Chapter 1 - Prologue

One day, at a college called Gerald University, there was a group of students who wanted to organize a camp activity to commemorate the university's anniversary. The group consists of seven people, namely Angga as the team leader, while the other six members are Meri, Nano, Felix, Agung, Krisna, and finally Andy.

They decided to go there not without reason, considering that they knew that the forest was a very beautiful and fascinating forest that had some uniqueness of its own. The funds for departure have also been collected, the rest is just to prepare luggage.

"Hi Angga! You are the team leader for this event, How often do you go to places like the one we are going to?"

Agung asked Angga about his experience, visiting lonely places like forests that he had never visited before.

"What are you afraid of, gung?"

"If you ask me how often I go to such places, the answer is very often!"

"In fact, I've been to the top of the second highest mountain in England before, It's become a normal thing for me."

"As a team leader, it's natural to have a deeper knowledge of these things, right?"

Hearing this, Agung fell silent and said nothing. As if there was nothing more to say to Angga. As soon as Angga finished packing, he gave instructions to his friends, and as soon as he finished packing, he boarded the bus he had rented.

Angga then leaves them to wait for them later on the bus. After finally finishing packing, the five rushed to the bus to meet Angga who was waiting for them. Finally, Angga, Meri, Nano, Felix, Agung, Krishna and Andy set off for Zeraldo Forest located in Switzerland. They look very happy with their cheerful attitude as they board the bus.

On the bus, we talked one after another about our impressions of last year's camping trip. Among them are Felix who has participated in four expeditions like this, Nano who has only participated once, Meri who has participated twice, Krisna who has followed five times, and Andy who has never participated in expeditions and camps before as well as majestic.

They were both the first time to join an expedition in the forest, so they both always asked other friends who were more experienced about this camping activity.

This activity was to commemorate the founding of our university, so we all decided to sing the university's pride song for the 10th anniversary together.

Not only that, one of them, Krishna, seems to be carrying a guitar, and he is also a very good singer, and Krisna sings all the way to the Zeraldo forest on the bus. The addition of guitar instrumentation adds to the excitement of singing on the bus.

About 10 hours after leaving Gerald University, we arrived at our destination, Zeraldo Forest. During the trip, Krishna fell asleep during the trip due to fatigue playing guitar. They remembered that it was already 4 pm, so they decided to wake Krishna up immediately so as not to leave late.

Waking Krishna, who is known for sleeping on campus, is not easy. But in the end, everything worked out thanks to Angga, the team leader of the camp team. Angga came up with a brilliant idea, using broom feathers that he put on Krishna's nose. Krisna, who was tingling in the nose area, finally woke up.

The journey into the forest begins with Krishna still semi conscious. The team leader, Angga, will lead the effort and be at the forefront of directing their exploration route. Angga had prepared for this from the beginning by obtaining information about the Zeraldo Forest from several well-known sites on the Internet.

"I have prepared a map of the walking route through this forest."

"I hope! Everyone here is ready?"

"Okay, we are all ready...!" All the members shouted for the journey we will take in a while.

Along the way, Krishna sang to fill the silence he faced in the forest. On our first trip in the forest, all we encountered was endless silence and not a single animal we could meet at the beginning of the journey.

The soil texture in this forest can be said to be very lush, because of various wild plants that I have never seen growing there. In addition, I saw a kind of circular plant on the trunk of two trees.

But strangely, I couldn't see a single animal, not even an ant.

"It's weird! Why is this place so quiet? The weather is also weird."

Maybe it's because it's the first time I've camped in the forest like this. But at this time, you often hear the chirping of insects, usually late at night.

But strangely there was not a single animal running around. From the beginning of the trip, I felt strange about this place.

Angga double-checked the route on his map and persuaded all his team members not to be afraid of the darkness of the forest.

"There is nothing to be afraid of! Just follow my instructions and you will be fine."

"Yeah...." All members of the group shouted.

After hearing Angga's words, they were sure that nothing would happen if they followed Angga's instructions.

Among the group that was there, Andy was the only person who felt restless and uncomfortable within the vast forest.

After walking for almost an hour, Angga decided to rest first and instructed his other friends to rest in the big trees around us to avoid the imminent rain.

"It looks like it's going to rain soon, so let's rest for a while under that big tree over there."

Angga pointed to a big tree not far from where he was. Angga invited his friends and urged them to immediately head towards the big tree.

"Yeah, Angga...! Understand!"

Andy, who set foot in the forest from the beginning, felt uncomfortable as he constantly looked around the forest.

I always feel something strange about the atmosphere in this forest. Not only the scenery of the forest makes me wonder, but the area around this forest is also quite terrible.

Angga looked around the tree-lined road alone, and couldn't help but glance at Andy, who had been silent for a long time.

Meanwhile, the other friends began to take shelter under the big tree where Angga directed them.

Angga started yelling at him for giving instructions.

"Hey... Andy...!"

"Hurry up, come here! It's going to rain soon?"

Angga invited me to join him, hiding under a big tree. In the end, I happily went out with her friends.

Everyone took shelter under a big tree with a somewhat strange shape. It rained soon, but this big tree helped us a lot.

We also believed in the coming of heavy rain and lined up around a large tree until it was covered with giant leaves.

Why did I suddenly feel that something bad was about to happen? I had a vision that something bad was going to happen.

"Andy, are you okay?"

Angga feels suspicious of Andy, like something strange about him, after entering the Zeraldo Forest.

"Andy, what are you doing alone? Come here quickly!"

Instead of approaching his other friends, I refused Angga instructions and decided to seek refuge on my own instead of staying with all of them.

Angga saw me getting farther and farther away from everyone and called me repeatedly.

"Hey...! Andy, Where are you going?"

"Andy, remember this? If you don't obey, you will rot in this forest and no one will come to look for you!"

Even though Angga said so, I still didn't stop leaving all my friends.