Two do the job, the third one's the witness.

The cold metal stung the tips of my fingers as I gripped onto the ladder and began pulling myself up. The others were already ahead of me, standing on top of the building and looking out into the woods. The metal I held onto was tarnished by time, as was the building we were climbing onto. The lack of caution they used as they walked above me surprised me, but it was likely they knew how dangerous it was by now as they had probably been here more times than I could guess. I hardly knew this area, and this was only the start of how far into the forest we were going to explore.

“You coming, Milan?” Serhii shouted to me.

“Yeah, gimme a minute!” I finished climbing up and stared out to the Zone. This small building was located in a clearing of the forest, but the surroundings had trees with thick layers of leaves casting a dark shade below it. Yet the trees were spaced out enough that they wouldn’t be hard to navigate through, almost as if they had been placed like that. The colours of the forest were a stark contrast to where the three of us were from over the mountains. Once you passed those, you wouldn’t be able to see the forest or what was in it, especially the bright green living leaves. All there was was stone and dull colours for miles. That’s why the forest was the best part of these trips, even if it was really the same each time. It was something new in comparison.

It didn’t matter whether we found what we were looking for- or, whatever they were looking for. I didn’t tag along for that. It’s not that I found the crystals uninteresting, arguably they were more interesting than the forest. But just because something had more to it didn’t mean it would outweigh the mere experience of looking for it. Though you could say the crystals were a part of the forest, even if they seemed foreign not only to us but also to the forest itself. Though as far as we knew all they were was a bunch of fancy stones with nothing to them. The others sold them off for their worth, as the rarity of them gave them their value on their own. I had never found any that I had taken for myself to even consider selling.

We all exchanged a few words before agreeing to set off deeper into the forest. In my mind I thought about the first time I had gone into the Zone, as I always did. The experience of first seeing the grass, trees, and whatever other foliage it held was always clear in my mind, no matter what. The chance of seeing anything particularly new on this trip was unlikely, and yet in comparison to every other day the feeling of wonder felt just as new. The thought that there was something else somewhere far away where all these plants came from was the most comforting feeling in my world. It was also a place that I wanted to see more than anything else. Before the Zone existed, as I’ve been told at least, none of this was here. People from somewhere else- from that same faraway place, decided to come here and build the Zone. If building is what you would call it. Then one day they left, for reasons no one knows why, and everything began to deteriorate. Some people think it might have been the other way around, where they left as it began to deteriorate. But if you think about it, that makes as much sense as quitting work on a long term project the second something gets scratched. Damages happen, and you have to go on regardless, and fix it where you can.

I suppose I should say that it’s actually very few people that know what happened, considering there was people who had worked here. They would know. But none of them have stuck around, except for Dr. Soroka. But if you were to ask him about it he’d pretend he’d have no idea what you're talking about. The sheer mention of this place is considered taboo, nevermind bringing up the fact you worked in it. Though at the same time, I swear I’ve seen him coming back from these mountains. And there’s no way he just went sightseeing. I’ve never mentioned it to anyone else, and I don’t think any of us would want him to tell us if there’s something bad hanging around here. We just want to keep coming and going as we please, even if other people are against it. If they would just ignore the fear of it and experience it once, I think they’d change their mind. Maybe that’s why Dr. Soroka seems to go back. Maybe he is just like us. Though at the same time, there’s always the chance there is something dangerous here. But the reality is someone would need to prove it to any of us to get us to stop coming back.

“Well would you look at that! That didn't take long at all!” Serhii exclaimed, interrupting my thoughts. I had been so distracted by them that I hadn’t even looked ahead of us. There sat two of those crystals- something I had never seen before.

“And more than one… Are you sure this isn’t something set up? I’ve never seen so many at once.” Apparently I wasn’t the only one who had thought that, as Avhust voiced his own objections.

“Aw come on, are you trying to be a killjoy? We can grab them and go home! We can finish this little trip early and come back later.”

“Our agreement was-”

“Who cares about that agreement?” He picked up one of them and tossed it over, and the person challenging his idea grabbed it and held it in his fist, glaring. “See? It’s perfectly safe.”

I had become uninterested in both of their points, as I saw no reason we couldn’t grab these and continue exploring. Yet it wasn’t my call, since they asked me to tag along without any of the deal they spoke of, and would know better than me as to what to do next. As my eyes drifted to the ground I noticed there was a crystal that the others had stepped over, and I went to pick it up. That would make three.

“Look! Even Milan’s found something. I think with this luck we’re betting off not tempting this place into reversing it.”

Avhust sighed. “Fine. We can go back.”

As disappointing as this trip ending early was, it ended differently than the others. I got one of the crystals too, which I hadn’t before. The feeling of that accomplishment was just another reason to keep me coming back to this place. Serhii and Avhust proceeded to promise me that they’d take me with them again next time, as the more experience I got the better. I of course happily agreed. The crystal sat safely in my pocket as we made the venture back home, and I could still feel a warm trace of it on my fingertips.