"Grant?"
"Just a few more..." Grant murmured in his sleep, slapping the hand that patted him on the shoulder lightly to wake him up.
"How the hell are you still sleeping?!" Mason asked with a chuckle while looking down upon Grant who was lying face first on the floor with his arms folded behind him like some kind of dead body; which made Mason laugh even harder than earlier when Fiona had joked about Mason's sleeping habits.
"I'm fine," came out muffled through gritted teeth due to being half asleep and having someone slap his arm repeatedly until waking him up. "What time is it anyway?"
"It's almost noon, man! You've been out cold for nearly fifteen hours now and I thought something might have happened if we didn't check in soon enough but nothing has changed at least as far as the others go. They're still in their beds and haven't moved an inch from where they were last night. So, what do you say, want to go on a little adventure and explore the woods with the few that have woken up?"
Grant nodded slowly before standing back up and stretching his sore muscles before grabbing a bottle of water off of one of the nearby tables and heading outside to join the rest of them already waiting for him by one of the trees near the edge of the forest. The sun was shining brightly overhead and the air was warm and humid. It was perfect weather for exploring the outdoors.
"So, how did things turn out between you and Tiffany?" Grant asked as he walked up beside Mason and Fiona, "Did anything happen between the two of you?"
Mason's body tensed slightly as he looked toward Fiona. She had a smile on her face as she stared at Grant with her eyes sparkling with excitement at seeing him cornered by the question.
"Like I said before, Tiffany and I are just two people coerced to fill up space at the 'restaurant'." He said with a shrug while looking away from both friends. "Nothing really happened." He added quickly in order to end this conversation once and for all so no more questions would come out of either his best friend's mouth about it later down the road.
[Host, you can move on to the next Eroverse, why do you linger in this reality?]
'I will leave, after the trip and one final goodbye. Then as you said, things will go back to the way it was.'
Mason and Fiona shared a knowing look as they continued walking together through the woods. When they came across a small pond filled with lily pads they stopped momentarily to admire its beauty before continuing onward again until they reached a clearing where some students stood around waiting for them eagerly. They were dressed casually like usual but also wore backpacks over their shoulders containing some food supplies along with other items that might be useful during their journey into the unknown wilderness ahead of them.
"You said an adventure," Grant whispered from behind Mason who turned around only to see his friend staring intently at him, "what kind of adventure?"
"We're going searching for a treasure Mr. Hugh told us about when we first arrived here; something called The Golden Apple which is supposed to grant wishes if you find and eat it," Fiona explained as she smiled widely and began moving towards the group as well as everyone else followed suit and started making their way towards the edge of the forest as well as the path leading out onto the grassy field beyond the trees.
"What's the catch though? I mean what's stopping anyone from just taking this thing right now since there's no one guarding or watching over it anyway?" Grant asked curiously while looking at each person in turn.
Mason shrugged, "I guess whoever finds this apple has to make sure no one takes it before eating it themselves... otherwise it won't work anymore..." He added with a shrug before turning his attention back to his surroundings and trying to take everything all in with his eyes as he looked for any signs of danger lurking nearby before he could continue with his explanation further down the line.
Fiona handed a map to Mason and Grant, "this is a map I had sourced beforehand, it has numerous routes available for us to choose from. We'll split up and try our luck on different paths so that way we can cover more ground faster than ever before instead of having to walk in circles." She said with a smile.
"Sounds good," Grant replied with a nod.
"Alright then let's get going!" Fiona exclaimed excitedly.
*****
Fiona stares at her map intently after she had been walking through the woods for several minutes already without finding anything resembling an actual trail or even an obvious sign pointing her toward where she was supposed to go next. It was almost like she was walking through an endless maze filled with nothing but dense foliage and thick underbrush everywhere she went which made things difficult enough but also dangerous as well due to how easy it would be to trip over something unseen and fall off of some cliff into some ravine below them, never to be seen again by anyone else alive.
She looks around herself once more as she continues moving forward slowly while keeping one hand firmly gripped around the handle of the machete strapped around her waist while the other holds onto the strap attached around her shoulder holding her backpack full of supplies securely against her body.
Her senses were on high alert the moment she heard a snapped twig somewhere behind her which caused her to spin quickly in that direction only to see a small animal darting away from the area in front of her. The creature ran across the path in front of her and disappeared behind a large tree before reappearing out of nowhere right in the middle of the path ahead of her causing Fiona to jump slightly backward as the furry little thing scurried past her feet and continued running deeper inside the forest.
"What the hell?" Fiona muttered to herself as she watched it run along until it vanished completely from sight.
She let out a sigh of relief, but her moment of relaxation didn't last long since another sound caught her attention this time coming from above; it sounded like someone whistling softly, "Hello? Is there anybody up here?" She called up towards the top branches of the trees surrounding her with no response whatsoever except for more silence followed shortly after by more sounds echoing through the air all around her making her heart race with fear at what might happen next if whoever was doing these noises decided to attack her now.
Fiona took several deep breaths to calm down, but at that same moment she turned back, she was faced with Mason who had just appeared in front of her with a look of concern on his face.
"Are you alright Fiona?" He asked with a concerned expression on his own.
"I'm fine," she replied in a low tone before turning her head towards the woods and calling out loudly, "Hello! Whoever is hiding around us and trying to scare me, I have a machete and know how to use it!"
Mason looked around them both before looking back to her and shaking his head slowly as he said, "You don't need to do that."
'I didn't mean to scare you.'
"It's okay... it wasn't your fault..." Fiona whispered as they stood together in the middle of the path before Fiona narrowed her eyes at Mason, her eyes filled with suspicion, "Now that I think about it, were you stalking me or something?" She added while tilting her head slightly.
Mason shook his head again while laughing nervously under his breath, "No way. Why would I ever try anything like that? I happened to follow the same route." He answered honestly.
'I happened to pull a little ninja move while whistling before I heard your call.' Mason completed in his thoughts.
Fiona nodded slightly then smiled warmly at him, "Good answer." Then she reached out and grabbed hold of one of his hands which made him smile even wider than she did herself since she rarely showed any kind of affection towards anyone.
He pulled her close and wrapped an arm around her waist as she leaned into his chest, her eyes widened when she felt a poke of something at her belly.
"We should get going, Mason," Fiona whispered as her cheeks flushed red from embarrassment once more after realizing what was poking against her belly was his erection.
"I have something important to show you," Mason replied with a grin before leaning down to kiss Fiona softly on the lips for several seconds before pulling away with another soft peck on the cheek before whispering to her ear so only she could hear it clearly, "but before that... how about we start from where we stopped last night?"