The group of three wandered throughout the forest, making their way around the large trees and the many vegetation around. They had done these trips quite a few times already either to search for food or just to get a better grip of their surroundings, but none of them could get used to it yet. Lily, who was never good at sports, was having an even harder time at it than Alex and Rick, who at least had some muscle and stamina to back themselves up with.

"Hey, how are we going to find him?" Asked Lily, who was walking on the back and seemingly growing tired already.

"I'm not sure" Replied Alex, his gaze still focused on searching around him "All I know is that he can't be all that far"

"For all the we know, he may already be miles away from here"

"We can't know that for sure"

"So you're saying we should search through the entire forest? Just the three of us? And without a single lead as to how to even find him in the first place?"

"Just give me some time, okay!? I'm thinking about it!"

"Time is something we don't have!"

While the two men began to argue once more, Lily was deep in thought, clearly noticed by the way she had her arms crossed and a was making a constant humming sound.

"Ah! I've got it!" She said while lowering her closed left fist into her right palm.

The young woman took a moment to clear her throat and suddenly began to make some rather odd sounds, which seemed slightly similar to a bird's chirping. This sight was odd enough to even catch the attention of both Alex and Rick, making them stop their argument to look at her with very confused expressions.

"Erm...Lily?" Asked Alex first "...What are you doing?"

"I'm making bird calls"

"Bird calls?"

Lily nodded with confidence twice before explaining her logic. Or at least what she considered was a sound logic.

"You see. Finding Max is really, really hard without something that can help us, right?"

"Yeah..."

"So I thought, what about Mr fluffy bird?"

"Mr fluffy bird?" Asked Rick this time while sweat dropping

"I mean, he really seemed to care about it, right?" Explained Lily, confident in her idea "So if we can't find Max, all we have to do is find Mr fluffy bird, and then we'll find him!"

Both men looked at her for a moment or two in silence. Her strange way of proceeding with her plan aside, the logic behind it actually made sense.

"That...Actually makes sense..." Said Alex with certain surprise in her tone.

"Right?"

Max traveled with Wilson and kept him close at all times, so if they managed to find the Dodo, then Max was bound to be with it or at least close by.

"Still, that doesn't really make it any easier" Said Rick while looking at her "We do need to find the bird, after all"

"Oh..."

Lily then lowered her head with a slight dejection. She honestly believed her plan was good, but Rick also made a very good point.

"At least it's a plan" Replied Alex, who tried to keep the morale high "Come on, the sooner we find him, the sooner we can go back to Alice and head to the tower"

"Yes!" Replied Lily with a more motivated tone than before

As the two returned their full focus to the search, Rick looked at them. So far they didn't encounter any dangerous animals, and even if they did, he and Alex could quickly take them out together. But even so, he just couldn't shake off the feeling that this was a terrible idea. Maybe it was simply him being too paranoic or maybe because of what happened yesterday, but his gut kept telling him to be wary of Max, and if he knew something about gut feelings, is that they were usually there for a reason.

The two kept walking through the forest in search of Max and his Dodo. The search lasted probably around half an hour before they suddenly ran into a pack of dinosaurs. At first they imagined they'd start attacking, but this didn't happen, meaning they were most likely herbivores.

"What are those things?" Asked Alex while looking at them

The dinosaurs were about shoulder-height and around 4.5 M long, they walked on two legs and seemed to be wandering around, browsing through the vegetation with their beaks. But possibly the most notable feature about these creatures was the thick bony dome on the top of their heads.

"I'm not sure..." Replied Rick, who was completely clueless as well "Everything we've seen on this island so far are unknown animals, but these at least seem somewhat passive"

As the trio looked at the bony-headed creatures, Lily suddenly came to realize something about her appearance. She couldn't help but feel like she had seen it somewhere before rummaging through her school shoulder bag for a bit and pulling out a large sketch book. She browsed through the pages before finding the one she was looking for.

"Ah!" She yelled in surprise, almost making both men jump up out of reflect.

"Lily!?" Asked Alex while looking at her with a mixture of surprise and shock, along with widened eyes

"What's wrong!? What happened!?"

"Rick, Alex! Look!"

The young woman turned her sketchbook around and showed it to both of them. In one of the pages, there was a sketch of a biped lizard creature with the name Pachysaurus on the top right. Just with one look, they suddenly understood what made her react like that.

The lizard drawn in the paper and the ones just a few feet from them were one and the same. Or at least similar enough to bring out an uncanny feeling within them.

"That's...One hell of a drawing" Said Alex, surprised by how masterfully made and realistic the drawing was

"Ah, thank you!" Replied Lily with a happy smile, glad about being complimented for her drawing skills "I worked really hard on it"

"Why do you have a drawing of that thing?" Asked Rick, who was almost speecheless by the uncanny resemblance between the sketch and the animals they encountered just now "Or rather, when did you even have time to make a drawing of it?"

"I didn't draw it just now. I made it back in animal anatomy class a week before the trip"

"Anatomy class?"

Lily nodded in response to his question before continuing.

"Usually we draw random animals like dogs, cats or simply learn about how animal bodies are drawn differently than humans. But since the trip was so close to graduation, the professor decided to make a special class where we could draw an animal of our choosing" Explained the young woman "The theme for that class was "extinct animals", and I chose dinosaurs"

"Dinosaurs..." Said Rick while turning his head to look at the Pre-historic creature "You're telling me that's a dinosaur?"

"I don't know..." Replied Lily while turning the sketchbook and looking at the dinosaur drawing "But it looks a lot like it, at least"

Both men looked at her before all three diverted their gazes towards the Pachyosauruses. Although none of them spoke, the same thought was going through their minds.

Right now, the fear that they may have been sent to the past, or to a different world, was lingering within them. And as crazy as it may sound, the unnatural phenomenom that brought them to the island in the first place already defied all sense of logic.

As they kept looking at the the bone-headed dinosaurs, they suddenly saw one of them quickly raise its head and look at a specific direction. Almost as if he had been alerted of some incoming danger. At first the trio was worried they were what alarmed it, but then realzied this couldn't be the case, as the pachy's gaze was focused on a completely different direction. It was looking intently at a pack of vegetation, which seemed to, even if just for a moment, have rummaged in an odd way.

The dinosaur looked at it for a moment longer before suddenly, a green lizard the size of a man with feathers on it's back, head, tail and arms jumped out into the open and attacked the pachiosaurus, using it's sharp teeth to try and byte the pachy's neck, but the dinosaur quickly stepped back and avoided the first bite before headbutting the green lizard away and making it fall to the ground.

"Wha-What!?"

As the green lizard got back up, five more emerged from the vegetation and ran towards the pachysaurus pack, which suddenly got alerted by their fellow being attacked and charged forward at the attackers, giving a headstart to a battle between two species as the trio looked in shock

"What's going on!?"

"Those must be predators!" Said Rick while looking at the battle "Quick, we have to get out of here!"

Agreeing with the sailor, both Alex and Lily quickly followed him. The three of them tried circling around the battle, crouching to use the vegetation as cover while trying to sneak without being noticed. This tactic was rather short lived, as their path was suddenly blocked mid-way through by a pachyosaurus pushing one of the feathered lizards all the way while running at top speed with its head, making it crash against a tree.

"Shit! Run!"

With their cover blown, the trio tossed away sneaking and began to run at full speed, hoping not to be noticed and be able to escape. Unfortunately, one of the feathered lizards caught sight of them and broke from the battle to chase after them.

As the trio kept running further and further away, they didn't look back at the battle and instead focused on getting away as far as they could. But even so, the green lizard refused to let them go and kept going after them, eventually reaching them and doing a lounging attack once he got close enough.

"Look out!"

With the incoming threat jumping right at them, Alex quickly pushed both Rick and Lily forward and away from danger. Unfortunately, this made him unable to dodge in time, getting caught by the lizard's claws and be pushed down, making both of them slip down a hill and roll down rather roughly.

"Alex!"

Both the sailor and the young woman quickly approached the border of the hill just in time to see Alex and the green lizard finish rolling down and smacking the ground. Fortunately, Alex seemed to be the one to take less of the brunt due to him using the dinosaur's body to absorb most of the impact, along with the final impact breaking them appart. This allowed Alex to quickly get up after rolling in the ground and grunting for a moment or two due to the fall still being rather painful.

"Alex, are you okay!?"

"Damn it!"

Rick tried to slide down, but the hill was too steep to safely do it without having luck on his favor, and he doubted Lily would be able to fend off for herself.

"You two, get out of here!" Yelled the sportsman after looking up at them "I'll shake off this thing and meet you at the cave! If I'm not there by nightime, we'll meet at the green tower tomorrow!"

"Bu-But!" Replied Lily

"I'll be okay! You don't need to worry about me!" Replied Alex once more, trying to ease her worry before alternating between looking at them and at the lizard, which was already getting back up "Just go already! Go! Now!"

After agreeing on an emergency meeting spot with his companions, Alex quickly ran into the thicker parts of the forest, getting lost from sight as the dinosaur got back up and chased after him.

"Alex!"

"Lily, come on! We have to get out of here!" Said Rick while tugging on her arm, pulling her away

"But what about Alex!?"

"He'll be fine! For now we have to leave!"

The sailor kept tugging on her arm a few more times before she finally decided to follow him, both of them running away and leaving Alex to deal with the dinosaur chasing after him.

He ketp running, making his way through the vegetation as fast as he could in hopes of losing his pursuer. Nonetheless, the green lizard was far more persisten than expected, even after suffering as many injuries as it did.

"(Damn it! This thing ain't giving up easy, is it!?)"

His legs began to feel numb, his muscles began to ache, but Alex knew he couldn't stop, he knew that he shouldn't stop. If he did, then it would be all over. He would be caught, killed and devoured by an unknown animal, without ever knowing how or why he ended up in that mysterious island, or what happened to his classmates, what happened to Max. The idea of dying with this feeling of regret in his chest helped him muster more strength out of himself to keep running, but just as with any other human, he was already hitting his limit.

Not only his current diet wasn't a very nutritious one, but the fall from earlier took a toll on his body. The aching in his muscles was a sign of it. Even the most skilled of athletes would have a hard time lasting long under such harsh conditions.

Meanwhile, the green lizard was still running at top speed. In one final push, it lounged forward, using the claws on its hands to slash at Alex, hitting him right in the back.

"Arghhh!" Yelled the sportsman as the pain from the injury coursed through his whole body. A large pair of scars left in his back, from which blood began to pour as he fell down to the floor

He struggled to get up, but his body wasn't listening to him anymore. All he could do was try to drag himself, but there was no way he could get away in such a state.

"(No...I can't give up just yet...)" He thought while dragging himself through the dirt and the grass "(I...Have to find him...I have to...be there for him...this time...)"

Slowly, the world around him began to move like jelly and his vision slowly blurred and darkened. He was about to lose concsiousness from his injuries.

As he felt his strength leaving his body, the green lizard approached his prey. Knowing it wouldn't run anywhere anymore, the dinosaur slowly approached its jaws to his neck, getting ready to snap his nape off and kill him. But on the last second, the attention of both of them was caught by a chirping sound right in front of them.

Both looked forward and saw a Dodo standing right in front of them, watching what was happening calmly while leaning its head from one side to the other.

"(A bird...Is that...?)"

The green lizard looked at the bird for a moment, but quickly lost interest and chose instead to focus on the bigger prey it had at the moment. But just as it returned to trying to chomp on Alex's neck, the dinosaur was suddenly ambushed by Max, who jumped on top of it and used an arrow as a knife to stab it right in the eye, forcing the lizard to move away from the sportsman as it atempted to shake off his attacker.

Meanwhile, Alex slowly turned his head and looked over his shoulder. Right now, all he could see was two blurry figures moving intensely. One constantly stabbing and hacking at the other, making blood constantly splurt out. But that as far as he could discern before finally being unable to keep himself awake any longer and finally pass out.

As he dwelved within the darkness of his subconscious, he saw a memory flashing back in front of him. Two boys walking down the streets, one perky and leading onward with a more lively step while the other seemed more calm and shy, yet also had a somewhat cheerful step and a smile on his face, most likely because of his friend's cheerfulness bringing forth a positive mood. It was a happy memory, but for some reason one that also felt very distant right now.

He tried reaching out for the child on the back with his hand, wishing to regain some closeness to him, but everything faded away into darkness once more. After a minute or so of this endless void, Alex slowly opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was the starry sky above him, along with the sound of crackling close-by. At first he showed no reaction due to still feeling drowsy, but recalling the events that took place before he lost consciousness quickly made the adrenaline flow, washing all drowsyness right away as he quickly sat up.

"Ouch!" He complained after feeling a sharp pain on his back and closing his eyes

"So you're finally awake?" Said a familiar voice just a few feet away from him

Upon hearing it, the sportsman opened his eyes and looked at the direction said familiar voice came from. First he saw Wilson standing right next to him, his stare focused on him for a moment or two before turning around and heading towards someone sitting close to a bonfire. The orange flames dancing and rising high up into the skies as the pieces of wood and tatch whitin kept burning, making crackling sounds while the individual sitting close-by made sure to keep the fire kindled by poking the pieces of burning wood around with a stick in order to avoid any of them from slipping out. Two pieces of meat impaled with sticks hanging over the flames, cooking as they spoke.

It didn't take long for Alex to recognize this individual as Max.

"Max!?" Said the sportsman with a mixture of surprise and happyness before the sharp pain in his back hit him again, keeping him from moving "Ouch!"

"You shouldn't move too much yet" Said the young man while turning his head to look at him.

While placing one hand over his chest and looking at it, Alex saw the bandages covering his torso. Wrapped tidily around it and fastened in place.

"You lost a notable amount of blood, but the scars weren't too deep so It wasn't lethal" Explained Max while Wilson snuggled right next to his foot "I patched you up the best I could, but you should try to stay still for now"

Max looked at him for a moment or two in silence before looking at his surroundings. It was already nightime judging by how dark it was, but he could tell it wasn't the forest. There were a few large rocks around them, but it couldn't be a cave considering they had a clear view of the sky

"Where...are we?"

"In the grasslands. I found this spot close to a hill the other day while looking for places to sleep in..." Replied Max without looking at him "There are lots of predators around these areas, but we should be safe here. At least for tonight"

"I see..."

Slowly, Alex sat up, resting one forearm over his knee while leaning slightly forward. It probably would have been better to just lie down, but he didn't want to do so, as his back would ache constantly. Besides, he didn't feel that drowsy anymore.

Silence ruled over for longer than either of them could probably account for before Alex finally decided to talk.

"Hey, Max..." He said while looking at the young man, who didn't seem to look at him, but also didn't seem to want to stop him either "About what happened yesterday..."

"What about it?"

"Why did you do it?" Asked the sportsman bluntly and directly, cutting to the chase and going straight to the point "Why did you attack Rick and Lily?"

There was no answer, only silence. Alex imagined he would receive something like this, but it didn't discourage him. He wanted to know his side of the story. No, he needed to know Max's side of the story.

"Max!"

"They tried to attack my bird"

"Huh?"

"You wanted to know, didn't you?" Replied the young man, his expression unchanged and his stare still focused on the fire "They attacked the bird, and I fought back...That's all there is to it"

A moment of silence took over afterward as Alex dwelved into deep thought and looked at the bird which he assumed was the Dodo Max referred to. In the end, it seemed as though Lily was right. The reason Max attacked them was to protect the bird. Why go so far to protect just one bird, which didn't seem all that clever or even useful for survival, was still a mystery of itself, though.

The young man wasn't an animal right's protector or even someone who had any strong affections towards animals at least as far as the sportsman rememebered. Maybe he did keep it around as emergency food, but it wouldn't make sense to become so agressive just to protect a meal when food in the island was as plentiful as it was. The only conclusion he could draw was that he saw the bird as some sort of pet, but even then it felt a bit lackluster for an answer.

"You should try to eat something and sleep" Said Max, interrupting Alex's train of though, while taking one of the sticks with a piece of already cooked meat and handing it over to him after getting up and walking a few steps closer "Here..."

The sportsman looked at the piece of meat, properly and neatly cooked, impaled on the stick for a moment or two before getting a hold of it. As soon as he did, the young man walked away rather fast and returned to his spot.

Looking at him, it was then that Alex realized something that he had failed to notice so far. From the point he woke up until now, Max didn't look at him in the eyes even once. Part of him imagined it was because of what happened yesterday making him feel ashamed, but his gut told him otherwise.

More than simple shame or embarassment, he seemed apprehensive about it. It was almost as if he didn't want Alex to find out about something by looking at his eyes. In fact, something very similar happened when they met yesterday, and it was from that moment and from the way he retreated so fast just now that he was certain of it. The young man was avoiding eye contact. Probably even avoiding physical contact as well.

It wasn't a cery clear view, but he could already make out his face by the fire's light, and he could notice something was indeed different about him. There was something off about the look in his eyes. He couldn't exactly pinpoint what it was, but it simply felt wrong somehow.

Before, Max's stare always seemed apathetic or lukewarm at best. But now, it felt a lot more sullen, almost as if something was eating away at his mind, unable to let him feel at ease.

"Hey, Max..." He said while looking at him "What are you planning to do now?"

That was not the question Alex wanted to ask, but his gut told him not to ask this time. Maybe because he felt like it wasn't the right time to do so or because it didn't seem like Max would open up about it yet, but he simply felt like he shouldn't ask just yet.

"For now, I'll just focus on staying alive" He said before taking a bite of his cooked meat "After that, I'll try to figure out a way back...Maybe those towers hold an answer"

"If that's the case, then how about coming with me and my group?" Said Alex quickly, suddenly seeing a chance to invite him to join his group "We're trying to find a way to leave using the towers too, and I'm sure we can work together!"

A short moment of silence passed by before the young man finally answered.

"I'd rather not..."

"Wha-What?"

"I said I don't want to join your group"

The sportsman was baffled by his answer, to say the least.

"Hey, Max! What do you mean by that!?" He quickly asked, sounding more alarmed now "If it's because of what happened yesterday, then you don't need to worry about it!"

Alex expected an answer, something that could explain Max's sudden answer, but he received nothing other than silence once more.

"Okay, then how about this?" Said the sportsman, trying to persuade him "You want to investigate those towers and I need to meet up with my group there tomorrow, right? So how about we go together to the green tower? And if I can't convince you, then I won't complain anymore...Deal?"

The young man didn't reply right away. Instead, he looked at the fire, then diverted his stare slightly towards Alex and pondered about his assertive approach for a moment before finally answering.

"And what if I say no?"

"Then I'll just go by myself..."

Looking at the state he was in, it was a given that moving around the forests in his current state was nothing short of a terrible idea.

Sure, he could walk without any troubles and the fact his destination was a humongous floating tower made it much easier to not get lost, but running for extended periods of time or fending off against any animals would be extremely difficult, if not impossible. With this and the idea of getting to gather some information about the towers in mind, he knew Max would have to accept. And surprisingly, it worked.

"...Okay, I'll go with you to the tower"

"Great! I knew you'd get it!" Said Alex, a mixture of cheer and relief in his tone

"But I'm not planning on joining your group...I'm only going to check out the tower..."

The sportsman imagined he'd give an answer like that, but this didn't discourage him. Instead, it only fueled his motivation to convince him during tomorrow's journey.

*Scene*

"All right...!" Said Alex while stretching his arms upwards, still feeling the scars on his back ache slightly. "We're all ready to go!"

The injuries still hadn't fully healed up, but at least the aching was far weaker and bearable than before. Just about enough for him to move without any issues.

"Come on, there's a lot of forest to walk through" Said Max, who was following behind him with his spear on hand and bow and quiver filled with arrows strapped on his back, along with his trusty Dodo Wilson following him as fast as it's tiny legs could "And I'd rather get this over with before nightfall..."

Unlike the sportsman, who was in a good mood from making it out of yesterday's predicament alive and managed to meet up with his friend, Max didn't seem to share even an ounce of that excitement and instead focused more on the journey that would wait for them ahead. A logical move, but a complete mood killer.

"You...would it kill you to be positive?" Asked Alex while looking at him and sweat dropping

"No, but being careless WILL definitely kill you" Replied the young man, hinting at the trio's reckless search from yesterday

"Fair enough" Said the sportsman, knowing he had no good retort against his logic "So, how are we gonna do this?"

"We're gonna go all the way through the forest, then follow the river upstream all the way to the tower" Explained Max while tracing a line on the ground with his spear "It's a bit more exposed than the forest, but it should also be easier to spot dangerous animals and harder to get lost as well"

"Sounds like a plan to me!" Replied Alex while nodding in agreement "Let's get going!"

With their plan decided, the two men and bird ventured into the forests, with Max going at the front to lead the way and act as the frontline in case of any dinosaur attacks while Alex would use the wooden spear provided to him to act as backup and Wilson did what it knew best. Being Wilson.

After probably around half an hour of walking, they were still going through the forest, and they didn't see any signs of it thinning out yet.

"Hey, how long until we reach the river?" Asked Alex, now using his spear as a walking stick

"I'm not sure...but it shouldn't be too far away"

"Shouldn't, you say..." He Replied, a slight concern in the vague answer given by the young man

Meanwhile, Max looked at his implant to analize his interface for a moment. Unfortunately, despite the potential uses behind this device, a map was not one of them.

"If only this damn implant had a map..." He said with certain irritation while looking at it after clicking his tongue.

"Implant?"

When hearing his question, the young man turned his head away from the interface, making it fade away, and looked at Alex

"The thing in your forearm"

The sportsman lowered his head and looked at the metal object in his own wrist.

"So this thing is an implant?"

"I'm not all too sure what it is, exactly, or what it's meant for, but as far as I can tell, it seems to be some sort of incredibly advanced interface device"

"Interface?"

Looking at Alex's confused expression, it was easy for the young man to tell that he was probably utterly lost right now. Instead, he chose to go and give him an explanation of how to use it himself.

"Try focusing your stare on the implant, then put some strength into your middle-finger"

The sportsman wasn't all too sure how to make sense out of his friend's explanation, but sense wasn't exaclty something that had a lot of weight so far, so he decided to go ahead and give it a try.

He started by staring at the implant as he was told for at least five seconds or so, putting most of his focus on it, then tried putting strength into his middle finger. It took a moment or two before he finally got it right, causing the implant to suddenly activate and showing him his own interface as well.

"Whoa!?" He yelled in surprise, eyes as wide as plates while moving his head back and almost falling to the floor on his rear

Max let his friend take a moment or two before urging him to resume their journey.

"Come on, let's keep moving" He said while turning around and walking once more "there's no time to waste"

"Ye-Yeah..."

The trio once again walked through the forest in search of the river. Max still leading while Alex followed behind him. This time, though, he was more focused on his implant's interface. Analyzing it with awe while trying to understand how such a thing was even possible.

Fortunately, he had someone he could ask.

"Hey, Max...Just what is this thing?"

"Beats me...There's still a lot I don't know about it, but it seems to be something similar to a character's sheet or inventory in an RPG" Explained the young man to his baffled friend, who was still looking at his own interface "There's also a "crafting" system as well, but they're called "engrams" instead"

"engrams?"

"They're something like blueprints. But instead of written on paper, they're downloaded within your mind when unlocked" He kept on explaining "So far I found things like bonfires and survival tools like hatchets and bandages, but there seems to be a bunch of other things as well"

After receiving that explanation, quite a few things suddenly made a lot more sense. One of them being the young man's sudden ability to become skilled at crafting things such as campfires and weapons like the spears both of them had right now. Even the bandages he had on him were probably his doing as well.

It made him wonder if he could convince the young man to teach him how to use this "crafting system" he spoke about. Unfortunately, it didn't seem like there would be any time for it, as he suddenly noticed the forest around them was beginning to thin out and the wind began to blow stronger. They were finally getting close to the river.

"We're almost there" Said Max, who could already see the river in the distance "Just a little more"

"Finally..."

The sportsman was glad to know that they had finally finished the first half of their trip. Mostly because walking by the riverside sounded far easier and less demanding than crossing through a forest with thick vegetation. And the idea of having a large supply of potable water to satisfy his thirst was also a pleasant thought for the mind as well, but his mind quickly diverted from this thought to the young man, who had suddenly stopped moving and was simply standing there in silence.

"Max? What's wrong?"

Alex walked closer to him in order to find out what the problem was, but he was taken by surprise as the young man quickly took a step back and hid behind a tree while pushing behind another one as well.

"He-Hey!"

"Shhh! Keep quiet!" Replied Max with a whispering tone while looking at him and gesturing him with his hand to remain silent, then aiming at the river "Look..."

Following his finger, Alex looked at the river and saw what the problem was about. Out there, wandering around the beach, there was a gigantic scorpion. It was dark-blue in coloration and seemed to be about the size of a man, if not bigger.

"Wha...What the hell is that!?" He asked while looking at the massive bug with widened eyes

"I think it's a scorpion..."

"Yeah, a GIANT scorpion!" Replied the sportsman while diverting his stare towards the young man "What on earth do we do now!?"

"I bet we could sneak through the forest, but that would take too long" Said Max while getting a hold of his bow and taking an arrow out of his quiver

"You're gonna fight it?"

"It's a lot bigger than normal scorpions, but my arrows should be enough to kill it"

Due to being many times larger than the scorpions they knew about, it was a given that this creature would be far more resilient than its smaller counterparts, but even so, a well-aimed arrow should be capable of taking it down. Or at the very least, slow it down enough for them to avoid it safely.

With this in mind, the young man pulled back his bow and prepared to shoot while taking a moment to make sure his aim would be as steady as possible, aiming directly at the scorpion's head. He wanted to make sure the first shot would be the deadliest.

He kept silent for a moment, focusing solely on his aim before his focus was suddenly broken by a rather unexpected sight.

The scorpion's calm wandering was interrupted, not by Max's arrow, but by a massive crocodile-like mouth that took a hold of it and lifted it up into the air. Both men then looked up and saw a massive dinosaur with a large fin-like spine on it's back. They remained baffled as they saw the massive lizard hold it's prey and allowed it to struggle in vain before suddenly chomping down with great strength, turning the scorpion into a mush of green-ish liquid that one could assume was it's innards and shattered shards and limbs, all of it falling down on the sand like rain.

The sudden shock was quickly replaced by a repulsive feeling that swelled up from within their stomachs. Both of them struggling not to spill out their dinner all over the floor. Alex seeming to have a much harder time than Max. Somehow, both of them managed to hold back the urge to vomit and went back to focus on the large lizard, which kept chomping on it's meal before turning it's head and looking at the riverside once more, then walking away slowly.

Both of them looked at each other for a moment before then diverting their gaze at the large spinosaurus walking away. Once it had gained a considerable distance away from both of them, the young man put his bow and arrows away, then took Wilson and carried it under his arm while him and Alex walked out of the forest slowly.

For a moment, they feared it would turn around, but the dinosaur kept walking away until it got lost from their sight. The danger had passed them right by and chose to ignore them. For now, at least.

Both the young man and the sportsman didn't waste a single second and began to follow the river, heading upstream and heading towards the green tower as fast as they could. Neither of them wished to stay close to the river for too long after what they witnessed. Fortunately, the path along the river was far easier and faster to move through.

Before long, they were already close to the tower's base, reaching the rocky cliffs surrounding the small space around it. As they followed them, Max's eyes kept diverting towards the edges of the cliffs, causing his mind to get lost and wander towards the events that took place a few days earlier. Nonetheless, he tried to avoid these thoughts and keep himself focused on the Tower. Alex failed to notice the young man's behavior, as his mind was filled with thoughts about the things he saw earlier, about his comrade's well being, and about how he would convine Max to join them.

The closer they got to the tower, the more prominent these thoughts became, but they were quickly cut off by a sudden pair of scream echoing in the distance.

"Screaming?"

"Those voices...They sounded like..." Said Alex in a lower voice while trying to discern the tones of the screaming voices before suddenly recognizing them "Lily and Alice!"

Without a second of doubt, the sportsman ran as fast as he could towards the source of the screaming. Meanwhile, the young man and Wilson followed behind him.

"(Alice?)" Thought Max while moving, his gaze focused forward

The two men and Dodo ran as fast as they could before reaching a cliff that gave a clear view to the base of the obelisk. Once there, they saw Rick trying to fend off a large, horned dinosaur while Lily and Alice took cover behind rock.

Unfortunately, it didn't seem like the sailor was doing all too well in this battle against the carnotaurus, as he could hardly land a blow without risking getting one of harms bitten off by the large jaws quickly lounging at him, constantly forcing him to dodge away and to be on the defensive.

"Another dinosaur!?"

"It doesn't seem to be part of a pack" Said Max while looking around in search of other dinosaurs and confirming there was none "It was probably wandering around and ended up running into them while looking for prey"

"Shit, we have to do something!" Replied the sportsman while running towards a slope heading down towards the rocky path to the tower's base "Come on Max, let's go!"

Alex quickly looked back to see the young man, but quickly stopped after seeing that, unlike him, he was not running. Instead, he stood still, looking at the fight taking place with a seemingly uninterested expression.

"Hey, Max! What are you waiting for!?" Asked the sportsman, a notable mixture of haste and impatience in his tone "We have to hurry up and help them!"

"We do?"

"Eh?"

"I'm asking you if we really have to help them..." Said the young man while turning his eyes to look at him "Just take a look at that thing for a moment"

Following Max's words, Alex turned his head to look at the carnotaurus, which was still trying to attack Rick, but avoided getting too close as to avoid the machete attacks.

"That thing may not be as big as the one we saw earlier, but it's certainly bigger than anything we've fought so far" He explained while looking at the dinosaur, which was certainly larger and seemed stronger than the dilos or raptors they had fought so far, before looking at Alex once again "You're in no shape to fight something like that, and if those wounds re-open, the result won't be pretty...And even without them, fighting it would still be a bad choice"

"Then what do you suggest, huh!?" Snarled Alex while looking at him "Just sitting here and let them get eaten!?"

"Why not?"

At that moment, the sportsman didn't reply. This allowed the young man to keep on going.

"I said it before, didn't I? That thing is looking for a meal" He said while looking at the fight once more "Three people should be more than enough to fill it up...And after that, It should wander off after a while"

Alex was utterly baffled by this answer. Max's reasoning was based on logical thought, but it was extremely cold-hearted. Sure, he wasn't the most emotional person out there, but he had never been this inhumane or apathetic towards the well-being of others.

As his mind struggled to understand why would Max come up with such an inhumane logic, a thought suddenly came up in his mind. There was one detail about the young man that he knew about which could possibly explain his answer.

"Max...This isn't because of Lily and Alice, is it?"

Once again, he received silence as an answer. But this time, the silence didn't confuse him. Instead, it provided an answer, since he may not have confirmed it, but he didn't deny it either.

"Hey, Max! Are you serious!?" He said, sounding more angry this time around while walking closer to him "This isn't the time for that "I hate women" crap! can't you see what's happening right now!?"

Silence remained as his answer for a third time. Anger was beginning to take over, but it truly erupted when the young man finally gave him an answer.

"What's the big deal? They're just a bunch of strangers..."

"Max, you bastard!" Snarled Alex while getting a hold of Max's shirt and pulling him closer "Knock it off already! You're taking this joke way too fucking far!"

The young man didn't reply to his threat, instead giving silence again. This only served to increase his anger.

"Max!"

"Can you trust them?"

"What?"

"Can you trust them? Those people, I mean" Asked the young man once more, this time looking at him in the eye "They're probably being nice now, but how do you know they won't turn their back on you and try to kill you in your sleep or beat you up and leave you for dead when it gets convenient for them?"

When looking at him, Alex's anger slowly decreased as he finally saw his friend's face properly. His expression wasn't the same as yesterday or even just a few moments ago. Instead, he seemed more dejected than sullen this time. Almost as if something was weighting down on him, but he felt unable to put it into words properly.

"You can't trust people, Alex...Especially not here..." He said, sounding more like someone talking from personal experience rather than simple reasoning, while his eyes diverted sideway.

For the fist time since they reunited, Max called the sportsman by his name, which only made it far easier for him to realize the severity of his words since the young man never, ever called someone by their name unless it was for something serious.

This caused his mind to take a different approach. Instead of wondering what was happening to him, it began to question what happened to him that could make him turn into such a person.

"Max, you..."

Just as he was about to ask, Alex was interrupted by yet another scream. But this time, it was coming from Rick.

When turning his head, he saw the carnotaurus had managed to take a step forward and lounge his jaws at the sailor, managing to bite down into his forearm. He tried his best to shake off the dinosaur by attacking with his machete, but it wasn't working.

"Rick!"

The sportsman quickly let go of Max and turned around to running towards the base of the tower with his spear in hand, decided to help fend off the carnotaurus and save his group. His mind still had the questions regarding Max, but there was no more time to waste. He had to help his friends before they got eaten.

On the meanwhile, the young man simply stood still where he was. His gaze still focused on the side before finally focusing once more on the sportsman, who kept running at full speed. Each step increasing the distance between both of them even further, his mind focused on helping those people instead of staying with him. Knowing Alex's personality, Max couldn't say he didn't expect this from him. Even so, he couldn't shake off this odd sensation weighting down on him.

Part of him wanted to go as well to help Alex, but going would mean having to help Lily and Alice as well. This inner conflict kept going within his mind for a moment or two before he finally made a decision.

"Come on, Wilson..." He said, finally breaking the silence "We need to find a safe spot to wait until the place is empty..."

Abandoning Alex wasn't something he wanted to do. It felt like a cruel choice, but the same could be said about his earlier choice as well. Max knew this, but it was for the sake of increasing his chances to survive. Or at least that was what he tried saying to himself to make leaving the sportsman to his own luck weight less heavily on his mind.

With his mind made up, he called for his Dodo companion to follow him so both of them could wait for the area to be clear. Either from the carnotaurus after it finished eating, or from Alex's group after they were done looking around. Surprisingly, Wilson was being rather slow to chirp in reply to him, or rather, he wasn't replying at all. This was completely unlike his usualy, noisy self. And it didn't take long for it to make the young man wonder what was wrong.

"Hey, Wilson...Let's go" Said Max once more while turning his head to look at the bird, then suddenly noticing he was not there, or anywhere to be seen as for that matter "Wilson?"

Now that he finally realized his Dodo was missing, the young man looked all around him before finally finding Wilson running behind Alex, heading towards the heated battle as well. Most likely when Max wasn't paying attention to it due to his own train of thought.

"Wilson!?"

Meanwhile, the sportsman ran at full throttle, his spear held with both hands as he charged into the fray and attacked the carnotaurus, stabbing it in the leg with his spear. Unfortunately, the spear didn't pierce deep enough to make the dinosaur fall down, but it was more than enough to catch it's attention.

"Alex!?" Said Lily after seeing him. Feeling both surprised by his sudden arrival and relieved to know he was alive.

Feeling the sharp pain on its leg, the dinosaur let go of the sailors arm, which quickly took a step back and almost fell to the floor, before turning its head to look at Alex and focus on him instead. The sportsman quickly pulled his spear and took a step back to avoid the incoming jaws. At the same time, Rick quickly lowered his head to avoid the incoming tail swipe.

Now the fight was 2v1, but that didn't make things any easier for them.

Alex kept thrusting his spear forward, constantly attacking to keep the Carnotaurus at bay and sometimes stepping back to avoid its jaws. This constant back and forth lasted for a moment or two before the dinosaur's jaws took a hold of the sportsman's spear and bit down hard enough to break it in half like a fiddlestick. Alex then lost his footing due to this and fell down on his back, still holding both broken ends of his weapon.

The scars on his back stung him so hard he almost felt like someone was pressing a hot rod of metal against it, but there was hardly any time to think about it. The moment he opened his eyes again, the sportsman saw the Carnotaurus above him, his jaws falling down towards him at full speed. Thanks to his trained reflexes, he managed to roll sideways and avoid being chomped on at the last second. At the same time, Rick quickly tried attacking from the back, but the Carnotaurus's tail constantly wavered from one side to the other, turning it into both a dangerous blunt object and an effective defense to keep him from getting too close.

The sportsman kept dodging before seeing a chance to try and scurry away, but the dinosaur didn't fail to notice this and quickly took a hold of his left leg with its jaws and suddenly lifted him up while spinning around. Alex was then tossed right at Rick, who was not able to avoid in time and got hit, both of them falling down on the floor.

"Urgh..." Moaned Alex, whose body was already reaching its limits

"Damn it...There's no way I'm turning into dinosaur chowder!" Added Rick, who struggled to get back up, but was unable to do so due to the sportsman weight.

The Carnotaurus didn't waste a single second and approached both men with the full intent to finish them off once and for all.

"Rick! Alex!"

Lily and Alice both looked in terror at the carnage that was about to take place before Wilson scurried between the Carnotaurus's legs and stood on top of both Alex and Rick, putting itself in the way in an attempt to protect them.

"What the...?" Said the sailor while looking at the Dodo

The brave bird flapped its wings and chirped loudly at the carnivore, but unfortunately, Wilson's small and plump body was hardly capable of being even remotely menacing to a larger predator. And certainly not to the Carnotaurus, which simply decided to eat the bird as well. Little did it imagine, this wouldn't be the last intrusion.

Suddenly, a flying rock smacked it right in the top of the head and catched his attention, followed by a second one aimed at its back. This caused the carnivore to turn it's head to look behind it and see Max taking aim with his bow. In a split second, an arrow flew through the air and towards the Carnotaurus, hitting it straight in the face and missing it's eye by mere inches.

Needless to say, this was not pleasant at all for the carnivore, which roared in a mixture of irritation and pain at the feeling of the stone arrow piercing it's skin while shaking it's head to make it come off.

"Is that...?"

"...Max?" Said Lily while looking at the young man with surprise

"Big brother?"

As both women focused their stares on Max, he took another arrow from his quiver and prepared to fire while moving sideways.

After getting wounded and attacked by the back so many times, the Carnotaurus had grown irritated and quickly charged towards Max, who kept a steady aim towards it's head. He didn't shoot right away and instead kept a steady aim, waiting for the carnivore to get closer and closer. By the time it was right about to attack, Max quickly lowered his aim and fired the arrow, which hit it straight in the leg. While it wasn't powerful enough to pierce through the bone, it was more than enough to make the carnotaurus trip.

At the same time, the young man quickly jumped sideways to avoid the large reptile as it fell towards him and slipped before falling off the edge and into the small lake below them.

At the next moment, both Rick and Alex slowly approached Max to look down over the edge at the water.

"Is it dead?" Asked Rick with his gaze focused on the lake

It took a few seconds, but his answer answered itself after the carnotaurus floated to the surface and slowly swam all the way to the shore.

Both the sportsman and the sailor feared it would come back and attack, but instead it walked away and into the forest, getting lost from view.

"It...It left?" Asked Max this time

"That thing may be an animal, but it's not dumb" Replied Max while looking at the forest "It was outnumbered three to one and badly wounded. He probably felt like it wasn't worth the effort anymore"

Badly wounded and surpassed in number, the Carnotaurus chose to retreat and live to fight another day. And with it gone, now the survivors had the freedom to analize the obelisk more carefully.

Despite the structure's titanic size, it floated many feet above the sky without the slightest trouble. The pillar of green light at the core descending down towards a small silver pole-like object shaped like a plumbob, which in itself was at the center of a large metalic circle, connected by six lines of green light framed in metal, each one going from the outer circle to the pole at the center.

The first one to approach it was Max, who put his bow behind his back while being followed by Wilson. At the following moment, both Rick and Alex followed behind him as well.

Upon closer inspection, the pole was framed by green light at the outer edge as well and had a small red plumbob on the center. It seemed to be made out of crystal, perhaps ruby, and was so perfectly smooth that there was no way for it to have been made without some extremely advanced machinery.

As a matter of fact. Not only the crystal at the center, but the entire structure, both circle on the ground and the tower flying above, were perfectly smooth and in a perfect state despite being exposed to the enviorement around it. Almost as if someone was constantly keeping it mantained or as if both the animals and nature itself were avoiding it.

The trio looked at it in silence before both Alex and Max suddenly realized how the red plumbob resembled the implant. The young man was the first to reach out with his left hand, and just as they imagined, the implant reacted almost inmediately and showed them their interface once more. This time, though, there was a new screen. One referred to as "tribute" with an icon of a blue spider chesspiece highlighted on it.

"The hell does it mean by tribute?" Asked Alex while looking at the tree symbols with a confused expression

"I'm not sure..."

"Guys...What are you doing?"

Rick, who was behind them and whose eyes alternated between looking at Alex and Max, was utterly confused by what was happening right now. Due to his lack of knowledge about the implant's use, all he was seeing right now were only two people staring at their wrists and talking random thinghs.

"Ah, right. You don't know how the implant works yet"

"Implant?" Asked once more the sailor, this time looking at his own wrist "You mean this thing?"

"Yeah, you see..."

The sportsman turned around to look at Rick and explained to him how the implant works while Max kept trying to figure out the meaning behind the spider chess pieces.

Focusing his stare on the spider, a smaller window containing information faded into view, three new items referred to as "artifacts" appeared listed on it horizontally. One named "the clever", another one "the hunter" and the finaly one referred to as "the massive". Each one of this objects wore a different name and appearance.

At the same time as the young man analyzed the interface and Alex spoke with Rick, both Lily and Alice had walked out of hidding and approached the trio. More specifically, Max.

"Big brother, you're alive!" Said the little girl happily with a smile, genuinely glad to see his older brother was still in one piece "I'm so glad you're okay!"

Despite her rather heartfelt greeting, Alice received no answer at all from Max.

"Big brother?"

"Max?"

At first she imagined it was because of his strong focus on the alien-like pillar, but he still didn't respond to her despite being called out to twice by both her and Lily.

Their focus on him didn't last long, though, as it was quickly taken away by Wilson's chirp, which made both of them lower their gazes and look at him.

"Ah! It's bird!" Said the young woman while squatting in front of it

Lily had already seen Wilson, so seeing the bird didn't surprise her as much as it made her glad. Alice, on the other hand, was quite surprised at first. So much that she almost hid behind the young woman. But her surprise quickly changed into curiosity after noticing the Dodo didn't seem to be dangerous or even harmful like the Carnotaurus from earlier. On the opposite, she actually thought it was kind of cute. In an odd, goofy way, but cute nonetheless. And Wilson as well seemed curious of her, judging by the way he tilted his head while looking at her and taking a step forward.

In the midst of this, Lily wanted to pet Wilson and stretched out her hand to touch him with a smile, but this was abruptly stopped by a sharp being thrust towards the ground between both of them and the Dodo, nearly impaling her hand in the process.

"Uwahhhh!?" She said in surprise while both her and the little girl quickly moved back her from fear

"Don't touch it..."

"Eh?"

Both of them raised their stares to see Max. His hand held tightly against the spear and his eyes focused solely on them now.

"Don't touch the bird..." He said to them

His gaze, filled with such an intense yet silent loathing that didn't fail to be noticed in his tone. The fact he nearly impaled Lily's hand with his spear was shocking enough for them, but his stare alone was already sending chills down their spines.

"Hey, what's wrong!?" Said Alex, who heard Lily's scream and quickly turned around to see the scene taking place

Both the sportsman and the sailor were taken by surprise just now, but looking at the young man holding the spear tightly like he did and the two girl's pale expressions as they looked at him, it was easy to tell what just happened.

"Hey, what the hell do you think you're doing!?" Asked Rick with an angered tone while trying to sound imposing as he walked towards Max, but quickly stopped after the young man looked over his shoulder and focused his stare on the sailor, making him stop right where he was while causing his grip on his machete's handle to tighten.

"Hey Max, that's enough!" Said Alex this time, trying to break the tension and avoid conflict to happen "We're a group! We shouldn't fight each other!"

The young man's gaze diverted towards the sporstman this time. But unlike before, it wasn't filled with a vicious loathing. Instead, it felt less aggravated than before.

Both of them looked at each other for a few seconds before Max closed his eyes and turned his head forward, his expression back to a neutral one.

"I told you already" He replied while pulling out his spear and turning around "I'm not planning to join your group"

"What!?"

"Come on, Wilson. We're leaving"

Calmly, the young man walked past both Rick and Alex with the Dodo following behind him as the whole group looked at him.

"Max, wait! Where are you going now!?"

"I saw another tower on the opposite direction while we were heading upstream" Replied Max without stopping or even looking at him "It's probably the same as this one, but still worth checking out"

As he kept walking away, Alex looked at the young man and grew irritated.

"Fine! Then we'll go there too!"

"What!?"

Still stubborn and decided to not leave Max by himself, the sportsman followed him with a hastened step.

"Ah! Alex, wait for us!" Said Lily while both her and Alice quickly got up and followed them as well.

"Hey!"

The sailor was almost baffled by this sudden group decision, but he knew none of them would listen to him. At this point, all he could do was follow them as everyone headed out of the small area under the tower and went towards the red tower.

*Scene*

Max walked among the trees, heading west towards the tower. The forests of the southern isles weren't exactly the easiet route or the one with the most visibility, but avoiding the larger rivers filled with giant dinosaurs such as the Spino from earlier was definitely the safer route.

Despite their density, the forests weren't all that hard to move through except for the usual rock formation getting in the way, and the casual channels of water that would need to be crossed were handy spots to resupply his waterskin and catch a few fish to eat. Of course, as long as one didn't stick around long enough to attract the attention of a predator, although most of the dinosaurs around the area seemed to be hervibores.

In all and all, it was bound to be a more or less calm trip. Or at least it would be, if it weren't for the unrequested company that chose to tag along for the ride.

"Why are you still following me?" He asked while still moving forward, not even turning his head to look at Alex

"We're not following you, we're just going to the same place" Replied the sportsman with a steady step

Ever since they left the green tower, Alex's group followed Max around to almost no end. At first he hoped they'd just start arguing and go somewhere else or that he could simply shake them off when they stopped to rest, but luck didn't play on his favor this time around.

Considering the towers were the only clue they had so far in regards to their whereabouts and current situation, there was hardly any room for arguments. Even Rick, who was most notably displeased with the young man's prescence, didn't argue at all. Or at least he didn't when he could hear him. And the latter was just as likely to not happen due to the constant stops for water and food through the channels, giving the group plenty of chances to rest and ressuply as well, avoiding exhaustion or lack of food and water.

In other words, he was stuck with them for the long haul.

"Hey...how long until we stop to rest?" Said Lily, already growing tired

"You have no stamina at all, do you?" Asked back Rick while looking at her

Despite her body not being fat or too skinny, probably thanks to her school's obligatory gym classes meant to keep the students healthy, the young woman had terrible physical endurance. This could be blamed on her focusing mainly on practicing and improving her art skills rather than her athletic skills.

"We had gym class in my school, but I was really bad at sports so I never did too well there" She replied while looking at him

"I'm surprised you're so skinny despite that" Said Alice, who was surprised by this.

"My mom always said I had good ginatics"

"I think the word you meant was "genetics""

"Ah! Yeah, that word!" Replied Lily while looking at Alex with a smile "My mom always said I had good genetics, so I never get fat even if I eat a lot"

"Ah, so you're one of those "genetically gifted" people" Said Rick while looking at her

"Genetically gifted?" Asked Alice while looking at him "What's that?"

"That's what they usually call people whose bodies "know" where to store all their fat at"

The little girl kept looking at the sailor, her expression showing she was still just as confused by the vague answer she received from him.

Rick simply looked at Lily and took a short gaze at her torso's "fat storages" for a moment, causing her to become curious as well, before looking at Alice again.

"You'll get it in a few years..."

"Oh...Alright..."

"Don't worry, Alice" Said the young woman while looking at her with a smile "I don't really get it either, but my mom always said it was a good thing, so I'm sure it's okay"

Both the sailor and the sportsman looked at Lily and sweat dropped. Despite having her moments, the young woman was generally oblivious or surprisingly innocent in regards to many things. Her lack of acknowledgemnt towards her well endowed chest, which wasn't exactly massive but still worth noticing, being one of such things. This was most likely just her lack of understanding towards the way males and some women thought about breasts, or simply her not caring about it. Either way, it was probably not the best subject to talk about around a child such as Alice

With the conversation that was meant to help time go faster creating an awkward atmosphere instead, the whole group remained silent until finally reaching a river and stopping at it for a while.

Thanks to learning about the implant's crafting system, Alex was able to make a few waterskins. That, combined with the two bottles that they found inside a few scattered bags, allowed them to carry a larger supply of water. And the few extra spears were helpful to fend off predators. Or in the current scenario, to hunt some fish.

There was the option to hunt the herbivores as well, but some of them seemed like they could easily turn very aggresive if approached carelessly, and the leftover meat would spoil too fast or attract unwanted carnivores. Therefore fish was the best choice. Surprisingly, the rivers had a few piranhas among the peaceful marine wildlife, but they were just as easy to kill as any of the other fish. One swift stab with the spear and they would be ready for cooking.

These casual stops took place at every small channel they came by, usually for the sake of gathering water rather than fish, as this was the resource that kept running out faster, while the latter was being saved for later in the day.

By the time it became late in the afternoon, they began to search for a place to sleep in. Fortunately, they found a small cave hidden within the forest in one of the islands. It wasn't quite as large as the last one they used as base, but it certainly was enough to keep them hidden for the night.

Rick made a campfire and began to cook the fish with Lily and Alice's help while Alex went to check up on Max, who had made a campfire of his own just a short distance away. Pieces of meat taken from the fish he hunted earlier could be found impaled with a thick stick over the fire, slowly cooking as he used a mortar and pestle to grind stone and flint, which he most likely gathered from the rocks around the smaller rivers while everyone else focused on gathering water. And Wilson, on the meanwhile, focused on eating his fill of berries from a small pouch.

"Hey there"

"Hey..."

"What are you doing?"

"Making sparkpowder"

"Sparkpowder?" Asked Alex, who had never heard the term before, while sitting down on a piece of wood "What's that?"

"According to the implant, it's a component that acts a lot like saltpeter"

"Right...Saltpeter..."

The young man took a moment to divert his eyes from the mortar and looked at Alex in silence before putting some more detail into his answer.

"The thing that people used to preserve food with back when fridges didn't exist along with salt?"

"Ohhhhh...That thing..."

"Don't you have chemistry class in the green school?"

As a school focused on every aspect of physical health and the body, the green school was the one focused not only around sports, but also the one with the largets focus of students seeking to enter the field of medicine. Therefore, clasess such as math and chemistry were seen far more often than in any of the other three schools.

"Yeah...I probably missed that class..." Replied the sportsman while diverting his eyes sideways before looking at him again "Anyway, how are you going to preserve food with that?"

"I'll probably just make a new bag to put the meat and the sparkpowder there. Like a portable fridge"

"I see..."

Even though hunting more food when the one they had ran out or spoiled was easier, the idea of being able to preserve food for longer did sound a lot more useful and convenient.

"By the way, why did you even made a campfire here?" Asked Alex, trying to change the subject into the one he wished to talk about "We already made one over at the cave"

"Don't you mean, they made the campfire while you came here to make sure I wouldn't run away during the night?"

"I really can't hide anything from you, can I?" Replied the sportsman while sweat dropping with his eyes closed

"You weren't trying very hard"

Alex opened his eyes after a moment or two and looked at Max once more. Maybe it was because of the trust they had with each other since they were kids, but despite the way his expression changed, and of how the only things he gave to the other members of the group were menacing stares or complete silence, the young man still mantained a sense of normalcy towards Alex in his converstaions. Meaning that whatever happened to him didn't completely destroy his mind. It changed him in a concerning way, yes, but at the very least he was still him.

"Hey, Max. Are you sure you don't want to stay with us back at the cave?" Asked Alex, going straight to the point in hopes of getting a positive result "It'd be a lot safer than staying here"

"Yes, I'm sure"

"I see..." Replied Alex, slightly dissapointed by the answer before looking at him again with a somewhat weak smile "Well, I should get going. If you change your mind, you know where we are"

With those last few words, the sportsman got back up and walked back to the rest of his group, who were already taking the first few bites out of their cooked fish. Meanwhile, Max remained where he was and resumed his task of making sparkpowder.

Wilson, who was done eating, approached the young man and looked at him for a moment or two before he finally noticed this stare and turned his head to stare back at him.

"What's wrong, Wilson?" He asked while looking at the Dodo "I'm already out of berries, if that's what you want"

The bird chirped in response to him, seemingly more interested in the conversation that took place earlier rather than on the berries.

"What do you mean by "why didn't you accept?"? You should know why" Replied the young man, who then received another chirp in response "Why else would it be?"

despite not being a very intelligent bird, Wilson knew very well what Max meant.

The reason he didn't accept Alex's invitation the first time, and why he keeps rejecting every opportunity he gives him to become a part of his group, is because of Lily and Alice. He wanted nothing more than to stay as far away as he could from them. And if it weren't for Alex and Wilson's decision to jump into the battle, he surely would have left both of them and Rick to die at the jaws of that Carnotaurus.

Again, Wilson chirped to respond. The tone similar as before, but seemingly clear as water for Max to understand.

"Of course they're like her...All women are like her, Wilson" He said while focusing on the mortar and resuming the grinding as he received a reponse from the Dodo "I just know, okay!? They're all like her, even if they don't look like it!"

The Dodo's constant questioning was starting to get under the young man's skin.

In his eyes, Lily and Alice didn't seem as bad as Amelia. The woman in green showed nothing but disgust towards anything that didn't strike her fancy and was quick to sweet talk others into doing as she wished. Lily, on the other hand, thought of him as cute and even tried to protect him from the other man who tried to attack him. In a way, she was a lot like Max, perhaps this being the reason why Wilson took a liking to her.

One more time, the bird decided to chirp. This time trying to ask a different question, which didn't seem to irritate the young man as much as it made him go into pensive thought.

""Talk to him about it" you say..." He replied, sounding a lot more calm this time. His eyes looking once more at his trusty companion "Just how on am I supposed to tell him about all of it? And even if I did, how would that help?"

By "all of it", Max didn't mean just what happened with Amelia's group and his near death experience, but also what happened afterwards. What happened with that Boris man, and what he did to him. Trying to explain all of that was a difficult thing to do, and hoping he would just accept all of it was even harder. Even if it was Alex, there was guarantee he would ever look at him the same way again.

This time, it took longer for Wilson to chirp. This time not to ask a question, but simply to tell him what he honestly thought.

"("It'll make you feel better", huh?)" He thought, repeating the bird's words within his own mind before looking again at the mortar and finally breaking his silence "Just go to sleep already, Wilson...Tomorrow will be a long day, and I need to get done with this so I can get some rest"

Dismissing his companion's advice, the young man returned to working on the sparkpowder, all while Wilson simply looked at him for a moment or two longer before deciding to do as he asked and nestle down to his feet, quickly falling asleep before Max did the same a few hours later. Afterwards, the night went by without any issue and with relative calm. And on the following day, they resumed their journey towards the red tower. Though it took a few hours, they finally reached the end of the southern isles. A large beach that stretched along the water and was sepparated from the next part of land by a wide body of water. Their objective right on view, still far away, but standing tall and far larger than it did before, showing them just how far they progressed so far.

"Alright, we're getting closer" Said Alex while looking at the tower in the distance

"So how long until we get there?" Asked Lily while looking at him

"Judging by the distance and size, I'd say it'll probably take us about a day or two" Answered Rick, who put one hand over his forehead to try and cover the bright sunlight and get a clearer view of the tower "If we're lucky"

"Does that mean we have to keep walking?"

"Yeah...A lot..."

"Awwwww..."

For Lily, all the walking they had done so far felt endless. And to find out they would probably have to do even twice that amount, it was impossible not to whine, even if just a bit.

"Come on, Lily. I know it looks like a lot now, but I'm sure we'll be there in no time" Said Alex while looking at her in an attempt to motivate her

"It's okay, Lily!" Added Alice while looking at her as well, trying to look and sound motivating like the sportsman "If Alex says we can do it, then I know we can do it!"

The young woman looked at the little girl. Even though the idea of such a long trip was making any motivation she felt crumble down at first, looking at that earnest expression was more than enough to fix it up right away.

"Okay, then I'll do my best!" She said, sounding a lot more motivated than before

"I'll do my best too!"

"That's the spirit, you two!"

"You people sure are being carefree about this..." Said Rick while looking at them and sweat dropping

Up until this point, the sailor couldn't help but feel a mixture of confusion and surprise at the way Alex, Lily and Alice were handling the situation. The fact Max, who he had yet to trust, was tagging along didn't do anything to help, honestly. Then again, a positive mindset and a clear goal in mind were much better than being consantly despairing and wandering aimlessly, so he didn't mind it all too much.

Even Wilson chirped to cheer for this motivation.

"Don't do that" Said the young man while looking at the Dodo.

"Alright, everyone. Let's get going" Said Alex while turning around and looking at the shore once more "It'll take some time to circle around the shore, but after that we'll be-"

"Uwahhhhhh! ! !"

As the sportsman began pointing out their route to the others after the short motivational speech, he was suddenly interrupted by the sound of someone screaming at the top of their lungs.

"Wha-what was that!?" Asked Lily with a surprised tone

"It sounded like a scream..."

"Ah! Look over there!" Said Alice while pointing at the other side of the shore.

As all gazes focused on following the little girl's finger, they saw a person on the opposite shore. It was a girl with short twintails and a school uniform with blue lining similar to Max's running away from a large pack of small snake-headed dinosaurs. Better known as Compys. They numbered at almost a dozen and all chased after her in unison.

"Help! ! Someone please help me! !"

"That's a student!" Said Alex while looking at her

"They may be small, but If those things catch her, they'll kill her for sure!" Added Rick while looking at the pack of dinosaurs

"Come on, we have to help her!"

Quickly, the group ran up the shoreline, following the girl as she was being chased by the pack of compys. Well, everyone except Max, who simply stood there and looked at Wilson as he looked back at him for a moment in silence. He already knew well what the Dodo wanted, and what he would do unless he complied.

"Fine, I get it!" Replied the young man to the bird with an irritated tone "I'll help too, so stop staring at me like that!"

Reluctantly, Max quickly began to run towards the group with Wilson and caught up to them.

As they kept running, Alex caught sight of a small miniature island connecting both lands and had an idea.

"Hey, you! ! !" He yelled as loud as he could in an attempt to catch the girls attention, which seemed to work by the way she turned her head to look at him "Run towards the island over there! ! !"

The girl then looked forward at the direction the sportsman was pointing at, and tried her best to move faster. Unfortunately, her long winded stepping and clumsy way of running were clear signs she was already reaching her limit.

In the race against time, both sides kept running with everything they had, the lone girl pushing her limits for the sake of avoiding getting eaten alive. With every step feeling heavier than the last one, she kept going until finally managing to reach the miniature island. As she crossed through the shallow water, the girl failed to notice the rocks hidden underwater and hit one of them with her shoe, causing her to trip a few steps on her way out and fall down on the center of the miniature island.

It seemed as thought she was now at the mercy of the pack of tiny dinosaurs. But just as they ran forward, ready to overwhelm her with their numbers, the group had managed to reach the miniature island as well. Alex, Max and Rick quickly jumped over the shallow water and into the island, then dashed forward and right over the girl, charging at the Compys while Alice and Lily helped her.

The first one to attack was the sportsman, who held his spear with both hands and did an horizontal sweep using all of his strength, hitting the first three enemies that had jumped forward and sending them flying back. This was followed by the young man and the sailor, who ran past him and used their hatchet and machete to slash and hack their way into the battle. Together, the trio began to fight, stabing, hacking and slashing at the pack of dinosaurs which, despite their small size, were surprisingly resilient.

Every now and then, the Compys tried lounging at them or jumped at them from behind, but the group managed to repel them with a swift swing of their weapon or simply by grabbing them by their snake-like necks and tossing them off of them if they managed to get on their backs.

The battle was harsh at first due to being severely outnumbered, but they managed to hold their ground. Slowly and steadily killing them off while Lily tried to help the girl.

"Are you okay!?" She asked to her with a concerned tone while trying to help her get up "Did they hurt you!?"

The girl didn't answer with coherent words. Instead, she simply kept sobbing as tears flowed from her eyes. She was too scared to say anything right now. Unfotunately, that fear would only increase as one of the dinosaurs managed to slip past the trio and headed straight for them.

"E-Eeeeeek! !" She shrieked in terror as she saw it coming towards them, her arms wrapped around tightly around Lily

"U-Uwahhh!?"

"Shit!"

Alex suddenly heard their voices and tried to go and catch the straggler, but his path was cut off by the Compys that were still surrounding them, making it impossible for him to go help them.

"No-Nooooooo!"

The lone Compy roared at the three girls before slowly approaching and eventually attempting to lounge at them. Nonetheless, this attack was quickly cut off by Wilson, who quickly ran out in front of the girls and stood between them and the Compy while constantly flapping it's wings and making loud sounds to try and be menacing. Sometimes even using his beak as a weapon, thrusting it forward to force the dinosaur back.

Although the Dodo had failed miserably against the Carnotaurus, this time his enemy was one of equal size, making his attempts of intimidation and attacks much more effective.

Wilson bravely kept the straggler at bay while the trio kept fighting against the pack. Slowly but steadily reducing their numbers until just a few remained. And as the few that remained began to run away or got , Max quickly turned his head to look at Wilson's fight and took a hold of his bow, pulling out an arrow from his quiver and shooting it right away. The projectile hit the Compy right in the torso, going clean through its organs and killing it almost instantly.

With the last Compy dead, the young man walked towards it, placed his foot over the corpse and pulled out his arrow, which unfortunately broke in the process. He looked at it for a moment before tossing it to the water and looking at Wilson.

"There...You happy now?" He asked to the bird, who simply stared back at him for a moment before turning around and looking at Lily, who was still holding onto the girl.

Even though the fight was over, it took a while for her to calm down and be able to have a proper conversation.

"So, let's try this again" Said Alex while he and and Rick looked at her, sitting down with Lily and Alice at both of her sides "Can you tell us your name?"

"I'm Sally..." Replied the girl, seemingly with a timid and hesitant voice

"Okay, Sally...Why were you out here by yourself?" Asked the sportsman, this time using her name to try and get a better impact "Are you by yourself?"

"No...I'm with a group" Responded Sally, sounding a bit more calm, but with her stare still on the floor "I wanted to help everyone by gathering food, but I got attacked by the monsters"

"So you panicked and ran towards here?"

The twintails student simply nodded in agreement to Alex's hypotesis. Afterwards, she raised her eyes to look at the people around her, noticing almost all of them wore uniforms.

"You're students too?"

"That's right" He replied while nodding "I'm Alex, I'm from the green school. Those two are Alice and Lily"

"Nice to meet you. I'm from the purple school" Said the young woman while looking at her with a smile

"I'm still in elementary school, but I was planning to become a junior at the blue school next year" Added the little girl

"This guy here is Rick, he's a sailor from the boat we were in"

"Hey there..."

As she looked at each one of them, Sally's gaze eventually landed on Max, who was standing a short distance away. Instead of hearing the conversation, he seemed more focused on looking at the area around them. Maybe to keep an eye for predators, or simply because he didn't want to bother looking at her. Either way, the fact he had a blue uniform was what truly caught her attention. Granted it was torn on many spots and missing a sleeve along with the other one having only the upper half, but she could still notice the blue lining on the torso.

"Oh, right. I forgot to introduce him" Said Alex, who noticed her stare aimed at the young man, while looking at him before turning his head once more to look at her "That's Max"

"Max?"

Despite hearing his name twice, the young man didn't even bother turning his head to look at the group.

"Yeah, he's not much of a talker really" Explained the sportsman with a weak smile

"If that was his only problem..." Muttered Rick while looking sideways

"A-Anyway. Do you know where your group is?" Interrupted Alex, hoping to cut this conversation and change into a different subject "We can take you back to them if you want"

Sally looked for a moment at the sportsman in silence. While his intentions of helping her were honest, he also did it because he wished to come into contact with another group of survivors. The idea of joining up with them would make traveling a lot safer.

"Yes" Replied Sally while nodding and before pointing at the island she came from earlier "They're on a big piece of flat upland at the center of that island over there. That's where we're building a base"

"You're building a base?"

"Yes..." She replied once more "The Weathertop base. Led by Angela, the flower of the blue school"