" Why are we waiting here? What are we waiting for shouldn't we be going after it? '' Lin could hold himself together as Xie searched around to trace the direction they had taken. Lin the best when it came to track something, but emotions were overpowering him. He neither see any trail nor could he distinguish their smell. His body was asking him to run in the his instinct told him. He felt like tearing open the insides of the beast that had his Mia in . The foxes and wolves, though had non-human ancestry, they never behaved like. At least not the royals. Some did in scenarios of extremes like hunger or starvation, in the case where Boshu was once attacked when he was young. However that day, Lin no longer keep the animal inside him under check. His eyes changed color rapidly the swings his mood was experiencing. This was the trait that Mia most enjoyed in . She would stare endlessly at those ever changing hues as they would sit beside the stream. But those days seemed like a distant dream. Lin was on the verge of shaking
Xie by his collar for not being able to locate what direction the beast took Mia, yet.
" Damn it! What's taking you so long? " Lin could have as well placed a punch on Xie's face, but
Nana came in between and asked.
" Tell me one thing boy, what do you both plan to do once you locate the route in? " She asked both turned to face her.
" Go after it of course and bring Mia back. " Xie answered in the matter of fact manner.
"And how do you plan on taking an opponent that can't be touched, can't be killed, can't be in any physical way? " She asked.
" Can't be touched or killed? Why so? " Lin asked.
" Because it isn't something living. How can you kill anything that wasn't alive in the first place?
As for the touch, it can only be touched if it wants to take a physical form. Same as for seeing.
You will only be able to see it if it wishes to appear before you or take a physical form. If you have experienced it before, you know how it felt. It is like the wind. You can feel its but you can't see it. You can experience its touch on your skin but you cannot hold it. I sure you felt that when it was nearby. Didn't you. " She asked.
Both of them looked at each other. They both knew it was true.
" Are we just going to stand and watch? Mia. She is there with it. You said it was... '' Lin was on his own words, " You said it was capable of anything. My Mia. She is with a child. If can't fight it, are we going to let her face it alone? " He wiped the tear drops that were up and suddenly declared, " I'm going after it. You can each go back and get help. Don't for me. "
Lin was just about to teleport when he was brought down by Nana.
" Lin, think like a soldier. Think like you always do. You need to stop being Mia's husband and thinking like a rescuer, " Nana continued, "Remember the reason I had sent you to the wolf in disguise? " She asked him.
Xie looked at them in shock, " You were in the wolf camp, disguised? As a wolf? When? "
" For about two years. At the human embassy. That's where I had met Mia. That's when we fell love." Lin had nothing to lose anymore, so he came out frank, " Back then, I had no idea that was your father's daughter. Neither did she know her true identity. In fact she didn't even who I was. But I couldn't care less. I was too in love to let her go, " He sighed deep and , " Back then, everything looked so magical. So innocent. If I had ever known what I was her into, no matter how much it broke me, no matter how much it ripped my heart apart, I have never ever even been near her. I swear. I promise. I would have run as far away as
I could from her if I had known I would be bringing such horror to her life. It's all my fault. All . " Lin smashed into the border near him and sent it flying into pieces all over the field.
" Lin. Put yourself together. Mia was far stronger than you are. Why are you being such a sulk. "
Nana was furious at Lin's state. " By the way, the effect of the curse seems to have subsided in world. Do you know what Mia exchanged in its return? "
" No. We have no idea. How about you Lin? Did she tell you? I know you guys were arguing a over that. " Xie asked.
" Were you eavesdropping? '' Lin looked at Xie and then turned to Nana, " Nana, I know she did exchange or gave up something big. Something that would be harmful for her. And that's the reason she was acting cold towards me and didn't want to divulge. I couldn't force her. But
I was looking to gradually coax her into telling me. " He turned and hit another boulder in his , " but fate didn't even allow me to do so. " He then turned towards Nana. Straightened up in front of her and asked, very composed, " But why do you ask? "
" It might help us to solve this problem. But since none of you know there's no point discussing it further. Let's head to the wolf camp to retrieve what I had sent you to back then. I hadn't your father for a long, long time. " She said turning towards Xie, "I didn't know the mentality had towards me back then, after all that had happened. Hence I had to send Lin in disguise retrieve the bequeath. " She looked at both boys to clear her stand, " And I will personally to him for that. But now that his daughter is involved and he seems to be the same lad I knew at heart, I can surely count on him to help with this. Let's not waste anymore and get going. Lin, will you please lead the way? "
" Yes. Sure. Xie come over. Hold onto Nana tight. We will be appearing directly in front of his . " Lin pulled Xie in as they set off towards the wolf palace in the wink of an eye.
********
Inside the devil's lair
There was a faint sound that suddenly brought Mia back to her reality. It felt like the sound of turning pages. Quite urgently. One page after another. Mia strained her ears to listen . She was right. She looked around to figure out where exactly she was and how she get out of there.
She checked her hand where there was a bite mark. It was from her biting herself to silence just moment ago. It wasn't bleeding but that mark was quite prominent. It burnt a bit as well.
Her head too, was still hurting a lot but the fact that disturbed her most was not being able to what was the thing that had captured her. Why did it look so much like her father?
Was it some sort of an evil trying to impersonate? Her mind was racing to derive a conclusion.
She couldn't move as her legs were still bleeding from whatever was biting deep into her skin.
She couldn't even move to check it out properly as any movement made it dig deeper down her . Mia rested her back on the swampy wall.She closed her eyes. This was the only way left find out more about her surroundings. To get her answers.She needed to connect with the energy around the place for that.However she had her doubts if the place even had any energy. Though she wasn't as efficient as Lin and her brothers in her senses, she could the Chi around the thing, the semblance. It couldn't have been anything with any positivity, . But just like every positive has its negative, every light has its darkness, this place would have something contrasting the spirit energies that balanced the known worlds .
She closed her eyes and dived deep inside. It took longer than usual for her to concentrate but she did she found herself on an open path. It was very unlike the Dream Dimension she been to previously. But they had resemblance. She found herself on a plank , thin enough support just her feet. Below it were vapors that surged like fog. There was something boiling below . The heat was resonating around the place. Mia was starting to feel very uneasy.
Usually when she medicated back in the human world , along with her mother, she always was her inside her trace. She was never left alone. Back at the Sacred Lands, she wasn't as as there was a warmth to the place. Besides, the place she had woken up to in her was that of the Dream Dimension. It was a place she was already familiar with. There was that would hurt her nor did she face anything unpleasant.
The scenario here however was very different. It needed her to act. She was physically feeling agony of the steam touching her from all direction.Mia strained her eyes to look for the end the road, created by the plank. At first it was clouded by the hot vapors, but then she could out an abstract structure.
It appeared like a tree. Huge and big. Something shiny was behind it but she could not see it . However the place there seemed devoid of the steam rapidly engulfing her. So without ado , she immediately started walking, carefully maintaining her balance on the plank. As walked, it didn't seem that difficult to crossover. She quickly picked up her space. It wasn't at all. Mia looked below, then at her back and picked up her space even more and started running. But the thing was as she ran the end kept going further and further . This made Mia panic. She was now desperate to end her race.
The faster she ran the faster the steam started filling. Mia ran and ran but the end was nowhere . The air began to become thicker and thicker. Mia's breath got heavier by the seconds.
She was already gasping for air when suddenly out of nowhere Nana appeared in front of her.
"Nana? Nanako? " Mia wondered if she was hallucinating. But realizing she wasn't she called louder with hope, " Nana. Nana. I'm here. Mia. It's me. Nana. " She yelled and waved her .
However Nanako wasn't even looking at her. Her eyes were fixed in another direction. It was the end of the path.
Suddenly a glow emitting from Mia's body engulfed Nanako and she went up in the air, as if . The glow then turned her towards Mia, facing her directly. Nanako was still not Mia in the eye. She had her gaze fixed somewhere else.
Her lips parted automatically, her eyes grew red and she started mumbling-
"The clenching of the chest doesn't stop. Neither does the coiling of the blood. The veins seem be rupturing with force, with no ailment known. The sickness of the being is difficult to fathom, has left behind its roots in another kingdom. How the song ends, how the story goes, is 's guess because nobody knows. The howling might stop, the stars might shine once , the game of waiting will pass in labor. The question you ask, the truth you seek, might you startled, unable to speak. Look carefully, look inside to cope, when home seems like distant hope. "
"Nana? Nanako? What are you talking about? I don't understand. Look at me. It's Mia. Come ... " but before Mia could finish what she was saying ,the glow came back and clashed Mia and she was catapulted in another direction. It was so sudden Mia closed her eyes fear. Everything around her was moving and zooming. Then it all came to a halt as suddenly it had started.
Mia opened her eyes with caution and looked around. Her heart sprang up in delight as the around her was no longer gloomy . It was bright. It was familiar. She looked around to confirm that she was correct in identifying the place. After all, it was just once that she been there. But there it was. The Tree of Knowledge, as majestic and grand as ever.
Peering at Mia with an air of grandeur.