On the second day of the outdoor retreat of the Adventure Club, they all left the Embercrest Lodge for the Templo de Fajra Spirito. Fajra Temple was on the other side of the mountain, and to get there they had to walk the Cent Paŝoj de Paciĝo, the One Hundred Steps of Patience.

Everyone met at sunrise at the front of the lodge, and Max was excited to be up and about. He felt best when outdoors, and even wore his best red jacket, hiking boots, and a green hat. Inside his pocket was a present he had for Tiffany, and when she came outside, Max was excited to tell her had finally been bad.

He had stolen something.

"I got you something," Max whispered.

"What is it," she asked.

He took out the vape he had stolen back from Phoenix in his sleep and she greedily took it back. When she checked the meter on the side she raised her eyebrows in surprise.

"Did you use this? Half of it gone," she asked.

"No, but Phoenix did."

"The thought is what counts with this gift Max, but no thank you."

She chucked it into the woods and he looked quite hurt. Tiffany felt quite ridiculous that she had to explain why she didn't want it.

"It would be like a second-hand kiss, spreading germs or whatever, it's weird," she said.

"I don't want someone else to kiss you, I want to be the only one," Max said.

She turned fifteen shades of red and pulled the pink hood of her jacket over her head. His social obliviousness made him not understand that he had said something quite weird in public until about a minute later.

"How much time do we have left until we leave," Tiffany whispered.

"Fifteen minutes," he replied. "Why are you whispering?"

"Shh! Follow me."

Max followed Tiffany away from the group, and off to the side where the trees were. Aster saw that they were leaving and started following them, but Eric grabbed him.

"Let go," Aster said. "I'm just gonna go talk with them."

"Nah, leave them alone," Eric replied.

"Why?"

Eric let go of Aster's black jacket, and then awkwardly looked away. It was not a good time nor place to tell Aster that his feelings would not be returned. He decided it would be best to try and distract him.

He came up with the first lie that his software thought was the most believable.

"I...need help...with...the history...yes. The history of this area," Eric lied. "I sure do love history..."

Aster loved to impress people and this was all he needed to hear. He began telling Eric about the proud history of the people who lived in the Embercrest Mountain range and Eric tuned him out, telling himself that it was all worth it if it meant sparing one friend's feelings and helping another friend get to second base.

It was 7:34 AM when Phoenix decided it was time for them to set off for Fajra Temple, and he checked his pockets one last time. He swore because the vape was gone. He tried counting everyone and then swore again because he was missing three people.

"Just calm down. Just count again," he told himself.

He turned around to start counting again, and Max and Tiffany snuck back out of the trees. Phoenix accidentally counted one person twice, and he sighed in relief that everyone was accounted for.

"Let's go everyone," Phoenix shouted. "Today we're finding the most dangerous path of them all!"

Ten minutes later, after they had left, Zynx would be at the front of the lodge, having missed the trip because he was in the bathroom having diarrhea from all the hot spring water he drank the day before.

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They all left the lodge and made their way down the mountain. The frozen leaves were coated in snow but all of them were red. The forest felt like it was always Autumn with the red leaves, no matter the weather, making it feel even more mysterious.

Stolen story; please report.

Tiffany and Max caught up with Eric, Aster, and Seraphina further down the path. Max and Tiffany tried to pretend that nothing had happened but Seraphina and Eric noticed the looks on their faces.

"Good morning," Seraphina said. "What were you two up to?"

"Talking," Tiffany replied.

"Is that true, Max," Seraphina asked.

Tiffany jabbed her in the side of her stomach, and Seraphina let out a weird laugh. In an attempt to change the topic, Eric asked Tiffany about their training from yesterday.

"How did you guys learn how to use the Paths without Phoenix showing you how," Eric asked.

"Oh that was easy," Tiffany said. "Before he left with you guys he just talked to us about relaxation techniques, meditation, etcetera."

"That's it? You must be lying," Aster asked in bewilderment.

"Yeah. Then we meditated in the hot spring, and did a bunch of trust exercises," Seraphina replied. "It was really cheesy but I felt like we all got closer afterward."

"What did the guys do," Tiffany asked.

Aster and Eric looked at Max who wanted him to confess to his sins.

"We drank the water until we threw up," he mumbled.

Seraphina's laugh echoed through the trees and scared all the paser into flying away into the sky. Tiffany shook her head in secondhand embarrassment.

The hike to the Fajra Temple was filled with nothing but dirty jokes and Aster mentioning historical trivia facts at certain historical markers on the path. He still believed that Eric was interested in history and it was too late for Eric to say otherwise.

When they had hiked two miles down the mountain, they came to the One Hundred Steps of Patience.

The One Hundred Steps of Patience looked quite innocent.

It was a staircase carved out of the side of the mountain, hundreds of years ago. Little stone totems stood at the side, with different animals on the top of each totem. The higher up the staircase went, the more vicious and terrifying they looked. Everyone was very disappointed by the staircase and thought it would be filled with spikes, falling boulders, or some variation of traps.

"What are you all standing around for," Phoenix shouted. "Let's go!"

Phoenix closed his eyes and went up about ten steps because he didn't want to go too far ahead. He turned around, and the farthest anyone had gone, was Max. Max was on the eight step, sweating up a storm and wanted to take his coat off. Most of the group hadn't made it past the second step.

"Today you are going to see the most dangerous Path of all. The Unseen, The Unheard, The Aether," Phoenix said.

His eyes turned a milky grey and he took off his hat, exposing his flame-red hair to the crisp and cold air. He sat down on the 11th step and looked down at them with a smug grin.

"Piece of advice, don't touch the stone animal guys," Phoenix shouted.

Max was tired of Phoenix's grandstanding and knew he could make it to the top. He struggled to lift his right leg, and twisted his other in frustration. Out of desperation, Max ignored Phoenix's advice, and used the closest totem next to him, to pull himself up.

The stone totem had an ugly, warty, rano on it. When Max held onto it, suddenly it was if the pressure on his body was gone, but the rano moved. Max froze in place when the stone rano turned and let out an ear piercing screech. Max screamed back, picked up the animal, and threw it into the trees.

He took one step up and was now on step nine.

"That...that is one way to go about it, I guess," Phoenix said. "But since you knocked one of the totems closest to the ground you will get the most trouble."

Max took two more steps easily and sat right next to Phoenix, and now he was the one with a smug smile.

The others hesitated, but cautiously they walked up the stairs with ease and were confused as to why the pressure disappeared. Phoenix looked more and more upset as they walked up the few steps and he stood up once they were close to him.

"Everyone, look," Phoenix said.

All the stone animals had turned to look at Max.

"Maybe we should go home," someone said.

"Maybe you shouldn't have desecrated sacred history," Aster chimed.

"Aster, shut up," Tiffany shouted. "Now is not the time!"

"He's right," a gravely voice said.

Tiffany was pushed down to the ground and she fell down the steps, grunting with every time she hit her head. People chased after her, but others were pushed down the stairs as well. The only ones left standing on the staircase were Eric, Phoenix, and Aster.

Eric's cybernetics made him too heavy, so he was being slowly nudged, but just took a step forward every time he was about to slip. Pheonix was left alone because he was patient, and Aster was left alone because he was respectful.

Max turned over Tiffany and checked her head. She was bruised in the left eye, and her lip was busted.

"Everything is too bright," she mumbled. "Too loud. Need quiet."

Her body went limp, and her eyes went a milky grey. Max panicked and shook her body but Tiffany was in a trance. Everyone crowded around her, and Phoenix came down to see what the problem was.

"What's wrong with her," Max asked.

"She's seeing the Unseen...a little too well," Phoenix replied. "She'll snap out of it in a bit."

An ungodly moan came from the first totem, a vulpino. Everyone froze in fear, as it moaned and moaned, and then stopped.

"Well that was stupid," Seraphina said. " Can we-"

The stone vulpino shattered into thousands of pieces and the other totems started screaming and crying along with them. Everyone in the Adventure Club was now screaming and they were having too much of an adventure.

"What's happening," Max asked.

"Tiffany. Tiffany is happening," Phoenix said in awe.

His eyes were still grey and he looked into the aether and saw Tiffany going to work, smashing the totems. Her spirit was out of her body, and Tiffany was so angry she didn't even notice. She was hitting them with all her might, kicking them, spitting on them, and shouting obscene words.

"Tiffany seems to have mastered a path without even knowing," Phoenix said. "I just hope she knows how to get back."

"What happens if she doesn't wake up," Max asked.

"Here's the thing," Pheonix replied. "If she doesn't realize her spirit's not in her body, then she's going to die."