CHAPTER 896: EERIE FINDINGS

They shouted for a while when suddenly Theo’s sharp eyes saw two figures moving down below.

"I think I found them!" He exclaimed.

"Where?" The others asked in a hurry.

Theo pointed in a certain direction where two dirty human figures were trying to stand up.

"It’s them!"

"They are alive!"

"Stop jynxing!"

"What a relief!"

"..."

Everyone heaved a sigh of relief to see that their friends were alive.

"MAX! LAUREN! ARE YOU OKAY?" Theo shouted in their direction.

At that moment, Theo and the others were able to see Max and Lauren turning their bodies to them.

"WE ARE NOT OKAY!"

They heard Max’s shout coming from below, and at that moment, they started laughing.

Now that everyone was calmer, they started relaxing their nerves.

"The question now is, how can we rescue them from down there?" Aurora commented as she tried to guess the distance the two of them fell.

Shizuka observed the slope inclination and thought for a while, "If we tie a rope on a tree here, we can go down there and help them up." She suggested.

"But do we even have rope?" Sam asked.

"Yes! Ka-chan borrowed a few ropes from Grandma Iko before leaving the inn!" Ayia exclaimed with a smile, "Thank the goddess, you did that, sis!"

"Really? That’s awesome!"

Everyone looked with a look of appreciation and admiration towards Kaori.

Kaori felt shy about their looks and compliments. "In my experience, a rope is an essential item for a hike. I was just making sure we had one in case of accidents."

"You are awesome, Kaori!"

"Kaori rules!"

"All hail, Kaori!"

"..."

"Stop teasing me, guys." Kaori laughed.

Here’s the text with added explanations to make it more engaging and detailed:

Just like that, a plan began to crystallize in their minds, a collaborative effort to overcome their dire situation. Swiftly, they decided on the most viable plan of rescue. Soon after, their voices, strained but determined, carried across the distance as they communicated with Max and Lauren through loud, urgent shouts. They outlined the steps of their daring rescue operation, the details of which would take a little time to explain and execute. Therefore, Max and Lauren understood that they would have to wait patiently for a few tense minutes while the rescue was prepared.

"Are you okay, babe?" Max asked, his voice laced with a deep, palpable worry. His eyes scanned Lauren’s arms, noting with a pang of concern the angry red scratches that marred her skin, stark evidence of their recent, terrifying fall.

"Stop asking the same thing!" Lauren exclaimed, a hint of exasperation in her tone, a defense mechanism against the fear still lingering. But sensing the genuine anxiety behind his question, she quickly softened her voice. "I am okay, really. It’s just scratches, and besides," she added gently, her gaze meeting his, "you have them as well." She understood his concern, knowing he was simply worried about her well-being, a testament to their bond.

"Thank goddess! As long as you are okay," Max breathed out, a heavy sigh of relief escaping his lips. The sheer terror of the situation had been immense, and the thought of Lauren being truly harmed had been almost unbearable.

The adrenaline that had coursed through them began to recede, and the two of them focused on calming their rapidly beating hearts. Although the fall had been undeniably frightening, a jarring descent that had shaken them to their core, they were incredibly lucky. They had managed to escape serious injury, and the only evidence of their ordeal was a scattering of superficial scratches.

As they calmed down, they started looking around the place they fell into. And it seemed like they fell into a hidden mountain valley. From up at the trail path, the dense forest hid a small valley plain. And as they looked around, they suddenly noticed something.

"Babe, am I seeing things, or is there an abandoned cabin there?" Max asked with a voice tinged in fear.

Lauren gulped as she replied, "You’re not crazy, there is a cabin in the middle of this hidden valley."

The two of them felt even more fear at that moment. They had watched dozens of horror movies, and there were always a few that started with abandoned cabins in a forest. And now they have found one in real life!

"Maybe it’s just a normal rest cabin for mountaineers," Max suggested with a hopeful voice.

"Let me see the map." Lauren took the map from her backpack.

But as she observed the map, she felt even more afraid.

There was no mention of a mountaineer cabin at their location!

They had the most recent and updated map of this trail. And maps like these described everything that the hiker would find on this trail. So, if this cabin wasn’t listed on the map, it meant that no one knew about it!

Max understood the situation before shouting, "GUYS! WE FOUND A CABIN!"

Uphill, Theo and the others were tying the ropes and setting up the things for rescue when they heard Max’s shout.

"Cabin?" They wondered if they had heard correctly.

"What the hell is he talking about?" June asked.

A few seconds later, Max shouted again the same sentence.

"It seems that they found a cabin down there?" Kin said with uncertainty.

"Could it be a mountaineer cabin?" Theo asked.

But soon they checked the map, and were shocked just like Max and Lauren.

"Could it be an abandoned cabin?" Ayia asked.

Everyone felt goosebumps crawling on their skin; they felt a little afraid, even though they couldn’t see that eerie cabin.

"Do we really have to save them?" Kin asked.

"Of course!" Theo exclaimed, "Stop overthinking, guys. This is not a horror story. The cabin must be forgotten by the villagers, so there is no reason to worry." Theo tried to calm them down.

Everyone nodded and tried to believe his reason. No one wanted to be in a horror story.

"OKAY! SOON WE WILL COME DOWN!" Theo shouted back.

In such a way, they continued setting up the ropes to go down the hill.

"You know what? I’m kind of curious about this cabin." Ayia suddenly said, "I kind of want to go there."

Everyone was calmer now, and they realized that they lived in the real world, and there were no ghosts and bad things. So, they shared Ayia’s curiosity.

The prospect of an abandoned cabin, untouched by the modern world and unlisted on any map, tickled their adventurous spirits. Why rescue their friends when they could embark on a far more thrilling expedition? Theo, ever the responsible one, scoffed at the notion of adventuring amidst saving their friends, but even he couldn’t deny the pull of the unknown. "Alright, alright," he conceded, "but we’re quick about this. We’ll rappel down there and only after making sure the two of them are okay *then* we can have our little ghost-hunting party." A collective cheer went up, the idea of a detour into the spooky unknown proving far more enticing than a simple rescue. Shizuka, ever prepared, double-checked the knots on the rope, muttering about the statistical probability of encountering spectral entities in uncharted wilderness.

As they rappelled down, a symphony of nervous giggles and exaggerated gasps filled the air. Ayia, leading the descent, sang a jaunty tune about spectral hitchhikers, much to Kaori’s chagrin. Max and Lauren, seated on a fallen tree trunk, watched in shock as their friends descended. Why was their rescue suddenly involved in all of them coming down as well? They felt a mixture of relief and bewildered amusement.

"Are they practicing for a circus down there?" Max quipped, his voice echoing slightly in the valley. Lauren, ever the voice of reason, despite the absurdity of the situation, reminded him that their friends must have come for the potentially haunted cabin. "Well, at least it’ll be a more interesting rescue than the usual ’oops-I-fell-off-a-cliff’ scenario," she sighed, a small smile playing on her lips.

Upon reaching the valley floor, the group’s immediate focus shifted to the cabin that stood before them. It was a structure that had clearly seen better days, its weathered timbers and moss-covered roof hinting at a history rich with untold stories. The cabin didn’t just stand there; it seemed to *exhale* an aura, a palpable atmosphere of forgotten secrets that clung to its ancient walls like the persistent mist.

"Hey, guys!" Ayia’s voice cut through the hushed wonder of the valley, a bright, cheerful sound that brought everyone back to the present. Her smile was wide and genuine, a beacon of relief.

Her concern immediately turned to Max and Lauren. "Are you guys okay?" she asked, her eyes scanning them with a worried intensity.

Another friend chimed in, their voice tinged with alarm, "You are all scratched up!" The observation was met with a chorus of agreement and concerned murmurs, a silent acknowledgement of the ordeal Max and Lauren had clearly just endured.

Just like that, their friends, after ensuring the well-being of Max and Lauren, shifted gears, their worry giving way to a shared amusement. The immediate concern had been met, and now the playful jabs could begin.

"You know," Kumiko began, a mischievous glint in her eyes as she looked at Max and Lauren, their clothes a little torn and their skin bearing the marks of their descent, "there is an easier way to come down than falling."

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Everyone laughed as their nerves finally relaxed with the situation.

"What are you guys doing down here?" Max asked the question he had wanted to ask ever since he saw them coming down.

"We want to explore that cabin, of course!" Ayia exclaimed as she turned to look at the cabin at a distance.

Everyone had an adventurous gaze as they observed the abandoned cabin hidden in this valley.

What mysteries waited for them hidden here?