The three men had already departed for their secret meeting place, as it was daylight. They climbed deeper into the woods, where only wild creatures were present.
"How long do we have to walk?" asked Kenny.
"We will arrive there shortly," replied Cosant, walking ahead of the two.
"The organization has marked numerous secret locations where we can meet up with a member or send out a message or information," informed Tangent, walking next to Kenny.
Kenny nodded. "I see."
Cosant stopped and let them know that they had reached their destination after he confirmed it, "We have reached."
Kenny took a look and realized that there was nothing exceptional about the location. They were in the middle of nowhere, with only trees, bushes, and insects surrounding them. "Are we going to meet Orange here?" he wondered.
"He is already here," replied Tangent.
The two elderly men bowed their heads in unison and dropped to their knee.
"Huh?" Despite his certainty that there was nobody around him, Kenny suddenly felt someone standing behind him.
"Heya Kenny!" the man said.
"What?" Kenny was startled and jumped back, realizing that the person smiling at him was actually Orange. "It is you." He breathed a sigh of relief. "Do not startle me like that."
"Hehehe," Orange rubbed his head in a playful manner. "I love to pull pranks on people."
"Okay, fine," Kenny replied. His brain raced again and prompted him to ponder a few things. "I was unaware that he was behind me until he was ready to reveal himself. If he was an enemy, I would have died in a moment."
"Commander Orange," said Cosant, expressing his respect by facing his head down. "We are here to report a conflict with a member of The Faceless."
Orange rubbed his palms together and grinned. "A Faceless. Interesting." He glanced at Kenny. "You are not even an official member yet, but you have already faced a Faceless and managed to stay alive. I must tell our executives would consider your usefulness if they hear about it."
"It all happened only after you killed that businessman." In a tone that resembled a complaint, Kenny responded. "The masked man was investigating the cause of his death. He had some information about my involvement with the businessman, and tried to make me utter your name."
Orange gave a quizzical expression. "Hm. That makes sense. It seems someone used The Faceless for their own gain." He looked at the old men. "Tell me everything."
The old men stood up and reported everything they had experienced. They told him about Kenny facing Scribble Mask bravely, and how they managed to force the enemy to escape.
"Hm. You two did a good job of identifying the threat beforehand," highlighted Orange after listening to them. "I do not believe other Faceless are involved in this, but Scribble mask would surely return to finish his work."
"What should we do then?" asked Kenny.
Orange gave a smile and replied, "It is time we speed things up.."
Kenny was still trying to comprehend what he meant when he received a blow to his head from behind. "Wha…" He dropped to the ground. His vision went blurry before he slowly closed his eyes and passed out. The last thing he saw were the silhouettes of the heads of Orange, Cosant, and Tangent looking down at him.
***
When he slowly opened his eyes, the first thing he discovered was clear blue sky. He could even smell the moist scent of the sea. He could hear birds chirping and could even feel some water splashing on his skin.
"Huh?" He opened his eyes and sat up. He found himself in a small wooden boat, and Cosant and Tangent rowed it. "Where the hell are we?" he inquired with a puzzled face, looking around. Wherever his eyes went, he could only find water and nothing else.
"Oh, young Kenny, you are awake," mentioned Tangent, smiling at him. "Good morning."
"What is so good about this morning?" responded Kenny, raising a brow. He rubbed the back of his head and recalled someone had hit him earlier. "Why the hell did you do that? And where have you brought me?"
"We apologize for the sudden turn of events, young Kenny," responded Tangent. "After reconsidering the situation we are in, the organization wants to speed things up."
"What do you mean?"
"In short," added Cosant, "they want you to enter the chamber of death today."
Kenny's eyes enlarged when he received the sudden news. "What? Then where are we…"
"Towards our location," responded Cosant. "We had to make you pass out because we can not reveal the location of today's operation to a current non-member."
Kenny exhaled and considered his injuries and wounds. His wounds were still fresh and they still hurt. However, this pain was nothing in front of his resolve. He clenched his fist. "Fine. Let it be today," he declared with determination overflowing through his eyes.
Tangent suddenly located an island on the horizon. "Oh, there it is," he said, pointing towards the small dot at the end of the sea.
Kenny and Cosant too looked at it.
"Is that where we are going?" Kenny asked.
Cosant nodded.
Tangent responded with words, "Yes. The Island of Death. The regular members of the organization had all gone through the trial here. Although we did not have any recruitment in recent times, so that would make you the first to go into the death chamber after a few years."
"I see." Kenny eyed at the island as it got closer. It was time he had to prove his worthiness.
After a while, they reached the island. They left the boat on the shore and penetrated the woods. They could see a giant cliff in the middle of the island, and it was their destination.
"Where do we have to go now?" inquired Kenny upon reaching the base of the mountain.
Cosant pointed at the cloudy mountain-top above their heads. "There. The death chamber is situated at the top of that mountain."
Kenny nodded. "Would we fly up there?" he wondered.
The old men glanced at each other and laughed.
"Hahahaha!"
"Hahahaha!"
Kenny watched them laugh with a frown when suddenly something struck his mind. "Wait, do not tell me…" he spoke with a troubled face. "Are we going to climb up there?"
"Not we. Only you," cleared Tangent, walking ahead with Cosant. "You will reach up there on your own. We will be waiting for you."
Tangent removed a stone near a large boulder, revealing a set of buttons. He pressed a button with an 'up' arrow sign, resulting in a door opening in the mountain.
"Wait, is it an elevator?" wondered Kenny in awe.
"Yes," replied Tangent, going to into the elevator with Cosant. "But only we can use it." The door began to close. "We will wait for you. Do not make us wait too long. Your trial starts now," he said before the door closed.
The mountain surface got coated with mud and dirt again, hiding the traces of a secret gateway there.
Kenny squinted up the mountain. "Ah, Kenny, did you think it would be easy?" He could see it was a rough climb of roughly a thousand meters.
***
Meanwhile, someone approached the island.
"Oh, there they are," they said, followed by a grin. "Now it would be interesting."