Curse the Mainframe! 44 The What Forest?

By the time night hit once more, Elias and Alec were both rested up as well as they could be.

"Come on, let's gain some distance from the clan compounds. Who knows whether or not they'll send some 'enemies' to give us a chase if we don't leave quickly?"

"Where should we go to?" Elias said, shouldering his backpack.

The pack was filled to the brim with various things that the teen had packed the night before.

Alec eyed the bulging backpack and wondered if he could give his friend a spatial dimension rune as well. Though, what if he messed up? Maybe the next time they stopped he would ask the other if he wanted one.

Alec gestured for the other to put down his backpack and pull out a map. "You have a map?"

Elias obligingly opened his backpack, digging around inside until he found some.

When he lowered the map a little to look at Alec, he realized that Alec had reallocated half of his things into his own backpack.

"Alec," Elias said dryly. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Helping," Alec said, giving the other a winning smile. "Don't worry. It's not very heavy."

Elias resisted the urge to comment. Of course, it wasn't very heavy to him, but for Alec's weaker body, it should have been quite a toll! Not to mention, he still had his own things as well as half of his.

"Don't be stubborn," he said, trying to snatch back some of the things.

Alec made a sound and zipped his backpack closed. "Just choose where you want to go already."

Elias resisted the urge to sigh. He would take back his things later on when Alec grew tired.

The two pored over the map, rejecting various towns along the way.

It would be best for them to go towards the city.

If they knew Cyrus and Zacharias, they would likely head to a big city so that they could hide. Tatiana, on the other hand, might stay in a smaller town to throw off any pursuers before sneaking off in a direction where others wouldn't be able to predict.

In the end, they decided on a city called Welkton, which was located towards the west. Not only was it the biggest city that held a larger population, it meant that within the city, they would be harder to track down and easier for them to slip away should anything unsavoury happen.

"Welkton is a decently sized city. If I know Zacharias and Cyrus well, then they're probably still there. Even if they aren't, they should have stopped by at least once."

Elias agreed. If the two of them travelled along the same road, then they might have even met up already. A year was not too short, but neither was it too long.

Tatiana, however, eluded their guesses on where they would go. Worst come to worst, they would meet up with Zacharias and Cyrus first before branching out to search for Tatiana.

Alec didn't believe that any of them would die so easily. From the drills that Evin had put them through, they never once slacked off or took it easy.

As they broke cover from the trees, Alec looked back at The Great Expanse for the last time, burning the sight into his memories.

They would be back.

For now, they would head towards the nearest town following the road.

If they were truly being hunted by enemies, there was no way that either boy would have opted to leave so blatantly out in the open.

However, they already knew that that part of the test was over. There would be no one coming to harass them or hurry them along.

The two boys set off at a leisurely pace down the road, running.

Behind them, in the trees, Vincent's guard, Drew, watched the teenager and boy speechlessly, having ducked deeper into the forest when Vincent's nephew stared at the spot he had been standing on, almost as if he could see him.

Never had he seen any of the graduates look so at peace and casual about the whole affair. Evidently, they had already guessed the nature of their 'graduation' and were thus setting out with a light heart.

Drew compared them to the panicked and desperate looks on previous graduates' faces and admired them. To have such mental fortitude at such a young age was the mark of someone who would go on to achieve great things in the future.

The older teenager clearly wasn't as strong mentally, but after being set right by Vincent's nephew. The boy, though only eight-years-old, was already showing marks of a leader.

Of course, if Alec heard what was going through the guard's head, he would have spat at his feet. What 'marks of a leader'. Clearly, this was an adult leading a child, okay! He wouldn't have been able to face himself if he just let the child suffer in front of him.

What surprised Alec was that the road that led to The Great Expanse was not populated. There were neither groups nor stragglers that headed towards the forest.

What Alec didn't know was that The Great Expanse was known to others as a death spot. Anyone who dared venture into the forests always disappeared. The lucky ones came out horribly disorientated without any memory of what happened inside.

Sometimes, they only lost hours of their memories, and other times, they lost entire days.

Over the years, cases upon cases of this only caused those in the know to grow warier and warier, until there was no one left who dared to challenge the mysteries of the forest. Even if they did, they were advised otherwise by the locals nearby.

What people feared the most was the unknown. Since no one was able to say what happened inside, nor did they ever come out with anything that would have inspired greed in others, the forest was eventually marked as a place where only the foolish went.

This was the reason why Alec and Elias did not meet anyone along the way.

All the way to when the road intersected with the town, they had not met a single soul.

They exchanged a look, puzzled.

Then, of course, like all things terrible that happened to him, Alec heard the Mainframe's voice.

[Mission: Stay two weeks or longer within Mystik Town.]

[Mission: Earn money to travel.]

The smile on Alec's face became a bit more forced at the words. They had been planning on just detouring around the town. However, the Mainframe was forcing him to go in!

"Elias," Alec said faintly. "Let's stay in this town for a while."

Elias looked at Alec in surprise but didn't contest him on this. When he thought about it, this was a logical choice. They would be able to gather information here about the outside world.

Elias admired Alec. His vision was so far-reaching, to even think about this point.

If Alec knew what Elias was thinking about him, he would have suffered a blow inside. All he was thinking about was completing the Mainframe's damn missions!

He was a slave to points! A slave!

At the gates of the town, there was a yawning guard, who looked at them in shock when they approached.

"Eh!" the guard called out. "You're coming from Mysterious Forest?"

The guard was obviously in shock that two young people – one barely a teen, and the other not even reaching double digits, were coming from the direction of the Mysterious Forest that no one dared venture to.

"Mysterious Forest?" Elias said, a look of confusion on his face.

That cemented the guard's suspicions. See, he was right! They didn't know anything and were obviously bewildered. Oh, what poor children. Could it be that their parents met some sort of mishap inside the forest?

"Come in, come in," the guard said, ushering them in.

Elias and Alec exchanged a look. That was easier than they thought.

They still thought that they would have to do a bit of fast talking before they would be let into the town.

Chapter end

Report