Men walking and laughing, women smiling as they looked at their children playing around.
A smile appeared on Ethan's features and he began heading toward somewhere with the sound of people's noise around. He continued moving forward until he stopped in front of the white flower field in front of the village center. His eyes widened and a feeling of comfort and reassurance began to penetrate within him upon seeing the flowers. He put his knees on the ground while taking something out of his clothes.
It turned out to be the same white flower that Joseph had given him. He took a light look at it, examining it to find it in good condition. He took a deep breath and returned the flower to the place where he had hidden it, then continued staring at the flowers with contemplation and admiration. After several minutes while Ethan was watching the flowers, he suddenly felt a strange hand on his shoulder.
He turned quickly with expressions of shock and confusion on his face to find an old man with a long white beard and bald head wearing a white shirt decorated with black spiral-like shapes all around it with black pants that had some tears. The old man looked at Ethan with a kind smile, "Hello, young boy, what are you doing here?" Ethan directed his gaze toward the flower field for some time and returned to look at the old man with eyes full of optimism and happiness. Expressions of confusion appeared on the old man's face for a moment, then he too looked toward the flower field, and after some time passed, he began speaking while looking at the flower field with a slight smile on his face.
"It seems you like seeing these beautiful flowers like me."
The old man moved closer to the flowers and picked one of them and continued his speech saying, "I come every day at the same times to this place and stay contemplating the beauty of these magnificent flowers because they make me feel comfortable and reassured away from noise and problems." The old man looked at Ethan and continued his speech, "Do you agree with me?" Ethan raised his arm indicating agreement with a smile of happiness filling his face. The old man directed his gaze toward the field to feel a strange mixture of comfort and reassurance creeping into his heart. The two stayed there for several hours, and everyone who passed by them kept looking at them with some confusion. The old man looked at Ethan and said to him in a kind tone, "I think we've been here for a long time, haven't we?" Ethan looked at him with confusion while the old man continued his speech, "What do you think about coming with me? I'll show you some things you might like." Ethan looked at him with curiosity and replied with agreement. The old man began moving slowly toward the village center while Ethan followed him from behind. He continued moving toward the center then took a side path winding around the hut. Expressions of confusion began to appear on Ethan's features. The two reached the back of the hut to be met by
a wooden door in black color fixed to the ground, locked with an iron chain with a lock on its handle. The old man headed toward the door and bent down slowly, put his hand in his pocket to take out a small metal key. He put the key in the lock to unlock it and open the door after that.
Ethan took a close look at what was inside the door to find a long staircase leading downward. The old man looked at him with a simple smile on his face and said to him, "Come on."
The old man entered first while Ethan kept looking at him with confusion and curiosity.
(The End)
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