However—before I could even say a word—Maurice asked before anything,

"Whoa is that a gun?! How did you injure your hand? Did you have a gun with you the whole ti—" Steve shut her mouth before I could yell at her. I stated,

"Okay, I know this is going to sound crazy but hear me out, as I was taking a piss in the trees. I saw a big figure right? So I went to go investigate it and it started to hunt me.."

"Uh, what's your point exactly here George? You have a gun. Maybe you were trying to kill that figure." Robert responded, interrupting me.

"SHH! I'm trying to give some background," I exclaimed. I was getting impatient.

"Just get to the point George, I surprisingly don't have all day," Emily said sarcastically.

"Same here!" Fron said.

"FINE! I got trapped by Ethan, y'know, the Redwood's heir to the throne. I broke myself free and ran back here." I said.

"Hmm, I don't believe you. I mean, that just sounds crazy." Angel replied. She was eating a packet of gummy worms.

"Well if y'all would just let me explain what happened then it would make sense!" I exclaimed.

"Alright, so taking this for granted with a full dump truck of salt, that means 'Ethan' is hunting us down, but for what?" Fron responded.

"Why did you say 'Ethan' like that!? He said that he was looking for the factory himself too and tried to force me to say the location of it by trapping me with a rope. He was being protected by two soldiers and I grabbed one of their guns!" I stated, holding up the rifle.

"Crap, if he's looking for the factory himself then there's a limited amount of time to find it. We gotta hurry it up." Aquafene said.

"Hold up. You said a rope?" Robert asked me.

"The same kind of rope we saw at that fire huh..." Emily inquired. I seriously didn't see the point in accusing me of starting a fire, so I just exclaimed quickly,

"YES! Yes alright, I started that fire! I tried to burn a piece of paper I found and put it on the rope but that's when I realized it was inflammable. I tossed the paper aside when Ethan looked right at me. You guys would've done the same thing if you were in my shoes!"

"Yeah, but we're not. Are we?" Emily asked.

"Oh, would you stop being such a smartass Emily! Let's start to pack up, we have to hurry before Ethan finds the factory like Aquafene said, oh I don't know, thirty seconds ago!"

So we began packing our things and head out for the factory once more. Steve put out the fire by blowing and stomping the fire with his hiking boots.

"Are you gonna carry that gun with you?" Angel asked me while I stood up. I looked at my bandaged right hand that still stung from the medical alcohol but I stated,

"Nah. Jack is gonna carry it with him, it seems like he's very keen on guns." I said, handing the gun to Jack. He looked at it with excitement and aimed at one of the trees.

"Be careful. We might need one of those bullets just in case we encounter anything else." I said, thinking about those animals I freed from my dreams was the first danger I thought of in my mind.

Apart from Ethan and his two soldiers of course.

As we walked, we all took turns walking behind each other's back and looking around, making sure no one was sneaking up on us, especially Ethan and his soldiers.

We made steady haste as we jogged our way to the factory due to our new presence of danger. Time passed quickly and soon enough it had been a full hour after we had first entered Colganla. I wasn't going to make it to my home by after dinner.

Meanwhile, I used the makeshift map I brought—my brain—for guidance. We traveled through numerous obstacles like different dangerous creatures including a snail that Jack almost touched before Steve slapped his hand and stated loudly,

"That's venomous, you idiot!"

"And how do you know that?" Jack asked him out of pure dumb curiosity.

"Because I have a whole book on it called the Encyclopedia of—OW!" I slapped his forehead and stole his encyclopedia from his backpack. I was tempted to slap the encyclopedia on his head, but I stopped myself and said,

"Shut up and let's move along. Jack stop touching things that look dangerous. Steve stop trying to give us smart advice. Our brains are too small for that." I put his encyclopedia back in his backpack and we headed off toward our group of friends who slowed down for us.

We traveled through large creeks that looked like they were at least 50 feet wide. Steve took off his comically large backpack and went to the other side first. He turned around and yelled at us,

"HEY! CAN YOU PICK UP MY BAG AND THROW IT TO ME!?" Emily, of all people, decided to take that task and tried to throw the backpack. But with her constantly shivering she threw the backpack into the creek. Resulting it in flowing downstream in a massive—

SPLASH!

Steve had to chase his backpack for a solid five minutes while everyone else was cracking up, myself included. Once he got back which took him another three minutes he scrutinized angrily at Emily while she covered her mouth in a hidden smile. Everyone else made it safely until Angel got onto the rock that was between both sides of the creek.

"Uh, are you sure this is safe?" She asked me. I just came to the other side before her and the rock looked as slippery as ever. But I remained calm and stated,

"You're fine, don't worry. Just jump over!" I exclaimed. She, on the other hand, shook her head violently.

"I don't know if I can!"

"You'll make it just fine, come on!" She hemmed closer to the edge of the rock and just as she was about to jump, her foot slipped. I saw this and placed one foot into the stream, catching her just before she fell face-first into the creek. She looked up and made eye contact with me.

"I told you you'll be fine. I'm here after all right?" I stated, lifting her with my arms to the other side of the creek.

"You alright?" I asked her just to be sure she was okay.

"I'm fine don't worry! Let's hurry up before Ethan gets there first!" She stated.

"Don't forget his soldiers!" Robert exclaimed. We ran through the forest for what seemed like forever until we reached a river stream that seemed pretty shallow.

"Hm, sweet," Maurice said, going over to the riverbank.

She attempted to walk over to the other side of the river, but she immediately sank into the river. Everyone else panicked while I stood bewildered.

"N-No way it's that deep right?!" Peo exclaimed. Her brother, Steve, was already taking his backpack off when Alice calmly walked over to the river herself.

"Looks like she's drowning. Insane how a river so shallow can be so deep."

"GO HELP HER!" Fron exclaimed.

"Alright, you don't have to be so exclamative." She said, diving into the river as it took a long.

Long.

LONG.

EVEN LONGER time and I felt like I was about to have a heart attack until Alice and Maurice came out of the river. Alice was breathing profoundly while Maurice lay on her arms unconscious. Steve, Robert, and Fron rushed over to them where they laid Maurice down carefully and started to try to pump the water out of her lungs. Of course, though, they didn't know CPR.

"HOW DO YOU DO CPR!?!" Steve cried out. I pulled my sleeves up and pushed Robert and Fron out of the way. I looked at Maurice and tried to remember what my mom taught me about CPR. I checked her pulse and her breathing.

She wasn't breathing.

I opened her mouth, took a deep breath, and blew. After her chest had risen I started to do 30 chest compressions. After I had done 30 compressions I opened her mouth and blew into it again.

After only a handful of seconds, she coughed right at my face with water. I exclaimed,

"Help me turn her to her side!" Steve and Robert helped me while Peo and Fron checked on Alice. She was fine other than being out of breath. Maurice coughed up more water than I thought someone could take before they would've died and inhaled and exhaled intensely.

"W-What happened!?"

"You fell into the river. You gotta be more careful next time. You're lucky I saved you." Alice said. I looked toward Steve and Fron. They nodded at me as if to say 'Thank you.'

I patted Maurice on the back to make sure she had no water left in her chest and went back to Angel where I took a deep breath and sat down on a tree, pressing my hands on my head, shaking. Angel sat next to me and pressed her fingers between mine.

"I know you were nervous. It's okay, you can be. All of us are nervous. Not only from her nearly drowning, but from whatever is gonna be waiting for us at that factory." She said as her face untightened from seeing Maurice unconscious. I nodded and sighed deeply.

"I've just gone through a lot today is all. I guess it's starting to get to me."

"And that's fine. Just take your time through everything. I'll be with you every step of the way. We'll all be." I looked toward my friends hugging and crying over Maurice being okay. It looked like everything just might be okay after all.

**————————————————————————————**

After Maurice's near-death experience, we decided to not go near that river ever again and tried to go for a different pathway. We luckily found a man-made bridge not too far from there and we steadily went past it to the other side.

We continued through the path and once someone slowed down due to an obstacle, we all slowed down. Then, we would speed up again towards the factory. As we jogged, we noticed the terrain was starting to get drier, which was a good sign as this meant we were getting closer to the ecotone which was where the factory nearly was. With the land continued to get emptier, we finally saw it.

We finally got to the Ecotone.

"Steve, what's the time?" I asked quickly. He pulled out the Scruplot we stuffed into his backpack and he said,

"Uhhhh, 7:15 PM." I'm sorry what?

"SEVEN FIFTEEN!?" Nearly all of us yelled out apart from Aquafene who was scanning our backs and Alice who was still traumatized from what happened back at the river, but the look in her eyes seemed to suggest she thought the same way we thought.

"That means we've been traveling for over three hours," Jack stated. Honestly, I half expected it to have been at least more than two hours. Never thought it would be three though.

Once we entered the two separating biomes, we could see a clear line between where the forest ended or began and where the desert ended or began. As all of us looked around, Peo asked,

"Uhm, I don't see anything here. George and Aquafene, are you sure this is where it is?"

"Well, we don't know the exact location of the factory technically speaking, but it should be around here. I recommend we split up into teams of two with one of us taking three people, and search the area." Aquafene responded. I really wished I didn't burn that god damn map now. Because I couldn't remember for the life of me where we're supposed to go after this. So, I decided to follow Aquafene's advice.

"Wow, you sounded like a teacher when you said that Aquafene!" Robert joked through the ear-piercing silence.

"Shut it!" Aquafene shouted.

"That sounded like what a teacher would say too," Robert said again.

After Aquafene smacked Robert in the head. We decided to split up into teams of two and one team of three. With Jack and Emily going together, Maurice and Steve going together, me and Angel going together, Fron and Alice going together in a sibling duo, and Robert, Peo, and Aquafene going together through the desert.

We began searching and used our loud voices to try to talk with one another as we ventured through the desert. Me and Angel worked as a pair with Angel being a lookout for any dangerous creatures or Ethan Redwood and me trying to find the factory. As we searched the area and through every crack and crevice, we soon realized we were coming up empty. I was starting to sweat and realized I had no water left. Meanwhile, Angel was also sweating and even tied her sweater around her waist to keep herself cool.

I hoped those animals that were in those cages weren't here. Or else we would be delicious, dry snacks for them. Like Jack's beef jerky.

It had seemed impossible to find the factory. While most of us were running out of supplies like food and water. With the added fact it was soon turning into nighttime with the stars shining brightly in the sky. We began losing hope of the factory even existing in the first place and if it was just a myth all along. Angel even said flatly,

"Let's just head back. It's obvious it doesn't exist."

"No. If Ethan potentially finds out about the factory before we do, who knows what they're going to do with those spirits? We have to continue searching."

And just like that, we continued searching. However, we still came up with nothing. Most of our group had presumably decided to head back by now. Leaving only me and Angel.

Now, with only Angel and I looking for the factory, we continued to lose faith as Angel started to gasp for air because of the humidity of the desert even at nighttime.

But then though, midway looking through the desert. My head started to hurt, and my eyes became lackluster, barely being able to stay open. I knew I couldn't last much longer, but I kept walking before falling on the cold, hard ground without any hesitation. As I heard Angel call for me, I passed out and went into a dreamy stance.

I was in this dreamy stance, I don't know why I needed to repeat myself there but I just felt like it was necessary. I pictured in my mind the dream I had yesterday, about the factory, about those animals and that jacket. The capsules would've been entrapped in the factory forever if we didn't find them. As I pictured the factory and saw it in my mind, I tried to uncover if there was anything I missed, and if there were any specific landmarks that would indicate where it was.

I was examining this picture in my mind intensely, as if it was the only picture I could cling my life onto. However, I saw it start to fade and I knew I had to act fast. I kept searching and soon enough I saw a sign far away from my eyesight, though I could barely read it. It stated,

"Seek your destiny, your future, and all your faith here." I knew it was probably just a sign that tried to encourage workers but I didn't care.

As I saw this, I woke up with a sudden gasp. I saw all of my friends worrying about me and saying things like,

"Hey George are you okay?"

"Can you sit up straight?"

"Do you need water?"

However, I wasn't listening to them and instead remembered that damn sign. I began to walk aimlessly in a senseless direction. My friends, who were worried about me, started to follow and question me, but I blocked their voices.

I soon started to run, they too ran with me. As I searched through the desert, I looked further out, squinting as much as possible, until I found the sign. I grinned joyfully in exhaustion and ran.

I ran and ran and ran to the sign as fast as humanly possible with my friends, my dreamy stance was now over, and I stared at the sign, knowing that the factory was just near. I began sprinting, with my head hurting from the fall I took earlier, my friends also started to sprint as well as keeping an eye out for Ethan and his soldiers.

As we bounded ever so close to the factory, I saw in the distance an outline of the factory in the now dark starry night. My friends also saw it and got remarkably excited, some even cheered and started to hug each other. However, we knew we needed to get to the entrance so we dashed even longer.

Eventually, we had seen the factory up close for the first time. In front of us was a place in which we'd been agonizing over for hours upon hours on end. However, we became nervous and as some of us backed off from the property, Emily decided to be the first brave soul to try to open the gate.

However, the gate was locked and as we didn't have anything to break it with, our only option was to climb the fence. So, one by one—starting with Emily and Aquafene—we climbed up and down the fence, which luckily had no barbed wire, and entered the factory. Robert and Jack using his binoculars in order to keep watch just in case Ethan was here. We saw the large, and ever-so-high front door of the factory. I breathed in and out at the top of the fence, from below I saw everyone else in total awe over the factory.

"Alright, this is it. This is the factory!" Aquafene said, with an enormous smile on her face. Jack and Robert soon climbed over the fence and as they landed, all of us cheered and whooped in celebration.

We calmed down afterward and determined who would open the door first, as we knew whoever opened it would see whatever was inside—the capsules—first and possibly be brought into danger. I decided to volunteer myself to go into the factory first and my friends agreed.

I proceeded to the front door of the factory. I carefully gained a grip on the door handle while my friends kept a safe distance. Then, with a breath of fresh air, and my heart pounding. I opened the door.

CREEEAK!!

I saw it. The capsules were all in front of me, no danger had been on site. It was true... all of it was true! I called my friends to come over. One by one, each one of my friends walked in, mesmerized at the capsule's size and the fact that this even existed! We talked about what we would do next,

"Well, I say we bring it back home!" Fron said.

"Fron didn't we already talk about this, those things are way too heavy to bring back home! We would be lucky to carry at least one!" Alice said.

Steve then inputted, "What if we kept the souls here?"

"Then someone would find it, like Ethan, and use it to their benefit stupid!" Peo said. She flicked his head and he rubbed it while wincing.

By this point, all of us were confused about what to do until Maurice suggested,

"Hey, what if we go to each capsule and just stare at it? Maybe take a couple of pictures, and then conceal the capsules so no one sees it. Even if they come into the factory."

We all somewhat agreed with what Maurice said and we recognized there were ten main capsules, with five little capsules at the back of the room. Aquafene stored all of the smaller capsules in Steve's huge backpack, put it on, and stepped aside as all of us went into our capsules. Our capsules were also seemingly colored so each one of us chose our capsules based on our favorite color. With me going to a black capsule, Emily going to the yellow capsule, Steve going to the green capsule, Fron going to the blue capsule, Alice going to a cyan capsule, Peo going to a lime capsule, Maurice going to a brown capsule, Jack going to an orange capsule, and Angel going to a white capsule.

I looked directly at the capsule, no note had said something about destiny, but instead, just a container filled with a black-colored liquid. We all looked at each other and smiled colorfully. Maurice was taking photos on her Polaroid camera.

However, I began feeling weird, as if the capsule that I was standing in front of was calling for me.

The voice I was hearing seemingly from the capsule said in an enchanting whisper,

"Open... open me, and I will solve your problems."

It repeated this over and over again, louder and louder. I asked with a hint of worry,

"Does anyone else hear the capsule saying to open it?"

"Yes." The rest of my friends said in unison as we all looked at the capsules.

Aquafene stated, "Oh shoot, they have my favorite color here in a small capsule!"

She went up to Jack and exclaimed,

"Jack look, a little aqua colored capsule!! Isn't it cute?!"

However, Jack wasn't prepared for Aquafene to be so close to him when she said this. Causing him to stumble and fall right onto the orange capsule. This made a huge crack in the capsule. With more and more of the capsule peeling off with a crackling sound. We tried to help Jack with his capsule but all of us were seemingly stuck to the floor, not being able to move!

What the hell was happening!?!

The crack appeared in all of our capsules, cracking over and over again in imperfect shapes. All of us started to stress as we needed to fix this. However, none of us, not even Aquafene who was also stuck on the ground, could fix what was happening before our eyes.

We couldn't move anymore.

We were helpless as we tried to move our feet or any other limb on our bodies, we failed each time. Angel saw her capsule first open completely, shining a white glow over her entire body right next to me. I looked in terror at her capsule suddenly breaking open. She said in a horrifying whisper,

"Oh.. my... god!"

The spirit trapped inside the capsule had lept to her and absorbed within her, pushing Angel back.

"ANGEL!" I shouted as I tried to move my body once again. But then, Jack's capsule finally opened and he got absorbed by his spirit, Aquafene then got absorbed right after, as her capsule broke in her hand too.

As most of us cried for help, the ground started to shake as well as Robert, Peo, and Alice now being absorbed by their spirits. (Alice willingly accepted the spirit into her body, I'm not surprised by this point).

However, Fron was trying to fight off his spirit as much as possible with his fists, ultimately resulting in the spirit winning not before it cried out in pain as it entered into Fron.

The ground itself shook profusely and huge cracks started to form out of the ground. Just as I realized this, Emily and Maurice's spirits had absorbed them. With Steve and me being so close to each other and the last ones to not be absorbed, we hugged each other and braced for the spirits and the factory to absorb us.

I heard an explosion and everything went Ḇ̵̨̖͖̲͎̮̹̩͙̞̯͎̩̹̭̙̙͗̒̉̀̀͗͆̋͆̆͑̋̄̐͐̌́̎̃͐́͋̊̊̕̚̕͝͝ͅl̸̡̨̡̡̛̮̫̩̞̙̠̟͎͉͉̹̹͎͔̥̣̙̙͚͉̤̩̹̪̤̯̺̤̯͇̝͗̎͂̈́̒̾̔̈́͑̎̃̍̋͌̔̉̐̍͑̎̌̇̀̉͋̄̄̇̏͐͂͋͘̚͝͝à̸̠̲̲̤̭̭̬̭̬̫͙͓͚͔̝̥̟̰̤̜̑̀͋͂̍̅̅̏̆͆̏̀̍̂̽̇̃̓͊̍̈́̈́̕̕̚͝͝͝c̸̓̔͑̈̒͐̆̌̌͗͗͌̉͛͊̀̎̓́͊̌̒̊͂̉́̆̉̃͘͘͠ͅk̴̡̨̼̣̜̪͎͎͍̞̠̭̱̪̪̗̞̪͋̚.

**————————————————————————————**

As I woke up, I felt a rush of energy going through my blood. I tried to get up but my legs didn't seem to work properly, so I had to crawl instead. I skimmed my environment and wondered,

"What happened? Where are my friends? What's this energy flowing through me?"

Once I wondered this, I saw Steve and crawled to him inch by inch,

"Steve!" I called out. And just like the way beforehand when I met him again in that cafeteria five weeks ago. He looked around and saw me. With a huge grin on his face, he said,

"Hey, you have to see this."

I crawled with my hands and as I was right next to Steve, he reached out a hand and pulled me up to see what he was seeing. What Steve saw, and what I saw. . .

I would never be able to forget for the rest of my life.