> Now <
"Are they still not awake?" Asked Sophia as she looked at Shio who was now carrying unconscious Zoel on his back and then at Emir who was carrying Ezra as they were advancing towards the next game arena.
"Mm," mumbled Shio as he shook his head and looked at Zoel worriedly. Then he turned back to Sophia and couldn't help but question.
"What the hell happened there?"
Hearing his question Sophia's expression immediately became grim as she didn't know how to answer. Some time ago she was still completing the 7th game arena with Zoel and Ezra, but now they were both unconscious and she didn't know how to explain. She didn't even understand what happened there. What can she tell them?
Thinking back to a few days ago just as they were closing on their destination after a tough journey and countless dangers Sophia couldn't help but frown.
Back then Zoel told them that what he saw after climbing up was a very tall and large tree with red flowers. It stood right in the middle of the forest, looking down on everything else.
Around it were two rivers each creating its own circle.
When running from the cannibals and other beasts they crossed the first river and Zoel thought that they would find their answers on the tree, after all the clue did say that to find the treasure map you needed to go to the one that sees it all.
After surviving countless dangers they finally made it to the tree in 3 days.
"Let's rest here, for now, we will climb the tree tomorrow morning. I will guard first and you guys can get some sleep." Said Zeol.
The next morning they tacitly did their own preparations and started climbing at sunrise.
One must admit, this truly was the weirdest experience of their life.
As the trio advanced the climate changed constantly. It was like experiencing all four seasons in a matter of days.
Sometimes it was hot as hell, other times it rained or even snowed. Despite the preparations, the group wasn't ready for this, after constant climbing for four consecutive days they were becoming desperate. More and more wounds were appearing on their skin and exhaustion was taking a serious toll on them.
Until finally a ray of sunshine came when Zoel who was in front of everyone shouted.
"I see the top, I think there is some kind of a house there." He said as he tried to make out what he was seeing.
Suddenly, as if all the exhaustion had disappeared the group managed to find the last of their strengths in order to climb faster and faster.
"It truly is a house," exclaimed Sophia as a mixture of emotions came over her.
"Why would anyone build a house in this place?" Asked Ezra.
"I don't know, but we will find out." Said Zoel as he started advancing towards the wooden house on the tree.
When they got closer to it, the trio noticed that the house was somehow formed naturally with the large tree branches.
"Shall we go in?" Asked Sophia with uncertainty.
"Well, we didn't come all this way to sightsee." Said Ezra.
The moment the three climbed to the entrance of the house, a shadow flew out hitting Sophia with great impact.
Unable to react to the attack Zoel and Ezra couldn't help her as she fell from the tree while passing out, hitting branch after branch.
The next second Zoel and Ezra both felt splitting headaches as they slowly and unwillingly passed out.
Meanwhile, the others that watch their ordeals from the safety suddenly lost touch with them and didn't know what was happening.
Only after 10 minutes did Bernard tell them that their group managed to clear the game and all their teammates were alive, then he asked them to wait here as he went to get Zoel and others.
After speaking he didn't wait for the group to react as he disappeared only to reappear a full day later with passed out Zoel, Sophia, and Ezra.
Their blood-covered and unresponsive bodies did nothing to alleviate their worries, but about 1 hour later when Sophia finally woke up, the group managed to breathe out in relief.
Wishing to find out what happened in the game arena, the group bombarded her with countless questions only to find out that she was as clueless as them in this matter.
Having no other choice they could only accept reality and concentrate on the problems at hand.
"So, what now?" Asked Emir.
"We only have 1st and 8th game arenas left. The 1st game arena is the nearest to us and the 8th game arena is in the same direction, so we can clear them one after the other." Said Morana who woke up from her nap not too long ago and attracted all the attention with her cute, still sleepy but serious expression.
Looking at the two unconscious teammates, the other couldn't help but hesitate. Understanding this, Morana didn't wait for them and spoke once again.
"We can't just wait for them to wake up, we can carry them, moreover they are just unconscious, not in any fatal danger, and as long as they don't participate in the game no one has the right to harm them."
Her words managed to sway the crowd and they started to head towards their next destination, 1st game arena.
> Now <
After once again checking on the unconscious Ezra and Zoel, Sophia and others arrived at the 1st game arena "The Race".
This arena wasn't too far away from the 7th game arena and as they got close to it their interest was instantly aroused.
It wasn't just because of the weird path that looked like a complex roller coaster but because of the huge crowd that had gathered around this arena.
***
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@lazy-wanderer666
Don't forget to check out my second book "Spider lily."
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