(Mitch's POV)
As I walked away from Preston's room I went towards Jerome's room, "Hey how was talking to Preston?" Jerome said not looking away from the television, "Different." I said laying down on Jerome's bed.
"What do you mean by that?" Jerome said turning his attention off of the movie and to me, "It was just how he acted around me." I said thinking about why Preston said thank you to me, "Wait how did he act?" Jerome said confused.
"He acted like he was afraid of something or someone..." I said looking at Jerome who was looking at his door, "What do you think it was about?" Jerome asked sitting up from laying on the ground, "I don't know but I think I'm going to go take a nap in my room." I said getting up and walked into the hallway.
'why do I have a feeling that the next trials are coming up.' I thought as I walked to my room and the memory of the portals came back to me, I finally got to my room and I could tell that everyone was doing something.
I laid down on my bed and looked up at the roof until sleep took over.
-+-(Dream)-+-
I woke up in a large dark forest I looked at the trees, they were not dead oak trees but live redwood trees, "This place again." I said walking forwards on the path that was covered in pebbles and sticks.
"Never thought I would see this place again." I said as I followed the path, "Why don't I teleport around?" I said as I concentrated on a tree near the path, but I didn't teleport, "Oh that's why." I said as I followed the path.
"Oh hey Mitch." Ryan's voice said from behind me, "Oh hey Ryan why am I here again?" I asked turning around to face him, "Don't know but I think it has to do with a new path that just showed up." Ryan said looking past me and to the path.
"It's just up there right?" I asked knowing that I would have to go down the path to do something, "Yep and stay to the path you don't know what lurks in the shadows." Ryan said turning away from me and walking along the path away from me.
'How do I keep ending up here!' I thought as I passed a large bolder and ahead was nothing but trees, sighing I kept walking and it seemed like hours had past until something else other than trees could be seen it was a statue.
As I walked up to it I saw that the path went around the statue and even split into three directions, "What is this?" I asked as I looked at the statue which had a pedestal in front of it that had a black book on it.
Going up to the black book I started reading it, "The Hidden Forests." I said reading the book title, I opened it up to be amazed at how many hidden forests there were but one page caught my attention.
"Valley of the Dead Oaks" I read looking at it I knew about it from meeting Jolon who was acting as Preston, sighing I kept reading. "The valley itself is a mystery not many know of it and those who have been there are known to be evil" I read but I couldn't believe it Preston has been there at least six times and he isn't evil.
Shaking my head I looked back down at the book and kept reading "People can visit the Valley by having a Dead Oak Amulet. And when they do they get sick, which isn't really being sick it's just the effects of the Amulet." I read, but that only made more questions pop up instead of answering them.
As the leaves rustled in the wind it felt like something was wrong, until the statue was black, and the book turned to a random page that was a black color, looking down at the book I started reading it.
"The End isn't a forest....but it has been know to be the birth place of the powers of space, teleporting isn't the only power that was created there, but millions have been lost trying to see the end or just been destroyed from the things that live there." I couldn't believe it the End was in this book!?
Suddenly the statue turned to a bright red, and the book turned to another page that was red, but it read something else, "The nether is not a forest but it's a mysterious place, said to hold the souls of past dead people, it's easy to get into but not as easy to get out of from all the dangers that lurk in it."
I then remembered what happened and how we got out of the nether, 'Preston was the one who got us out of there' I thought as I looked up at the sky surprised to see that I could see a orange red sky above, I looked down to finish reading it.
"This place is said to be the place where Time was made into a power that only one out of ten people that were part of the experiment lived and got the power of fire and time." I read aloud, looking up I saw that the statue was black and red now.
The book flipped to a black and red page that said "The end, the nether, and the hidden forest...." I read stopping as I said the third place, 'that sounds familiar..' I thought as I looked up at the statue.
Looking down at the book I kept reading, "The Hidden Forest can only be accessed by a tunnel. This tunnel can only be revealed by the powers of the Universe, or known as the powers of Space and Time." I read out, I listened closely and heard several twigs snap behind me.
Looking around I saw the black fog that surrounded the place was covering the paths and was slowly surrounding me, I looked at the book to see that the pieces of stone that was holding it in place disappeared leaving me able to grab it.
I grabbed the book quickly and stood with my back against the statue with the fog slowly closing me into a small space, I looked up to see the sunset sky being blocked by black fog. Taking a deep breath I looked at the path in front of me only to see-
Metal Tree Trunks and Wooden Machine Guns!