The fruit tree.

"So, how far away are we from the main way?" My voice broke the silence.

Aside from the whistling voices of birds, and the splash sound that came from the spring, their was no other sound that could be heard aside our voices.

Yes! This place was really quiet.

"Not very far I suppose, but we have to make it out of hear very fast." He responded, and I nodded.

At this point, I knew that I had to save my energy for the worst. I didn't know the next thing that we would see some water to drink, so I had to make sure to drink enough of it.

"We have to leave now..." I muttered as I made to stand up.

I could sense the hesitance in Karen's face. It wasn't her fault, but it was a fate that we had to face. It was one risk that we had to take for the cause of our freedom.

"Are you ready?" Vincent asked, and I nodded. In as much as the driver was trying very much to be a man, I could also hear the weakness and exhaustion from his voice.

I didn't need a soothsayer to tell me that we were all tired, already.

"Yes, we are. Let's go...!" I replied to him, and stood up immediately. Karen followed suit.

We continued the rest of the journey in silence. Aside from the sound of our weak legs that could be heard, I didn't think that their was any other sound that we could hear.

Now, everyone was left to think about their own lives, and ponder about what our next outcome might be.

Here I was, worried that we might be attacked by a wild beast. I didn't know if it was possible, but I hoped that it wouldn't even happen.

"I think we missed the way..." Vincent's frustrated voice finally broke the silence, and I collapsed on the ground in extreme fatigue.

What did he even mean by that?

"You think we what...?" I asked almost in tears. It was really very bad to be true. I couldn't imagine wasting all these energy for nothing.

He bent his head in shame as well. He didn't need anyone to tell him that he had disappointed us.

"I can't move an inch anymore. I think I'd wait for death to meet me here." Karen muttered in tears, and I held myself back from joining her.

The only thing that I could do at that moment, was to pat her shoulders softly, while comforting her. We had actually been through a whole lot.

"Don't be discouraged. We can still scale through." I tried to encourage.

Honestly, I was encouraging her because I didn't have any choice at all. I was even more discouraged than she was, but all I could do was to hold myself back from breaking down.

"But how...? How possible is it that we would make it out of here alive...? How?" She asked with a broken spirit.

I sat still on the floor, not knowing the next word of encouragement to give her other than to console her.

"So, what are we going to do next?" I asked Vincent. Honestly, he was really trying to avoid eye contact with me, cause he knew that he had really disappointed me.

Just when had almost accepted our fate of going back. He spilled a good news.

"This is the right way. I misinterpreted the map..." He muttered, and I almost cursed at him.

Thank goodness that the moon goddess didn't disappoint me.

"Hand over the map to Karen. I believe that she knows how to read it better." I said to him, and he obliged immediately.

Well, about the map; It was actually a few pieces of sticks that we put together to help us find the direction. Honestly, it had been a very useful tool.

"Let him continue. I believe that he knows this place better than us..." She responded, and I agreed with her.

Honestly, I was so happy that some sort of miracle had happened. I couldn't imagine what would have happened if he didn't realize that he had made a mistake.

"We don't have time. Lets continue our journey. Remember that we don't have time on our side, and we need to get to the outside of this cave just before sunset." I reminded them.

As far as I was tired, I couldn't even try to take the risk of wasting even a second late, because I knew how ruthless these monsters were, and what they were capable of doing.

Nope! I was never going to take another chance with them. Never...!

Soon, we started our final journey. All I was praying to the goddess of the moon about, was to make this particular one the last journey to our destination.

"I think we're still very far off..." I sighed.

Looking at the front, I could see any trace of the end of the cave, and I concluded in my mind that it was going to be impossible for us to leave there.

"It seems nightfall will meet us here." I cried out in uncertainty.

It wasn't my prayer, but it seemed like it was going to happen. To even think that we were walking very slow, was worth crying about.

"Let's just keep hope alive that we'd make it out of here before the night falls." Vincent muttered. One thing that I had noticed about this young man, was the fact that he always tried to be positive about everything.

Honestly, I just wished that we would get out of this place as soon as possible, as I was already tired of walking.

Just then, we finally saw a ray of dark cloud at the far end.

"I can see the brightness of the cloud. We made it..." I jumped up in excitement. In as much as I was excited, I was also limited to some certainly things. I couldn't even walk properly.

Just as we made to walk as fast as we could to the entrance, we saw a beautiful tree of riped cherries and fruits.

It seemed like a plantation.

Before we could say Jack, Karen had already rushed towards the fruit tree and started enjoying herself.

Damn!