[It has turned dark now Jeremy and you are still thinking.]
Axela floated in the air around him and was finally out of his mind because no one was there in the forest to spot them.
"I know and there are only two possible places I can think of, where the portal could be."
Jeremy was sitting on the tree branch to avoid any kind of sudden swarm to charge at him.
It was wise of him to stay up there in case the townspeople arrived with pitchforks, but as Barthes had promised no one came searching for him. The man was frue to his words and helped Jeremy to hide successfully.
[And what are they? Will you care to explain them to me? It is so annoying that I can't read your thoughts.]
Axela groaned and pouted while she sat on the tree branch in front of him, for some reason she did not have access to his thoughts.
"There are only two important places on this planet as per my knowledge and the map provided by you."
The night had already engulfed everything and the rings were visible in the sky.
Jeremy had been thinking for hours and connected all the dots together, but nothing fruitful concluded as a possibility of the exit with assurance.
"One is Barthes' own house since he is the senator and I was sent here to kill him. Thus, he is an important person and the influential personality here, who has been controlling everyone here."
[Mm, it makes sense though. And the second?]
"And the second possible thing which has some importance here is this lake. People worship it blindly and meditate here because it is the utmost source of mana. The energy level is stronger here than any other place on the planet."
Axela stared at the lake water and gulped while Jeremy had no different thoughts than her. They had to take both the risks, one could cost him trouble and the other would simply drown him.
Both ways the end results were same_ death!
[We searched the house and it has nothing in that regard, I doubt the gateway is there.]
"Mm, which leaves this lake as the last option."
Jeremy inhaled sharply that an excitement rushed through his body.
"But where around this is the gateway? It's just water and stones, nothing seems suspicious or even peculiar."
[You are forgetting that dragon though, the beast is the peculiar thing here. And did you notice Barthes give you water after it bathed into it, that means we have to follow the beast to find the portal underwater.]
"It makes sense, well we have no other option now. So let's just wait for the dragon beast to come tomorrow."
They both agreed to the point and waited for the morning.
A feminine yell woke up Jeremy Grayson the next morning that he fell off the branch and landed on his butt.
"What the hell is your problem, Axela? Why are you (yawns) yelling like a mad woman?"
[Jeremy we have to run, get your ass up and geard up your loins.]
Jeremy dusted off his clothes and stood up from the grassy ground only to see floating Axela shouting with anxious expressions.
"Why do you want to run now? Our destination lies here and you want a marathon now?"
Jeremy skimmed around the forest to inspect if there was any intruder or spy.
[Somehow I was able to connect to the earth main bridge and the organisation has sent some assassins to bring you back.]
"What!?"
Artemis shouted in shock and then covered his mouth to suppress, to resume the whisper.
"What are you saying? Are you certain about this?"
[Yes, I am. And somehow they have found out about your identity too, which means your current state is known by them.]
"This is bad, very bad. There is still time for the dragon to appear and before that we can't run away."
Jeremy began to wander around when a sudden sound pricked his hearing.
Due to the meditation around the lake his abilities and senses had grown. Jeremy could hear the sound of a spear approaching him and immediately attempted a backflip.
[Who is this?]
Axela dissipated in the air to become invisible when Jeremy shouted to confront the person.
"I knew it that son of bit*h senator tricked us all!"
The potioneer emerged from the bushes with a knife and a potion bottle around his waist.
[Not this stupid again!]
"What do you want?"
Artemis knew that they both did not have any grudge thus it had to be some personal benefit and gain.
"Who are you and how did you come here?"
He walked up to Jeremy with a grin and clutched the potion to open its cock.
"And where is the exit of this planet?"
Jeremy immediately knew that he only wanted to escape but the madness in his eyes reeked evil.
"We two can leave together, no?"
As soon as he approached Artemis and grabbed his arm with the intention to persuade him. A wave ran down Jeremy's body and the next thing he knew was that their appearances had changed.
[Oh my goodness! What sorcery is this, Jeremy? How did you do that?]
Axela was equally confused as to how Jeremy managed to exchange appearance with that potioneer. The man stood there examining himself while Jeremy stepped back immediately.
It was the moment when a portal appeared on the surface of the lake and a few men in uniform emerged. Artemis studied their gazes and all the eyes darted towards the potioneer now, who looked like him.
[Stay calm Jeremy, you can trick them!]