Marquis continued struggling to try and set himself free from Dexter's hold.
"You better chill the fuck up and fucking apologize," Dex's eyes were wide open, instilling fear in Marquis.
Ethan was already closing in, ready to join Dex in beating up Marquis. The girls just smiled, about to enjoy the show.
"Dex, slap him around a few times and make him lick my shoes. How dare he snatch my phone away?" Chloe said.
Kareem took a deep breath. "What did you do now, Marquis? You just can't go a day without angering Dex." Shaking his head, he started to close in too, ready to join the squad in beating Marquis up.
Dex smiled, ready to impress the girls with the way he was going to beat up Marquis when suddenly—
"I'm sorry, okay? I'm so sorry.... I'm sorry Chloe.... please." Marquis teared up, realizing that he couldn't overpower Dex no matter how much he tried.
"I just saved our lives right now. The mountain has rules.... taking photos and violence are not allowed," Marquis exclaimed.
Suddenly, a wave of heat hit them. They instantly turned their heads and saw the Phoenix ablaze, its body now covered in flames.
His heart beating fast, his breath heavy, "Put me down before we die.... hurry!"
Dex quickly let go of Marquis and patted him on the shoulders.
"Sorry buddy, my bad... lost control of my anger again. Now come give me a hug," he said nervously.
Marquis was soon wrapped around in Dex's arms, feeling uncomfortable in his embrace. Even though he wasn't fond of the idea, he forced a smile and hugged him back.
"Love you, man," Dex added with a hint of sarcasm.
The heat waves got stronger, forcing the group back a few meters.
"Oh shit... I don't wanna die," Kareem said while he ran in front of the Phoenix. The closer he got, the hotter the heat was. When he was only a few meters away, he got on his knees, banging his forehead against the ground.
"Oh great one, forgive me and my idiot friends... please don't kill us," tears welling up in his eyes.
The Phoenix was standing right in front of him, the ground it was standing on had been turned red-hot, and its feet were a bit sunken into the ground. The creature looked at the rest of the squad, and before it could do anything, they ran towards it and knelt right next to Kareem, banging their heads on the ground following Kareem's lead—even Marquis was among them.
"Oh great one, please forgive us, we are stupid ignorant fools.... Oh great one, please forgive us, we are stupid ignorant fools.... Oh great one..." on repeat.
The Phoenix turned its head sideways while looking at them. This was the first time it saw people acting like this. Its pupils returned to their normal golden state; the creature was clearly amused by them.
The sun had almost disappeared from the sky. The Phoenix turned around and walked away, going under the waterfall where its nest resided.
The group stopped when they couldn't feel its presence and slowly lifted their heads. Sighs of relief echoed.
"Bro, you saved our asses right now. How did you know it wanted us to kneel and apologize?" Dex said while patting Kareem on the shoulder.
"Yeah, Kareem, that was..... impressive actually," Chloe chimed in with a smile.
"Yeah, bro, how did you know?" Ethan jumped in.
Kareem's mind went crazy. "What the fuck are these guys talking about? I didn't want to die, so I did what any normal scared human would do—I begged for my life.... Didn't they see the tears in my eyes? That huge bird scared the shit out of me."
"Ahh... have you guys ever heard the expression 'the Phoenix rose from the flames'? This is a mythical creature, a highly intelligent creature worshipped by many. We just needed to apologize and show it that we respect its godly presence," Kareem spoke with his head held high.
The squad looked at each other for a few seconds. Nia was clearly holding back a laugh.
"Ahhh, okay nerd," as soon as she spoke those words, the group fell on their backs laughing at him.
Kareem placed his right hand on his forehead, shaking his head, and he was back in his head again. "Fuck! I blew it." Then he joined in on laughing at himself.
Marquis was the only one not laughing. He looked at the big footprints left by the Phoenix. His eyes darted back towards the group.
"I should've let them get killed. With Dex holding me, I was scared that I'd get caught in the crossfire. I hate them."
After the group was done joking around, Dex walked towards Marquis with a serious look on his face. Marquis was quick.
"I just started reading the rulebook a few moments ago while hiding behind that tree. Here, take it."
Dex snatched the rulebook and started reading it.
Marquis sighed in relief, but after a few seconds, he froze, realizing how much he feared Dex. He was afraid of the whole crew, but he was mostly afraid of Dex. He had just realized how deep his fear of Dex was. His hand was shaking while he looked at Dex.
"What kind of monster is he? Why does he hate me so much? Why do they do this to me? I hate them." Tears welled up in his eyes.
"It'll all be over soon."
The rest of the crew were all over Dex, trying to read the rules of the mountain. After a few moments, Dex announced,
"Guys, it's getting dark. Let's find a place to set up camp."
Ethan was quick to chime in, "Dude, you're right, but let's stay away from that giant bird.... I don't want to get eaten in my sleep."
"Looks like the men who are supposed to be protecting us are scared... ha ha ha ha," Nia jumped in, replying to Ethan. She and Chloe couldn't help but laugh.
"Don't worry, ladies. With Daddy Dex here, no one can harm you," he said, flexing his eyebrows up and down while staring at Chloe.
"I'm pretty sure you had tears in your eyes while begging that giant bird for your life," Chloe clapped back.
"Ohhhh! Ha ha ha ha!"
The squad erupted into laughter.
"Ha ha ha, okay, good clap back. You got me. As expected of my future babe."
"Okay! Daddy Dex wants some love, huh?" Nia jumped in excitedly while grabbing onto one of Chloe's arms.
The guys laughed for a few seconds, then—
"Yo, Marquis, stop standing there like a fool and bring our stuff!" Ethan shouted while the squad headed into the woods, clearly trying to stay away from the giant Phoenix.
"So no weapons, no taking photos, and no violence is allowed here, huh?" Kareem asked.
Nia quickly responded, "We're also not allowed to touch the animals on this mountain. In the rulebook, it is stated that this mountain is a sacred place. Any disturbances caused by humans will not be tolerated. The mountain will fight back."
"Damn! We better be careful. Dangerous pleasures for sure," Kareem said.
The group soon found an open area and decided to set up camp there. They set up three tents: one for the girls, one for Kareem, Dex, and Ethan, and one for Marquis. Everyone except Marquis went into the guys' tent while Marquis stayed alone in his. They first chose what they wanted to eat from his lunchbox, then called him to get the sandwiches they didn't want. They took the good stuff—rice, spaghetti, all the meat, and all the fruits.
Hearing the squad laughing and enjoying their food, he couldn't help but feel lonely. Even the food he was eating became hard to swallow. He stopped eating for a few seconds, feeling sad for himself, then took a huge bite of his sandwich and started chewing vigorously, tears falling down his cheeks. He couldn't finish eating. He stopped a few seconds later and cried himself to sleep, trying his best to muffle his crying.
Back with the squad, Chloe started feeling weird. The image of the Phoenix just started appearing in her head. She felt dizzy and decided to get out of the tent to get some fresh air. She stretched her arms and rubbed her stomach, clearly full from all the food she ate. Her head started hurting. She put both her hands against her head, images of the Phoenix flashing in her mind. The pain lasted a few seconds, then it instantly stopped.
She couldn't help but want to go back and see the Phoenix one more time. She looked back at the tent and saw that the group was laughing and still enjoying their dinner.
"I'll be back before they know it," she said to herself while walking back to the waterfall.
While walking there, she got distracted by the beautiful flowers glowing in the night. Her white pajamas were getting brushed by the bushes and tree branches as she walked, and her ravishing white skin seemed to glow in the night. The small animals couldn't help but stare at her beauty. She started kicking a rock and got lost in the fun. Before she knew it, she was out in the open with the waterfall right in front of her. She kicked her stone, and it went rolling on the ground for a few meters. When it finally stopped, she saw an orange light glowing like a campfire.
She raised her head and looked forward, instantly locking eyes with the Phoenix. It was out from its nest. She dotted her eyes around the Phoenix and saw a bunch of beautiful creatures sitting around it: a big white deer with huge antlers made of shimmering crystal and a circle symbol on its forehead, a wolf-like creature with bone-like spikes protruding from its back, cute rare birds, bunnies, and others were mythical creatures she couldn't recognize. The Phoenix seemed to be keeping all these other creatures warm from the cold of the night.
She looked around a few more times to confirm what she was seeing was real. She looked at the glowing Phoenix again, and the Phoenix looked back at her. They locked eyes for a few seconds. Chloe seemed to get lost in its eyes. She felt like her head was spinning, and suddenly, it was the middle of the day.
She saw the Phoenix sitting on the bed of flowers near the waterfall. A hand appeared behind the Phoenix's neck, petting it. Someone was standing behind it. A beautiful woman then walked from behind it. She seemed to be glowing, her blonde hair flowing with the wind, her golden eyes shining with joy. Birds and butterflies were flying all around her and the Phoenix. Chloe noticed that the lady looked very similar to her.
"Who are you?" she asked while walking towards the lady and the Phoenix, but no one answered.
"Did you call me here?" Chloe asked again.
But suddenly, the scene changed. She saw the same lady wearing armor, running in the middle of the night. From where the lady was running from, houses were on fire. The houses didn't seem like modern houses at all—they seemed ancient. From where the fires were, a white light, like a beam, shot out, blasting the beautiful lady and sending her crashing into a wall. She was full of injuries, but she got up and picked up a wooden box she had dropped and continued running.
The scene quickly changed again, and Chloe was now standing in the clouds. Below her was a city or country—she couldn't tell. She saw different colored lights leave the city or country, heading towards one place, but she couldn't tell what place it was. Then, all of a sudden, she heard people's voices. Some were crying, some were angry—really angry—and some were celebrating.
"No! What have you done, you witch?"
"We're free..... we're saved!"
"She deserves death. I'm going to kill her.... she ruined everything!"
The voices splintered her skull---wailing mothers, screaming men, a child's gurgling sob---each louder than the last. Her ear drums pulsed like they'd burst. She clawed at her temples, but the sounds clawed back.
"Stop..... Stop... please stop!" Chloe begged while crouching down, holding her head.
The scene suddenly changed again, and the voices stopped. Chloe was now in a dark space. She didn't know where she was, and she couldn't see anything.
"Hello!!!" she yelled.
But no one responded. She started walking, screaming, "Hello!!!.... Anyone?" but no one responded.
Instantly, a chill entered her body, her bones turned to ice. Breath fogged before her, but the air was wrong---thick, rotten, like flowers left to mold in a coffin. Her muscles locked.
"Run. Why can't l run."
She closed her eyes, scared. Fingers like boiled sausage skins dug into her shoulders, squelching as they tightened. The stench hit---gangrene and burnt hair. Something dripped onto her neck.
"LOOK AT ME!!!"
A rough, scratchy lady's voice screeched in her face. The voice wasn't just outside, it was inside her skull forcing her eyes open.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!".