That detail brought a subtle sense of relief to the group. Everyone looked a little less tense, since the fog was one of the main things keeping us constantly on edge. With visibility so limited, there was no way to tell if something was following us.
I walked on for a while longer before noticing Rupert moving up alongside me on my left. Victor and Arthur kept pace to my right, steady as always, while Rupert usually walked a few steps behind, with the rest of the response team.
Because of that, his sudden approach struck me as slightly unsettling, but I chose to remain silent, staying alert to my surroundings. After a few moments, Rupert broke the silence.
“Do you think we’re still far from the objective?” he asked, his voice steady and mildly indifferent, as if he were merely making casual conversation.
I assumed he was talking about my little sister. Even so, it was a hard question to answer. I could feel her ahead of us, present, almost within reach, just like always, with no sign that anything was wrong.
Still, when people asked how close we really were, I honestly couldn’t say. It felt like tossing something into the open sea and watching a marker point the way: you know exactly where you dropped it and which direction to go, but there’s no way to tell how deep that place really is.
(I’m not really sure...) I explained to Rupert, my voice transmitted directly into his mind: (... Close?) The word slipped out heavy with hesitation, sounding more like an uncertain question than a real answer.
Rupert noticed it too and turned his gaze toward me, his expression clearly confused. He furrowed his brow slightly before raising an eyebrow, as if trying to make sense of the question: “Why are you asking me that?” he asked, his voice tinged with confusion. Then he added, a crooked, ironic half-smile on his face: “You’re the one who comes with a GPS built in”
I blinked at his words, watching him for a moment before turning my eyes forward again. Then I simply shrugged. Rupert sighed, his shoulders sagging a little, as if whatever expectations he still had had just faded into the air.
He didn’t speak to me again after that, probably because he realized I wouldn’t be able to answer much of anything he asked.
I mean, all I really knew was that we were heading in the right direction. Beyond that... sure, I might be a GPS, but my ability to calculate the remaining distance to the destination was completely broken.
I’m not sure how long we kept walking, maybe minutes, maybe hours. That place made it impossible to gauge the passage of time, honestly. The only thing we knew for certain was that the fog kept slowly retreating as we moved forward, as if it were being pushed back by our presence.
Little by little, the air grew clearer, until we reached a point where we could finally see what lay ahead of us. And then it hit us: we had come out of the ravine. It was like a tunnel, with a clearly defined entrance and a visible end in the distance. The difference was that we had spent hours walking through it.
The first thing I noticed, just before we fully emerged from the ravine, was that the ground was completely covered in flowers. Vibrant colors spread out in every direction, forming a natural mosaic that stood in stark contrast to the gray rock we had left behind.
The grass, short and neatly trimmed, swayed gently in the breeze, carrying a light, pleasant scent through the air. Everything around us looked like an immense, carefully cultivated garden, filled with countless species of flowers and plants stretching as far as the eye could see.
When the others finally got a clear view of the garden, their reactions varied. Still, they all shared one thing in common: sheer amazement at the lushness of the vegetation.
We stood at the entrance for a while in silence, simply taking in the scene before us. The air felt purer there, infused with a soft, unfamiliar fragrance, while leaves and vividly colored flowers extended endlessly across the landscape.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
That was when my eyes slowly stopped roaming over the whole and locked onto a single point. Farther ahead stood a gigantic tree, far larger than all the others, wrapped in an intense golden glow.
Its light spilled across the garden, illuminating every corner with a warm, majestic radiance, bright as the sun itself, making the entire place feel alive.
The tree had countless branches spreading outward from its colossal trunk, reaching in every direction. From each one hung fruits of similar shape but astonishingly varied colors: deep red, pearly white, rich purple, vivid green, light blue, navy blue, golden yellow, and many other shades that were hard to name.
Some of them even seemed to emit a faint glow, as if they carried something more than mere matter. Still, what truly captured my attention when I looked that way wasn’t just its immense size, making the tree seem as though it touched the sky, but the strangely familiar feeling emanating from it.
A wave of nostalgia washed over me, because that presence, the presence of my sister, felt incredibly close.
I moved my bare feet toward the tree. The moment I stepped onto the grass, a cool sensation washed over my body, strangely pleasant, as if my feet were sinking into warm, welcoming water. Victor, Arthur, Rupert, and the rest of the group seemed hesitant to follow me. They exchanged wary looks and paused for a few moments.
Even so, Victor was the first to come after me. Arthur followed right behind him. Rupert, for his part, let out a resigned sigh, clearly against his better judgment, before finally taking his first step and trailing after us. The rest of the group eventually followed in silence, probably believing that staying close to me was the safest option.
Our muffled footsteps whispered through the damp grass as we moved toward the tree. The garden stretched out around us with an almost hypnotic beauty, drawing awed looks from everyone, though that sense of wonder was paired with unmistakable caution.
Rupert, Arthur, and Victor walked closer to me. In the prolonged silence that followed, broken only by the rustle of leaves in the wind, Rupert was the first to speak, his voice low and suspicious: “You know... is it just me, or does all of this seem really, really suspicious? I mean, having a garden here?”
I noticed Victor’s and Arthur’s eyes meet for a brief instant before they both looked away almost at the same time: “Well...” Victor began, stopping himself for a second: “So far, I don’t feel like there’s anything about to kill us”
He slowly scanned the surroundings, alert to every detail, before finishing in a quieter tone: “Whatever this place is, I think we’re safe here... at least for now”
“Hmm...” Rupert murmured, the sound slipping from his lips along with a resigned expression.
Then his gaze drifted toward the flowers scattered around us. He studied them for a few moments, his brows knitting in clear confusion, as if something about them didn’t quite add up.
The silence hung in the air briefly before his voice echoed again, hesitant: “Is it just me... or do these plants look like they’re made of...?”
Before Rupert could finish the sentence, Arthur answered for him with an almost casual tone: “Precious stones? Yeah. Almost all the flowers are made of something, ruby, diamond, sapphire, or emerald” His eyes swept across the area for a moment, as if that were an obvious detail.
The place fell silent once more. Still, I couldn’t miss the reaction from the response team: nearly all of their eyes widened, raw surprise reflected in them, while their mouths fell slightly open in a mix of disbelief and bewilderment.
For a brief moment, they seemed to forget where they were. Then, little by little, their attention returned to the flowers, and at that point, there was no doubt. Desire gleamed in their eyes, a sharp, almost hungry spark.
“But if I were you, I wouldn’t touch them” Arthur warned, drawing everyone’s attention. He shot a meaningful look at the gems, then smirked and added in a clearly ironic tone: “Remember where we are. Do you really think these gems are... normal?”
Well, Arthur definitely had a reason to say that, and it was impossible to ignore. All the flowers around us pulsed with an intense glow, displaying vivid rainbow colors, as if light itself had taken root within them.
In other words, whatever those things really were, anomalies disguised as gems or objects imbued with anomalous properties, it was clear they couldn’t possibly be sold.
As we moved deeper into the garden, drawing closer to the massive tree ahead of us, everyone’s gaze naturally shifted away from the gemstone-cut flowers and converged on the tree’s majestic figure, which glowed gold as if it had captured sunlight itself.
A powerful radiance flowed from its branches and leaves, spreading warm reflections throughout the area. I briefly wondered whether such brightness might be harmful to Victor, Arthur, Rupert, and the rest of the response team. But when I saw them taking in the sight without any sign of discomfort, I concluded it probably wouldn’t be an issue.
“This place is incredible” Rupert commented, letting a faint smile slip as he looked around: “In more ways than one”
I ignored them and kept walking, aware that they were following close behind. We stopped just short of a small rise in the path that led directly up to the tree. Victor, Rupert, and Arthur stopped as well, glancing at me from the corner of their eyes, apparently waiting for me to do something.
In fact, ever since we arrived in this place, something had changed. I could feel my sister much more clearly, a subtle but constant presence, almost like an invisible thread tugging at my steps. That feeling was what had led me to the tree in the first place; at first, I even thought she might be the tree itself, or hidden inside it.
Now that I was closer, I realized my mistake. The sensation was coming from beyond the trunk, as if my sister were behind the tree, outside my field of view. Either way, there was no reason to hesitate anymore. I took a deep breath. It was time to call her.
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