They went back to their huts, and everyone was awake. She noticed that the other boys were digging.
"What is that?" She furrowed her eyebrows.
"Ah, they are digging a hole for our fallen comrades," the bubbly girl replied, still scratching her eyes. She just woke up.
Some boys have just finished digging a grave for the two deceased boys. As she recalls, one has brown hair with brown eyes, and one has short light blonde hair with tanned skin and piercings. They were mauled by the monster and didn't survive. It came to her that she thought they're on this planet, they will also be immortal because the impossible becomes possible. Unfortunately, the two died in a superficial way. She saw a corpse that had just been covered with a banana leaf and buried in the pit. The corpse was unrecognizable because it was mutilated.
They prayed for their souls and sympathized. There were tears, and sorrow filled the atmosphere. Hopefully, their souls will be at peace. Even though their relationship was short, they will be a part of her heart and mind.
"Only one?" a girl in a ponytail clarified.
"There's only one corpse there. The other one is nowhere to be found, but someone saw him attacked by the monster. We don't want to assume that he also died, but no one has seen him after that." The chubby leader replied. He combed his curly hair using his fingers. He was sweating a bit. "I hope that we'll stay 22 till the end," he reflected, a hint of grief in his heart.
There's only one corpse buried in here, and that is someone who initially reported that there was a monster. The disappearance of the boy's body with light blonde hair and piercings brought them into question. No one can confirm if he has been eaten alive or if his corpse is lying somewhere. If he's still alive, they should look for him. It's bad to think that he might be dead, but that's the most probable scenario that could have happened. She strongly hopes and prays that they will remain at least 22 alive students.
They put away their belongings and started gathering food in the forest again.
"What? There's a castle?!" Their chubby leader was shocked at what he heard. Maybe someone discovered the castle, or her classmate reported it. "Okay, let's finish doing this first, then we'll go to the castle by the river," he ordered them.
"What's that again?" her bubbly friend questioned about what was happening.
"Some of you, help us to get this done," commanded the leader wearing eyeglasses.
After digging a hole and burying the corpse of one of their members, they immediately ran, and they were all startled looking up at the mysterious castle in front of them.
They were amazed and could not believe it.
What could be inside that castle?
***
LOCATION: Steel Castle TIME: Morning
Everyone except her classmate and she was left speechless and gaping.
"H-How the h-hell?" her bubbly friend stuttered. "No! What's that? Why is there something like that here? What happened to the river?"
"Ah, is it the river? There wasn't a river there."
Everyone looked at her, and she could see the curiosity in their eyes.
"What do you mean?" asked the boy with his hair up.
She composed herself first before explaining. "When we first came here, the river was too quiet, but it was too shallow. This river is also wider than common rivers, and it has sand that surrounds it. I also thought that there was something at the bottom of the river. Turns out, this castle is hidden under the water. There was a hidden castle underneath, and it was only surrounded by artificial river water to make it look like the real deal. The castle is made of steel so that water cannot easily penetrate inside. The castle rose above the water for an unknown reason. And since the water is shallow, it evaporated quickly."
Silence enveloped them after she revealed the logic behind. The others just nodded and looked again at the giant structure in front of them.
"How did you find out?" the girl with a double hair bun queried.
"I just got weirded out by it, and I also didn't expect that my speculation was correct."
"Leaders, what are we going to do?" asked the boy with dreadlocks.
The leader with eyeglasses thought first. "I was thinking, since we came here, that the river was strange too. Never thought that I should've paid more attention to it," he sighed. "All right, let's explore the castle to see whether it's safe for us to enter. There must be a reason why it's there. It seems to be inviting us after all."
"Roger!" Everyone affirmed.
So, the leader with eyeglasses thought that something was off with the river, too. Maybe if he weren't too busy with his leadership position, he would've guessed something about it too.
The gate is steel black with a sharp end. Quite a sight from where they were standing was a large, intimidating gate door that was probably the entrance to get inside. In her estimation, this castle is up to eight floors and is about 50-60 meters wide. What she wonders is why she doesn't see any significant windows in the castle, instead, seemingly black windows, but they don't look like real functional windows.