Chapter 66: Single Break
It couldn’t have been more than fifteen minutes since Faith, Ember, and Delta turned around before the bickering resumed. It was almost as if Delta had found a routine specifically intended to test the limits of Ember’s patience. She seems to babble only to the point where Ember feels the need to say something back, and then Delta goes scarily quiet before resuming a few minutes later.
But by this point, Faith had learned to tune it out more or less, her hearing opting to focus more on the environment around them. But she was unsure whether this development was due to her survival instincts or her unconscious desire to try and ignore their quarreling. Maybe a little of both.
They had picked up the pace since they turned around, and going downhill made it easier. It took them four to five hours to trek through the woods and scale up the mountain, mainly because they took several breaks to keep Delta manageable. Since beginning their journey back to camp, they’ve been walking nonstop for maybe an hour, and with their legs already tired, it’s no surprise that Delta is growing increasingly irritating. But at this rate, Faith knew they should only have another hour or two of walking before they were back at camp, and Ember also understood this.
“I don’t think I’ve ever, in my entire life, met somebody as inhumane as you,” whines Delta, stepping down on a twig and snapping it in two.
Ember, who's been leading the group back, stops and turns around to face Delta. Not wanting to get in the middle of anything, Faith keeps her distance behind them and waits.
“Delta, guess what? You are not the only one here in pain. We’re all hurting. We’ve been walking since the crack of dawn, and I’m not particularly thrilled that we are either. So talk as much crap as you need if it helps get your mind off your legs… and feel free to hate me all you want, but we aren’t stopping. I’m sure once we’re back… you’ll forget all about your feet aching and be thankful that you’re back alive,” says Ember, her face endearing yet unwavering at the same time.
Scoffing, Delta looks Ember up and down, waiting a few seconds as if to let the silence between them hold much more significance.
She smirked and slightly tilted her head, teasing, “Then why did you stop us, sweetheart?”
Putting her hands on her hips, Ember averts her gaze and takes a deep breath through her nose. Without even saying a word, she simply goes back to walking. Delta’s snarky grin disappears, replaced with a frown that almost makes her seem… disheartened. She then begins walking after Ember, and Faith does the same.
Reaching a fairly large opening after another few minutes of walking, Faith recognizes the area from their walk-up. Groups of small bushes are dispersed amongst the area, with yellow daffodils filling the spaces in between. Signifying they’ve reached the bottom of the mountain, the group only has the forest to walk through.
Slowing to a stop as Ember and Delta near the path that would lead them directly back to the forest, a sudden headache trembles for Faith as she looks past the treeline at the mountain range surrounding the entire area. And as the mountains focused into view, her eyes squinted.
“This might be it…” whispers Faith, looking around at different spots of the scenery, her head slightly aching.
Placing a hand on a tree near the path, Ember glances back to check if Delta and Faith are following.
“You good Faith?” asks Ember, causing Delta to check over her shoulder.
Faith replies, “Yeah… yeah, I’m okay. Just give me a moment.”
Setting her backpack beside her, Faith crouches and opens it up, her momentary headache gone. After peeking inside, Faith locates the item she wishes to retrieve and takes it out.
“You brought that with you?” asks Delta while Ember passes by Delta, making her way over.
Examining the wooden plank, Faith grazes her fingers over it from left to right, feeling each of the designated holes.
As Ember walks up, she urges, “Faith, we really should get going…”
Faith says, “This won’t take long, I promise.”
Delta, who must’ve gotten annoyed, also asks, “What are you even doing anyway?”
Holding up the wooden plank for them to see, Faith explained, “This was one of the items inside the first crate we opened. Along with this wooden plank were a ripped piece of paper and a compass. I got bored a lot at camp, so I often fiddled with each item, trying to figure out what they meant. I thought I would bring them all today, just in case.”
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Clicking her tongue and gesturing her right hand in a circular motion as if emphasizing to speed up what Faith was telling her, Delta says, “Just get to the point.”
“Right...” says Faith, not feeling any desire to apologize.
Holding up the plank in the sky, Faith walks backward until the plank lines up with each landscape or item. The wooden plank has four different holes. Starting from the far left, the hole closest to the top left corner of the plank is shaped like an acute triangle, where the tip of a mountain fits almost perfectly into place.
Moving it slightly to the right, the next hole is close to the bottom, in the shape of a semicircle. Amongst the tree line, Faith noticed just a few seconds ago that one singular tree stood taller than the rest, with the tip of the tree's crown perched up above the rest. While not as snug as the first hole, the branches and leaves fan out to fill the semicircle.
The third hole is a circle, and it is located just to the right of the center of the plank. After matching the first two gaps, it became clear that if each hole were meant to fill a particular landscape or object, this one would have to fit the sun. And luckily for them, it was the middle of the day, and the sun fit right into its designated place.
The fourth and final hole was near the far right edge of the plank and was a bit more detailed. It looked like a backward version of the capital letter ‘K’, which initially threw Faith off. But after fitting the other three into place, the fourth was already done for her. The object in question was further away and barely visible, but Faith recognized it as the top of another tree. Its empty branches and bare tree trunk fit right into the qualified slots.
“Okay, now what?” asks Delta from behind Faith, her tone once more hinting at her growing annoyance. Throughout Faith’s little ordeal of matching the gaps to various locations, Faith assumes they must've walked around her to watch what she was doing.
“No idea,” replies Faith. “But this must mean something… right? Why else would this be in the crate?”
“Maybe it was to throw us off? I don’t know. Why don’t you come back here on your own time and figure it out?” impatiently proposes Delta, and Faith rolls her eyes.
“What if this is a trap? Maybe the items inside are all part of the game that the stone message referred to. That was also in the crate,” says Ember, trying to work through her thoughts out loud. Trying to keep her arms steady, Faith considers Ember’s words and slightly shakes her head.
Maybe they’re right… I’ve held us up long enough. We need to go.
Feeling defeated, Faith heaved a sigh while Ember and Delta walked past her again toward the path. Looking at how well everything is aligned, Faith can’t help but feel she’s close to figuring something out. However, just as she’s about to lower the plank back down, the outline of each hole starts to glow a vibrant neon green color.
“Hey guys! Something is happening!” says Faith, drawing their attention back to her. The two of them immediately come back over.
“You look around. I’ll check out the plank,” orders Ember, and Delta surprisingly nods, starting to survey the area.
Upon inspecting the plank from her perspective, Ember asks, “Is this all you saw? Nothing else?”
“This is all,” says Faith. “But it’s different now!”
“Well, something definitely happened,” says Ember as she circles around to the front, where her eyes widen. “Delta, check this out.”
Refocusing her attention on the plank, the two stare at the other side for a few seconds before Delta mutters, “So that thing we found earlier was actually important?”
“What? What is it?” asks Faith, the suspense of not knowing making her anxious.
“It’s another riddle. These words weren’t here before. I’m guessing after you matched up the landscape to the plank, these words were activated to appear,” replies Ember as she takes a sheet of notebook paper out of her backpack. Delta hands over a pen to Ember, and Ember goes down on a knee, using her thigh as a surface to write on.
She quickly writes down the series of apparently visible words and, upon finishing, stands back up. As she scrunches the paper and puts it in her pocket, Faith asks, “What’d it say?”
Ember hands Faith the piece of paper and starts walking toward the path.
“Hold on to that until we’re back, and catch up as soon as you’re done reading!” shouts Ember as she and Delta enter the forest.
Quickly opening the scrunched-up piece of paper, Faith swiftly mutters under her breath the riddle that Ember wrote down…
“The crates hold the key, if you want to be free.
As when joined each piece, a map there will be.
The route to safety will appear, as it’s meant to be shown.
The choice to believe is on you, as a group or alone.
For those who choose to go, the maze is the way.
But as a warning and a threat, don’t be led astray.
This means the end is nearing, for our little game.
And it’ll soon be determined, which ones only played.”
After finishing the riddle, Faith didn’t know what to make of it. There was too much to break down and go through, and there was no time. So, she did as Ember asked, and Faith stuffed the piece of paper and wooden plank into her backpack and zipped it back up before taking off to catch up to them.
Unable to get the riddle off her mind the rest of the way back, there was an unusual silence between the other two. Besides occasionally exchanging a few words, Faith was sure they were also thinking about the riddle.
After that, they didn’t take a break the whole way home. And considering they didn’t know when the signal fires were made, they expected to be the last group to return. But to their surprise, only one person was there when they walked back into camp.