“After exchanging our farewells, I left them and headed back to my village, hoping my son didn’t notice I went. When I closed the door to my hut, I turned to see Cedric waiting for me instead of sleeping in his bed. I waited with bated breath, wondering if there was any reason he got out of bed to wait for my return.

‘Hey, dad?’ He then spoke up. ‘I’m... I’m sorry about what I said earlier today.’

‘No, to be honest, you’re right.’ I said, pointing at my crown. ‘You probably would be a better king than me. Someday, you’ll wear this.’

‘But I don’t — I mean; do you think I can—?’

‘Yes, I do.’ With a soft smile, both of us made an embrace shortly after.”

Watching the vision from a glance, Ruth felt awed by it while Maggie said nothing, but she lowered her head and wiped her eyes so he wouldn’t see.

“The next day, I went to go out on another expedition. My son wished me the best of luck before I left; it made me feel a little chipper inside. I didn’t tell him I wanted to go back to the caves and check up on the other humans.

“Bob seemed to be unsure of the decision, but he still looked willing to support my choice either way. I wouldn’t want them to follow me if they didn’t feel like it, but I had to make sure those humans did nothing reckless.

“Eventually, my group and I made it back to The Fathomed Hallows where the people in coats were. They seemed to be awake but had grim looks on their faces as they appeared to be working on some external devices we hadn’t seen before. Were they from the bag, or did they create those out of thin air? And what were they doing? Why did they feel so glum?

‘Hey, what’s that?’ I asked, with confusion and concern.

‘Corn, this is our equipment.’ Henry explained. ‘We can’t stay here any longer...’

‘What? But why?’

‘We’re on a mission, to record important stuff and then come back to bring them to our leader.’

‘Say, have you ever heard of a man named Marshall U. Johnson?’

Maggie’s mouth gaped open upon hearing the name.

‘No, we haven’t.’ I replied, while tilting my head.

‘One day, we snuck into his lab to get the machines to work properly without Marshal's notice. But we all accidentally ended up sucked up into this area. We have no idea how to get out of here; that’s why we’re trying to figure out a way.’ Steve explained.

‘Is... There anything I can do to help?’ I asked.

‘No,’ Henry said. ‘but if we never see each other again, then I’d like to say goodbye, and thanks for everything.’

‘You’re welcome...’

“Our group soon left on our way back to the village. While on the way, I heard a strange faint sound — a voice saying “Freedom” over and over. I looked over at the site where the humans had crash-landed before. I didn’t see anyone over there, but the ground seemed like charcoal and rough.

“Bob tapped me on the shoulder, wondering if there was something wrong with me, and tried to snap me out of my conscious thoughts.

‘Hey, are you ok? What are you looking at?’

‘Oh, it’s nothing, let’s get going...’ I said as we continued to walk off.

.-.-.-.

“Little did the elder bear know that underneath the ground had something sinister. The land soon broke apart as a dark shadow raised out. The shadow looked around the area with piercing purple eyes.

‘Ah, finally, I’ve been released, perfect.’ The voice said. ‘Now it’s time to get my revenge, but where to start?’ The shadow noticed a dinosaur drinking some water. With a grin, the shadow entered inside the dinosaur, turning it from gray to black and making it grow in size and structure.

“As the humans still inhabited inside the cave with their machinery, they came across a big, black dinosaur with purple eyes and a nasty-looking grin staring at them. The humans got paranoid upon seeing the creature.

Before anything dangerous could happen, the vision closed itself as static appeared.