Chapter 214: The Shack (1/2)
”What is it? Can we get through?” Naybeah asked with concern in her voice, seeing Sarah's reaction.
With the same frown she had just before, Sarah shook her head, as she looked at the tall, blonde amazon with a defeated expression.
”No. There's some sort of energy blocking the way ahead. We just can't get through.”
”Huh?!” Shocked by what she just heard, Naybeah almost dropped her colossal weapon on the ground. ”Are you sure? W-what should we do now?! Aiden could be in trouble! We can't just wait here!”
Sarah's eye wandered towards the left, looking at the thick dark grey tree trunks, and vegetation going further ahead, creating a wooden wall all around.
”Let's take a look around first. That's what he said also. There has to be another way through. If this place really is not a natural phenomenon then there has to be another way forward to avoid the traps.”
Turning towards the left side she raised her right arm, pointing in the chosen direction.
”I will check the left side, you should go to the right and let's call for the other one if we find anything interesting. Okay?”
Not waiting for the blonde woman's response, Sarah left towards the chosen direction with quick, hurried steps. Even though she did her best to sound cool, she barely managed to keep herself from falling to pieces with worry.
Not wanting to waste even a second, she immediately launched herself into the task at hand, trying to find any spot through the vegetation to reach the other side. At the same time, Naybeah also threw herself to be the first of finding a way through to her chosen mate. Nothing and nobody can possibly stop her from saving the youth, trapped at the other side!
While the girls busied themselves in finding a way through the luminescent glade they were now trapped in, Aiden found herself in a vastly different scape all of a sudden.
Crossing through the wooden branches although was quite inconvenient, did not prove too much of a hassle. As soon as his feet touched the ground, he felt a solid, hard surface, something vastly different from the smooth soil he felt just a moment before. If the area behind him were created through magic, then that meant that the place he was seeing now was the true, original landscape that should have greeted them.
Looking around he found himself in a wide clearing, probably more than fifty feet across from one end to the other. The vegetation was basically none-existent, the ground, and the trees were completely charred, giving the feel of a wasteland than that of a healthy forest biome where they should be at still.
Even the air was dry, much different from the humidity he felt just a few steps before. At the far side of the barren clearing a makeshift, circular yurt-like tent could be seen, looking more like a rundown shack than a proper tent. Although the side was dark, and there were no signs of life, Aiden's senses suddenly gave warning of a large coalesce of energies inside. Someone or something that had an apt control of his or her own energies were residing inside.
Knowing that whoever or whatever was inside was most likely part of the horde and would not take kindly to humans invading his or her space, Aiden closed his eyes and took a deep breath. As his feet began to slowly take him forward, his whole figure began to rapidly change. His lean but tall body suddenly began to shrink, his bronze skin turned darker with each step. His shirt vanished into the depths of his System's inventory, whilst he kept his linen pants that suddenly seemed several sizes larger.
Although his hair hasn't changed a bit, it now seemed to reach all the way down at his now dark green back, reaching the lower reaches of his hip. It did seem much more unrestrained, slightly spikier, wilder. His golden eyes gave an exotic, but at the same time majestic presence to the little goblin lord, he became in just a few simple, silent steps.
As the final touch, the gnarled goblin staff with the scarlet gemstone perched at its top appeared in his right hand as he approached the hut. He tried searching through the memories of the absorbed goblin leader for some mental notes about this place, but unfortunately, he was met with blurry, unreadable images each time. Someone or something modified the goblin's mind to make sure that no information was exportable from that defenseless organ of his.