Thirty (1)

There's always gonna be another mountain

I'm always gonna wanna make it move

Always gonna be an uphill battle

Sometimes I'm gonna have to lose

Ain't about how fast I get there

Ain't about what's waiting on the other side

It's the climb

------Sung by: Miley Cyrus |  Songwriters: Jessica Leigh Alexander / Jon Clifton Mabe

-PART ONE-

Volunteering Activity at Mt. Sierra



Altria enjoyed the cool breeze as she swiftly ascended the mountain, accompanied by her supportive and enthusiastic cousin Astrid. This time, she had packed smart and ensured her hiking bags were as lightweight as possible. Astrid had been accurate in adjudging that the trip up the mountains would distract her from her confusion and at the same time, lighten her spirits. 

"Your hiking skills have definitely improved," Astrid commented, to which Altria responded with a faint nod. "Probably being busy around the office, climbing up staircases and rushing around for meetings and lab work helped," she joked, as her cousin replied with a few giggles.

The group were overwhelmed with distress upon their eventual arrival at the bald portion of the forest after a long day of intense trekking. The current austerity of the land was apparently due to severe exploitation of the land for illegal logging activities, disregarding possible consequences and thus, devastating the nature and creatures living within the habitat of potential food sources. 

It had broken Altria's heart to see the condition of what had used to be a beautiful place. The volunteers grouped up and set up camp with their tents and supplies. Night fell shortly, and  dinner was served. Under the brilliance of the moon, coupled with solar and battery powered flashlights, Ceries briefed the group on the timeline for the planting event the next day. Excluding the Dongs, the group was composed of the same members who had joined the trip to Saga-da village, and were familiar with one another. In order to pass time before they retired for the night, they exchanged stories and laughed. Also, due to the altitude, there was zero mobile network coverage. This would take her mind off thinking about Lyrid for a while. Noticing that her cousin was listening attentively to the stories shared by their group members while laughing and interacting with them, Astrid was glad to see her in a jovial mood compared to how broken-hearted and tearful she had been three days ago.

Meanwhile, Lyrid had rushed to the gallery in search of Altria after receiving her messages, only to be informed that Altria had taken time off from work and was currently unreachable. Similarly, he had been unsuccessful in reaching her through her phone, and without wasting any time, he rushed to track her in the solitude of his office using his clairvoyance spell.

The Next Day, Tree-Planting Activity in Mt. Sierra.



The group drew lots to determine who they would be paired with and their designated location for the tree planting. Their task was to plant about twenty seedlings from a variety of Narra, Acacia and Yakal trees. Altria was assigned to a nurse named Yi Xuan, while Ceries and a few villagers went to collect water from the nearest river. Armed with a shovel and trowel each, axes, shears and some gardening tools, along with a portion of the seedlings, they headed to the westernmost point of the bald section of the mountain. A group of villagers escorted them and assisted them with carrying their seedlings, only to leave to assist others later. After an estimated period of four hours had lapsed, they would return to escort them back to their campsite.

As they were planting their eighth tree, Xuan started to experience abdominal cramps. Recalling that she might be having her menstruation soon, unfortunately she had to leave the area to retrieve some sanitary napkins that she had left in their tent, and so Altria confidently informed Xuan that she will continue planting by herself while waiting for her to return. After planting two seedlings on her own, Altria started to feel a bit hot due to the humid and sultry weather conditions, and made her decision to rest under a tree located in the vicinity of their planting area since Xuan would return at any time. While she was resting under the tree, she happened to see a deer wandering around in the woods, and astounded by its long and opulent antlers, she moved closer to snap a photograph of it. However, the deer was apparently shy to see her, and led her deeper into the forest as she followed it while capturing photographs for her memory. 

As she was lured deeper into the forest, she failed to catch sight of a steep mountain edge sloping downwards which was enveloped by gigantic leaves and plants, and failing to notice the covered slope, she stumbled and rolled down the steep incline, descending straight into a deep pit. 

.........................................

After a number of unsuccessful attempts in tracing Altria's whereabouts, Siming materialised in Lyrid's secret room in his mansion to update him with the news that Fengjiu's calamity was about to happen, giving him formalities before handing him Altria's fate scroll to prove to him that it was indeed written that her trial was about to end. Dijun merely responded by giving Siming a long face and the star lord reminded him that he should not interfere again with Altria's fate. From his stoic expression, the star lord knew that the emperor understood what to do.

Dijun entered the room where Lyrid's body was preserved and faced the actual Lyrid, telling him softly, "Lyrid Dong, now it's time that you can finally rest. I will make sure that you will have a fruitful and happy life in your next lifetime." With a wave of his hand, the god dispelled the invisibility and protection magic cast on Lyrid's body. 

Lyrid's fate scroll in Siming's hand read:

"Death at the age of 30 due to unexpected nocturnal death syndrome."

.........................................

Altria's ankle was sprained from the fall, and her body was bruised and scraped in certain areas since the pit she was lying in was more than 10 feet deep and had been dug with the intention of trapping wild animals. Due to her sprained ankle, she was unable to climb out to safety. As she was trained to react in emergency situations, she calmed herself down and retrieved her phone from her pocket, but to her despair, her phone is still out of signal. Due to the tremendous heat, she felt tired. She took a deep breath and shouted all she could for help, but to no avail. After continuously shouting for some time, she was out of breath and her voice was hoarse from all the shouting. She reminded herself to calm down, relieving herself by telling herself that the others would be here to find her very soon. 

She rested for some time, when all of a sudden, she was distracted by the smell of burning wood. Fearing what was about to happen next, she began shouting again, but still, nobody came to her rescue. She felt the ground around her getting warmer, and then, everything swirled around her, until she gradually lost consciousness.

30 minutes ago

The volunteers had grouped themselves into three to hunt for the missing Altria. Ceries led a group together with Astrid, loudly calling for Altria but received no reply. As the group reached the area where Altria and Xuan had been planting trees earlier, they encountered black smoke rising from a nearby area. They were then alerted by a radio call to their walkie-talkie by a forest ranger to warn them to leave the area immediately due to a forest fire in the region.

The forest fire was burning the forest rapidly due to the 'El Niño' phase, a climate cycle that occurred when sea surface temperatures rise to a temperature higher than normal for an extended period of time. Basically, this was what caused the forest fires.  Albeit that the rangers had already been informed about the lost volunteer, the group was required to retreat immediately. Astrid and Ceries implored them to give them more time to search for Altria, but the villagers persuaded them to seek help from the authorities instead. Eventually, the rangers arrived with the authorities to escort them back to the low-lying lands while the authorities remained in search of Altria. As Astrid only had Altria as a cousin and sister figure, she begged them persistently to allow her to accompany her to search for Altria, but later fainted from her panic, while Ceries gave the authorities his full trust and support in looking for his colleague.

Her final moments

She had been incredibly fearful the moment she was awakened by a tremor in the ground. The dark smoke was circling the atmosphere above her, and her chest had felt so heavy that she couldn't breathe. A stampede of wild animals were seen rushing through the area in a frenzy. She used all her remaining strength to force herself up and make a last attempt to escape, but as the edge of the pit was too steep, she kept slipping back down the pit.

She felt her cellphone and bracelet, both which she placed in her pocket, sliding out from where they were placed. Her memories with Lyrid, one by one, started flashing in her mind. NO... NO... NO.. she could not die, she told herself. She had to make it back alive to see Lyrid for one last time, even if she was mad at him. All her emotions were convulsing in her mind, particularly her exasperation upon finding how Lyrid had left with just a goodbye and message and how he was going to marry the rich girl. She recalled clearly every single promise and sweet nothings he had said to her, which were now shattered to pieces. Squatting on the hard ground, she picked up the bracelet and bawled loudly, dampening the bracelet with her painful tears.

"Why me?" she cried in pain as Lyrid's voice resounded in her head. "What did I do wrong, that the gods punished me in such a way?" A multitude of emotions were going through her right now, happiness, sadness, anger and pain. Yet, it was this pain that continued to linger... Loving someone had been so painful....

Standing by her side at the pit, Dijun would continue to watch until Altria breathed her final movements, feeling his heart breaking with each cry from his beloved. Her suffering was about to come to an end, and he could not do anything more to ease her pain, since he was just elongating her trial if he intervened again. 

Altria finally realised, "So, I finally understood what it was like to love someone. When you love someone, all you thought about was their well-being, and that was all that mattered. If they were happy, you were happy. When you really loved someone, even the worst sufferings felt nothing but a sweet misery. Thank you Lyrid, for telling me what it meant."

The next thing she saw was smoke enveloping the entire area, while the green grassy area of the woods had now burst into flames. The air was getting thinner. She closed her eyes and prepared herself for her final moment. She recalled how their last day in Palaw had turned out to be. Initially, she had been hesitant to try the zipline due to her fear of heights, but gave in as the instructor along with Lyrid had encouraged her to give it a try. Together, she and Lyrid began sliding by pulling on the line, closing her eyes while hugging on to Lyrid. In the end, Lyrid had convinced her to open her eyes slowly, and she was greeted by the mesmerising beauty of the surrounding nature. They glided smoothly like birds flying high in the sky, as she was carefree while being with the person she loved most. 

And with that, her trial had ended.