23 Chapter - 23 (1/2)

When Sussan and Brenda along with Robert and Elly reached Secare forest, they saw other than James everyone else was lying down on the floor. Brenda and Robert rushed towards James to hold him tight. They couldn't imagine what would have happened if anything went wrong to him.

Sussan hurried towards them to check if everyone is still alive. Once, she confirmed that she breathed a sigh of relief.

”What happened?” She looked at James and asked.

James just stared at her but did not give any response. Brenda looked worried and tried to shake him out of his state. But the more she shook, the more she felt that only his body was here but not his mind.

Sussan went forward and examined him. She looked at Brenda and shook her head. She stopped Brenda who was about to bawl, and said,

”He is unconscious like all others but he can still hear us. He just could not respond to us yet. Looks like his consciousness drifted off to some other place.”

”You are correct! He is not alive nor he is dead. He is not supposed to be here in the first place” a voice spoke but how much ever they searched the nearby forest area they couldn't see anyone.

”You cannot find me with your naked eyes. I want you all to leave my forest” the voice said.

Elly ran towards her mother and pulled her towards the lake which magically appeared minutes after they arrived. When they all looked inside, they saw all the soldiers who had fainted in front of them.

They were tied to a magical vine and they all looked drunk. Everyone was present except James.

”Where is James? Where is he? You better let my husband go or else I will burn down this whole forest” Brenda shouted at the top of her lungs.

But all they heard back was just a laugh! The voice just laughed for a few minutes before it sent a wave of the storm towards them. They were all lifted in the air and were being pushed inside the lake.

Sussan took the last remaining petal and a little of Asher powder to throw it at the storm. But before it could even reach the storm, it disappeared into the lake.

As they were waiting to be swallowed by the lake, all of a sudden everything returned back to the time they just arrived. The process just repeated multiple times and at one point Sussan shouted ”STOP”.

”Let us try some other method! We are just going on indefinite loops and we do not know what this forest wants from us” Brenda suggested.

They all sat in one place and waited for the voice to appear but as they did not do anything, they did not hear anyone speak anymore. Elly slowly moved towards a bush and caught an insect.

Before Sussan could run towards her and stop her, the insect already jumped down from her hands and enlarged in size.

”You finally found me, little girl! I am the guardian angel of this forest. No one must enter this forest! You all must leave the forest at once” Ectoproda insect spoke which made everyone speechless.

”Then why did the magic stream kidnap my husband and his team? We did not come here willingly and we do not wish to come to such an insecure forest. Let my husband and his team go, then we would never come back here again” Brenda almost went to hit the insect's head.

Sussan and Robert held her back and tried to calm her down. But she was not ready to listen as she was now feeling worried for James. Looking at the way Brenda was behaving, Ectoproda lost his patience and took the magical rod he was holding to hit her head slightly.