220 To see the Flowers

When we returned to the campsite, the others had returned as well. Mura, Muria, and Irina seemed to have enjoyed themselves as they chatted joyfully about what they had done today. As for the other group who went on that expedition off-road in the mountains, Noah and Zaksus seemed to be in high spirits whereas Erith and Alvelyn seemed to be exhausted. Loyd just seemed to be the same, with nothing different about him.

"We found someplace nice," Zaksus announced to everyone with great excitement and enthusiasm in his voice. "You guys must've never seen that flower field."

"Flower field?" Mura looked at Zaksus as she was interested by what he had mentioned.

"Yeah," Loyd answered. "A field of flowers that glowed a faint blue light. I've never seen anything like that."

"That sounds rather romantic," Irina clasped her hands and commented.

"I bet it looks even better now that it's dark out," Noah said.

"Is it really that spectacular?" I looked over at Alvelyn and muttered which she responded with a simple nod.

Seeing her response to my question, it made me somewhat intrigued. However, it was just a slight interest, not one to the point that I must see the flower field.

"After we eat," Noah suggested, "we should all go and check it out."

"It's pretty late," Muria frowned.

"It's fine," Zaksus said. "We know the way. We found another path in the forest, and taking that path will lead us to the field of flowers."

"We just have to cross a bridge and then we'll be there," Loyd added.

"That doesn't sound too bad," Mura nodded as she is obviously interested by this idea. "Let's do that."

"You guys go if you want," Erith let out a sigh of relief. "I'm tired from all that walking."

"So you want to be here alone by yourself?" Noah asked her in a provoking and teasing manner.

"No," Erith smiled in a confident manner and shook her head. "Luna would be with me."

"I want to go check it out," Luna's response caught Erith by surprise, probably because Erith wasn't expecting Luna to be suddenly in such a good mood.

"Luna!" Erith exclaimed. "What's gotten into you?"

"It's nothing," Luna smiled and shook her head. "It's just...I got something off my mind."

"So since Luna's going, that means everyone is going!" Noah concluded.

"Why did you include me?" I muttered and sighed as stopped with my resisting and gave up. I have a feeling that the energy I would expend arguing with him would be way more than if I just went with them.

With our plans for after dinner decided, we went on with the process of preparing food. Noah and Zaksus started up the campfire once again, Irina and I went to wash and clean the vegetables before bringing them back to Mura and Muria. The two then chopped whatever vegetables that was needed and then went on to preparing the meats.

After having a rather delicious dinner prepared by Alvelyn, we all decided without any verbal communication to just sit around the fire and rest for a bit before we head out for the flower fields. As humans, who doesn't want to sit around a warm fire and just fall into a trance as your eyes remain fixed on the crackling flame? Especially since the temperature has dropped for the night, sitting around the warm fire is like the best feeling in the world.

"We should get going," Mura finally announced after a while. "If we don't, we might just fall asleep."

"Yeah," Muria nodded her head in agreement.

"Everyone," Mura then got up from her seat. "Go and get something warm to wear. It gets cold at night."

Really, Mura did not need to remind us. All of us could feel the dip in temperature when the sun had set earlier, so I believe we were all planning to go and grab some clothing that would keep us warm. I walked with the other boys to our tent, entering it and walked straight to my bag. After unzipping it, I decided to change into a pair of black pants and a grey hoodie as I am unsure how long exactly we would be out for the night. It probably won't be long, but I dislike being cold so it doesn't matter for me. I just enjoy being warm.

Around me, the other boys seemed to have also decided to change into something more warm but not too over the top with the sole exception being Zaksus who forgot to bring anything else other than the hoodie that he had worn the first day. He was still wearing shorts when we exited the tent. When outside, I saw that the girls had also changed into something more warm. I suppose everyone did prepare themselves for the mountain weather, that is with Zaksus being the only exception. But whatever. He'll be fine. He is an athlete after all.

"I'll lead the way," Loyd announced to the rest of the group as he shined a flashlight in front of him. "Follow close and don't stray too far behind. Zaksus, can you go at the back and mark the trees so that we know which way we came from?"

"Yeah," Zaksus nodded as he shivered somewhat.

"You alright?" Erith frowned as she looked over at him and realized that he had his hands tucked in his pockets for warmth.

"I-I'm fine," Zaksus responded.

"We're not going to get lost, are we?" Irina frowned.

"Don't worry," Noah looked over at her and smiled. "Your boy Noah knows the way."

"I would hope so," I sighed.

I then glanced over at Alvelyn. She remembers the way. To be fair, out of everyone present, I would say I trust her the most. The reason why? She's "me". In times like these, you can only rely on yourself, so that's why I trust her. Well, it's kinda illogical to distrust yourself.

She met my gaze and nodded her head, signalling to me that she does, in fact, know the way. Therefore, I turned my head away and looked at the dark forest path ahead of me, relieved by the fact that there is a way to get back to our campsite. Once we get back, I want to go to sleep directly in that warm sleeping bag to escape the cold temperature.

"Just pass this bridge," Loyd halted in his steps and turned to look at us.

He shined the flashlight on the bridge, which surprised those of us who did not go on the exploration with them. The bridge did not appear to be one of those modern day bridges. It was a wooden suspension bridge held up by ropes that seemed to sway in the wind.

"Are you sure this is safe?" Luna asked.

"That's what I said earlier," Erith sighed. "But they won't listen."

"Of course it's safe," Noah said as he stepped onto the bridge and jumped. This caused the bridge to vibrate and sway due to his motion.

"It looks rather...dangerous," Mura frowned.

"We're fine," Zaksus said. "These bridges naturally swing when you walk on them. This isn't too bad."

"Well..." Muria appeared somewhat hesitant.

"Don't you want to see the flower field?" Noah asked.

"Not really," I muttered to myself.

"It's pretty secure," Loyd said in a calming manner. "We've tried it earlier today. It's holding up pretty good. I think that the bridge is just designed and built this way to preserve the scenery. You don't see any other concrete or paved roads on the mountain aside from the road for cars leading halfway up."

"I guess you're right," Irina nodded and smiled in a somewhat difficult manner. It appears as if she has not completely bought into what Loyd was saying, but she seemed to be starting to believe.

The trip across that suspension bridge took quite a while. It was rather scary to be entirely honest, even for me. Each step that you take, the bridge swayed. Even when you're just standing still, the wind that blew on it moved it. I made the mistake of looking down, but lucky for me, I was able to recover rather quickly. What I saw was a pitch black view of nothing. The bridge seems to be rather high, definitely a height that one would not survive if they fell off.

Crossing the bridge proved to be the most difficult part of our journey to the field of glowing flowers that Noah and Zaksus had been talking about, as once we were across the bridge, it was just a simple hike up a rather flat hill. As we walked, I thought about the suspension bridge, trying to pinpoint its exact location on the map of the mountain.

"Weird," Erith frowned. Her face was illuminated by the light from her phone monitor as she checked the map of the mountain. "There's no mention of this bridge."

"That's weird," Irina frowned. "Maybe the map is too old?"

"No," Erith answered in a confused voice. "This map that I downloaded is the newest one. Besides, that suspension bridge does not look any bit new."

"So are we on a different mountain now?" Luna asked. "That was a rather long bridge we just crossed."

"I guess we're on the mountain next to Granvera?" Erith inferred. "It's weird but I haven't seen any mention of this place in the travel brochure or even the map posted at the campsite entrance."

"It's probably a nature reserve or something," Loyd commented. "Something that's not open to the public?"

"So does this count as trespassing?" Irina asked.

"We're not gonna get caught," Noah heard the conversation and added in his opinion. "Who would be up here in this mountain this time of the day?"

"I guess you're right," Irina let out a sigh of relief.

"Hey ugh," Zaksus suddenly interjected. "Is it just me but is it getting colder for any of you?" He was rubbing his hands together and huffing warm air into them as he shivered and his teeth chattered.

"I don't feel much of a difference," Noah answered. "But now that you've mentioned it, it does feel cooler."

"Let's just get to the flower fields, see the flowers, and go back," Mura announced. "I don't want any of you catching a cold."

"We're gonna be fine," Noah shook his head and smiled.

"I don't know about you," Erith said to him, "but I want to be in my sleeping bag and sleeping right now."