Valerie hissed seeing him interrupt her sleep. Does he even know who she was? He must have a death wish to disturb her sleep. She sat up straight, running her fingers through those ablaze white locks. The annoyed expression on her face made it clear that she was not happy with Erbous's actions.
Flustered by her annoyed expression, Erbous begged forgiveness, "I apologise if I have misbehaved." He hastily got up and picked up his rifle from the ground, "I will leave." With that, he ran away before letting Valerie speak.
Erbous was gone out of sight till she wanted him, about the danger lurking outside. He was no longer in the human realm the moment crossed the barrier and walked up to the lake.
The mortal world had many portals that looked nothing different from outside the barrier, those petals are open to creatures of every realm just as it was in the mortal world. It was not dangerous, most times it was the safest option.
However, a problem arises once you walk back out of that barrier. You can end up anywhere among the realm mostly at completely different realms. Humans rarely get an idea of how it works, that's the reason many people go missing and no one finds them.
Valerie's lips curled up to a smile, as she dusted off her dress and folded her arms. Her gaze focused on the direction he ran away. "Should I save or not?" She questioned herself. She was put in a dilemma.
In the end, Valerie gave up and stormed towards the direction, 'Such a hassle!'. Valerie cursed in her mind. If her job was different she would definitely burn some of these humans for their stupidity.
On the contrary, Erbous was extremely inattentive that he didn't focus on where he was going until he tripped over a dead tree trunk and his chin landed on something soft and cold instead of some ground or puddle.
About slightly opened his eyes and looked around; astonished. Till his eyes could stretch it was a snowy blanket covering everything.
Erbous got up to look underneath him, it was snow. The horrified expression on knowing it was not dreaming was clear on his face.
Erbous got up to look at the place. The place was definitely not the forest he was in a few moments ago. How could spring suddenly turn into winter? A lush green forest turned into a snow-covered area in a trice. This was insane.
Erbous look up at the sky and his jaw dropped, the sky was covered with yellow clouds, forming swirling clouds at one centre, similar to an eye of a hurricane but no storm. Other than that, the weather looked pretty clear.
Erbous was still perplexed by his instinct and told him clearly something was wrong. He looked around in search of a way out but nothing. This was not his earth, and he was just suddenly in a place he is not aware of? The chaos in his mind was making him go crazy. What was even happening? Was he dreaming?
Erbous tried to calm himself a bit and think of a way out. Just a few yards away from him were some shrubs. Out of curiosity to know more, Erbous decided to check it out. He walked up close to those trees. He was not sure if they were actually trees as other than the shaft everything was concealed under a thick layer of snow.
Erbous forwarded his hand to touch the icicles on one of the branches, it was crystal clear with a few glittery substances trapped in it. He didn't think much of it as something to entice him to touch. The typical icicle was enchanting, hypnotising him to touch it.
"Don't touch it!!" A voice breaks him out of a spellbinding curse. Erbous stared in the direction of the voice, perplexed by her words and what he was doing seconds ago. Valerie sighed in relief once he stopped in his action and hurried up to him.
"That's the blight of beguile," Valerie explained, withdrawing his hands away. She sighed, glancing at the surroundings. Valerie had no idea whether to pity the poor one or laugh at his misery. Out of all the world, he had to come to the Allure Forest.
Allure Forest is infamous for enchanting its prey and trapping them in the bark and slowly sucking out all their energy sources. The forest came just under Cadgers Forest in the most dangerous forests among realms. And Cadgers Forest was not the most dangerous but most can't cross that place alone.
'Where the danger lies, your portal lies.'
Words are written on the walls of Avalon. Avalon was a place where the supreme one wrote the rules of the world. Every new miracle that happens in any of the worlds, the message gets engraved on the walls themselves.
"Blight of Beguile?" Erbous queried, unaware of what that means even. Valerie shifted her gaze at him and pointed at the same icicles that he was about to touch previously with her brows.
"It's a toxin all these trees produce, it's like a sweet nectar enchanting their prey and once you touch it you are trapped forever." Valerie calmly explained her attention fully to the shrub who almost got food.
These trees grow way taller if they get a continuous supply of mana, but when they don't get energy for a long time, to save energy they go back to shrub form and if it worsens they turn seedlings and come out again when they get energy. In a way they were eternal.
Erbous gulped hard looking at the shrub. He was just about to step into a trap but thinking of her words it sounded gibberish. A tree that can devour him? Was she playing with him to ruin her sleep earlier? That must be the case! But then where was this place? Even with such snow, he didn't feel cold, it was even humid and warmer. He must be going crazy or high on drugs.
"Where are we?" Erbous asked, hoping he gets a vague idea or grasps over what was going on.
"Cytherea."