The Last Primal

Chapter 212 - 212 - A Magical Place

The rustling vegetation marked the progress of the 3 distinct silhouettes as they wrestled to get through the increasing density of the lush forest landscape. They were staying close-by to each other as they traversed the brush, making sure to keep a relatively straight trail as they ventured deeper. The foliage was getting so thick as that if they were to leave it, they would be lost in no time.

Well, apart from the youth staying slightly in the back. In front of him, a purple-haired beauty was making sure to stay in-between the tall blonde amazonian woman and the boy at all times. After their brief disclosure following the strange 'meeting' with Klemeia the Amazonian Queen, Naybeah, Sarah and Aiden agreed to keep venturing deeper together. 

Although surprised at the time, Aiden did not mention anything about the place Naybeah or more precisely Klemeia revealed to be the destination of her mission. He decided to keep it to himself for now, and just see how things will go. The fact that the tall woman 'liked' him, was still alien, unknown to him. He didn't really understand the true meaning behind her feelings and thought that most likely she thinks of him as a member of her tribe. 

Even after asking, she couldn't talk about the 'connection' they share with the queen, or how she suddenly appeared through her. What was it exactly? The system at the time did not provide any warnings, as there were no real attacks or assaults on him apart from the pressure the woman's unfolding aura gave. She did not attack him directly, and the system either did not have enough information or just couldn't begin the process to analyze the nature of their 'connection'.

As they continued to make their way through the huge ferns and thick and tall light green grass, the air gradually started to change. As if they crossed some sort of invisible barrier, the air became humid and hot, more and more oppressive as they continued forward. These parts of the forest were relatively 'untouched' by the destructive human nature, they could even feel the increased volume of pollen in the air, nearly causing them to sneeze as the trio looked around.

Dozens of gigantic trees stretched towards the sky, shrouding the air as they reached towards each other turning the area dark under their hugging canopy. The untouched foliage grew to previously unseen heights, the ferns were reaching the height of Aiden's eye level, giving them a feel as if they were mere ants under the giant sky.

"J-just what is this place?!" Sarah was the first to break the serene silence that shrouded them since their departure from the small clearing. Nervously darting from the left to the right, she felt an eerie, ominous presence in the air surrounding them.

"This whole place feels unnatural. There's a heaviness in the air…" Naybeah whispered from the front as she continued in her pace tightly gripping the thick handle of her war axe.

Aiden did not speak but had a stern look on his face as he looked forward seemingly lost in the distance. The air around them was indeed strange, something that even his system started to pick up.

[Warning: Unknown magical particles present in the air! Proceed with caution!]

Although the message was vague, and there was no real, tangible effect, the system did feel some threat from the surroundings, giving the warning to Aiden. 

'If Enya would be here, she would probably know what was going on…' Aiden lamented inwardly, heaving a long winded-sigh and startling the two girls in the front. 

"W-what is it Aiden?!" Startled by the noise from behind, Sarah jumped in fright turning around and facing the golden-eyed youth. Naybeah also halted her steps but did not turn around, she kept her eye up front looking for potential threats. Still, she was listening to their conversation with keen interest.

"We entered some territory. There's active magic in the air. That's what we are all feeling. Not sure what it is for but be on alert from now on both of you." Even without looking, Naybeah knew that the situation was severe just from hearing his tone. There were no traces of his earlier aloofness, he sounded very much alert. 

Sarah was also surprised by the sudden change in the previously calm boy's outlook. He had a stern, strict look on his face, his eyes continued to dart from the left towards the right, not settling in any particular direction as he continued to scan their surroundings with relentless fervor.

As they continued to trek even deeper towards the dark, the foliage began to show signs of slight changes. The previously mostly green brush now had patches of deep, wet purple with strange-looking large fern leaves that seemed to dip under their own weight. The sunlight could barely pierce through the thick, dark canopy up above. Thick, ebony, and dark grey colored barks served as natural barriers to almost all directions, leaving only a thin, barely perceptible trail they could continue upon. 

"I don't like this at all. We are being led towards a particular direction." Naybeah spoke with a grim tone. 

"I know. Don't worry, for now, let's just continue." Aiden responded, as his eyes began to glow with a faint golden light, scanning the distance, piercing the thick wooden, natural walls with relative ease. "For now, we are safe, but we shouldn't linger here for much longer."

Continued with even higher alertness than before, the thin trail soon began to broaden, increasing the navigable area quite nicely, allowing them to stand next to each other instead of following each other from behind.

As if they crossed into another realm, the foliage suddenly began to thin, revealing a deep, rich brown ground moist with water that seemed to constantly drip from the canopy high above. The lush foliage vanishing, all that remained were the gnarly barks of the surrounding trees and strange, deep purple tall man-sized ferns. In the distance, they could spot flat, round disks that seemed to vaguely surmise a mushroom-like nature. 

Slowly, they continued forward, both women tightly gripping the handle of their weapons, whilst Aiden kept a relatively collected, but battle-ready stance as they continued forward. The heavy air, the lingering magical activity, the strange and sudden changes in their surroundings were all alarming factors that they just couldn't place anywhere. At least not yet.

As they egged on, the path soon was split in two, one going towards the left, whilst the other arched towards the right. 

Stopping in front of the natural intersection, knowing better by now, both girls looked silently at Aiden for directions.

Heaving a heavy sigh at the two women, he turned towards the left first before he took in the right. Feeling no presence from either direction, he shrugged before he spoke.

"I have no idea where to. Both ways are clear, I can't feel or see any beings in either direction. I don't know where the orcs are, so it's your pick." He looked at Sarah, before turning to Naybeah. "We first need to investigate the situation with them, before we could check out the place you are headed to. If you don't know where to go, you might as well just continue with us. This place doesn't feel too safe to venture in alone, regardless of how strong you or even I are."

Naybeah could only give a light nod in response before turning away from the boy, as the pinkish-red tinge began to color her cheeks once again.

"The reports from the scouts said that the orcs' base is towards the area where the dead trees are overgrown with the bioluminescent lichens. Can you see them?" After some brief thinking, Sarah asked looking at Aiden with a questioning stare.

Looking once again in both directions Aiden focused his eyes on the relative distance, trying to spot the faint glow of the supposed vegetation on the ground. Spotting some faint flickering light from the far left he pointed in that particular direction.

"In that case, we should go that way."

Not arguing about the decision, the trio continued following the trail towards the left. Soon, they were greeted by an incredible, eerie but at the same time unbelievably magical sight. At their sides, corpses of dead trees littered the ground completely covered in bioluminescent lichens creating a glowing rainbow-esque blanket that covered all the way where their eyes could see. The colorful composite organisms carpeted the ground in a blanket of shifting, almost psychedelic hues as far as their eyes could take them.

"For the great Naone, what is this place?!" Naybeah was the first to exclaim as her eyes took in the marvelous sight. With the thick canopy shrouding them in relative darkness the luminescent ground gave them a wondrous, otherworldly feel. It was as if they stepped into a different world suddenly.

"This is… incredible…" Sarah added, also lost in the sight.

Not speaking, Aiden continued to sternly fix his gaze towards the far-left side of the clearing, where the narrowing trail led them. Although he couldn't feel anything, he had an ominous feeling. This whole area was just too strange, too different...