Kortz Plains

Once the light around them disappeared they thought they would be returned to the bunker, but that was not the case, instead they appeared on what seemed to be a plain, they were standing in a completely empty place, they could only hear the sound of the grass moving it moved with the wind, behind them at a great distance they could see some mountains that looked very small since they were quite far away, there was nothing near them that they could identify as the entrance to the labyrinth, Dylan checked his *Map* skill and the place was completely shadowed indicating that he had never been to that place.

They were considering what they would do next when they saw a screen in front of them that said

[Having passed the test early, your group was teleported to a random area where you will have to stay until the end of the test, you are free to explore until the clock shows 8 am where you will be sent back to your place originally.]

Dylan and Alison were mentally exhausted, since inside the maze they had to be careful with every step they took, there were several occasions where they almost fell into traps, especially there was a section where they passed where they had to be very careful With each step, since the ground was full of corrosive mud and there were only small rocks that they could use to move forward, there was one occasion where their foot slipped slightly and the tip of their shoe touched the mud, the part that came into contact with the The mud began to sizzle and smoke, so he quickly took it off and watched as the shoe fell apart completely. If he had taken a little longer to take it off, it was likely that it would do the same to his foot. He didn't have any spare armor, so He had to take out a pair of normal sports shoes and was more careful with every step he took, if his armor didn't last more than a few seconds he didn't want to imagine what could happen to him with normal shoes.

Although they were both exhausted, they had to find a place that they could use as shelter since by the time they left and looking at the position of the sun they realized that it would soon be dark, so they walked in the direction of the mountains since it was the best. The only thing they could use as a reference, they were walking for almost 2 hours and it seemed that they had not advanced at all, the mountains still looked very far away and it had already gotten dark, the place where they were walking was slightly illuminated by the light of the moons above of the starry sky.

The view of the night sky was beautiful, but when they saw it they realized that they were no longer on earth and that they had been sent to a completely unknown place, the sky had 2 moons, the largest was light red and the smallest The small one was an intense blue color, it was very similar to the night skies he looked at when he played Kingdom, so for a moment he thought he had returned to the time when he still played with his friends, but the warmth he felt from the person who was at his side when I intertwine their hands I take him out of his memories.

Alison: I don't think we'll find a place to spend the night, why don't we make a campfire here and take turns watching?

Dylan looked around and saw that there seemed to be nothing in sight that they could use as shelter, so he nodded: okay, let's walk a little further and look for a place with less grass.

They walked for about 15 more minutes until they reached a place where the grass was relatively sparse, Dylan prepared the campfire and Alison began to prepare some rabbit meat and vegetables for dinner, during dinner Dylan could see how Alison began to He closed his eyes slightly but the next second he opened them trying to control the sleep, so once they finished dinner he told her to sleep first and that he would watch. Alison wanted to refuse but since Dylan insisted, in the end she accepted but he sickened her promise to wake her up after 3 hours so he can get some sleep too.

Once Alison went to bed, it didn't take long for her to hear her soft and constant breathing, indicating that she had fallen asleep. As the night was quite quiet and the noise of any creature could not be heard, Dylan looked more closely at the map that appeared in his peripheral vision. , and as he concentrated on it, a screen appeared in front of him showing the map in more detail, there was not much change since the last time he looked at it, there was only a small clear area that was where they had passed before, Dylan began to interact with the map screen and when he zoomed in on the area he had passed through, new information appeared revealing the name of the place.

Kortz Plain

Dylan was surprised to see this name, as it was a name he was very familiar with, this was the name of a neutral area within the game Kingdom, within the game the Kortz Plains was where newbies could tame their first mount already. that the plain had several herds of horses running everywhere, but according to their memories the place was not that big and during the time they were walking they had not seen any horses, so they discarded the idea that they were in the game and thought that they were just coincidences, he let out a sigh and placed more wood on the bonfire to prevent it from going out.

He approached Alison and caressed her sleeping face as he thought (I'm not alone anymore, now I have someone who trusts and is by my side, I need to become stronger and not just appear strong so I can protect her, she is my family now, I don't want to.) losing my family again without being able to do anything) I placed a lock of her hair behind her ear and gave her a light kiss on the forehead (I will become strong enough to protect you and keep you safe.)

Dylan remained sitting near Alison, and when it was dawn Alison opened her eyes a little, still sleepy, and suddenly she sat up quickly and began to see her surroundings when her eyes fell on Dylan, she let out a sigh of relief and then approached him. 

Alison: Why didn't you wake me up?

Dylan: You looked really tired yesterday so I thought I'd let you sleep a little more.

Alison was moved by his words but also felt guilty, so she approached him and hugged him while placing her head on his chest and said feeling guilty: you must be tired too.

Dylan smiled and hugged him back: I can still hold on, don't worry.

Alison looked up to look at his face and noticed that dark circles had formed under his eyes, so she raised her right hand and caressed his cheek. She stood on tiptoe and gave him a quick kiss on the lips. She separated from him and said: I'm going to prepare breakfast so sit down and rest a little.

Dylan smiled when he saw her busy preparing breakfast and a warm feeling enveloped his heart, melting the cold that enveloped him when he slowly lost the people he considered important to him, causing him to isolate himself from others since he did not want to suffer another loss, he didn't know how he allowed Alison to enter his heart in such a short time, but he knew that she already occupied a very important place within him and he didn't want to lose her.