"Oi! Are you sure we're going in the right direction?" Draniell asked out loud while he followed behind both Zack and his sisters. He couldn't help but look around for certain landmarks or move around some sticks in a specific pattern in case they got lost or they ended up walking in a big circle and they needed to go home.
"Of course we are!" The cyan haired man said, as he hopped over a fallen tree. "Just trust me on this, will ya?" Zack responded, looking back at the older one with an annoyed yet a somewhat hopeful expression.
"Come on, big brother." Charielle slowed down her pace to walk beside Dran, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Sure... Zack might be bad at directions sometimes, maybe even more, but I'm sure he remembers where this interesting 'thing' he wants to show us is." Charielle reassured him while defending her best friend.
"Finally! Somebody here has their faith in me!" Zack said in relief, smiling back at Charielle before continuing to lead.
"Yeah right..." Rovellyn jumped into the conversation, not really sounding optimistic about Zack's navigation skills. Which earned a frown from the younger man.
"It isn't that bad!" He protested a bit, looking at her unimpressed. "I know where it is!" He adds, trying to prove his point.
"Remember the time we sent you out to town so you could buy cake for Charielle's birthday?" The blue haired girl reminded him, almost in a playful taunting manner.
"Oh! I remember that!" Charielle exclaimed, giggling a bit as she began to recall what happened that day.
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"Here you are." The cashier said, as they handed both the cake and receipt to Zack. "Have a nice day." They said politely, soon watching as the young man walked out of the shop.
"Finally!" He exclaimed proudly, with the cake box in hand. "After hours of waiting, I now have the cake!" The cyan haired man celebrated, exaggerating a little on how long he waited, as he looked down in excitement. Nearly drooling at the sight of the beautifully decorated chocolate cake, but quickly shook his head while remembering who it was for.
"This is for Charielle." Zack reminded himself, taking a deep breath as he does so, not wanting to give in to sweet temptation.
"Now... Where did I come from again?" He stared up from the cake and turned his head to the sides a couple of times. Almost like a child missing in a mall and looking for their parents.
"Okay..." Zack turns his head to the left, "Uh...Yeah! This way!" He said, pointing to the left as he started to walk down the street. After a bit, he soon stopped as he found himself in the middle of town at the main square where people chatted and walked.
"Wait... " He froze a bit realising his mistake, as he looked back on the path he came from rather than forward. "I don't remember seeing a statue on my way to the bakery—." The cyan haired man mumbled, as he turned around in confusion. His gaze couldn't help but wander up at the old statue in the main square. It was of a man holding a sword that was pointing north and wearing a shield on its left arm.
He nearly shivered at the way it looked, starting to get anxious as he thought that he might be lost. Zack immediately walked towards the statue and looked at the four possible paths he could take.
Back the old path where the bakery was,
Forward,
Left,
And Right.
He swallowed nervously, as the sound of people and footsteps began to flood into his brain. While he thought on which way to go.
'This way!' He thought, immediately turning to the right side yet he couldn't seem to find anything familiar.
'Wait... No! Over there!' Soon he turned to the left, but it was the same as the right path.
"That's not it either! Oh It has to be this way...!" Zack thought so confidently, about to march forward. But immediately stops, only seeing the crowds of people walking and the unfamiliarity was overwhelming as he slowly took a step back.
"Oh excuse me, it seems that you're lost. Do you need help?" An old voice asked behind him, which made him jump.
The noise was getting too much!
"THIS IS THE SAME STATUE FROM EARLIER!" Zack shouted in dismay as the townspeople looked at him weirdly. As well as startling the old lady who merely wanted to help.
"Well I never..." She said with a disappointed frown, soon leaving Zack who was just as startled as her. "Youngsters these days..!" She muttered rudely, as she walked past him.
As soon as he watched the old lady leave, he immediately sat down underneath the statue and covered his face in frustration.
"Damn it, Charielle is probably back home already..." He mumbled to himself, nearly gripping at his hair in annoyance. Before he looked down at the box in hand with the birthday cake, soon holding it close but not too close since he didn't want to squash it.
"Oh god... Draniell is gonna kill me.." Zack began to tear up as he felt shivers down his spine at the potential thought of Dran shouting at him.
He continued to sit there alone, moping to himself as his mind fell into a spiral of negative thoughts. He was lost, both figuratively and literally, as he started to feel hopeless on ever finding a way back home.
Once the spiral of negative emotions began to lighten up, Zack looked up and his eyes widened as he realised how much time had passed. The sun was already setting and the people in the centre were less than earlier. He had thought he had just been sitting there for five minutes, but it had actually been four hours. When realising that, the young man couldn't help but tear up knowing how much time he had wasted away.
"They're never gonna trust me again..." He mumbled himself, trying to hold back a sniffle. As he did his best not to cry, but was failing.
Not long after... A familiar presence spotted the crying man and quickly ran over. Yet Zack didn't seem to notice right away with the way he was wiping his tears.
"Oi!" The voice said suddenly, followed by loud footsteps that soon stopped next to the cyan haired man.
Which caused Zack to get startled as he heard the deep and husky voice beside him. He quickly looked up and turned his head to the side to see a pale looking person who seemed to be both sweating and panting. Watching as the dark haired man bent over to hold his knees for a moment, before going to look up at him.
In the currently anxious man's eyes, it looked like something from a horror story. A creepy figure coming to grab at him and it getting dark wasn't making it any better.
"Eeeek! A ghost!" Zack shouted as he gripped the box tightly and smacked it against the other's face in self defence. He closed his eyes in fear as he did soon.
After a faint splat and oomph was heard, the young man opened his eyes slowly. Only to see that it wasn't a monster, but a person. There was a moment of awkward silence, as he looked down at the unknown person he had just hit and knocked over with the now dented cake box (plus the now ruined cake within it).
The man looks up at him with a dark look in his eyes. Which made Zack freeze immediately as he realised who had just hit.
"D-Draniell!" Zack stutters out, discovering this while keeping a tight grip on the handle of the box. As he tried his best not to shake in fear.
"Well that was quite a hit!" Rovellyn said with a grin on her face, as she slowly walked over. More calmer than her older brother, who was glaring at Zack in silence. "You probably shouldn't have done that." She added, standing behind Dran.
"Haha...Sorrryyy!" The cyan haired man tried to apologise, before immediately turning around and trying to escape. "I thought you were a gho—" Zack didn't even get to finish his sentence as the black haired male stood up and lifted him up by the back of his collar.
"I am gonna bury you." Draniell threatened, looking at the other with an evil eye. Which made the other shut his mouth and almost shake in fear.
"Dran, we can talk about this..!" Zack said, almost tearfully, hoping for some kind of mercy. Yet was ignored instantly as he was dragged back home by an annoyed Draniell and a more than amused Rovellyn.
It was only then, they were able to reveal the very late and ruined chocolate cake to Charielle, who was just happy to have cake.
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"The good thing was that we still had half of the cake!" She clapped her hands a bit happily, remembering that time. "Although seeing my brother's face covered in Chocolate Icing was also pretty worth it too." Charielle said as she giggled. Which made Draniell huff out a bit, in an attempt to hide his smile.
"Yeah! But that doesn't beat Zack getting buried though!" Rov added with a laugh as she looks at Zack.
Strangely enough, the cyan haired man didn't respond to any of the jokes or taunts. Instead, he was staring straight ahead at the path and seemed to be focusing. Which caused another round of awkward silence between the whole group.
"So... Zack, we've been walking for like an hour now. Are you sure we aren't lost?" Rov asked suddenly, wanting to break the tension as she arched her back and slouched her arms lazily.
"Oh U-Uh..." He seemed to hesitate slightly, "We're close! I swear..!" Zack said, trying to sound confident in hopes to reassure her.
"That's what you said 30 minutes ago.." Dran pointed out with his usual poker face. Soon enough, he crosses his arms. "You know what? Let's head back. We aren't getting anywhere." Dran said as he was starting to get impatient.
"E-Eh! But we already made it this far. Why go back nowww?" Zack whined out as he turned around to face them, while walking backwards.
"U-Uhm.. Zack, you should turn around and watch your step." The brunette suggested. "You might hurt yourself." Charielle said with a worried look on her face.
"Pshhh, what could possibly go wron—" Zack didn't even get to finish his sentence, as his foot slipped against a deep cliff.
"Zack!" Charielle shouted, as she rushed forward and grabbed his wrist while attempting to pull him back up. Due to Zack being too heavy for their younger sister, her feet slipped as well.
"CHARIELLE!" Rov shouted as she was quick to grab onto the back of Charielle's shirt, but got pulled in as well, when the two began to fall.
Draniell immediately dove down grabbed onto Rov's legs tightly and pulled as hard as he could. Digging his heel onto the ground, by some miracle he was able to keep his feet stuck in place while pulling.
Taking one step back with each pull, finally getting Rovellyn back into the surface and they both were able to pull both Charielle and Zack safely. At the last pull, they all stumbled back onto the ground exhausted from the sudden adrenaline rush.
"You guys... are such... a drag!" Dran complained, while he panted and fell back onto his shadow tiredly.
"You guys.. Ugh." Rovellyn groaned out in annoyance as she tried to ease her racing heart.
While Zack shook from fear, as he looked at the cliff in fear. The realisation of him nearly dying again was terrifying... The fact that this was the second today made it even worse, but before he could dwell on it more. He felt arms wrap around him, shaking as well.
"Are you okay?!" The brunette asked, a few tears threatening to spill from her eyes. She was shaking as well and the young man couldn't bear it, as he hugged back in comfort.
"Yeah.. I'm okay, Char..." The cyan haired man said, trying to help reassure before looking at the rest of his friends. "I'm sorry, I nearly got you guys hurt or well... worse killed." He added a bit awkwardly.
"Zack? Tell me the truth..." The older male started, as he finally caught his breath and sat up to face the other. "Do you really know where the thing is or not?" Draniell asked with a dark tone that easily meant 'if you actually don't, I will throw you off this cliff myself'.
"Wait!" The younger male said in a panic, as he stood up and looked around. Finally starting to remember, "This place seems familiar.." Zack said, continuing to look around frantically.
"Here we go again..." Draniell sighed out, as he stood up and helped his blue haired sister stand up as well.
Zack gaze stopped at a pair of bushes, a breeze blowing through his hair as he stared at the spot. Almost as if it was beckoning him, "Over there!" He pointed, before sprinting off in that direction.
"Hey! Wait for us!" Rov shouted as she ran after Zack.
"No fair!" Charielle said as she tried to catch up to them without a second thought. Which left the eldest behind, looking baffled by all this.
"Why must you guys always run..?!" Dran questioned both himself and the others in frustration. Before following them, not wanting to lose sight of them and letting them get hurt.
The eldest of the group kept running after them. After a bit, he soon spots them standing still, allowing himself to slow down a bit to catch his breath. "I swear.. You guys are a handful!" The black haired man said, before jogging his way over in slight confusion.
"Hey, Why'd you stop—" Draniell looked straight at what they were staring at and stopped in his tracks completely.
"Woah..." He said in awe, as he stood beside them.
As they all witnessed the tall stone brick walls with moss covering a good portion of it. The height of the wall nearly towered over the group. But didn't due to the upper part crumbling slowly through age, while large cracks were found on a few bricks as if they were struck down or shaken by an earthquake. Bits of debris were found laid on the grass near it.
It was a strange sight to see, yet unique.
Charielle opened her mouth to say something, only for her and her siblings to hear.
"Wohoo!" Zack cheered as he ran to the side of the old wall, which immediately made the trio follow after him. Watching as he stood next to what was supposed to be the entrance. The cyan haired male turned to face with a smile,
"We're here!" He said, casually putting his hands behind his neck trying to seem cool while walking backwards confidently.
"You seriously need to watch your—" Rov's comment was cut off as she watched Zack walk back into the stone wall instead of the entrance. "Steps. Watch your steps." She finished unimpressed.
"Owww.." Zack sobbed a bit, as he took a step forward and rubbed the back of his head.
"You alright?" Charielle asked, as she goes over to Zack.
"Yeah, just a bump-" The young male froze immediately, as he felt the brunette place a light kiss on his bump. Internally, he crashed so hard that Microsoft could get a run for its money and was in desperate need of a reboot.
Charielle smiled at the still frozen man and soon turned her head towards the wall with a disappointed frown. "Bad wall!" She scolded, as if she was scolding a puppy.
"A-Anyways!" Zack said suddenly, after rebooting, which caught the others' attention immediately. His face was still a bit pink from the small kiss. Before spreading his arms up wide with a smile and began,
"This is what I wanted to show you guys!" A look of excitement in his eyes as he motioned towards the place inside, "I call this place....
'The Ruins'' He said with a dramatic flair.
The siblings were impressed and amused by the introduction. As they stared at the entrance covered with long vines, as if it was blocking them from entering. Fortunately, it wasn't too thick to move away.
"Let's check it out!" Zack added as he ran forward towards the entrance, easily pushing the vines away and entering without a second thought.
"Be careful though! There might be—" Rovellyn stopped mid sentence as when she felt her arm get pulled by Draniell suddenly. "Huh?" She said in confusion.
"Don't be a killjoy today." Draniell stated plainly as he dragged Rov towards the entrance, wanting to follow Zack's lead.
"Funny... Coming from you?" Rov said a bit sarcastically, yet looked like a surprised kid by this sudden turn of events. Their younger sister was not far behind them, as all three of them pushed the vines out of the way and entered the tunnel.
The tunnel was wide and a bit long with only two openings, the one behind them and the opening in front of them. Although it was obviously old with some bits of cracks and chipped stone found on the inside, it surprisingly continued to stay strong like it was reinforced by the earth itself. The tunnel was dark, yet the light from the other side illuminated their path nicely, as the whole group walked forward through it.
"Ohohoho, This is new!~" The cyan haired man had a teasing grin on his face, as he turned to face his friends. "Looks like someone's interested!" Zack teased the older male, chuckling a bit at his own joke before turning back around and began to run over to the end of the entrance.
"Race you guys there!" He said, before speeding up.
"Zack! Wait up!" Charielle said as she ran as well and soon caught up to Zack. They were neck at neck in their little race. While the older two of the group walked.
The younger male smiled as he dashed forward, when they were both so close to the end. Finally getting through to the inside of the Ruins with a laugh, as he panted and turned to face the other. The brunette soon passed through as well, panting heavily and smiled at him. Followed by her two siblings that merely smiled at the two in amusement.
"I win!" Zack celebrated while panting. Putting his arms in the air in triumph. As the kinder sister caught her breath and began to look around.
"It looks even cooler on the inside," Charielle said as she looked around more in awe. "It's huge!" She added.
"Woah..." Rovellyn said as she also looked around herself, while still getting dragged along by her eldest sibling. Yet strangely enough, with each step she took. The sinking feeling of something about to go wrong grew stronger as she fully stepped inside of the Ruins.
'This might actually be fun...' Draniell thought to himself as he stopped near the two young oblivious love birds and soon let go of his grip on his blue haired sister.
"Can you see this, guys?!" Zack's eyes sparkled in excitement, as he shook lightly in glee. "What did I tell ya?! This would be a sweet vacation home!" He said, before pointing at a few structures, some were still stable and barely had any long cracks against their walls. While a few others looked close to being demolished.
"Some of the houses here are still intact and just need a little bit of renovation." The cyan haired man pinched his fingers together. "The walls are also still standing and best of all," He stopped to motion towards some more stable looking buildings. "I even found out this place has a library, a laboratory, and a garden!" Zack told them excitedly.
"Yeah!" The brunette was the first to cheer along. "We can definitely polish this place!" She said in excitement, as she looked around. In her mind, she was already thinking about possible sketches for designs they could do. "It will take a lot of time... But we can do it! And it will all be worth it!" Charielle said agreeing with Zack.
"Are you sure this place is a ruin? This place doesn't look that bad at all." Rovellyn pointed out, as she looked around some more. It was true the place looked old and abandoned, but the way some of the buildings looked. She was able to assume that it wasn't that ancient like they believed, probably about 1900s ish, still old but not that old.
"It looks more like abandoned." She added.
"Oh don't worry about that!" Zack said, brushing the concern almost right away due to his excitement. "Let's check out the library!" He suggested, which got the trio's attention "I even found something you guys might be interested in, Especially you, Rov." He pointed at her with a reassuring smile as he led the way again.
They all looked at one another and nodded in agreement, before following the other towards the library. Yet as they walked, Rov still couldn't brush the eerie feeling that something was about to happen....
It was as if someone or something was watching them...
But she just couldn't tell where it was exactly...
As they stopped at the front of the library, it looked newer than most buildings or that it was more well maintained. It was made with stone brick, nearly similar to the wall but smaller, and a pair of old oak doors with simple carvings on it. Zack was the first to move, "After you guys!" He said dramatically as gently pushed the doors open which let out a loud creak before one of the doors fell off its hinges and made a hole in the library's flooring. Startling everyone, especially the cyan haired man who soon looked at his friends almost nervously before putting on a smile.
"I should probably go in first. We can fix that later." He said quickly, before entering the library completely avoiding the fallen door and the hole it made. The others followed his lead, as they entered the library, they were immediately greeted by old dust and some cobwebs. Yet after a bit of swatting at the dust and avoiding a few of the cobwebs, they were able to witness the huge wooden shelves with books of all kinds. As they walked forward into it slowly, which surprisingly was more stable than Dran thought, as they made their way to the centre of the library.
"Woah..." The trio were awestruck, as they all stood in the centre gathering around a touch desk. In each direction there were numerous large wooden bookshelves filled to the brim with books, most being leather bound with faded colours, that surrounded the whole library almost like it was a labyrinth. A spiral staircase made of metal on both sides of the near the round desk, which seemed to have access towards the second floor. The whole place was slightly dim, yet there were rays of light that shined in from the broken glass window on the upper floor..
"This place is...." Rov started, as she shook slightly. Which caught everyone's attention, out of concern. "AWESOME!" She shouted in excitement, which made the others relax and laugh a bit. Watching as the blue haired girl began to squeal, excited to read all of these books, running towards one of the spiral staircases and started to head up already.
"Rovellyn! Get down from there!" Draniell scolded, as the girl was already halfway up the staircase.
"Oh..." She puffed out her cheeks in annoyance, as she stared at her eldest sibling. "Fine..." She grumbled, making her way down.
While Charielle turned her attention towards Zack, who was looking for something at the round desk, "What are you looking for?" She asked softly, walking towards the other hoping to help. While her siblings were disagreeing in the background.
"Here it is!" Zack said, as he pulled out something from behind the desk and showed it to them. It was a tablet? It looked oddly brand new with some kind of strange symbol on the back of it.
"I didn't know you bought a tablet." The brunette said, tilting her head in confusion, as her siblings heard her words and stopped bickering before making their way there in curiosity.
"I didn't actually, I found it here." Zack admits, as moved the tablet around between his two hands. Which seemed to surprise the two sisters, while Draniell was a bit more skeptical on that fact.
"So you just found a random tablet lying around here?" Dran asked, his arms crossed a bit.
"Believe me! I really did, plus... We gotta admit, I don't really have the money to buy a tablet myself." The cyan haired man points out with a gloomy aura, which was joined in by the others.
Being broke in this economy sucked.
"Anyways," The younger man started to check the subject, "It surprisingly doesn't have anything that can turn it on or like... Charge it, I tried some of the ports and it didn't work. What do you think, Rov?" Zack asked, before handing over the tablet to Rovellyn.
The blue haired woman held the device and began to examine it curiously, turning it around and even checking the sides. "Hmm, I have never seen anything like this before..." She admits, continuing to look at the tablet with a focused stare. "I think it's a new development or something..." Rov said, as she experimentally tapped on the screen multiple times.
"Oh! Do you think it could be one of those future thingies the town folks have been talking about lately?" Zack asked in excitement as his eyes sparkled at the idea of it. "How much do you think it would sell in the market?" Zack asked immediately, looking at the blue haired girl with hope.
"Hm...." Rovellyn stared at her hopeful friend's face in nervousness, as she looked back down at the strange looking tablet. "Well... To be honest, I think It's better not to sell this just yet." She admits, which made the hopeful young man's excitement turn into gloom instantly.
"But... Maybe we can get clues on wherever this came from." She suggested, trying to get Zack to perk up. "We could also use this too! If we figure out how it works that is." Rov added, as she wiped the screen with the long sleeves of her sweater since it was covered with dust.
Zack looked up at Rovellyn, a pout still on his face. Yet it soon changed, as his eyes were drawn to the tablet and for a split second he could have sworn he saw the other release a small spark from her hands. Which soon jump started the tablet and it began to light up.
"Woah!" Zack yelled out, pointing at the tablet in surprise. Immediately capturing everyone's attention at the sudden shout.
"What?" Rov asked him cluelessly, as she soon noticed the younger man's gaze and looked down as well at the tablet. Only to be mesmerised at the fact that it was booting up.
"Woah... I guess I did something." Rov said, clueless on what she had just done. After all, she was just wiping the dust off of it. "Maybe it turned on cause I rubbed away the dust? Like you know a genie or something." She suggested out loud, she gazed at her siblings.
Charielle seemed confused with her eyebrows furrowed slightly in concern. As she thought to herself, 'Am I imagining things?' For a moment, she could have swore that she saw a small spark from her older sister.
Draniell stood there on the side silently, having noticed the spark as well. But said nothing, believing it was an illusion or something else.
The reactions from her siblings only made her confused, Rovellyn had no idea why they were all looking at her strangely, she opened her mouth to say something.
"Woah! What language is this?!" Zack said in amazement, catching the trio's attention instantly, nearly forgetting about the spark from earlier, as they all crowded around the tablet in interest. Each of them watched as the tablet began to flash groups of oddly shaped symbols in a certain order.
"I've never seen it anywhere before..." Zack said in confusion, as he tapped on the screen and the odd symbols changed into new text.
"Is there a translator for this thing?" She tilted the tablet to the side, trying to make sense of the strange language. "This will be pretty confusing..." Rov mumbled as she gazed at it.
Zack sighed, before snatching the tablet away from the older. "We'll worry about that later." He reassured her, as he held the tablet at his side.
"I wanna take a look around here some more!" Charielle yelled out, as they all turned to see she was already going on ahead. Her giggling echoed a bit as she now stood outside of the library and waved at them. "Come on!" She said in excitement.
"Okay then!" Zack said with a determined grin, holding the tablet close as he went up the stairs. "There are about..." He stopped and thought for a moment, "Like a total of 11 houses, not including the Library and Laboratory of course. Some of them are broken though." He listed off, as he walked towards the exit.
"We each can have our own house!" The brunette squealed in excitement, raising her arms in the air in excitement. As she was soon joined by her best friend and her older sister.
"Sounds fun. But..." She starts, as she looks around a bit before looking back at them. "Where's Draniell?" Rov asked.
"What are you talking about, Rov?" Charielle said, as she motions her arms to the side. "He's right over here!" She said cheerfully, trying to make a dramatic reveal. Only to find herself motioning to open air, which caused all three of them to go silent for a moment at the sight of the currently missing eldest figure in the group.
". . . Well I knew Draniell was old, but I didn't think he would turn to dust." Rovellyn jokes in hopes to lighten the mood, as the two younger ones looked around a bit from where they would for the missing member.
"Eh, He must've gone without us." Zack said with a shrug, "We'll probably bump into him later." He said casually.
"Will he be alright?" Charielle asked, out of concern for their older brother, although she is fully aware the other can handle himself well. They all were in a new environment and none of them knew what could possibly happen.
"Well... He better be careful though, There might be traps laid around here that I haven't discovered yet." Zack said with a hint of worry and guilt for not mentioning it sooner.
"Traps?!" Both sisters shouted out in alarm.
"Yeah... It's not that big a deal, I promise." The younger man tried to reassure them as best he could.
"I find that hard to believe, no offence Zack." Rovellyn started as she looked around, "What kind of traps did you even find?" She asked curiously.
"Nets." Was all he said, which made the two women get confused.
"Nets?" They questioned, half expecting a more detailed or at least more shocking answer.
"Yeah. Nets." The cyan haired man repeated. "The first time I found this place, there was a huge net that caught me and kept me there for a few minutes. I was pretty lucky that the rope snapped, which freed me." He said with a proud smile.
"Huh... Well that's a story." The blue haired woman commented, wanting to be sceptical but couldn't since she knew how unbelievably lucky the other could get at times. It's why she always made him do her gacha pulls.
"Hell yeah it is!" Zack said proudly, "So are we going or not?" He asked energetically.
"Oh, I wanna see the houses next! Let's go!" Charielle ran ahead the two and made her way towards the houses, excited to see what they looked like.
"Better run faster or I'll catch up!" Zack shouted, as he easily caught up and soon passed her. Which made the brunette laugh, as she speeded up as well.
"Alright then..." Rov sighed, taking one last look around the area to make sure the feeling of being watched was still there. When she didn't feel it, she shrugged it off and began to run after the younger two.
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Meanwhile...
"Phew..." The taller man sighed out loud, "I finally escaped them..." He stretched for a moment, before doing one more look around the area. "They'll be fine." Dran whispers to himself, as he begins to explore around the ruins on his own.
He soon stopped at a few of the collapsed structures, still a firm framework but would need extra care and work. The black haired man went to take a closer look at them, finding them a bit smaller than the library but wide enough for people to live in. He soon stopped, as looked at one of the broken walls to see a bit of the interior.
Draniell was able to make out certain features that definitely didn't fit right with how old the place was supposed to be, "Some of these houses still look kinda new..." He said to himself.
The dark haired man decided to get a closer look at one of the ruined houses, slowly moving the broken wood fence door out of the way, before walking down the mossy gravel path towards the front door. Dran stopped half way down the path as he made out a faint outline on the door itself, yet it seemed to be covered up by moss and dirt. His curiosity getting the better of him, he went to get a closer look yet immediately halted before stepping on a rusted nail.
He let out a small breath in relief, having spotted it in time. "Gee... That would've hurt." Dran stepped over it carefully and was relieved to see that there were no other painful surprises lurking.
'That would've been the third unlucky thing in a row today.' Draniell thought to himself as he continued towards the door and began to remove the moss and dirt with his hand until the carved symbol on it was more visible.
He gently traces the carving with his thumb, "Father..." Dran whispered under his breath, as he stared at the familiar symbol. When he was about to reminisce for a moment, a simple yet distinct sound was heard behind him.
"Hoot."
Which caused him to turn around, after hearing the noise. Only to tilt his head in confusion, when he spots a white, almost like snowy white, owl staring at him weirdly.
"A white owl in the daylight..?" Dran thought to himself but soon decided to shrug it off, as he soon left to continue exploring.
The snowy owl merely stared from afar as the other left. It soon spread its wings once more and began to fly away.
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"This place looks cool, right?!" Zack shouted out as he was filled with excitement. As he turned towards the two sisters with a grin, while they walked closer towards the area of the ruined houses. "Let's go inside!" Zack shouted once again, as he ran inside one of the houses.
"Okay!" The sisters agreed and followed after him inside of the house, quite eager to explore. Although they did make sure to be careful, since they didn't want to accidentally break the wooden floorboard beneath them.
"So... Each house has about like 4 bedrooms each." He motioned towards the rooms and even opened one of the bedroom doors to try and show it off. Only for it to nearly fall off the hinges but luckily it was still stuck on but halfway now. "Anyways... It even has their own kitchen, and a living room." Zack stated, as he motioned towards each part while giving them a tour.
"No bathroom?" Rov questioned, peeking her head into one of the rooms. Only finding a partly broken wall and rickety old floorboard, which definitely would break if Draniell or Zack were to step on them but might be merciful to the girls. She mentally took note of that, as she looked at the cyan haired man.
"Not that I know of." He replied, scratching the back of neck as he looked at the two. "Sadly... Like I said, I haven't explored this place much yet."
"Achooo—!" Charielle sneezed loudly against one of the walls. Only for more dust to spread and land on her face, leading her to sneeze even more after accidentally covering herself in dust.
"It's pretty dusty in here.." Rov said, covering her mouth a bit to avoid breathing in dust while looking around. Only to nearly freeze in place, hearing a low creak nearby.
"What was tha—'' The blue haired woman didn't get to finish her sentence as she heard a shout and a loud crackle from above.
"Rov, watch out!" Charielle shouted pointing upwards, in a panic.
Zack was quick to react and tackled Rovellyn out of the way, as the plank of wood crashed down and impaled the flooring that they were under, saving her from the falling plank. They both tumbled a bit, but they were both safe at least. Charielle had soon gone to join their side in worry for both her best friend and older sibling.
"That was close..." She said putting a hand over her heart, which was beating quickly, in hopes of calming it down from that chaotic event.
"We definitely have a lot of work ahead of us," Char said with an awkward smile to hopefully lighten up the mood. "I think we should probably leave this place." She adds, not wanting to get a heart attack from the amount of sheer near death events they all have had in the past few hours.
"Sounds like a great idea." He said with a smile, before feeling his stomach let out a loud growl. Which made him embarrassed, his ears going pinkish. "But uhm.. Can we go home for now..?" Zack asked.
"Huh? What was that..? Achoo—!" Charielle sneezed loudly once again, as she heard the rumbling sound coming from the other's stomach.
"Uhh..." Not wanting to embarrass himself, he quickly looked at the current oldest. "You hungry, Rov?" Zack asked, immediately putting the blame on her while his cheeks were slowly turning pink.
"Dude, We just ate a while ago." Rov stated, in unamusement and a bit of shock, that Zack got hungry already.
"I'm a growing man, okay?!" He tried to defend himself, "And besides, We've been walking for hours now and it's already past lunch. We can come back another timeeee!" The cyan haired man whined a bit, as his stomach growled again.
"Alright then." She immediately turned her head. "Where's Charielle?" Rov asked, turning her head around again looking for the cute and innocent cinnamon roll that is named Charielle.
"Achoo!" The missing sister was soon heard sneezing again, now outside of the house still covered in dust. She was currently shaking off all of the dust from her body and clothes. But it only made her sniffles worsen.
"There you are!" The eldest of the trio said as she went over to Char and helped her remove the dust from the rest of her hair.
"Charielle, don't go off on your own!" The cyan haired man said, making his way over to the sisters in worry. Only for it to worsen, as he felt a deep shiver go down his spine at the daunting feeling that they were being watched.
"Sorry, It was pretty dusty inside of there— Achoo!" Charielle sneezed again, covering her mouth.
"Where's Draniell?" Zack asked the two suddenly, wondering where that pale teen ran off to. As he tried to hide the slight paranoia in his voice, not wanting to worry the two.
"Dran he... Ha... Dran..." The brunette let out another loud sneeze, after trying to hold it in. "Phew... He hasn't been with us since we left the library." Char said, holding off another sneeze causing her to stutter.
"Let's go check the entrance." The eldest of the three suggested. "He might just be waiting for us there." Rovellyn said as she started to walk back to the entrance with Charielle and Zack.
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From a far distance, a man in a hood watched vigilantly from where he was hiding. A small mirror in his hand, not as big as their palm, yet its reflection was not of himself. "Four of them.." He stated lowly, as he lurked in the forest. Continuing to follow the trio without their knowledge.
"They're all teens and two of them seem to be releasing small amounts of aura..." He said, soon gazing down at the reflection of the mirror to reveal a shadowy figure on the other side.
"Follow them." The figure ordered with a low growl.
"Roger." The man with the hood responded, soon pocketing the unique mirror inside his pocket, as his gaze turned back to the trio he was following while they stood there like sitting ducks at the entrance.
"Come on guys, Let's leave him! I'm starvinggggg!" Zack complained as his stomach rumbled louder, rubbing at his stomach dramatically and impatiently. Which earned a short and an eye roll from Rovellyn, who found it entertaining.
"We can't just leave him!" Charielle scolded the other, before looking back in worry.
"Yo." Draniell said calmly, even doing a two finger salute at them as he made his way over to them without a care in the world.
"Finally! Where have you been?!" The younger male asked first, before the sisters even could. Before Dran could even respond, the younger had already changed his mind
"Nevermind, Let's get out of here! I'm eating at your house!" Zack yelled, dashing out of the Ruins like a roadrunner.
'He's gonna get lost again...' The trio all thought with a sigh. Before smiling as they all ran after him once again going deep into the forest leaving the Ruins...
"The targets are on the move."