Owen stepped through the cool curtain of the waterfall… Soft, late-morning sunlight shone down onto his face.
The Blackwood Forest he saw before him had changed completely… It was no longer a place oppressed by a terrifying presence. The "veil of mist," once as thick as a living nightmare, had completely dissipated, leaving only fresh, clear morning air. The cheerful chirping of birds sounded from the distant treetops, and the scent of damp earth was clean and fragrant… The forest had returned to the peace it should have always known.
He turned back to look at the secret path hidden behind the waterfall… The mory of the amazing archive was still fresh in his mind. But now, he had a more urgent matter.
'How long was I gone?'
The thought flashed into his head instantly. In Owen’s perception… the battle with the iron beast, the confrontation with the Sentinel, the plunge into the dream dinsion that felt like an eternity, plus returning to the monastery to heal and talk with Tenzin… at least half a day should have passed.
'Damn it… Clara and the others must be going crazy.'
He realized imdiately that he needed a reasonable "excuse" for his disappearance… And then he rembered that before the mist had beco thick and everything turned chaotic, he had told everyone he was going to gather more firewood.
'Firewood… That's it!'
Owen didn't wait. He quickly surveyed the area, scanning for dry branches he could break off and gather. Although his body was still weary, his external wounds were almost completely healed. He spent only a few minutes gathering a decent pile of firewood… At least this would make his return look more plausible.
...
A few minutes later, Owen walked back to the campsite.
The sight he beheld made him stop in his tracks…
It was silence…
The campfire they had lit last night… was now completely extinguished, leaving only cold, grey ash. No smoke rose from it anymore.
And most worrying… was the state of his friends.
Damian… sat on a large log, clutching both his temples… His face was noticeably pale, like soone with a severe hangover.
Clara… sat hugging her knees beside the extinguished fire, her eyes staring blankly into the ashes… Her eyelids were slightly red and swollen… as if she had just been crying, or perhaps because she was still lost in so lingering, confusing emotion.
As for Julian… he sat slightly apart… holding the latest smartphone model, tapping the screen over and over with a clearly frustrated and confused expression… trying to find a signal that wasn't there.
And Julian was the first to look up and see Owen. His expression changed from confusion to imdiate "relief"…
"Owen! You're finally back!" Julian almost shouted. He shot to his feet instantly. "I tried calling you, but there's no damn signal… We were really worried, you know!"
Julian's voice snapped Damian and Clara out of their trances. Both whipped their heads around to look at Owen as one. Clara's eyes trembled with clear relief.
Damian slowly looked up, letting out a long sigh. "Hey… you were gone a long ti, buddy…" His voice was a little hoarse. "...gone for an hour and a half… If it wasn't for that crazy mist, we would have gone looking for you. I was afraid soone else would get lost too, so we agreed to wait until the mist cleared… Good thing the mist is gone now, and you're back just in ti… Don't make us worry like this, Owen."
Owen froze for a mont… his brain rapidly processing those words.
'An hour and a half…?'
'Only an hour and a half!?'
How was that possible?! The fight with the iron beast… the confrontation with the Sentinel… healing the Nightmare Knot in the dream dinsion… returning to the monastery to heal with Tenzin… visiting the archive… All of that… was just an hour and a half!?
And then… the amazing truth dawned on him.
'Ti!'
Ti in the dream dinsion and the real world… was different! The battle that felt like hours in Arcadia… might have only taken a few dozen minutes in the real world! That ant most of the ti he was gone… was the ti he had spent recovering and talking in the monastery with Tenzin!
This truth, far from troubling him… actually made his excuse even more perfect!
Owen imdiately put on a weary and confused expression (which was partly true). He dropped the firewood he was carrying beside the extinguished fire.
"Sorry…" he said in a tired voice. "The mist got so thick I lost my bearings… I just kept walking in circles. I only managed to find my way back when the mist started to clear up."
The explanation sounded perfectly reasonable. Getting lost in a foggy forest for an hour and a half was entirely plausible.
Owen paused to catch his breath before turning to look at his friends, who still looked drained and pale. He frowned slightly with concern. "But what about you guys… Are you okay? Why do you all look so pale? What happened while I was gone?"
Owen's question seed to pull the three of them back from their dazed state. Julian shook his head vigorously to clear the confusion, while Damian raised a hand to massage his temples again.
Clara was the first to answer… her voice still trembling slightly.
"Owen… while you were gone… it… it was so strange… All of us…" She swallowed hard, trying to gather her thoughts. "We… we saw hallucinations…"
Clara's words made the atmosphere, which had just begun to relax with Owen's return, instantly tense and silent again. The extinguished fire in the center of their conversation beca a symbol of the chill that gripped everyone's heart at that mont.
Damian nodded slowly, confirming his wife's words. His face was still pale, his hand massaging his temple nonstop, while Julian looked half-confused, half-disbelieving.
Owen stood still. He knew he was the only one who hadn't faced what they had while he was gone. He feigned a serious frown, eting Clara's eyes before slowly scanning Damian and Julian.
"Hallucinations?" he repeated, his voice as steady and comforting as he could make it. "What do you an? What exactly did you see? Tell ."
He deliberately used an open-ended question… He needed them to "vent" it out.
Damian spoke first. He raised a hand to massage his temples again, hard, as if trying to squeeze the terrible mory out of his head.
"It… it was terrifying, Owen," his voice trembled noticeably, unlike the strong middle-aged man he usually was. "I… I saw myself… back at the old office… the day everything fell apart." He gasped for breath. "And the creditors… they were banging on the door… they were looking for … but their faces… god… they looked like demons! Red eyes… it felt so real… I…" He couldn't continue, only shaking his head back and forth. His ntal state looked terrible and extrely fragile.
Owen nodded slowly before turning to Julian, who was scratching his head awkwardly, looking quite different.
"Terrifying?" Julian repeated. "Not for … It was… kind of cool, actually." He looked strangely embarrassed. "I felt like… I was talking to… uh…" He waved his hand dismissively. "Never mind, it sounds really stupid. But I was really happy then. Felt excited, like I was about to do the greatest thing in my life."
Owen nodded again… Julian's symptoms perfectly matched his fun-loving and easily excited nature. And if it weren't for his strange tastes… he'd actually be a decent young man. Before Owen's gaze stopped at Clara, who was still sitting with her knees hugged, head down, refusing to et his eyes directly.
"Clara?" Owen called her softly.
She flinched slightly before answering in a voice as faint as a whisper. "I… I was the sa."
She looked up for a mont before quickly averting her gaze back to the ashes. "I didn't see anything scary… not like Damian… But it felt… strange." Her cheeks flushed a faint pink. "Felt… warm… and… unbelievably happy."
She would never tell Owen that the image she saw was of marrying him… of having several small children together… It was the deepest desire of her heart being projected, and the overwhelming emotional impact still lingered intensely within her.
Owen listened to all three stories in silence, but his mind was analyzing rapidly.
'Just as I thought… That mist didn't just create hallucinations… it amplified the deepest desires and fears within each person's heart… Damian's fear is failure and debt… Julian's happiness is excitent and being important… And Clara's… is us.'
He nodded slowly, pretending to process this shocking information.
"Sounds like that mist was toxic," he said in a firm voice, offering the most plausible (and completely fabricated) theory an ordinary person could co up with. "Maybe it was spores from poisonous mushrooms, or strange pollen from around here that got blown together. When the mist got thick, the concentration was high enough to make us hallucinate… We're really lucky it cleared up."
He paused before smoothly linking it to his own excuse.
"No wonder I was lost for an hour and a half… That damn mist must have made
dizzy too. While I was walking in circles, I felt like the world was spinning the whole ti."
This explanation was what everyone needed to hear… a tangible "answer."
Damian and Julian imdiately nodded, accepting the theory. It was plausible enough to put their minds "at ease." "Mushroom spores? Huh… Yeah, that's possible," Julian mumbled.
Only Clara remained silent… She accepted the explanation… but deep down, she couldn't help but wonder if the feeling of "warmth and happiness" she had just experienced… was really just the effect of mushroom spores…
Owen looked at the dejected state of his three friends… Even though his "mushroom spore" theory had eased everyone's anxiety sowhat, the overall atmosphere was still heavy and gloomy. And he could feel everyone's "lack of spirit"... And not just them... himself included.
The battle with the female Sentinel and the plunge into the Nightmare Knot hadn't just drained his physical energy or mana… it had drained his spiritual energy almost completely. He was tired… tired to the core… He decided in that mont… he had to "replenish everyone's spirit," including his own!
And the best way to replenish spirit wasn't resting alone… but creating "happiness" and "normalcy" around oneself. Owen switched modes instantly. He straightened up, clapped his hands loudly once, "Clap!
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