Zhao Lina and her group traversed the forest, heading straight for the clearing that caught her eye.
Her comrades were confused by the sudden need to move but it didn't matter. If Zhao Lina, the heir of a middle class clan is alarmed by something, can they question that?
As they moved further, weaving through the trees and the bushes, they came across a few wild animals.
Nothing harmless but who knows what could be harmless in these trials? So they avoided it or made sure not to alarm it.
The further they went, the more odd and creepy their surroundings got.
"Am I the only one feeling this?
One of the girls in her group asked.
The young man nodded as well to confirm and commented, " It's like the air is morphing or something, it's making my head spin."
He placed a hand on his forehead and breathed heavily, their surroundings were indeed different.
The more closely they looked the more odd it got.
The trees looked like they were bending, the bushes were waving around and the far distant they were looking at looks like it was circling.
Zhao Lina did not pay attention to it though, her eyes were only focused on the clearing further up ahead.
' It keeps rising and falling. This time the redness is getting brighter, and it's getting larger as well.'
She thought to herself. She looked back at her group, noticing the two women's faces were sweating and feeling dizzy due to the weirdness of their surroundings.
The young farmer looked fine though, he was holding up well but it was obvious he was getting dizzier by the minute.
"We're close, we only need to take a quick peak and then we'll retreat." She said evenly and wiped the sweat off her forehead.
She was also affected by the dizzying surroundings, but being trained in a middle clan she was rather prepared.
They continued forward.
Fwoosh...
Brushing past a large bush, they finally entered the vicinity of the clearing.
They stood by the edge and looked at the surroundings.
Flat patch of land with a large pond in the middle, and in the middle of that large pond was a large boulder.
The boulder was grayish black and it released barely visible steam smoke, only for it to disappear and be replaced by a chilling mist...
And then back to the steam again.
"Hey isn't that Wang Zihan!?" One of the females exclaimed and pointed at the other side of the pond and behind the rock.
***
Wang Zihan's group was running through the forest, not wasting a single second.
"We're close!" He exclaimed as he ran with his comrades.
They apparently stumbled upon and woke up a large brown bear, they weren't awakened yet so they wouldn't even think of fighting it.
The weird aura of the dark forest twisted and turned, like a nauseous feeling and their group was more intense on that feeling.
They ran and ran faster as much as they could.
Finally, the nauseous feeling subsided a little as they past a bush, the six of them slumped forward onto the ground.
They heaved and panted heavily, the twins were laying on the grass while the other three were resting themselves against the trunk of a tree.
Wang Zihan stood up and observed the clearing that caught his eye.
Pond and black large boulder, it released steam and then mist.
He peered through it and there it was, the blue color then always deepened whenever the mist rose and fell on the river.
Suddenly...
"Hey isn't that Wang Zihan!?"
A girls voice echoed across the large clearing.
The six of them stood up and turned their heads to the voice.
It was a young girl with the same uniform as their school.
' She's one of us!'
They all thought simultaneously.
A few more figures came came into view from across, behind the large black rock, dashing white hair that faded into red, and sharp red eyes that could burn a person's soul.
Zhao Lina!!!
They were ecstatic!
They went around the large pond, if it could even be considered a pond, a lake probably.
And then finally reunited, the two, Wang Zihan and Zhao Lina stared at each other while the commoners and the twins gave the two clansmen some space.
"So you also noticed the weird clearing?" She asked with a huff, as if she wasn't expecting him to even be here at all.
He smiled and brushed his blonde hair up due to the tiresome run, it got disheveled.
"Same goes for you princess, guess highly intelligent people really think alike huh?"
He said with a smile.
She rolled her eyes and turned towards the large black boulder that's emitting steam and chilling mist.
They both examined the weird rock, still not knowing what the actual fuck that is.
They shared some theories and possibilities, and their experiences after coming into the trial.
It's only been a day and here they were.
Still, they to also had the same confusions and doubts.
Like why their groups were large instead of small numbers, like by two's or four's.
Why the members of their groups didn't really aline much to the whole "the area you're in hints at your Awakened ability" and all that.
What's more is what Wang Zihan's shared sight.
About the weird silhouettes by the coast where they were put in.
He also told her about how the weird show figures had a cold aura to them.
"It wasn't like a humans or a monsters, the cold aura looked as though it was only sticking or attached on their skin..."
He explained still creeped out by the eerie sight.
Zhao Lina wasn't the kind of person to offer her opinions on these things though.
Her family was all about the fires and flame, controlling heat and their temperature to warm themselves.
Wang Zihan was the opposite, he was all about the snow and the frost, the coldness and the chills... While also adding how he had one of his families compatibility with light, a tiny bit of the darkness, and not even a one percent of the soul.
"We'll discuss about that later, our main task right now is to survive and regroup."
This time she was addressing to everyone, there were ten of them currently.
One of the twins then asked:
"How do we find the other six? It's not like we all knew each other, were all strangers."
The others nodded and discussed amongst themselves.
They were in a major pickle indeed.
However...
"Something is telling me that one of them will come to us, while the other... Something bad."
Wang Zihan spoke with uncertainty, being compatible with light and darkness had it's ups and downs.
He could feel or sometimes tell of something bad or good will happen to someone or something, but he can't tell who because he doesn't know.
He also doesn't know when or where that bad or good thing will happen, but that was fine with him.
' Ignorance isn't always a bad thing...'
He sighed and explained why he said what he said, and his other power and affinities with light and dark.
"So you're telling me..."
The young farmer said, though he paused as if thinking.
But one of the girls added as well, rather nervous.
"... That one or the other will come to us, and something bad will happen to someone."
"..."
Zhao Lina was also intrigued but also worried.
"But you don't know if it happened in the trial right?" She paused and thought, the others didn't dare bother her.
"It doesn't technically mean that it'll be the six lost members right?"
Silence settled in the ten of them.
What a way to kill the mood...