Part I: Six Packages, Six Journeys, One Big Wooden Door

93 Fight or Flight 92 Chapter 5 Fight or Flight The group continued exploring their Watches—customizing them, learning how they worked, communicating with them. Fang led the way, figuring stuff out first. “There’s a small compartment inside the Watch. If you push down on the face, you’ll hear a clicking sound, and the face will pop open,” Fang said. They all tried it, pushing down on the face. “What is this?” TJ asked. “It’s an earpiece. It allows you to communicate with your device, without having it respond back out loud for everyone else to hear,” Fang explained. “With the devices being linked up as Darius mentioned, we should also be able to hear each other, and communicate with each other. The more I learn about these Watches, the clearer it is that this is some advanced technology.” They tried out the earpieces, talking to one another, giving commands to their Watches, and getting more and more familiar with the Watches. Fang had tried asking his Watch about the man and the message, to no avail. The Watches were limited to information about the realm they were currently in, accessing all known information. For any additional information, they would have to wait. Wait for what exactly, they didn’t know yet. Fang continued fiddling with his Watch. What he had been successful in accomplishing was turning on the navigation function on the Watch. This would prove helpful once they would begin their descent back to base camp. TJ was quick to remind them that they needed to be on their way. With their energies revitalized, and the weather no longer being the factor that it was because of the mysterious experience in the cave, they were all ready to go back down. As they made their way down, they noticed that everything felt different. The ground felt soft, as though they were stepping on candy floss. Like a Sunday afternoon in the spring, the weather felt spectacular. The gear and equipment were light, like a strongly inflated balloon. Their energy levels were equivalent to those of a toddler on a sugar high. Two hours ago, they felt like death—now they were brand-new creatures. They could take on anything thrown their way. Their mountaintop experience—more accurately, secret cave experience—had added a twist to this journey that none of them could have anticipated. Led by Fang, who was led by Darius, the group journeyed back to Camp 4. Their spirits were high. Not only