As they got back on their feet they found themselves standing on thick smoke.The smoke was in places and in others it was white. It was very difficult for them to look at each other.
"It is better if we keep our eyes closed" Said Xie ``cut off a piece of your garment and blindfold . The smoke ahead might even be toxic. Be on your guard. Use your intuitions. " He .
They followed the instructions. As they proceeded carefully they could hear the sounds of birds.
"Boshu.Boshu.Do you hear that? I think it's sort of like birds. Would you be able to communicate them? " Lin asked with his hopes high.
"No no no no no. " Boshu was mumbling.
"What happened? I thought you were a bird yourself" Roe mocked him.
" I thought you were scared of wolves. Now you are even scared of birds? " Lin was confused.
"You don't understand. This is bad news. This is the sound of the hell bound birds of prey . This bad news" Boshu was trembling.
"Hell bound birds of prey. But I thought they weren't real" Xie objected.
"Exactly.This is the other side of reality. Everything unreal in our world is a reality in this one"
Boshu explained.
"What do we do?" They asked in unison.
"First of all, we need to hide our scents" Boshu breathed deep as he tried thinking of possible to ward off the evil approaching them.
"Hide our scents? How? " Roe wondered.
"It will be difficult to hide your stink, but we do it by concentrating our soul energy and it to our feet" Lin didn't miss this chance to taunt them "it will hurt a bit at first when walk or run. But you get used to it".
Xie and Roe looked at eachother. " So that is how you guys have mastered the art of "Roe seemed quite impressed.
Lin smirked arrogantly as he saw them struggle, trying to concentrate their soul energy.
Just as they finished they heard one fly right over their head. They ducked just to avoid the huge field its flight generated.
"Where exactly are we supposed to go from here? " Boshu asked in a whisper.
"We need to follow a Direction star that will lead us towards the Land of the lakes, beyond which the Infinite Meadows where the Tree of knowledge is" Roe recited from memory.
"But how do we find a star in this smoke? Besides, we can't even take our blinds off, lest our start to bleed" Boshu complained.
"Under no circumstances can we take the blinds off. Many have gone blind and mad in their of this journey. These are some of the reasons it's not undertaken by many" Xie warned.
"There is another way of 'seeing'. Everyone try to concentrate hard on your hearing ability. We to send out sound waves and make out the landscape ahead as the echo returns. " Lin .
"Like the bats? But we will attract the birds of prey if we send out the sound waves" Roe .
"Then we will have to deal with them. We can't just keep hiding. Let's move forward" Lin his sword in one hand and a horn in the other.
The rest of them brought forth their own weapons and got ready for defense.
"On the count of three" Lin announced as he got ready to blow the horn "Is everyone ready? "
He asked.
"Ready" They echoed as they stood in formation.
As soon as the horn was blown, all hell broke loose as they were attacked by the hell bound of prey from left right and center. As the others fought them off bravely, Lin concentrated finding the Direction star. The battle continued for quite some time till they were struggling to the creatures off.
"Lin we won't be able to hold on much longer . Do you have any leads? " Roe asked.
"I can sense the star. It's very very close to us. In fact right inside our circle but i can't pinpoint it"
Lin answered.
The others continued warding the birds off as they targeted one after the other.
"I have no other option. I am taking my blinds off. Everyone please hold on a bit more" Lin after he could find no more way to detect the star.
"Lin, be careful," Boshu yelled.
With a deep sigh, Lin opened his blinds and looked around, feeling for the Direction star or its . After looking around for some time, Lin found something glowing under his feet. As he to look closely as his eyes started burning, he saw a star shaped luminescent object his feet.
"I think I found it. " He said as he pulled it out. But as he tried pulling it out, he felt a sharp pain yelled "!!! "
"Lin.What happened? " Boshu too took off his blind and saw the luminous star in Lin's hand with luminous string attached to his body.
One by one the others opened their blinds and stood dumbstruck at the sight.
"What is this? " Wondered Roe.
"This could mean only one thing" Xie answered her question.
"What? Boshu and Roe asked together.
"This means Lin is very intricately related with the purpose of our quest" Xie answered.
"What is that supposed to mean? " Asked Roe and Boshu, unable to understand what Xie just .
"What he means is that I have some deep connection with the purpose of this quest, that means
I have something to do with the curse that is about to wreak havoc in our world" Lin replied Xie could, trying to defuse the atmosphere of suspicion a little.
It did seem to work as Xie nodded in agreement and said "let's not waste anymore time and towards our destination".
" Yes. Let's go" Roe pulled Lin's hand as he and Boshu exchanged a quick look. The four of then moved forward.
*******
Illusions
Mia could now go in and out of the barrier with ease. Nothing bad or strange had happened yet, she had decided to explore the area a little further. Her appetite too seemed to have exceptionally. She was feeling hungry most of the time and everytime she had to look a specific type of fruit that she dreamt of.
"Is it you who keeps showing me these strange fruits? Or is my imagination running wild" She talking with her baby bump yet again.
What was stranger was she did find those weird fruits as she strolled around the ridge and the valley. And every time she would think " I sure am lucky. I would die of starvation if I 't found it" . She would then gobble away with pleasure as if no one was watching. But she ate those fruits, a pair of tiny eyes did spy on her from afar. Yet she was unaware of that.
That day too as she strolled further away from her safe spot inside the barrier, she felt a sense joy. It felt like freedom. Though she knew that it was for her own good that the barrier was , the loneliness was eating her away from inside.
"We will take a little detour today after we find our fruit. Alright? " She was talking with her baby again.
She looked around as she walked. Suddenly her feet fell on something very slippery and she down with a thud and slid for what seemed like a few miles. As soon as she stopped she panting heavily to catch her breath and wondering where on earth did she land herself.
As she looked around she found several reflections of herself all around. But they weren't actual . They were more like moments from Mia's life being played all around. Each frame from a different time in her life. She stood up slowly, brushed off the dirt as she marveled at sights. There was an entire hallway of those. When she peered in front to check, she 't find an ending. She kept gazing at those and moving forward without once looking . She didn't realize that as she walked ahead the level of the slippery translucent liquid her feet kept slowly increasing. Soon enough after moving forward for what seemed half an hour, she realized that she was submerged till her waist in that liquid. As soon as struck, she looked back, hoping to find a way out. But as soon as she looked back, liquid rushed forward to completely engulf her . She tried shouting loud for help but nothing out of her voice. It was as if she was muted. The liquid reacted like quick sand. The more struggled to get out the quicker it was to submerge her. Soon enough it rose beyond her . She felt as if a cool breeze swept across her forehead as she went into a blissful . Her struggle gave way to tranquility and her anxiety became peace.
In her sleep she saw all her memories, her life being played backwards. It was the time she out of her mother's womb and then everything around her went blank. While her life was played, she saw a glimpse of her biological father, the wolf king, for the first time. She knew it was him as she resembled him completely from head to toe. She saw him his face in a wild fountain. She had come up to him as he had seen her peeking from a tree. He had called her to him. He had taken a natural liking towards her instantly.
They had chatted about random things and the wolf king seemed very unlike his reputation in of her. He was gentle, laughed with her and even caressed her. But he had to leave as his came to call him. She saw how her mother had panicked. She had forbidden her from with him if they ever met again. Mia didn't understand the reason then, but it made sense . Her mother had even moved out of that town the very next day. She had never met him again. In fact she had forgotten about this little encounter of theirs' with time. Only now that saw the vision that she was reminded of it all over again. It was really a happy one. She how her mother had apologized on her deathbed about keeping her father's and family's identity away from her. She had said that it was to keep her alive. If anyone from the Clan, specifically the chief Queen knew about her, it would pose a threat to her life. Her assured her that whatever she did was to protect her. Mia believed her even though she the feeling of home, family, she was very happy with her mother. She had worked really to bring her up single handedly. But now she was worried about herself. She couldn't help thought that she might face the similar fate of being abandoned. Even worse than being , she and her child might not even have a future at all. She might never be able to her Lin any more. With all these still going on inside her little head, she fell into a pleasant . The one that erased all. Every trouble, every doubt. Her mind was now the likes of that of blank canvas.