Aliena Numina

1- Forest

South Island of New Zealand

Kaherekoau Mountains

45° 52' 49" South

167° 38'16" East

Present day

Evening

There was thick snow everywhere. On a twilight evening, snowflakes descended mushily to the top of this quiet forest, where the gray tones changed to gray-blue hues, spreading around like fireflies on summer evenings. When you looked up, you would feel like you were rising into the sky. Soft, cold snowflakes were melting on your face turning into water droplets and were coming down all the way.

The snow accumulated on the centuries-old trees of this charming forest, which retained its wild beauty in its naturalness, made them look like ghostly surrogates staring at you in the dark. A horror scenario would take place in silence and stagnation, as if something terrible was about to happen. This dark evening, which spread fear in one's soul could cause tremors in hearts, bring closer to death in fearful dreams.

The river that flowed a little lower, however, would take you on another journey of wandering and clean all this fear and anxiety was a different mystery on a completely different level. On the other side of the river, giant trees rising like walls gave the air like the gates of a huge palace that opened to a hidden world. If you would look carefully, you could get the impression there were creatures across the distance.

A quiet and moving mosaic...

A dark gray evening...

Simon and Jason weren't back yet. Their trail-searching journey, which they've been on for almost an hour, hasn't found an answer yet even though we all met at the located coordinates. There was no way they could have lost their way. They both took their geo-location set GPS with them. As usual, Marcus was again carefully evaluating.

A little above, Roder, Kate and Nina set up a tent next to a giant tree root, trying to place the backpacks and equipment. I knew no one liked to have dinner with cans. So, everyone had to choose to wait for Jason and Simon somehow if somehow, they had something to eat. Besides, when having a meal with them, everyone had an appetite. So, we seemed to be decided to wait here for a while even though we didn't talk about it. If nothing came of it, we'd move on later. Maybe that's why everyone chose to wait.

"Careful, ladies, these are very important. You don't want to stay here and die of starvation and cold." Roder said after a long silence. He took a few cans out of the box and looked at everyone. The forest must have been boring for him after a while because obviously he seemed to lose his joy.

"Open your mouth for good. No one has desires to die on this mountainside," Esme replied, trying to increase the fire she lit in a dry place under a tree.

"So, you were listening to us after all?" asked Roder. Previously, she told that she wasn't listening to anyone while working on something. It seemed Roder wanted to get her angry. He could do this sometimes.

"Stop acting like everyone's talking and I'm just trying to listen to you!" Esme raised her voice. She didn't seem to like what he said. She wouldn't like to ghost listening to anyone in general, and she'd narrow down the toleratement of those who make such accusations. But of course, it was a joke what Roder said.

"Oh, come on! You were listening to us." said Nina with a smile on her face. She seemed to be in mood.

"Okay! I was. Because no one was talking, and you were the first to start babbling!"