𝑇𝑅𝐴𝑃𝑃𝐸𝐷 𝐼𝑁 𝐹𝑅𝐸𝐸𝐷𝑂𝑀

𝑆𝐸𝑉𝐸𝑁𝑇𝐸𝐸𝑁~ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑡

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Something immediately felt different that morning. I awoke early with the sun, as usual. I sat up and brushed myself off, as I did every other day. I had the same feelings of worry, hope, and curiosity that I experienced constantly. But that morning, something else accompanied them.

Still half-asleep, it took me a while to realize what that was. When I came to my senses, it became clear. Someone was watching me.

At first, I was filled with fear, standing up abruptly. I was wide awake now. I glanced around the forest, turning in a circle. My fear dissolved when I spotted the hologram of Dugal beside a tree several feet away.

Before I could scold him for giving me such a fright so early in the morning, he silenced me by putting his finger to his lips. Then he motioned for me to come with him, and started walking away.

I was confused. Was I supposed to go alone? Why me? I had so many questions. I didn't have time to wonder, though. Dugal was disappearing through the trees, and I was forced to rush after him. He was not leading me towards Mada, Sarosa, or the meadow. We went in the same direction that the cave we took cover in during the acid rain was. But the cave was long gone by now.

The hologram took me deeper and deeper into the woods, not looking back to see if I was following. There was no path, and I found it difficult to keep up with him. There were plenty of branches to duck under, and roots to trip over, which I was quite prone to doing. I tried my best to keep Dug in sight, though. I knew that if I lost sight of him, I myself would be completely lost.

After several minutes of walking in silence, Dugal stopped in a very small clearing and turned to face me. When I caught up to him, he finally spoke.

"It's time, young Cammi," he said, his voice a hushed whisper.

"Time?" I asked, "time for what?"

Dug smiled at me, "It's time for you to prove yourself. It's time for your task," he paused, pointing down to the ground, where a small shovel lay.

"It's time for you to dig," he finished.

I was very overwhelmed. It was time for me to face my challenge. I tried to make that sink in. I had to complete a challenge on my own. No one there to help me. I was extremely fearful but tried to push it down. I needed to be courageous. I needed to be thinking straight, and not let my worry engulf me completely.

"What is the task? What am I trying to find?" I finally managed to ask.

"You will know when you see it," Dug told me, "I can't say much. It's too... complex."

He could tell that I was trying not to panic.

"You must be brave Cammi," he commanded. I managed a slight nod.

"You are capable of success. It's all inside you, I've seen it, " the hologram encouraged. Then he began to disappear.

"Wait!" I stammered. He couldn't leave me like this. I wasn't ready, "I- I need more! I need more information!"

Dug resurfaced, "All I will say is this: you must never, ever give up. You have no other choice but to keep going." And with that, he was gone.

And I was alone. This is what all my time in In-Between had led up to. This moment. I now had to dig.

Kneeling down on my knees, I grabbed the small shovel with a shaking hand. Several deep breaths later, I pushed the tool into the dirt. Luckily, the earth was quite soft, making it easy to create a hole. I hoped that I was digging in the right spot, but the lightweight soil gave me reassurance that I was. It seemed as though this dirt had been dug up once before.

After several minutes of digging, my hole was significantly deeper, and around a foot wide. Upturned ground surrounded the hole I had created, and I needed to pause every so often to push it further away.

By the time that the hole was nearly too deep for me to reach, my shovel hit something hard. Tossing the shovel aside, I extended my arm into the hole and felt around in the lush dirt for what I had hit. My heart sped up when my hand closed around what felt like a box.

I ripped my arm out of the ground and brushed off the object. There, in the palm of my hand, was a small wooden jewellery case. I flicked open the rusty metal latch and opened it.

At first, what I saw inside of the case puzzled me. Then, I recognized it as a bracelet that had come from Mada. I knew this because I had received one very similar for my twelfth birthday from my parents. It was very simple, with silver beads and the crest of Mada in the center. It was the only form of jewellery that was allowed in the city, anything else would symbolize too much self-expression.

This specific bracelet was slightly different, though. It too had the crest of Mada on it, but also a crest I had never seen before. After a moment, I realized that it was the crest of Sarosa.

Without much thought, I unclasped the bracelet and secured it on my wrist.

As soon as the bracelet was on my body, the world around me blurred significantly. My heart sped up again. I reached blindly for the clasp on my wrist, fumbling with it, but it would not unhinge. The bracelet was not going anywhere.

The forest slowly came back into view. I was still kneeling on the ground, but my surroundings were different now. I was back on the dirt path.

Confused, I stood up and brushed my dirty hands on my pants. I tried once more to unclasp the bracelet, but it was still stuck.

Something about this place gave me deja-vu. I knew that I had probably been here at some point during our travels, but for some reason, this area of the forest stuck out to me. To my right, there was a small clearing in the trees that we could have used for sleeping. In the eastern direction, the road split off towards the meadow...

And then I heard it. An all too familiar noise that made me realize why this place was so recognizable.

The thudding of hundreds of buffalo hooves heading straight towards me.

I froze in place. In the distance, I could see them. They had the same ferocious expression and beady eyes from Sariah's challenge. As they approached, I quickly contemplated my options. I knew that I couldn't outrun them. Even with a head start, I would be trampled in minutes. I could have hidden, but part of me knew that I needed to complete the challenge. Yes, I needed to have courage, I could not hide away from problems in In-Between, Mada, or even Sarosa. I had to face them, head-

A large gust of air blew past me, so strong that it knocked me off my feet. In horror, it registered to me where the wind had come from. Before I could stand up, before I could even scream, the front line of buffalos emerged upon me. I felt no pain, only the pressure of their immense weight compressing my entire body. I lay there limply, as the world went black.