What they saw was unordinary. It was 'a portal'. It had a purple and green tint to it but there was no solid color seen by Milo and Mangrove.
A purple light storms out of nowhere and seems to blind them again with it's brightness. And before their eyes were able to see anything else, the portal was no longer there. Shocked by this, both Milo and Mangrove wanted to leave the house but one thing was stopping Milo.
It was a cabinet. It was also made out of wood as Milo expected. It's handle was made out of a material that was unknown to Milo. It wasn't wooden. Looked like it had a matte finish to it. It was gold in color but not shiny.
But a little gem inside that cabinet was the thing that appealed to Milo. It was green in color but had a pink tint to it. It was glossy and as shiny as gold. But before Milo could've asked Mangrove anything about that gem. He realized Mangrove wasn't there.
Milo looked outside a window, and there was Mangrove. He was calling Milo to come outside. So, the thought he had about that shiny gem went away in a quick second and he rushed to join Mangrove outside.
"Ooogh! Why were you so interested in that mysterious shiny portal? Those things can hurt ya, I've already told ya this when we were in the forest" Mangrove said, while making it clear that in this kingdom, Mystery is dangerous.
"Okay Okay, I'll be cautious from now on, I promise" Milo replied and promised to be cautious.
Both of them got out of that place and continued their journey towards the kingdom. But they needed to go though some more places, and those places would be even more dangerous.
After finishing their journey through the plains. They stumbled upon a swamp. It was full of mud and vines. After seeing the vines, Milo's head went blank. He didn't even want to see those vines. But he had to, so he gathered all his courage and they started walking into the swamp.
Milo's shoes got very dirty. His shoes were full of mud and had lost their color. Milo was devastated as he had bought those shoes in exchange for a bunch of money in the real world. But the more steps he took, this world was becoming more real to him.
But without a lot of other complications, they successfully crossed the mud part. Now, it was time to cross the vines. Milo's heart almost sank as he saw vines. The vines at that swamp were very far-spread and on them, were very sharp points. But were they also Magical? Milo and Mangrove were about to find about.
But before they entered the cluster of vines, Milo asked Mangrove some questions.
"Hey! Are these vines also magical?" Milo asked Mangrove.
"Hmmmm... I don't know..." Mangrove replied as he didn't know anything about it.
"But you live here, how could you not know anything?" Milo questioned Mangrove.
"Ooooooo! I do not live here, I live in the kingdom, not this swamp. I've never been here. Got it?" Mangrove stated that he hadn't seen the swamp before.
"So what were you doing in the forest huh?" Milo questioned Mangrove regarding his presence in the forest.
"Ughh! Let me tell ya, I went there to get some leaves to decorate my house, do you understand it now pal? Mangrove cleared all of Milo's doubts.
Finally after this conversation, they both stepped into the darkness of that swamp. And then something.....
No no, it wasn't those vines again. Suddenly, the whole swamp lit up. All the light was coming from a cave nearby. They couldn't hold their curiosity and both of them walked towards the cave.
They entered the cave, but they couldn't see much because of the light dimming their vision. Finally after some time, the light dimmed a little. And they saw something which they were already familiar with.
It was another portal. It was literally the same as the one they saw in that house. Now, it seemed like, the portal was following them. Milo and Mangrove, being aware of the portal's existence, quickly made their way out of the cave.
They were very tensed and scared now. But distraction from the thoughts of that portal helped Milo cross the vines of that swamp. And after some walking, they were out of the swamp.
Now they were on a beach. And the ocean was right in front of them.
"Ooooh dibbidie! We are finally near the ocean, now we just need to cross it" Mangrove said while being relieved that they were out of the danger.
"But, how are we gonna cross it? Do you have a boat or something?" Milo questioned.
"Ooopsie, I didn't think about that pal. Maybe we can swim there, would that be fine? Just to let ya know that the water would be cold as ice" Mangrove asked Milo if he could bear the cold temperature of that icy water and swim in it.
"Hey! I'm not swimming in THAT water, it's gonna freeze me" Milo touched the water and immediately rejected.
Swimming in that cold water would've been a nightmare for Milo, but thanks to some wooden trees nearby. Milo got a wonderful idea that he expressed to Mangrove.
"Look! There are some trees there. Maybe we can cut them to get some wood which will get used in crafting a raft. Isn't that a good idea?" Milo shared the idea with Mangrove.
"Woohooo! That would be great, but how are we gonna cut those trees?" Mangrove replied with yet another question.
"Hmmm... Let me think" Milo's brain was searching for ideas
"Oh! An idea. Do you still have those scissors with you? The scissors that you used in the forest. They were really sharp. They tore those bulky vines apart like it was no big deal.
"Bazoonga! What an idea. Let's make it happen pal" Mangrove said, while jumping out of joy.
Mangrove put his hands near his belly, and the magical scissors appeared. Both of them quickly went to the nearby trees and started to cut them. But they didn't have to do anything because those scissors were doing all the work by themselves.
After collecting a few stacks of wood. Both of them went nearby the water and started to craft the raft.
"Ummm... Mangrove, We are still missing something..... ropes. If we don't have ropes, how are we going to peace this boat together?" Milo gloomily said, that they needed ropes to tie the boat together.
Being aware of the problems, Mangrove suddenly started walking back into the swamp. Milo was trying his best to stop him. But even after all this trying, Mangrove still went back into the swamp. What was Mangrove thinking? Why did he go back into the swamp? Will he come back? These thoughts were bubbling inside Milo's head. It seemed like he was really worried for Mangrove.
Milo also tried to go back into the swamp, but the thought of those deadly vines, burst his thought of going back. He chose to wait for Mangrove. But, the situation was getting very rough, it had been almost THREE hours. Milo had very scary thoughts popping in his head. Those thoughts were something like this: Where did Mangrove go? Was he able to cross those vines? Milo couldn't take out these questions from his head.
"I hope that portal doesn't show up on Mangrove" Milo was really worried for Mangrove, as Mangrove was the only one he knew in this kingdom.
Was Mangrove going to come back? Why did he enter the swamp? Did the vines clutch him? Did the portal show up on Mangrove? The questions were just adding up, but the answers weren't available.