Chapter 99 - Arriving At A Peculiar Campsite

"So, where...?"

On the driver's seat, Dan asked Nick who was beside him on the front seat. On the middle row were the four girls. Eline and Iesa were separated by Mira and Catherine.

Eline was dispirited by the appearance of Iesa but because Hanon was there too, she seemed to be doing fine enough to smile and chatter with her friends. Iesa was, obviously, left out of the talk as she looked out to the window.

On the backseat, Mike sat farthest from Teren out of fear. Besides him was Josh and then Hanon. IN other words, behind Iesa, Teren was seated.

The one who planned to massacre his classmates later was flustered by the appearance of his crush.

Earlier, when Iesa arrived, she asked them for her to join. No one complained and it was all up to Nick's decision as the 'leader' today.

Seeing that Teren seemed to be flustered and confused by Iesa's appearance, something dawned to him.

'Does he like her?'

Since Teren didn't give him any signal that he shouldn't, Nick let Iesa join them. But in truth, Teren was conflicted.

'Camping with Iesa? I... that's... ahhh! But she should not be affiliated with me anymore. It's not like I can use the Great Spirit of Mind-Altering whenever I want to. Let's think about this carefully, Teren.'

But while thinking, Dan was already driving them to the place.

'Nah, it will work out.'

Teren just gave up thinking when he saw Iesa peeking a glance at him too and blushing.

I want to sit beside her and hug her!!!

He restrained himself from shouting that from the top of his lungs. Having no choice, he feigned sleep which failed as he looked at her from time to time too.

Oblivious to Nick and Hanon, the shadow leader of this operation was having butterflies in his stomach. This indirect flirting was not known to others.

Coincidentally, in the right column of the van; Nick, Iesa, and Teren were silent. Hanon was forced to join Josh and the others' conversation to lighten up the mood. If he, the adult showed signs of anxiety, it would influence his students.

From a stranger's perspective, this scene would be the image of youth themselves, having fun while having some trivial love affairs on the way.

Except for the select few, they have no idea what's to come.

It was a short ride. Hanon knew the place where they were going. It was near the warehouse where they would meet. Since tomorrow was the supposed meeting of the new gang that Teren was about to form, it was better if they were close to the location at the time.

It was near the school but it was a bit far from the plaza that's why a van is convenient. But they thought they would go out of the city...

"Is there a good camping place here?"

Josh whispered to Mike.

"I don't know, I just know that there are trees and a bit of wildlife here."

Ignoring the gate to the warehouse, the group entered the light forest. Unfortunately, there was no road at this point so they have to walk for about half an hour.

As they go deeper, they soon met peculiar scenes. The trees are oddly broken. Some of them had holes in them and others were completely toppled something that nature could not do.

It was as if a machine were brought there to break trees in an unconventional way.

"What happened here?"

Mira asked but they could only speculate. Meanwhile, Iesa was in the midst of understanding what happened here. She was surprised that it was recent but accepted it right away since she had already known some background knowledge from Seres.

She heard what happened from Nick and Hanon's thoughts.

The two kept reminiscing about what happened here. They couldn't be blamed. They don't know that Iesa is a psychic who can read minds and also, what happened here changed their view of the world.

'So what Seres is telling me is true...' Iesa thought, 'There are people who are this strong.'

'She's so cute when thinking seriously...'

Teren, partly the cause of this destruction when he was chasing Gant, was lovestruck.

Soon, the group entered an open area. However, when Iesa learned that this was 'manmade', she almost jumped from surprise.

This was the place that Daikan, leader of the Titanes House, landed. Because of the soil erosion for the past few days, the cracks have faintly vanished. However, the trees that were toppled and now have become dead logs are creepily positioned outwards tells that something happened here.

"Did a meteor dropped here?" Dan couldn't help but ask. 

"Some trees  still  have leaves on them, in other words, it was recent." Mira replied. She was one of the smartest people of the bunch there.

When Teren chased Gant, it just took them a few minutes to get there because of their speed. However, they were far from the actual neighborhood that no one question the fact there was no news about it.

But then...

"L-look here!"

Josh immediately found something spine-shuddering.

"Are these footprints!? They're at the center, they are big, and a bit far apart."

Mira said in exasperation as if piecing puzzle pieces together. Catherine covered her mouth in surprise and the others too were quite shocked. They all reached the same conclusion.

"B-but that's impossible, right? This must be a prank!" Eline reasoned.

"It can also be some sort of art."

"Yeah, and it can also be a set for filmmaking though I haven't heard anything being filmed around here."

The others said other sensible explanations. The idea of a large person dropping here, causing the ground to lower and trees to be destroyed was just hard to comprehend.

So that's not the question here. They all looked at Nick. Is encountering this a coincidence or is this their actual destination?

The answer to that question leads to more questions.

For the popular group, they finally felt that there was something more to why they were there. Meanwhile, a memory reopened for Mike and Catherine.. They finally remembered what made them anxious and fearful towards Teren.