The wind blows through the trees, the branches and leaves tremble in the air, and the sound of rustling waves echoes within the mountain. A leaf fell slowly to the ground and landed on Yul's face.
With a tingling sensation on his left cheek, Yul slowly stretched out his left hand, trying to get the leaf on his face, when he suddenly remembered that he and his friends passed out at Saja's house. Yul opened his eyes, only to see the leaves swaying from side to side, rustling, dancing with the wind, playing a soft melody. Yul turns his head to the left and he sees U-ri who is still sleeping next to him. Yul sat up quickly.
Yul grabs U-ri's arm and shakes U-ri gently. "U-ri... U-ri..." he says worriedly, but U-ri doesn't respond to Yul's voice at all.
Yul looks over U-ri and he sees Abrafo and Michio lying on the ground still sleeping. He quickly turned around and found Hajime sleeping on the ground to his right.
Yul quickly stood up and knelt beside Hajime. He checked to see if Hajime was still breathing, although Hajime's breathing was already weak, Hajime seemed to be still breathing. "Hajime," Yul said. "Can you hear me? Hajime."
Michio moaned and slowly twisted his body. He slowly got up and found that Abrafo was still sleeping beside him. He pulled Abrafo into a sitting position. "Abrafo!" he yelled. "Abrafo! Wake up!" he shook Abrafo lightly. "Abrafo!"
When Abrafo came back to his senses, he clenched his right hand, opened his eyes, and punched Michio who was only a few inches away from him. Abrafo's fist hit Michio directly on the chin, and Michio fell to the ground coldly.
Abrafo shook his right hand and frowned, "Oh...damn..." He looked at Yul who was kneeling a few yards away from him. "Damn...hope he doesn't lose his teeth..."
Yul shook his head and said, "He just wanted to wake you up, do you have to hit him so hard?"
Abrafo said, "How do I know that the person in front of me is him? I just..." He suddenly found that they were no longer in Saja's house, and turned around quickly, only to find that he and his friends were in the middle of the woods. "Where the hell are we?"
"I don't know," Yul said, turning his head to the left.
Abrafo looked to the right and saw Saja and his men sitting a few feet away from them. He quickly picked up his sword. "You losers are still here," he said frantically, gripping the hilt of his sword.
Yul said, "Save your energy."
Abrafo said, "I could quickly kill them."
Yul sighed and said, "They dare not approach us, and I don't know why."
Saja, sitting a few feet away, watches Yul and Abrafo. "You can walk over here. I guarantee that if you leave the mage with us, we will spare each of you. To be honest, we don't need any of you." He pointed at Hajime. "We just need him."
Abrafo said with a smirk, "In your dream. He is our mage, he belongs to us."
Yul stood up and looked at Saja. "If you want our mage," he said coldly. "Walk over and claim him."
Abrafo mocked, "So, what's stopping you? You dare to drug us, but dare not take a few steps toward us?" He laughed. "Such a pathetic old fool."
Saja picked up the bow and arrow and shot at Abrafo in a rage, but just as his arrow crossed the tree line, vines sprang out from the ground, grabbed the arrow, and dragged it into the ground.
Yul and Abrafo looked at Saja, who was out of breath, and then glanced at each other. Yul quickly rummaged through his inner robe, then pulled out the map.
Yul looked at Abrafo in surprise. He said, "We're here, Magior City."
"Are you sure?" Abrafo said, and quickly took the map from Yul. He looks at it for a while, then returns the map to Yul. "We're really here." He looked at Saja, then at Yul. "I don't think he's the one who brought us here."
Yul said, "That's what I was thinking when I first woke up."
Abrafo frowned, "Who brought us here?"
Yul said, "Looking at the footprints, it looks like there was a fight. Whoever fought them must have brought us here."
Abrafo gripped the sword in his hand tightly. "Since we're here, let's find that key."
Yul said, " It's hard to do when Hajime hasn't woken up."
Abrafo looked at Yul and asked, "Where is your sword?"
Yul said, " I don't know. It wasn't here when I woke up."
Abrafo asked, "What are we going to do?"
Yul said, " When the other party wakes up, follow the trail on the map."
Saja shouted, "Very bad idea."
Abrafo looked at Saja madly and said, "I don't remember that we were asking for your opinion."
Saja said, " No one has ever escaped from this forest. Anyone who enters the capital city of Magior will ultimately die in the end. No one I have witnessed entering has ever come out."
U-ri slowly got up and massaged his temples. "I've never been drunk," he complained with his eyes closed, still massaging his temples. He looked down to his side and found that Hajime was still sleeping on the ground, so he knocked on Hajime's abdomen twice. "Hey, kid, wake up. You didn't drink as much as I did. You should have woken up before I did." When U-ri finally looked back, the surrounding environment made him a little scared. He got up quickly and quickly retreated into the bushes. "Where are we?"
Abrafo said with a smile, " We are in the royal garden behind the palace."
"You jerk," U-ri said, lifting the corners of his upper lip. "I may be old, but I'm not forgetful. So, tell me where we are."
Yul said, "We are in Magior City."
U-ri frowned. "You could have woken me up before we got here. I could have said goodbye to Chief Saja."
Abrafo said, " You're in luck. He's sitting over there with his men." Abrafo pointed to Saja.
U-ri smiled and said, "Oh chief..." He started to walk towards Saja, but Abrafo grabbed his right arm.
Abrafo said, " Did you pass out before the fox reveal his true intentions and put his plan into action?"
U-ri asked, "What are you talking about?"
Abrafo said, " He drugged us, and we didn't know how or who brought us here."
U-ri doesn't seem to believe what Abrafo told him, so he looks at Yul to confirm what Abrafo said. "Is it true?" U-ri asked.
Yul nodded.
U-ri said, "So Michio and Hajime haven't woken up yet?"
Abrafo said, "Oh, Michio woke up, I accidentally knocked him unconscious, you go and see if there are any missing teeth?"
U-ri shook his head. "You're unbelievable," he frowned, walking up to Michio, and examining Michio. "What about Hajime?"
Yul said, " He's not awake yet."
"Michio is fine," U-ri said, placing his thumb halfway between Michio's nostrils and upper lip. He pressed hard on the flesh with his thumbnail, and Michio sat up in pain. "I told you, he's fine." U-ri looked at Abrafo.
Michio looked at Abrafo. " I won't wake you up next time," he said, rubbing the corner of his chin."
Abrafo said, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it, I thought you were that bastard Saja."
Michio looked over and found that Hajime was still lying on the ground. "Hajime didn't drink that much, why is he still hasn't he woken up yet?"
Yul sighed, "I don't know."
U-ri walked over to check on Hajime's situation. After examining, he said, "There's nothing wrong with Hajime."
Abrafo said, " If he hadn't had any problems, then he would have woken up, there must be something wrong with him that kept him from waking up."
Hajime's lips began to tremble uncontrollably. "Yul..." Hajime's tears started streaming from the corners of his eyes. "Yul..."
U-ri said, "He's calling for you. If you call his name...maybe, it'll help him wake up."
Yul quickly squatted down and grabbed Hajime's hand. "Hajime..."
The four men saw Hajime's eyeballs rolling left and right inside the tightly closed eyelids.
"Hajime," Yul called again. "Hajime, wake up."
Hajime's lips trembled. "Yul," he sobbed. "Yul... I don't know how to get back to you."
Yul pulled Hajime up and grabbed Hajime's shoulders. "Open your eyes," Yul said. "This is the only way you can get back to us. Hajime! Open your eyes!"
Hajime, who drifted in and out of consciousness, hugged Yul tightly, and rested his head on Yul's shoulder. He murmured in a soft voice almost like a whisper, "Yul, with sorrow, with joy, and being with you, the most dangerous course becomes ordinary and meaningful."
Hearing Hajime's words, Yul felt a little moved by what Hajime whispered in his ear, but also understood that there was no meaning behind these words, because Hajime's murmurs were just meaningless sleep talk.
Michio asked, "What did he say?"
"Nothing meaningful", Yul said, handing Abrafo the map. "You take us there, pack up all our things, and we head to the Capital City of Magior City."
Michio said, " But Hajime hasn't woken up yet."
Yul sighs and says, "I'll carry him."
Abrafo and Michio helped place Hajime on Yul's back, grabbed their belongings, and the five Tanzanies headed towards the center of the mountain.