In the middle of the forest stood a lone platform, its surface engraved with intricate symbols that pulsed faintly in the dim light. Towering trees surrounded it on all sides, their branches knitting together like a natural wall.
Suddenly, a pillar of brilliant light descended from the sky and struck the platform. The radiance grew brighter and brighter, swallowing the shadows around it. Within that blinding glow, faint silhouettes slowly took shape.
As the light faded away, a group of people appeared on the platform.
Everyone glanced around in confusion, faces filled with bewilderment as if they had been thrown into an unfamiliar world.
Unlike the others, Marcus and James did not panic, both were too occupied with something else. Instead of being confused, Marcus struggled to stay steady.
"No matter how many times I enter that strange space, I always feel dizzy…" he groaned softly. In his vision, everything spun wildly, faces warped like swirling vortices, and the ground beneath him swayed.
James fared slightly better. His face was pale, but he only felt a mild dizziness.
After a moment, Marcus finally managed to compose himself. His vision cleared enough for him to observe his surroundings, and bewilderment immediately filled his eyes.
They were in the middle of an ancient forest. Massive trees towered overhead, their thick branches blocking the sky. The soil was dark green, looking like a swarm. Shadows clung to every corner; darkness swallowed most of the light, leaving only thin, faint rays to slip through the canopy.
"Huh? How did we end up here? We were supposed to arrive inside the base camp. There should be walls around us, even soldiers guarding the area. But now there is not a single trace of them."
Marcus stared at the forest in shock, his voice trembling.
Normally, the platform always sent them straight into the safe zone. The walls were high, the camp was secure, and soldiers patrolled constantly. It was a place where no danger could reach them.
But now the forest surrounded them on every side. No walls, no camp, no patrol, not even a footprint. It felt like they had been thrown into another world entirely.
Only now did they notice something even worse. The professor who teleported with them now was gone, not even a single trace of him could be seen.
Panic spread through the group like wildfire. Fear filled their young faces. Some looked lost, some confused, some on the verge of breaking down.
Even Lilian, who was usually calm, could not hide the uncertainty in her expression, a bewilderment and confused also appears on her face.
Marcus and James exchanged a doubtful look. Bewilderment flickered in both of their eyes.
"How could this happen? Did the teleportation fail?"
"impossible. We have used this teleportation so many times and it has never made a mistake. How did it happen now?"
"I want to go back. This forest is scarier than Professor Figo."
...
All soft of emotions filled the air from every direction. Some whispered in fear. Some muttered in confusion. Some cried.
Among all of them, Lilian was the only one who remained somewhat steady. She was confused, but she didn't panic at all.
Marcus stared at the forest and felt a chill crawl up his spine. Out of nowhere a thought suddenly surface in his mind.
trees growing legs and walking ran toward them like a dog seeing the bone. The vines coming to life and dragging them away as prey.
The more he thought about it, the more fearful he becomes.
"I do not want to die. I still have a future waiting for me. I want to be an author." His voice cracked as tears started to appeared in his eyes.
"I do not want to be eaten by monsters either. I still have many weapons I want to create." James added.
The scene turned chaotic. Some paced back and forth. Some prayed desperately. Some sobbed without stopping. None of them knew how to handle this. They were only eight years old, children who had never encountered real danger. Being dropped into the middle of a dark forest was far beyond what they could endure.
Realizing how strange the situation was, Lilian stepped forward and raised her voice.
"Everyone, listen. This might be a test from the family to give us real experience in the forest."
She paused for a moment to choose her words.
"Even though I didn't know what actually happened. Maybe something went wrong. But in this situation, all we can do is stay calm, survive, and wait for the professor to return."
No one responded. Not a single person even looked at her. They continued to cry and panic as if she were invisible.
Marcus did not hear her either. All he could hear were cries echoing in his head.
Seeing that her words had no effect, Lilian quickly tried to think of another solution.
After scanning the crowd for a moment, she finally spotted Marcus curled on the ground, crying helplessly.
"No, I don't want to die. I still have a long way to go."
Lilian rushed over to him and flicked him lightly on the forehead.
"You fool. Why are you crying like this?" Lilian snapped.
"Son, do you not see we are trapped in a forest? I want to go back, sob." Marcus sobbed in a tiny voice.
For a moment, Lilian was speechless. The proud and fearless Marcus she knew was now was sitting on the ground and crying helpless.
"What are you crying for? Aren't say you have a long future ahead of you? Come on. We need to help each other and figure out how to get out of this situation." Lilian knelt beside him and spoke softly.
"Sob. But how do we escape this?"
"You read novels all the time. I am sure at least one of them talked about surviving in a forest. Don't tell me you never read a single one of it ?"
Marcus blinked his eyes slightly upon hearing this. He quickly racked his brain, trying to find the novel that he had read all the time.
After a few seconds of thinking, Marcus finally managed to remember the novel he had read. It was called Night Hideout.
He quickly said to Lilian, "I remember it. It was called Night Hideout. But what can we do… sob…"
Upon hearing that Marcus had read a book that might be useful in this situation, a spark of hope appeared in Lilian's eyes.
"Alright, now listen to me and stop crying. We need to find a way to escape this situation and wait for the professor to save us."
Hearing this, a small spark of hope lit in Marcus's heart. It was understandable since Marcus and everyone else were just kids who had never encountered anything strange.
But suddenly they found themselves in a situation where there wasn't a single adult with them. Not only that, they had also been teleported into a strange and creepy forest.
Marcus quickly wiped away his tears and tried to calm himself down. Based on the novel he had read, the best thing to do now was to stay as calm as possible.
But the fear and sense of loss still lingered on his face, no matter how hard he tried to suppress it.
Lilian quickly stood up and lowered her hand for Marcus to grab.
After standing up, the first thing he did was look for James. In this situation, only a trusted friend could help him.
Among the chaos and uncontrolled panic, only your closest friend could be relied on.
James was currently curled down with his head between his knees. He was sobbing and muttering, "I don't want to die… I still have a lot of things to create…"
Marcus hurriedly lunged toward James. He bent down and shook him gently. "Hey, James, we still have solutions in this situation."
James didn't lift his head at first, even when someone shook him, but the moment he heard his best friend's voice, he raised his head slightly.
Seeing Marcus, James couldn't help but feel a faint sense of relief spreading through his heart.
"Solutions? Do we really have any? We're just children…"
Before he could finish, Marcus quickly cut him off. "No. Even though we're just kids, we can save ourselves. Didn't you also read Night Hideout?"
"The characters in that novel were also children, but they still escaped their predicament because they worked together."
The novel these two is almost the same thing, in other word when Marcus read this novel, James also read it.
After hearing Marcus's words, James seemed to recall something. A faint spark of hope appeared in his eyes.
"Yes… I almost forgot. That novel really did have ways to survive in a forest. But..." As he spoke, his eyes shifted from Marcus to Lilian, who had been listening behind them.
"What are you looking at? Do you think I want to work with you? If it wasn't for the problem right in front of us, I wouldn't even think of saving you," Lilian sneered.
James was about to respond, but Marcus quickly stopped him.
"Hey, can you two please put your issues aside? We need to find a way out of this first."
Lilian didn't reply but gave a small nod. James did the same.
After thinking for a moment, Lilian spoke. "The first thing we need to do is calm the others and form a group."
Marcus nodded in agreement. It aligned with the strategies from Night Hideout.
James also agreed.
The best solution when trapped in the forest is to stay calm, and to work together as quickly as possible before he night come.
"But we know it will be troublesome. Fear has already taken over them. Not even a single word can shake it off."
Fear is the weakness of humans, yet at the same time, it is also our courage. From the moment we are born, fear begins to grow. It always waits in our hearts, ready to take control at any moment. But the only things that keep it from consuming us are believing and loving.
"Yes, we need them to believe us… to believe that we have a way to save them. We have to lie."
Sometimes lies are the only thing that can calm us. We lie to others, yet we also lie to ourselves.
As Lilian said this, Marcus and James nodded. They quickly stepped forward and got to work.
"Everyone, please stop crying and listen to me," Lilian shouted.
But no one listened. They kept crying and trembling, not even glancing in her direction.
Seeing this, Marcus and James exchanged looks, then shouted together in a loud, drum-like voice, "Everyone, the professor is coming!"
The moment they heard that, all attention snapped toward the source of the voice.