"Ahhhh, what the f*ck is this nerd talking about?" Ethan asked.
"He has finally lost his mind," Nia joined in.
"Ha ha ha ha... did he just say magic powers? Ha ha ha ha, you gotta stop watching anime, kid.....it's messing with your head," Dex jumped in.
Kareem just started shaking his head with his hand on his forehead. "Seriously, Marquis? You're an even bigger nerd than I am...f*ckin' embarrassing," Kareem thought to himself, holding back his laughter.
Noticing that the Untouchables weren't believing him, his fear of death gripped him. "I have to make them believe... these freaks are going to kill me."
"Hear me out... please... my dad, he's a historical archaeologist. He's been researching this for years... he thinks it might be here. That's why I came here before he did."
The Untouchables remained quiet, looking at him. He continued,
"Look at this mountain, it has mythical creatures, it's not affected by seasons, and you've all seen the unnaturally huge grass and trees in this place. Think about it." His heart was racing.
"What do you guys think?" Dex looked at his crew.
"He might have a point. This place is freaky and abnormal," Chloe chimed in.
"Yeah, I think so too. If this ain't magic, I don't know what is."
"Oh, shut up, Kareem. You think everything is magic," Nia took a shot at Kareem with a smirk on her face.
"No, I don't," Kareem said with a smile.
"I think we should check it out... I mean, we're already here anyway."
The group was convinced. Marquis sighed in relief, he really thought it was over for him.
Dex looked at the group. "I think we should head out now. I'm not really sleepy anymore."
"Yeah, me too!" Everyone chimed in one by one.
"Maybe we should just leave this mountain alone, guys... Let's just go to sleep, and when the sun's up, we'll enjoy the view and go home," Chloe said, remembering her encounter with the phoenix.
"Chloe, don't worry. As long as we follow the rules of the mountain, we'll be fine," Nia assured, hugging Chloe.
The rest of the Untouchables chimed in, reassuring her.
"Off we go...on our very first adventure... exploring the unknown, looking for lost magic... show no fear, my good sirs and lady sirs!" Kareem exclaimed, raising a stick in the air.
"This is the type of stuff you get off to, right, Kareem? Ha ha ha ha, I knew it... you're a nerd," Ethan took a shot at Kareem, and the rest of the group laughed.
They started putting on their hiking gear, getting ready to leave, joking around and laughing. As for Marquis, he was sitting on the ground, his back against a tree, furious that he was forced to tell them the truth about the orb. His plan was ruined.
After the group was done getting ready, they decided going the opposite way, further away from the giant bird, would be the wise choice.
"Marquis, get your butt up.....time to go!" Ethan yelled.
Marquis quickly got up and started following the group, who were walking in a straight line.
Noticing that Chloe was a bit uncomfortable with their plan, Kareem rushed to her side.
"Hey, Coco, you good?"
"Co Co? Anyone ever told you that you'd make a good clown?" She laughed.
Kareem's mouth instantly opened in an O shape.
"Wow... are you for real right now? I was just checking on you."
Chloe laughed a bit. "I know...I'm fine. Thanks for checking though... Ka Ka." Then she started laughing.
"I kinda like that nickname," Kareem happily accepted the nickname Ka Ka.
"Simp," Chloe said in a low voice, then she started laughing.
"Wait... what! Are you serious right now?" Kareem was shocked, but he couldn't help but laugh.
Nia hurried past Kareem, heading toward Chloe.
"Excuse me, Ka Ka," she said, letting out a soft laugh.
"Seriously, Nia?" He said, laughing.
Nia held Chloe's hand. "Hey.....Co Co," she said, letting out a soft laugh.
"When did you guys get so close... already giving each other nicknames?" Nia teased.
"It's not like that, Nia," Chloe said, blushing a little, actually considering if Kareem would make a good boyfriend.
"It's not like that, Nia? Then why are you blushing, girl?" Nia continued to tease.
"Stop it," Chloe bumped Nia with her shoulder, still blushing.
Dex listened intensely, his anger rising.
"You worried about Kareem?" Ethan asked.
Dex looked at Ethan. "Nah, man, I'm good, I'm not worried about anything," he lied.
"Dude, I know that look," Ethan exclaimed and gave Dex a little bro punch on the shoulder.
"Don't worry about that. Kareem don't stand a chance, she would never date him."
Dex listened to Ethan. "Plus, Kareem's too childish, man. He's a jokesmith... don't worry about him... he can't handle her."
Dex smiled, happy and assured that only he had a chance at dating Chloe.
The group continued to hike for a few hours. The mountain was getting a bit too steep and hard to climb, but with the help of the vegetation, they were able to pull through.
They finally reached another section of the mountain that had a flat surface. Using the last bit of strength they had in their bodies, they pulled themselves up to that flat surface and finally had time to rest.
After at least thirty minutes, Marquis finally reached that flat surface too. The Untouchables had gotten there first because they weren't holding anything, they made Marquis carry all their supplies.
"Finally, I can drink some water," Dex exclaimed, reaching into the bag Marquis was carrying.
"What took you so long?"
Marquis looked down, defeated by that question.
Thud! Nia rested her back against a tree. "So where exactly is this orb thing located... I'm tired as hell."
Dex looked to his side, his eyes redirecting the question to Marquis.
"I don't know the exact location of the orb... no one knows since no one has ever looked for it here," Marquis quickly answered.
"Are you kidding me right now? You got us hiking up this damn mountain at night, and you don't even know where the f*ckin' orb is?" Ethan was flustered.
Kareem scratched his chin. "Okay, let's think for a second. There's no way it's just laying around in the open, so it's probably hidden somewhere... we should look for caves."
"What?" Chloe's voice echoed.
She continued, "Are you trying to get us killed by some wild beast?"
Dex quickly jumped in. "That's a stupid idea, Kareem. If we enter a cave, we'll instantly get slaughtered... Let's look out here for any signs of it. If we can't find it, then we bail."
Kareem looked at Chloe, then he looked back at Dex. "You f*ckin' asshole," Kareem thought to himself while staring at Dex. Dex smirked a bit.
"Let's rest up for a few, then we'll look for any signs of the orb."
Ethan looked at the ground, then spoke.
"Uh, guys, if we don't find this thing, can we not tell people about this whole magic orb situation... it's f*ckin' embarrassing."
The whole group burst out laughing, agreeing with what Ethan had said.
After a few minutes of resting, the group got up again and started looking, walking past the giant trees, their lights flashing. The whole idea about a magical orb sounded stupid at first, but once they thought about it individually, they realized that what Marquis had said made sense. They were all really searching for the orb, their hopes up high, having any wish you want granted for free is something anyone would accept with open arms.
After spending almost an hour searching for the Orb,
"Bro, I'm exhausted. Are we really going to search this entire mountain?" Ethan said while sitting down.
Dex looked at Marquis, realizing how hard he was looking. "What does he even want to wish for...?" he thought, his curiosity piqued.
"I think you're right, Ethan. I'm out of gas. I can't keep looking.....I think we should just enjoy the scenery and leave later," Nia replied to Ethan while also sitting down.
Kareem was about to say the same thing when he noticed Chloe staring at the side of the mountain. She was frozen and not blinking. He walked over.
"Yo... you good?" He placed his hand on her shoulder, asking.
She quickly snapped out of it.
"Yeah, I'm fine, but doesn't the middle of that huge boulder awfully look like a door?" she said.
"Nah, I don't think so. It looks like a normal boulder to me," Kareem was confused.
She walked over to the boulder and looked back at Kareem.
"You're telling me you don't see these black lines shaped like a door?"
Kareem got even more confused.
"There's nothing there, Chloe," he said after scratching his head.
The rest of the crew, including Marquis, walked over toward them to see what was going on. At this point, the crew was deep in the woods, standing in front of a huge boulder.
Chloe was getting annoyed.
"Dude, they're right there!" Then her right hand accidentally touched the flat front surface of the boulder.
The black lines instantly started glowing white.
Chloe quickly backed away from the boulder. The rest of the guys were shocked by the glow. As for Marquis, who was behind everyone, he pushed his glasses back up his nose and slowly started walking forward toward the white glow. He was amazed and felt excited.
The door-shaped part of the boulder started shaking, along with the ground the group was standing on.
"What's going on?" Ethan asked while he and the group tried to keep their balance, trying not to fall.
The door-shaped part of the boulder started to slowly slide backward, like it was sinking into the boulder. The more it slid back, the brighter the white light became. The group started lowering their eyelids, putting their hands above their eyes, still trying to see what was going on.
The door stopped and started sliding to its left side. The white light got even brighter the more the doorway opened. When the door had finally disappeared into the side of the boulder, the white light became as bright as the sun, prompting the group to fully close their eyes.
After a minute, the group slowly started to open their eyes one by one.
"What the heck was that?" Ethan asked.
"Magic, Ethan. Goddamn magic," Kareem replied.
"Yeah, and that wish-maker orb is probably in there," Dex jumped in, pointing his finger toward the now-dark open space in the middle of the boulder.
The group moved close to each other while staring at the open pathway. Suddenly, they heard a roar, shaking the ground and trees, making the birds fly away into the night sky.