Chapter 53: Long Day’s Journey

"We need to take a break. My feet are aching like crazy!" whines Delta, trailing behind Ember and Faith.

Ember rolls her eyes and replies, "No, we're reaching the top first. We'll take a break there."

"We don't even know how much further it will be to the top!"

Annoyed more with her tone than her words, Ember says, "I don't care if you're tired. If you've been paying attention, you would have realized we don't have much further to go. So, just stop complaining until then."

Focusing her attention on what lies ahead, Ember enters a large crevasse with steep mountains looming on either side of her, "As a matter of fact, it looks like you won't have to wait much longer. I think we're already here."

In front of Ember, the sunlight is illuminating a short path that is zigzagging its way through two mountains, dodging various plants sprouting out of the ground and bits of rock that seem to have broken off the slopes of the mountains at some point in the past.

Hearing two pairs of footsteps creeping up behind her, Ember recognizes Delta's voice as she happily exclaims, "Finally, we would've gotten here quicker if Faith hadn't walked so slowly."

Without giving her the time of day, Ember sharply says, "Go sit down and rest. This is your break, so if you want to waste it by rambling about nonsense the whole time, by all means, go ahead. But you better keep your mouth shut on the way back, understand?"

A scoff lets out before the same irritating, uptight voice Ember has been putting up with all day remarks, "Someone's trying to be tough. Wake up on the wrong side of the tent this morning?"

This time, Ember chooses not to say anything. After a few seconds, Delta tsks.

"I'm going to relax, maybe take a nap. If either of you even thinks about bothering me, I will drag you out of your tent by your hair when you're asleep and toss you into the campfire myself."

As Ember side-eyes Delta while she settles down and attempts to get comfortable, Ember punches a fist into her other hand, "That girl needs to learn some respect."

Speaking up for only the second time today, Faith softly injects, "It's okay. We could all use a break. We should just let her cool down."

Glancing toward the other end of the crevasse as she takes off her backpack, Ember replies, "As long as she's quiet on the way back, we won't have any problems."

As Ember starts down the rocky path, a few seconds pass without Faith saying anything, so Ember assumes Faith also decides to relax. Continuing onward, Ember scans the mighty cliffs that felt as if they were closing in on her, "It sucks that we haven't found anything..."

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As she gradually nears the other end of the path, Ember’s eyes adjust from the dimly lit crevasse to the sunny outdoors. As the other side of the mountain range focuses into Ember’s field of vision, her chest begins pounding, trying to figure out what the sight before her could mean.

After propping the torch she was carrying against the wall, Faith searched through her messy bag, uttering as she struggled to find the apple, "Where is it?"

Finally feeling the texture of the apple, Faith attempts to retrieve it from underneath all of the weaponry, clothes, and other items she had brought with her. Losing her grip on the apple as she yanks it out, the apple rolls a few feet away, too far out of reach. Unable to just reach over and grab it, Faith grumbles as she gets up to walk over and retrieve it. However, noticing Ember standing in place, as quiet as a mouse, Faith grows concerned.

"Everything okay, Ember?” asks Faith, keeping an eye on Ember as she bends over and grabs the apple.

Ember shouts back, "You two, I think you should come see this…!"

Faith tenderly places the apple on her backpack before jogging over to Ember, who hasn't moved.

Walking up beside her, it doesn't take long for Faith to realize why Ember was so taken aback.

"Woah…"

Now observing both of her group members confounded, Delta can no longer relax as she shouts, "What? What is it?!"

"Just get over here…!" says Ember.

Groaning, Delta gets up and heads over. As she joins them, she mumbles, "What in the…?"

In front of them, a field of stone walls files into view as a maze stretches as far as the eye can see. Various pathways in the maze weave, conjoin, and dead-end, while a misty fog conceals the maze from far off.

Delta scoffs and walks away, "You really had me get up for that? What a waste of time."

Hearing her footsteps grow quieter, the other two ignore Delta as they focus on the maze. Eventually, though, Delta's footsteps halt, and silence lingers.

"Hey, guys… something happened."

Looking back toward Delta, Faith asks, "What do you mean?"

As if she sensed danger before Delta ever said anything, Ember was already passing by Delta. Without getting an answer to her question, Faith also ran over. Catching up to Ember, who was already putting on her backpack again, Faith asks, panic emanating through her raspy voice.

"What is it? What’s wrong?"

Pointing back toward the camp as she adjusts the straps to her backpack, Ember replies, "That's what she means."

Furrowing her brows, Faith’s teeth drag along her bottom lip as she takes in the grand view before her. Her eyes widened, Faith detected what was wrong, and her attention flipped back and forth between two thin lines of smoke rising high into the sky.

Ember grabs the torch and says, "Looks like we aren't getting that break. Come on, let's head back."

Delta lets out a long moan, "Are you kidding me?! We just got here!"

Not wasting time on Delta, Ember lights the nearest tree on fire with the torch, "At least now we aren't going back empty-handed, considering what we just saw."

Pouring some water from her canteen on the torch's flame, it sizzles out. Then, after tossing the torch off to the side, Ember commands as she starts trekking down the mountain.

"Let's step on it. The plan is in action. We have to get back to camp as soon as possible."

Although irritated, Delta seemed to value her life more than a bit of rest as she athletically stumbled after Ember. As Faith allowed herself a brief smile before she focused back up, the three set off on a long day's journey back to camp.