As the group continued their way in the green forest, the day proceeded to still be fun in an odd way despite knowing they were in a situation. One of which would be needed to explained. Letting out a sigh, a certain albino still fiddled with his long sleeves while Amatsuki was simply talking to him along the way. Urata on the other hand was leading the group with the swordsman next to him who was currently on the look out in case of any attacks.

"Where do you think this Suzumu guy is at?" Shima asked, looking around. Taking a few seconds to think, Soraru turned to him as he shook his head, "We're guessing that it's the same village or well, town were you, Eve, and Mafu were taken hostage at."

"Yes, but we're not going there yet. Right now, we're going to one of the secret villages that's around here somewhere in the forest." A green-eyed brunette explained as he kept on walking with the group.

Turning his head to looked at the shorter male, Sakata smiled to himself. Of course though, a certain purple haired male caught the smile as he simply shook his head with a tiny smile. Shima then gently ruffled the red-head's hair in a playful manner, "You really still have huge liking towards him, don't you?"

Knowing on who he was talking about, Sakata simply turned red before looking away. The purple-eyed male only let out a chuckle at this action from his dear friend. Turning back to the male, Sakata then smiled, "But don't you still like-"

"H-Hey, how about we get a cookie from Eve? Does that sound good?" Shima said, showing a bit of panic as he tried his hardest to convince the younger male. Tilting his head I'm confusion, a smile then lit up his face as he gave a nod, "Sure!"

Heading towards a certain masked male who was currently talking with Sou, both of the males went up to them. "Hey Eve, would you mind if we got a cookie?" Shima asked, even though this was really just to stop a certain red-head from saying anything else.

"Sure, I don't mind. Go ahead and take one you two!" He said, giving both Shima and Sakata a cookie.

"Thank you~" The red-head said, thanking the male.

"Oi!"

Turning to look at the source of the familiar voice, they saw Urata crossing his arms as he shook his head, "You might want to keep on walking or else we might end up leaving you."

"Don't worry, he's just lying~ We won't leave you." A blonde whispered, making sure the other didn't hear with a smile. But even so, it was true, they had to keep walking or else how else will they get to their destination?

As the males started walking with the group, everything seemed fairly normal. Urata was still being annoyed by a certain red-head, Eve being kind as ever, and Amatsuki being the mom he is. As for everyone else, they were just looking at the forest around them. A sea of trees that seemed almost endless to the point they started wondering if they were even in the same forest anymore. It didn't look like it was the same forest from before.

"Are we sure we're in the right place?" Sou asked, looking around. He didn't recognize this area, yet at the same time, he could've sworn that he had led the villagers from weeks ago here to a cave. Yet everything grew dimmer, and dimmer as they proceeded.

The group then came to a stop. Urata and Soraru started to show signs of worry as they told the others to stay put. Because all they could see around them were trees, and the area didn't look to bright either. The swordsman then turned to everyone, "Does anyone have the map?" Sou then gave a nod before handing the needed item to the ravennette. After a few seconds, the male had a confused expression as he looked up and then around their surroundings.

"Well... It looks like this is the right place. I guess everything here changed or something. Because I know some of us were here when we ran into Luz and his troops." The ravennette explained. Luz gave a nod of agreement as he looked around, "I wonder what caused this area to change all of a sudden."

Letting out an annoyed sigh, Urata crossed his arms, "The one time when we need Lon, she isn't here."

"For once, I agree with you Tanuki." Soraru said as he agreed with the shorter male next to him. Looking around in worry, the group decided to look around while sticking together the best they could while heading to the spot the map was marked at. But all they saw was a wall full of vines.

"Wait a second, I think it's through here." Kashitarou commented, walking up the wall of vines before moving some to the side. It revealed a a cave opening as he smiled at the others, "See?"

Amatsuki simply smiled, "Good job Kashi!"

Urata then turned to the swordsman next to him, "So do we head inside now?" Soraru have a nod before the group started entering the cave entrance. As expected, it was dark and there wasn't much other than just the normal type of cave structure. Before proceeding any further, Urata had turned to look at Sou.

'Sou."

"Oh right, here!"

As the male started to open his bag, he took out on what it seemed to be a torch he had taken back from the house. As the blue-eyed male handed it to the short brunette, Urata then turned to face the others.

"Does anyone have a match, or anything to use to light this up?"

"No, but we do have Luz!" Naruse said with a smile, pushing the lavender-eyed male up front. Luz only turned to his pink-haired friend, "Eh?"

"That's right! Luz, don't you know how to use fire magic?" Mafu said, smiling brightly at the taller male. But Araki on the other hand only shook his head, "Luz... Pleaee tell me you've practiced from using the entire book I gave you." But the only thing he got as a response, was the blonde's short silence.

"So you haven't-"

"Yes I have! I-It's just that I still struggle a little, that's all!"

"For some Lord, you're a bad liar-"

"Well, could you at least try to use it?" Mafu asked. The blonde looked down with a small doubtful frown, but then turned with a smile, "I'll try." Urata sighed as he then held the torch close to the Lord in front of him, "Good. Now go ahead and give it a try."

Trying to gain at least a bit of confidence in himself, Luz tried his best having a smile on his face. But in reality, his smile seemed nervous to the rest. Holding out his hands, he closed his eyes as he tried to focus as much as he could. I'm his hands, was a small flare of light but to only fade away almost in an instant.

"Once we get back home, you're going to study the entire book I gave you."

"Wait, please no Araki-"

Wanting to desperately try again, the blonde almost immediately held his hands out and started focusing again.

"Nope, you're definitely going to study-"

Letting out a sigh, Luz to wave his hand in defeat, "Okay.. okay.."

"Oi! Watch where you move your hand!" A certain short brunette shouted, ducking his head from the fire from the lavender-eyed male's hand. Araki to be honest, felt surprised, but not as surprised as Luz was. Turning to the red-eyed male, he smiled, "See? I did it! Didn't I?"

"Barely-" Urata commented.

Mafu then smiled as he pointed at the lit up torch, "But at least you got the job done!" Giving a sigh, Araki had to agree, "Yes he did, but he's still going to have to study when we get back."

Soraru then turned to the others, "So then, I guess we're all ready then?"

"Yep! I think we are!" Amatsuki said as he was also making sure everyone around his was ready to proceed.

The swordsman gave a small smile before turning, "Alright then, let's go."

As the group now began to proceed, Urata was up front with Soraru, leading the group though the cave. And being careful to not lose anyone, they each made sure to stay near each other. The eerieness if the cave left some of them feel uneasy as the more they walked. A few rocks would fall here and there, but not enough to surprise anyone.
But the more they went on, it seemed as if it was endless. Not a single thing was showing through.

Perhaps the journey through this cave would take longer than they thought.

Hello everyone! It's nice to see you all again, and I'm glad! I'm sorry if I took long again but aside from that. I'm now able to update my books including this one much easier since school for this year has officially ended! That means it's time to write even more to my heart's content ww

But as always, make sure to stay safe during this time and thank you for your time reading this!