We followed the path back Mark had led me through to get here. We were still in Pherlin woods which was unfortunate.
We didn't have any information about Lily, Xavier and Amanda whether they had reached the destination or not. I decided to call Xavier and ask. "Where are you right now?" I enquired. "We are near Mount Hysuptris. We can see it. I am heading there right now." Xavier replied from the other side.
I told him to be careful of Raptor's army which was probably making its way to Mount Hysuptris as well. "We had a delay here. Everything is under control. Mark is alright and now back to normal. We'll meet you soon." Saying so, I cut the phone. We were continuing walking but the huge trees made it difficult to watch something ahead.
After a while, we reached the river where we had parted ways. There was no sign of warship. It was a good sign and Xavier was all set to arrive at Mount Hysuptris already. By the time we reached, they could maybe figure out what the mountain is all about. I searched through the banks of the river and found no easy path. We had to go all the way around.
We walked, Mark still limping a bit. Oliver had blood on his head which he wiped off as he walked with a cloth. I had no idea what was up ahead as we hadn't explored this part yet. I hoped no monsters waited to kill us because if they did, they would succeed. Oliver and Mark were in no shape to fight and I was still in trance after my re-birth.
"I had once gone to this Mount Hysuptris, whatever it is." Mark said. "The climate was humid and I could feel my mouth drying up quickly as I progressed. There were ashes all around and no trees grows on the mountain. I had gone there with my mother…" He decided to stop there and we didn't force him to tell his past either. The past of everyone in the group seemed to be horrible and I assumed Mark's was in the same category.
Only Mark knew where we were going so he was the leader. I wondered how it would have felt to be under control of someone and not even know what all you were doing during that time. Mark was trying his best to remember the Night of Xorains. But I assumed he had to really put pressure on his head to think from his dark point of view.
But I always felt that he was a strong warrior nevertheless. He had two weapons, one with which he could travel easily and also attack, second with which he could shoot the foe hard. His grappling hook, Quester and crossbow, Porticallius were admirable and so were his fighting skills.
Then as these thoughts were crossing my mind, we entered Kitlus town. The town didn't look bigger than a football stadium. I wondered why they even called it a town instead of a village. Looking at our expressions, Mark answered, "Yeah, I know that this is the smallest town you have ever seen. This is my hometown, Kitlus." A few passersby seemed to know Mark and greeted him.
We moved on and saw that though the town was small, the palaces were big enough. There were market areas where, as usual, noise pollution was a must. Then were other shops as well but we didn't have time for all this. We needed to get out of here. "Where is your house?" Oliver asked Mark. He replied, "On the other side of the road. But I don't care to go there. Let's continue."
That was pretty harsh to say about your own house. I wondered what Mark was sad about. We soon exited the town from the other end. The grasslands in front extended till the horizon and we were not happy about that. How much longer?! I thought. We proceeded forward. It had become nighttime by the time we reached the forest. I had been fed up of forest but was relieved that it wasn't quite big. It was just a few hundred trees planted here and there.
Then as we progressed, Mark stopped and gave a sign of caution. We had reached the end and in front of us was Mount Hysuptris. But the depressing part was that about ten giants surrounded the Mountain's base.