"The Third Peak of Mount Maqui"

Lovely was fetched by a van arranged by Dr. Dexter. She left Eulim City at four in the morning and without traffic, it took two hours going to Makylee City.

The white van stopped in front of a condominium. A middle aged man and a guy in his 30's came in.

Lovely was sitting in the front seat; she turned her head, and she greeted them, "Good morning!" They smiled at her and were pleased with her friendliness.

"Hi, good morning," the middle aged man replied, "I'm John Guile, and this is my colleague, Sean Swift."

"I'm Sean, a botanist, and he's a taxonomist," he explained, as he flashed a smile to Lovely.

"I'm Lovely Wenn. Nice to meet you!"

The sun had slightly risen, and it could be viewed at the back of the van. With Lovely as the driver's guide, she had to sit in front, so it was hard for her to initiate a conversation, even if she really wanted to. Lovely's friendly and outgoing personality is what she and Sanno both had. The difference was, she's almost like an open book, but Sanno holds a lot of secrets.

As they entered a paved road leading towards Mount Maqui, they opened the windows to feel the fresh air. The forest had tall, Dipterocarp trees, and sounds of the insects were loudly heard. The end of the paved road led to a semi-rocky parking lot, and the white van was parked there.

The group, except the driver, started walking towards a guardhouse.

"How can I help you?" the officer asked.

"We're going to Peak 3, sir," Lovely said.

The officer took a pen and a paper from the shelf, "Please fill up the form."

One by one, they wrote their name, address, contact number, and affiliation. Upon Dr. Dexter's instruction, Lovely was told to write Makylee Hospital as her affiliation, and write a fake name, because they knew that there is no I.S. Code scanner in the guardhouse. This was to make sure that her surname and identity would be protected somehow, as they didn't know what lies ahead after they took plant specimens.

"Thank you," the officer said, although he didn't take an effort to read their information, "Please bring a knife or any cutting object. Although there is a trail you can follow and safety ropes you can hold on to, it's been a while since someone went to the third peak, so the vines might be a little bit annoying."

"When was the last time someone went to the third peak?" Lovely asked him.

The officer thought for a while, and said, "Hmm… I can't remember… It was many years ago."

"Oh, it's okay, then… But if you happen to see records about Peak 3…"

"Why are you so interested in it?" the officer suspiciously asked.

"Uhm… because-"

She was interrupted by Sean, "I'm a botanist, and we want to find some new species out there," he presented an I.D. Under his name, was his company name, "M-Pharma".

"Ohh! So, you're one of them," the officer said upon seeing his identification card.

"Who?"

"You're in the same company as those who went here years ago… I remember now," the officer searched for an old logbook. He blew the dust on the cover, and opened it. It had the label "2033".

The officer read, "It says here… Juneau Glasswell… Carlid Wenn… Piolo Jagger… Rion Wonderain… and Logan… hmm, I can't read, the ink has spread…" Some parts of the logbook were damaged with water drops that made the ink scatter.

"I'll take a picture, okay? They are my seniors, and they'll be delighted to see that," Sean said, to convince the officer.

Believing his words, the officer placed the logbook in front of Sean. The young botanist then took a picture. "Let's go?"

"Have a safe trek, and please be back before sunset." Then the officer waved at them.

When they had already walked away from the guardhouse, Lovely asked, "Were they really your seniors?"

Sean laughed and said, "No, of course not. I don't know them, but they used our company name, so maybe they're former employees… I think I need to ask Dr. Dexter about these people."

"Carlid Wenn is my father," Lovely said. "He's a pharmaceutical scientist."

As they walked deeper into the forest, they continued talking about their forest adventures, while taxonomist John had been busy taking a look at any plant that interests him. The hike took seven hours to the third peak, with three short stops for food and rest. When they reached the peak, Lovely looked around to find where the tree was. She knew she saw it near the peak. She saw the cave that she and her father took shelter from the rain, but the tree was hard to find. "It was such a long time ago… But I swear, it's just here," she told them.

"If what you described was true, if it has leaves that glitter, then we can find it," John assured her. "How tall was that tree?"

"It was not so tall, but it's roots were so long," she said, as she scanned the place to find the tree that matches with her description. "And there are coppices on its roots."

"We're still not sure if it had already matured when you saw it," Sean explained. "Perhaps it had become taller than before. Let's also look up."

And Sean was right. When they looked up, the trees surrounding them were the trees that they were looking for!

As the warm breeze blew, the glittering green leaves of the tree reflected the sunlight, and it was like watching fireworks in the sky. It was a medium-sized tree. Some of the branches had the same bright yellow flower that Lovely had seen before. But something was new to her - it had fruits. Its deep purple, oblong-shaped fruits had a shiny surface, and the yellow color was evident on the stalks and tips.

"So beautiful!" Lovely exclaimed. She was happy with the thought that perhaps, these trees were from the coppices of the mother tree that she saw before.

"Let's collect samples, now," John said, giving resealable plastics and permanent pentel pens to the two. "I'll collect the tree branches with its leaflets.. Miss Wenn, please collect the fruits and flowers, and Sean, please help her… Oh, and please don't forget to label."

"Aye aye, sir!" the excited Lovely said.

Sean took a knife from his bag. Using a rope, he tightly tied the knife to the tip of a long bamboo pole scattered on the ground. When he checked it's stability, he used it to cut the flowers and the fruits from above them, while Lovely was the one who took the falling specimen.

When they had collected many, they went deeper into the forest. Lovely would like to see the mother tree. She knew that when she saw it, she would know that it was the tree, because even if she last saw it years ago, the memory was still vivid.

Suddenly, she stumbled because of some roots on her feet, which she didn't notice. Luckily, Sean had held her arm and she didn't fall.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

"I'm fine-"

Her reply was interrupted with what she saw - beside her was a medium-sized tree, but it was different from others. It had a lot of scars on its bark, and most of the scars were deep. Some cuts were vertical, and some were horizontal. She took great pity on the tree beside her.

She looked up, and noticed that the flowers were brighter in color, than the surrounding trees. "It's this tree… She's the mother tree," Lovely said. "Poor thing, they had hurt her."

"What could be in this tree that they were trying to extract?" Sean said as he touched its bark.

Lovely thought deep. It was obvious that whoever those people that her father was with, they discovered something in the tree. She believed that it was connected to her father's sudden work abroad. As if talking to the tree in her mind, she asked for forgiveness, over and over. Then, she gently touched its bark too, and eventually, she had decided, "Let's find out. Let's gather some specimens from this mother tree."