"Strange isn't it?"
About 3 hours passed, they started to see the shadow of the bottom mountain covered with mist. The path narrowed with boulders, bushes and huge shady trees. However, they could rarely see their surroundings because of the thick mist.
"What?"
Aria noticed Zacharias's expression downgrade, showed tension.
"That witch told us this is demons' territory. We've been walking for hours and didn't see any demon, no one came straight to ambush us. Strange, don't you think?"
Zacharias spoke in a hoarse voice and then smirked as he suspected their peaceful journey. It's too good to be a coincidence. Everything went smoothly without any hindrance.
"Those annoyings always get in my way whenever I travel from one to another area. It's suspiciously quiet now"
Zacharias didn't wish to be attacked or approached by the enemy. Instead, he wished that all the annoying creatures that always displeased him would vanish without a trace. He was just curious and felt suspicious with his unusual surrounding. Perhaps it's because Aria was there, travelled with him?
"Maybe they fall asleep?"
Obvious, Aria made a silly joke just to chill the intense written on Zacharias's face. Joke aside, Zacharias ignored her and kept grumbling.
"I hope the demons crawled into a hole and die for good"
Zacharias just spouted out anything that comes to mind without care, left Aria a weird expression. 'This guy...He casually cursed his race like nothing? Hating your race means hating yourself too, you know?'
She muttered in silence as she didn't bother to object to him.
Finally, their steps stopped when they saw nothing in front of them as the mist was getting thicker. It's almost like the mist was intentionally blocked their sight. The mysterious mist could send a chill down to the spine.
Zacharias put on his thinking face while held his chin. He tried to figure out the situation they're in.
"Do you think Axel lied to us?"
"Hm?"
Aria aggressively shook her head. She realized they got into a very confusing situation but was assured, they were in the right way. Sky Mountain was supposed to be there but hidden by the mist. That's very impossible for Axel to tricked them. What's his motive if he lied anyway?
Then, Aria saw Zacharias smirked. The question he gave must be a touch of sarcasm. The truth, Zacharias didn't think Axel would lie to him. He intentionally asked just to see Aria's reaction. What would you feel if you got tricked by someone you just met? He thought.
"Even if he lied, it must be for his own good. Wizard is generally a selfish creature. They would sacrifice anything else as long they could gain knowledge and improve their magic research. Unlike us demons who like to destroy, wizards are more likely self-centred."
"...I don't think Axel is selfish"
After some plausible, Aria objected to Zacharias's thought. It's obvious Axel was suspicious and might have something inside his mind but she is convinced, he has no bad intention.
"You think so? You just met him"
Displeased by her replies, Zacharias spoke with a rough voice.
"...You just met him for days, yet trust him?"
"Yeah. I have a feeling he's different from the other wizard. He...He's not a bad wizard"
Zacharias was disgusted and grumbled in silence. What kind of reason was that? Guessing someone just by instinct? How lame. The thing he disliked about Axel the most is, he couldn't tell what Axel's thinking. Little no one knows the wizard's thought. Axel's actions always be surprising, sneaky and it's unpredictable.
"...Come to think of it, you said I'm not a bad demon earlier..."
The sudden cold voice and expression startled Aria as she backed off for a few centimetres. She stood up on her guard worried Zacharias might go berserk again. But his voice was rather calmer than usual.
"...what do you mean by that?"
Instead of attacking, Zacharias asked for her explanation with a bitter face. He had a mixed feeling between mad and confusion.
"Eh...I mean..."
Before she could reply, a strong wind suddenly gushed between them and cleared the thick mist. Now they could see the green huge mountain before their eyes. It's indeed the Sky Mountain. Axel didn't lie to them. The only thing mystery now is the demons' whereabout. Aria couldn't stay calm if she didn't see any demon near the mountain.
She could use her scanner to scan the environment, locate hidden threats and creatures in a certain area. But it was all on her previous version, type 000. After the update with Project X, for some reason, Aria lost her function to scan the environment.
If one of her parts broke, it must've been fixed by Axel's restoration potion already. Maybe it's the price for upgrading to the newer version that looks more disadvantages. Her scanner function now only can scan someone's external data but it's still useful.
"There's no sign of a fight here. If that wizard got into a fight and dead, there must be a body and stuff but the trees here are too intact. Like there's no impact upon them at all"
Zacharias punched a tree at his right and left a small crack. Indeed, still intact. There's no battle occurred there.
"The place here also seems quiet and peaceful like there were no demons from the began with"
"This is truly suspicious. This place is too quiet! They said this is demons' territory? Ridiculous!"
Zacharias scratched his hair with tension. If he could, he would shout out to lure the demons out. He didn't give a fuck if they were from his race. Whether someone's a demon or not, Zacharias didn't give any special treatment as he treated everyone fairly harsh.
"Maybe we should go to a higher area for examination. Let's go"
Aria knew Zacharias would never hear her so she grabbed his hand forcefully to climb the mountain without minding his feeling.
"Hey!"
Zacharias snorted as Aria dragged him along with her without any warning. But he didn't fight back to free himself. He could feel her grip was abnormally cold. That left him in confusion like she's a moving 'object' from his view.
The mist got thicker again. It covered their sight as everything turned white in instant. Aria couldn't see the path before her anymore. She quickly turned around and as expected, Zacharias was no longer in her sight.
"Damn...he pulled away his arm right after the mist appeared..."
She went in circle and getting nowhere. Zacharias was really close behind her yet she couldn't find him. Now she's no longer could tell the front and back.
"Hey, Zach!!! Where are you??! Answer me!!!"
She pouted angrily after waited few seconds and there was no reply. There's no way he could've gone so far. They were very close and got apart only for minutes.
"That demon...Is he deaf?"
She cursed Zacharias again. But her irritation wouldn't solve the problem she has now. She tried to calm down and took a deep breath. She blinked twice and focused her eyes on her surroundings. Her sight blurred. Everything was completely covered by a white mist. The timing was just too perfect like it intentionally gave Aria a hard time during her rescue mission. The mist cause Aria felt like she's in amid of a big empty white room.
"Why I suddenly felt nostalgic? This feeling...is very familiar..."
At once she felt familiar with her surroundings. She muttered in silence as she felt like being transported into another world and not in the forest anymore. While she kept thinking about any possibilities, suddenly, a small object fell before her eyes.
At first, she thought it's just a leaf but after she took a second glance, she noticed the object shined with white-coloured. She crouched to pick up the object. It was actually a white feather. She intrigued and carefully held the beautiful feather with both palms.
For an instant, a very pleasant feeling flew through her body. She felt at ease and was smiling for no reason at the mysterious feather. When she lifted her head, she noticed someone was standing from afar.
"Who?"
Her sight blurred so she couldn't tell who was it. She stepped closer towards the person and when the closer she gets, the more the urge she felt to figure out who was the person. It's obviously not Zacharias because the person was human.
Initially, she stepped slowly, then walked at usual speed and lastly, she accelerated. She ran faster and faster to meet the mysterious person. She had a feeling that if she late for a second, the person will disappear. She still kept the feather inside her grip.
Finally, she just a few centimetres away from the person. She smiled in tears the moment she saw his face. As she thought, her instinct never betrayed her. The mysterious person was her creator. Henley was standing there, gazing at her face with a warm smile.