As they all continued walking, they finally made it out of the marsh. Instead, the land in front of them seemed to be a dark expanse of hard rock that crawled high into the sky. The temperature seemed to double when they entered it, causing Lidia to start panting as they walked.

"Where the hell are you taking us, Squabee? It’s hot as hell here!"

"We’re nearing the camp really soon! I recognize this area."

As the climbed the steep slope, Slimo seemed apprehensive.

"This reminds me of a volcano. I think there’s lava underneath our feet making the surface much hotter. Why the hell would there be a camp here?"

Sqaubee heard him and turned around.

"They built it here because this expanse is so desolate that catching any escapees would be easy!"

"I thought you said we were getting close. How much further do we have to walk?"

"It should take three more days to walk and we’ll be there!"

Lidia looked like she was about to pass out hearing those words.

"Three days in this searing rock? You have to be kidding me."

"It’s okay. We’ll be there in no time at all!"

As Jacob continued heaving his way forward, he noticed that this rocky landscape was similar to the ones they went through before. There were towering formations of rock that reached toward the sky. However, these ones simply stood straight up instead of curving inward. The ground they walked on grew steeper and steeper. When they reached the top of a large mound, Jacob was able to finally get a good visual of the landscape in front of him. Squabee’s words described the landscape perfectly.

The place could only be characterized as desolate. The terrain was extremely rigid, there wasn’t a single flat area for miles, and thousands of small rock structures littered the terrain. Squabee put her foot on a large stone and looked outward.

"Welcome to Shinak’s Quarry! This place is nothing but rock! Isn’t it cool?!"

Squabee looked back at everyone with an excited expression. However, no one, especially Lidia, was amused.

"This place sucks. I’m hot, I’m sweating, and I feel like I’m going to pass out."

Slimo was now helping Lidia stand up and walk around by throwing her arm around his shoulder.

"We’re almost there, Miss Lidia. Just hang on a little longer."

"Doesn’t anyone know how to make enchantments here?! Why can’t we just make a cooling charm or something? How about you, Slimo?"

Lidia put her hand on Slimo’s face with desperation in her eyes. Slimo blushed and looked away.

"Sorry, I haven’t gotten around to learning those kinds of things yet."

Lidia slouched more while he tried holding her up.

"We’re going to die here! Save my daughter, Slimo. Forget about me!"

Slimo had a small look of annoyance on his face but kept his mouth shut. Jacob could tell he was thinking about how dramatic Lidia was being for no reason. The heat, to Jacob, wasn’t that terrible. However, the terrain is what made travelling rough. The ground was much tougher on their feet and legs. It made them use much more energy to move. Jacob’s stomach started rumbling loud enough for everyone to hear it.

"I’m a bit hungry. How can we get food in this place?"

Squabee looked at him confused.

"Food? You can’t get food here!"

Jacob’s heart dropped.

"What? How are we supposed to survive?!"

"It looks like you have to wait until we get to the camp to get some food."

"But we’re breaking into the camp and running away! We won’t have time to eat their food!"

"Oh. Well, this land is also home to some really powerful creatures. Maybe you can try eating them!"

"How can this land have creatures with no food?"

"Because they just eat each other to survive. How else?"

"There’s no water here. Creatures can’t live without water."

Squabee looked at him oddly.

"Says who? Have you been living under a rock?"

Jacob realized that she never knew about how ignorant most of their party was. Only Slimo truly understood that it wasn’t a crazy thing for some creatures to not need water to survive. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

"Never mind. Let’s try to hunt something down on the way. Slimo, do you think you can help us?"

Slimo sighed weakly.

"Someone else is going to have to carry Miss Lidia while I help track something down. It would just make it a lot easier."

Maria started walking over to Slimo and grabbed her mom’s hand.

"I got her. Thank you for helping her out."

However, when Maria tried tugging on Lidia’s arm, she refused to move her arm around Slimo’s shoulders. Then, she looked down at Maria with a strange glance. Maria studied her mom’s face trying to decipher her message. Slimo looked at the two of them confused.

"Uh... what’s wrong? Aren’t you going to take her?"

Maria finally understood the intricate meaning in what Lidia was trying to do. She could have leaned on Maria instead, but she was purposely choosing to have Slimo help her. Maria smiled with amusement.

"Sorry, it looks like I can’t carry her after all. I think I’m too weakened and tired form my fight in the trial."

Jacob walked over and looked at Maria confused. He knew that even if she was hungry or tired, she should have ample strength to help out her own mom.

"It’s okay, I can help out Miss Lidia. I should have enough energy in me to carry her for a while."

Maria looked at him with an innocent smile.

"How are you going to carry her when you have a concussion?"

"What are you talking about? I don’t have a concu-"

Just then, Maria smacked him over the head, causing him to fall to the floor unconscious. Maria lifted Jacob up over her shoulder and started carrying him away. She looked over at Doc, daring him to offer a helping hand. Instead, Doc simply looked away pretending to have never heard anything.

"Oops! It looks like I have gained more strength but now I have to carry Jacob! Sorry, Slimo."

Slimo looked at Maria dumbfounded at what he just saw.

"It’s okay... I’ll just do my best with what we got."

"Okay, everyone! Let’s continue heading northeast towards the camp!"

Everyone started following Squabee down the small rocky slope to reach its bottom and continue marching forward. As the group left, three masked figures slowly took the spots they had just left behind and watched the group continue their journey.

"How much longer until we should act?"

"Not too long. That woman and that man. Do you sense it too?"

"I do. The powers of Annis flow through them."

"What do we do about the others? Should we convert them to be fellow Trepidators?"

"The blonde one seems to have left us. She still keeps the mask at her side. However, her Zalo is unlike anything I’ve ever felt before. I was able to sense it from dozens of miles away. We need to get her back on our side before she learns to control it."

"What about the other three?"

"If you can’t convert them, kill them. Two of them seem to carry Zalo’s. The third one is either surpassing his doesn’t have one."

"Let’s hurry and follow them. We can’t disappoint the warden."