"Excuse me sir, may I excuse ms. Montezalco, umm, the principal is calling for her in his office", the whole class looked at the certain girl busy on writing down notes during their class. Finally feeling everyone's gaze, she looked up and saw a familiar girl on the doorway of their classroom.
She put down her pen and started heading towards the door. She then stepped out of the classroom as the girl who excused her tells her why she was called out.
She then gave out a sigh of disappointment and looked back to the professor teaching in front of the class. She'll miss a lesson, great.
"Who's still missing?"
"Ms. Akiel Montezalco from BS Psychology 2-A and Ms. Gwyneth Garcia from BS Psychology 2-B, sir"
"Sorry were late"
People inside the office looked at the direction of the now open door. The two missing girls went inside and closed the door; their eyes scan the whole room before sitting on the free chairs in front of the principal's table.
"Looks like everyone's here. Now let's start this meeting"
The meeting ended after just a few minutes. Four students came out of the office one by one. "Ugh! Another shitty project", EARL GARCIA, 19 years old. A Mechanical Engineering 2nd year student. Previous captain of the football team of his previous school. One of the school's most 'popular guy'.
"Can you please watch your mouth brother", GWYNETH GARCIA, just turned 19 years old. A BS Psychology (2B) 2nd year student. Earl's younger sister, an introvert.
"Oh come on. You gotta admit too sis, this is a shitty way to spend your time", Gwyneth grimace at her brother and was ready to hit him when another person interrupted their bickering.
"Both of you please shut it. You're both being noisy", IRENE FORD, 18 years old. A Mass Communication 2nd Year student. Foreigner transfer student and the current 'hottest girl' in the school.
"Aren't you going to say something huh mr. smarty?", the two girls look at the person Earl is taunting and saw how the boy busy reading earlier gave him a glare.
"Calling me a mr. smarty doesn't sound like an insult at all, mr. airhead", RAN ARIZ CORTEZ, 19 years old. 3rd year student in Education (Secondary Level). Another introvert and a bookworm.
The four of them quieted down after the door opened again. Two girls emerged from the principal's office. "We can hear you inside you know, that means the principal can as well", ANGELA MONTEZ, 18 years old. AB Political Science 2nd year student. Strict kind of person, at times.
"Ran, the principal told me to give it to you", AKIEL MONTEZALCO, 18 years old. BS Psychology (2A) 2nd year student. Someone not popular.
"Why would he give this to me?"
"The principal told me to give it to the leader of this project, and that will be you", Akiel smiled at Ran encouragingly as he slowly received the paper from her.
"And who the heck decided that he's going to be in- charge?!", Earl irritatingly complain. He crossed his arms in front of his chest and let out a huff.
Angela sighed and sternly told him the answer to his question. "The principal did", Earl just let out another huff and turn away from the group. The rest of them looked at Ran as he explained their project again.
"So we are all assigned to do a subject because of specific reasons. Angela, Akiel, Gwyn, I have an INC (incomplete) in one of my course subjects because I was hospitalized. Irene needs to do this project with us because she missed one presentation due to her transferring late. And Earl…"
All of them looked at Earl's back. "He needs to do this project as a punishment because he was caught cutting classes", Gwyn can't help but shake her head at her brother's stupidity. 'So that's why mom and dad were yelling at him yesterday night'
Ran flipped the stapled papers onto the next page and scans the contents for a bit then continued. "So the project is….shooting a music video that will be submitted as representative from our school. So we need cooperation, effort, and patience in this project. Do we all understand?", all of them nodded as an answer, including Earl who was still turned away from them but still listened. Ran then continue talking.
"I can create scenes and dance steps in the music video together with Akiel. I'll also be the camera man and will help Angela in editing. Earl, Irene, and Gwyn will help me compose the whole song, so give us a few weeks for that. Our schedules are not also that in sync so this will be quite hard for all of us. Now, any suggestions where can we shoot the scenes?"
" No no!".... "There should be more emotions"….. "Stop fighting you two!"
It's been months now. The group has only 2 more months left in order to complete and submit the video but things seems to be not going well when it comes to teamwork.
"This team is not working that well", Angela can't help but sigh, covering her poor ears from all the bickering that she's been hearing. "Oh well, what do we expect, our personalities clash after all", Akiel on the other hand looked at her notebook where a lot of writings can be seen.
"Ran and Earl always bicker. Irene is still awkward when it comes to Earl so their chemistry is not working well. Gwyn and Earl can't cooperate with each other, and I and Angela….", Akiel looked at her best friend.
Angela looked back at her at the exact moment. "Nothing is wrong with the both of us because we're neutral", the two nodded at each other. Akiel and Angela have been friends since grade 3 so the two of them can work in sync. And they never bicker with any of the 4 people because of some reasons.
Akiel, Angela, and Gwyn became friends 3 years ago. Angela and Ran are acquainted because of one subject they both had, while Akiel just treats him fairly. Earl doesn't have a problem with both Angela and Akiel for some reason. And Irene was on friendly terms with them after transferring despite being on a different course.
"Then, how about spending time together just once?", Angela looked at Akiel when she heard her murmur. "I mean, we can spend time, just once. Just spend one whole day together, open up about simple things like what we like, our dislikes, and favorites", after saying it out loud, Akiel was able to finally get the attention of the others.
She started explaining everything to them. The group fell in silence until an arm went up. "I'm in. Besides, it'll be better than bickering every day, we won't be able to start or finish anything if this continues", is what Irene said agreeing on the suggestion. The others think for a bit more and finally, they all agreed.
They immediately set a time and date that they're all free and then call it the day.
A few days later, five people stood face to face with each other in front of a green gate. "You guys are here! Wait! I'm almost done getting ready!", Akiel shouted from the window of her room. Angela shrugged and started opening the gate.
"Wait! What are you doing?!", Earl immediately tried to stop her. "Kiel! We're can we come in?!", Angela shouted, the other's eyes went wide in shock after hearing her shout like that but Akiel peeked from behind her window's curtain and shouted back.
"Just come inside!", Angela laughed before freely opening the gate. "This is normal, so just go inside", the four other people shyly walked inside then their eyes wander to all the amazing and rare flowers and plants placed on the garden of the house after entering the gate while Angela closed the gate herself.
"Cool garden right? Her parents love planting. Oh! We can also shoot a scene here if you all want!", Ran nodded at the idea given by Angela as she guided them to the bench located on the covered part of the garden where the sun is blocked.
All of them sat there and waited. A few minutes passed and Akiel finally went out. She just said 'hi' to them then got inside a door, and then seconds later, they all heard her grunt. Everyone stood up and went to where she entered.
They all entered the door and found out that this is the door of a storeroom. "What are you doing?", Angela immediately helped her friend stand up after finding her slumped in the ground. "Oh, I was just finding something. My mom and dad told me to find a blue box here, it contains old folders, they need those", the group then started helping her find the said box when they heard a groan.
It was Earl who's now holding his face after a small purple box fell right in front of his face. Looks like it's a part of a clutter of old things that belonged to Akiel's deceased grandmother.
They helped him get up as Akiel picked up the box. She opened it and saw a small necklace with a pendant that is at least 2 ½ inches to 3 inches. It looks like a bullet or a small bottle but when Akiel tried to shake it, what she felt is inside the bottle is not something solid but liquid.
Together with the necklace is a small one piece of earring and a small note, it says, 'Gift for Akiel's 18th birthday -Mama Nena'. Akiel always called her grandma 'mama' because she basically raised her up herself more than her parents who works abroad before.
She smiled sadly after realizing that this gift was never given to her on her previous birthday when she turned 18 because her grandma was not able to make it, for Nena died when she was still 16.
She neatly placed the necklace on her neck and was about to wear the earring too when Gwyn stopped her. "The other piece is missing", but Akiel just smiled and wore it anyway.
"It's okay, besides, it still looks good on me right?", they all look at the blue earring hanging on her left ear. Its shiny sky blue gem shines even in the dark. "Oh, is this it?", they all looked at Irene pointing at a blue box that looks like it fell together with the smaller purple box earlier.
"So that's why it hurts so much", Earl mumble as he rubbed his face again. Irene picked the box up and gave it to Akiel. She opened it but what she saw is not a box full of folders but a box with a small book inside. She tried opening it but was disappointed when they saw that the pages were all burned. Only the last page was not burned.
They flipped that page and saw writing on the last page. "Huh? How do you even read this?", Angela grumble. "Hey bookworm, maybe you know how", Earl asked Ran but even he shook his head.
"I never saw any writings like this before"
Akiel fixed her glasses on her eyes properly and tried looking at the writing. She focused the flashlight of her phone on the writing and tried mumbling some words.
The characters look like it was flipped and mirrored at the same time. Akiel looked at it one more time and mumbled something, "Ul….Ulti…Ultimum….Ultimum Tem…..Ultimum Tempes? Ultimum Tempus?"
Everyone tried understanding the characters again but then they felt chill on their skins when the book's last page started to burn for some reason. They all stepped back and went pale when suddenly the door of the storeroom closed by itself with a bang. The page was still on fire when they felt strong wind all over the room but there are no windows and the door is closed.
They're all so creped out and were holding onto each other when they all fell on the floor after it turned into something slimy. While concentrating on getting up, they never noticed crystals of ice spreading in the ceiling out of nowhere, and then the group felt water filling up the place. They all tried crawling to the door and banging it for help.
The water's level came up faster till it reached their necks. "Hold your breath!", Ran shouted before the water started to come up to their heads. They all felt like they're floating. Their closed eyes started to open and they all saw a light up.
They tried swimming up but Angela and Akiel both can't swim. Ran and Earl being excellent swimmers helped them swim up as Irene and Gwyn swam up first.
They all gasp and breathe heavily after being able to get out of the water and into a land. They all slumped and gasp for air for a long time until finally being aware of everything.
"What the heck…is this"
The group scan the place where they're in and found themselves in a cave. The light they saw is from a part of the cave's ceiling with a hole on it. And when they looked back from where they all swam from, what they found is a small lake inside the cave.
"We're dreaming right?", Angela pinched her cheeks so hard but all she felt is immense pain. "What is going on?! Where….How did we end up here?!", Irene also started to panic. Ran on the other hand tried to compose himself. He looked at his phone; it was wrecked on his pocket. It's not waterproof after all.
He checked his camera with its straps hanging on his neck, it was still okay. "My camera is waterproof so it's still okay, but my phone is dead, what about you guys?", the other also started checking their phones but they're all not waterproof.
"Let's not all panic. First, we need to get out of here to find out where we really are and how we ended up here", they all stood dripping wet. They started exploring the cave when Gwyn called out. "Here! There are stairs here", and there they saw stairs made of land and dirt. They went up using the flash of Ran's camera and were at awe when they saw torches that are lit on a room where they ended up.
And on the walls, chests were spotted. There are a total of 10 chests present in the room. "Hey guys there are spare clothes here!", the group gathered to where Angela is who opened one of the chest.
"Looks like these clothes are for girls, but, they're umm somewhat…"
"Out of style?"
"Yeah, kinda old fashioned. Like something a person living centuries ago would wear"
Akiel listened to the conversation of the others but something caught her attention. The last chest on the right side, it looks old like the other chests but something is engraved on top of it. She tried remembering where she saw that engraving when she felt someone put their hand on her shoulder.
"Huh? Doesn't that look like your earring? I mean the shape is similar", Akiel looked from behind her to see Gwyn curiously looking at the engraving she saw on the chest.
She touched her one piece of earring still intact on her left ear. She then opened the chest and found clothes just like Angela, and these clothes seem to be fitting for a girl as well.
She pulled out a dress that still looks okay not like the others that looks worn-out. It is indeed old fashioned just like what they said; something that looks like it was worn centuries ago. "Guys, there are some wearable clothes for men here too. Try looking at the other chests and change your clothes", the group nodded and Akiel decided to wear the outfit she'd chosen earlier.
It is green dress, has long loosed sleeves that reach to wrist, and more importantly, a black…. "Guys, I don't know how to wear corsets", everyone changed their clothes while facing away from each other.
But on her call, the girls approach Akiel and tried figuring it all out. It took them a long time changing because of the corsets but after changing, Akiel looked at everyone.
She and Angela both wear the same kind of dress that goes till the top of their knees; the only difference is that Angela is wearing a brown corset while hers was black. And Gwyn and Irene both wear the same style of clothes.
It's a dress that has short loose sleeves and reached till their ankles. The only difference is that Gwyn is wearing a green one with black corset and Irene is wearing a cream-colored one with a brown corset.
On the other hand, Ran and Earl are both wearing tops with long sleeves and pants; fortunately, they have their belts, from their pants they were wearing previously, that thay can use in order to hold their pants in place.
And finally, all of them wore old boots that were also found on their chests. It doesn't have any zippers and instead, can only be tied with a lace. "But, is it only me? Or is the temperature here starting to drop?", everyone looked at Irene who started shivering now.
"Hmm? Is there any jackets here or something", Earl tried to find some jackets on his chest, but what he only found is a….
"Is that a cloak?", Ran came closer and observed the fabric that Earl pulled out from the chest where his clothes came from. The both of them tried to wear the cloak on Earl and, "It's bearable for a bit now", and that's when everyone tried to find some cloaks on their chests too. Luckily, they all got one.
But as Akiel tried to pull a cloak out of the chest, something else came out of it. "What the! Is that….a sword?!"