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Chapter Twenty-Seven
As the two of them continued to walk, they found themselves heading away from the plateau’s center and before long they came up to the lake that Alex had seen from the overlook. It was much larger in person. The water was clear and blue and gave off a cool, soothing vibe as its surface rippled in the light, spring breeze.
Rowan knelt at the bank and placed a hand in the water. “How old is your sister?”
Guessing they would stop here, Alex sat down by the edge of the water. “She’s twelve,” he answered her. “Two years younger than me.”
Rowan continued moving her hand around in the water. “I’m sure she’s lovely.”
Alex shrugged. That was something he had never really taken the time to think about, especially regarding his sister. However, it still made him recall how many
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Alex backed up a step and turned around. He let out a loud gasp of panic and he realized now that there was no chance any of their enemies could ever breach the Citadel’s wall here. Just in front of him, the ground suddenly dropped away into a steep cliffside. The cliff dropped so far down that Alex could not see the bottom in the middle of the night. One more step back and he would have fallen right down into the abyss below. The sudden sight scared him so much that could feel his balance faltering.A hand quickly pressed on his chest and pushed him back against the wall. Alex caught his breath and saw Rowan just beside him, holding him back. He looked over at her with wide eyes of shock as he breathed heavily.Rowan stared back at him. “Watch your step,” she said calmly.Alex was baffled by her s
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“Holy God…” he muttered, his mouth hanging open. The sight he saw before him looked like something that could only come from some sort of fictional story. Previously, the two of them had hiked down into a low trough between the mountains. At this point, just past the large cluster of brushes, the trough had suddenly opened up into a natural basin of some sort. Alex had never seen anything like it before. The large opening at the tree canopy level allowed the light of the moon and the stars to pour into the area. The effect this change of light had on Alex's eyes made his surroundings appear much brighter, allowing him to examine this basin with clarity.Two small, river-like tributaries flowed from the walls of the encircling hills like a spring; one poured forth from Alex’s left, the other at the side of the basin opposite from where he stood, and the two of them flowed downward a
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As he entered, the light of the nighttime sky and the unnatural reflections of the Oasis’ environment quickly evaporated from Alex’s peripheral vision. He could barely see his hand in front of his own face. Looking up, the immense clusters of mountain laurel were so cluttered that they formed a natural roof over the small, rocky passageway, completely blocking out the light. Alex was growing uncomfortable as he stared as hard as he could into the darkness, trying to find his guide.He followed the narrow path for over a minute and soon the rock had expanded away from him. He realized that he was now outside of the Oasis, but the trees and plant life around him were so dense that his sight was still reduced to nearly nothing. And worst of all, Rowan was nowhere to be seen.“Rowan?” Alex quietly called out as anxiety began to grip him. The
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At the end of the day, once the sun had set and Alex was quite exhausted again, Matheus led him to another fire pit. This particular site was much smaller and sat near the edge of the lake. Rowan still accompanied them as she had all day. The dusk sky glowed a faint red shade as the sun was nearly gone and stars began to appear.Matheus knelt by the pit and stacked a small pile of wood and twigs to make a fire. He then took a small chunk of flint from his pocket and struck it against a stone he had picked up to spark a flame into the pit. By the time the fire was lit and roaring, the sky was dark with the night. Matheus sat down across the fire from Alex, with Rowan just beside him. The air was growing cooler at a rapid rate, and Alex moved in close to the fire to keep warm.He was growing rather tired as he gazed into the flames. For once, after the day
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