Chapter 11: The walk back to school

Trip was laughing and was incredibly happy that he was still alive. Alex was still incredibly confused by what had happened so Trip had to spend a while explaining what had happened to the two of them. Trip then remembered that Grelin should be living within him so he sent a mental message in which he said “Hey Grelin, are you alive in there?”

“Tired… Will sleep for a while…” a sleepy voice said.

Trip laughed. ‘I guess even souls get tired, huh.’ He thought.

Trip was in a very good mood and Alex was relieved that his soul wasn’t taken. Trip was a bit worried about the camp however. How long had they been in the illusion? Is there anyone still left? If there were still teachers then it would be easy to just come up with an excuse and then be sent back to the school, but if everyone had gone back to the school already, then they would not only have to find their way back, they would also have to come up with a much better excuse. It would become a pretty big hassle in the end.

When Trip looked around the room he realised another problem. How was he going to get out of here? He sat on the ground pondering a way to leave. He saw where the wall was weak, but he didn’t know how to get through. The only thing he could think of is ice, but by the time he would be able to control ice Alex and him would have already starved.

Suddenly Grelin’s voice resonated in his head “Aah that was a nice rest. Wait why are we still in here?”

Trip got slightly annoyed at this and mentally said “Because I am not powerful enough to break through the wall!”

Grelin’s voice sounded again “God, you really are like a child. How old are you even? You have a near perfect magic foundation so even with your elementary water magic you should have been able to break through the wall by now.”

Trip got excited by this, could it be that Grelin knew a way to break the wall properly. Trip quickly responded, saying “Do you know any techniques for us to get out of here? And I’m only 8 so of course I’ll be like a child…”

Grelin stayed silent for a while before asking “You… are only eight?”

Trip was impatient and wanted to know the technique and he pretty much mentally screamed “YES! Now tell me this technique!”

“He’s an absolute genius…” Grelin muttered to himself “Ahem… Anyway what you need to do is focus on your environment and then summon small streams of water and aim for the next four points on the weak wall. Shoot at the point twenty centimetres to the right of the little rock over there. Then shoot…”

Grelin named three more points and Trip obeyed. By the time Trip had finished following Grelin’s instructions he already started to see cracks appear on the wall. The cracks kept growing until eventually the wall fell apart.

“That was incredible! How did you know where the weak points were?” Trip asked excitedly

Grelin replied by saying “Well even though everything I see is through your eyes I still have my own consciousness and I am not exactly human…”

Trip was shocked by that. Initially he just thought that Grelin was a strange looking man, but it turned out he was actually not human. He sensed a bit of hurt in Grelin’s voice, so he did not question further.

Trip and Alex made their way out of the room and eventually out of the tunnel, using a water bubble the pair managed to get out of lake within a couple of hours. When they rose out from the water the two looked around and saw no-one. The place looked very different from when they left. It seemed that a proper camp had been built. Everything looked finished and it actually looked quite decent.

Trip and Alex were of course disappointed that everyone had already left, but they nothing could kill the good mood the two of them had. They had escaped death, what is a little inconvenience to them now?

In fact, both Trip and Alex seemed to have matured a lot from the experience. While neither of them would say they wanted to experience something like this again they would both admit that the experience helped them develop as people and reflect on their life.

Luckily the camp still had several camping materials that they could use when travelling back. They decided that they would spend the night here and that they would then embark on the journey back. Trip calculated that they should be able to make it back within two days. So they would only need to spend one night in the wild. That was not what he was dreading though, it was more the explanation that he would have to give to the school.

Suddenly Trip heard a sob from behind him. He looked over to see Alex kneeling by a bunch of flowers. Trip walked over and was shocked. There were two small gravestones covered in flowers. The names on the gravestones were theirs. It was a surreal feeling, but for some reason Trip felt an uncontrollable sadness come over him. ‘Why am I crying?’ Trip thought, but he couldn’t stop. He felt so empty inside, so forgotten. Just a couple of days ago they were so popular as the fighting duo kind of people, but now they were gone, nothing more than some badly written scratches in some stone.

Eventually they calmed down. Alex then ripped his gravestone out of the ground in anger.

“What are you doing?” Trip asked, clearly confused

“Those idiots actually thought we were dead! I’m throwing this garbage away!” Alex screamed as he threw his gravestone into the lake

For some reason Trip spontaneously followed him. It felt so satisfying ripping out the gravestone and throwing it in the water. Hearing the heavy splosh was a majestic sound. The pair then started to laugh, lying on the grass.

Looking at the sky Alex suddenly said “I want to be strong. I’m going to stop looking for the approval of others and just focus on getting stronger.”

Trip smiled and said “I will not just become strong. I will become the strongest! I want to find the truth about my parents. I want to be strong enough to get everything I will ever need or want!”

The pair laughed before they went off to bed. Grelin was currently seeing things from Trip’s perspective as he smiled and thought “With this kid’s talent. I will enjoy seeing him become the strongest in the world.”

The next morning Trip and Alex woke up early. With a determined look on their faces they set off on their adventure. The forest was really beautiful to walk through. The birds chirping their song, the trees rustling in the wind, even the sound of their footsteps on gravel felt calming and peaceful. For hours not a word was said between the two of them. They had nothing to say, they had not thoughts at this point. They merely walked and enjoyed the peace. A peace they would probably not be able to achieve at school.

They kept walking until the sky darkened. They then started to set up their tent. Since the tents were rather heavy they had to share, but it was more than big enough for the two of them. When Alex was setting up the tents Trip started to train. Trip had a calmer mind-set than before and was able to devote nearly full concentration on condensing the water in front of him. Trip smiled as he realised that he would be able to control ice much sooner than expected.

After the sun set the two went to sleep in the tent. They were completely exhausted and were very happy to sleep. Unfortunately midway through the night Trip was woken up by some rustling outside. Trip stepped outside and looked around.

He heard Grelin’s voice in his head saying “Be careful, I feel something slightly powerful around here.”

A cold sweat appeared on Trip’s forehead as he looked around. He heard a growling in the bushes. He then saw the moonlight glisten in the eye of the creature within the bush so he shot a water vortex towards the creature.

A low growl was heard as a massive wet bear appeared from the bushes. It had brown fur and its eyes were filled with rage. Its intimidating claws gave Trip a lot of fear and he had no belief he could take this thing on.

Grelin’s voice spoke again “Haha, this’ll be good practice for you. Make sure to aim for the left shoulder with a thin stream of high density water. He is injured there. Keep hitting him there and he should collapse soon.”

Trip could only mentally scream “Are you blind!? There is a massive bear in front of me that wants to kill me and eat me.”

Grelin didn’t respond. Leaving Trip to only try and follow the advice he had just received. Trip kept shooting at the left shoulder. He kept hitting and hitting it, but the bear only reacted by charging towards him. Luckily the moment the bear took a heavy step on its left paw and it toppled over. Trip reacted by encasing the bear in water until the bear had visible fear for its life. Then Trip let the bear go. He was not a killer; death was not the answer here. The bear was agitated from its shoulder which is why it was more aggressive than usual, and when Trip soaked the bear it couldn’t contain its anger.

Alex walked outside to seeing Trip stand in behind a bear which was limping away. Alex was shocked, ‘Did Trip just defeat that bear?’ Trip turned around to see Alex staring at him in shock. Trip smiled and said “Grelin helped me.”

Alex merely laughed a little and walked back into the tent. The two then slept until the early morning. Looking at the early morning sun Trip thought ‘Today we’ll be going back to school.’