CHAPTER 36: A JOURNEY

After that strange incident where Black and Zephyr, for the first time experienced those foreign, unfamiliar even exotic emotions.

And deciding to forget and ignore the obscure sensations.

Zephyr told Black of the place her family lived in, and how it looked, even so she could only give him a brief descriptions as she herself didn’t know any better.

However as she doesn’t know where the Dark-Fall lake itself was, she told him about how the lake looked, about its immediate surrounding and the places near it, that they could use for instance to properly navigate in that section of the massive caverns to reach their destination. The Dark-Fall Lake...

Nonetheless the underground caverns, were both massive in size and with a scale that spanned for unknown kilometers.

Meaning the section they had traversed in all their time, they spent searching and hunting was nothing but the tip of the iceberg.

Supposedly zephyr said that the section in which the dark-fall lake is located isn’t desolate at all, like the section of the caverns in which they spent most of their’s time in.

Apparently the section where the Dark-Fall lake is located had a unique flora to it and wasn’t desolate, mainly because of the lake there.

The unique, mysterious and otherworldly plants there, some growing out of the ground, while some simply jutting out of the giant tree roots themselves. Was the thing that set the 2 sections apart

It was a place brimming with nature and life, and add on to that since the lake itself was poisonous too, the flora their was also mostly poisonous in nature.

Then, their were even some beast and spirit tribe living near the lake, however they mostly kept to themselves, rarely having any interaction outside of there own tribe.

But her family wasn’t part of any tribe since there was no one to help her family when the nether spirit attacked them, as for the tribes themselves she knew about them through the memory she inherited upon her birth as a dark-fall poison serpent.

Though one question still bugged him very much, Black couldn’t compherend, even though she ran for 3 hours straight, using all her strength to survive, ultimately she was still a child. No matter how fast she ran or what method she used, she couldn’t have covered even one-tenth of the distance, compared to what they have traversed over the past 9 days while roaming the caverns together.

So how come they never came across that so called unique flora of the dark-fall lake section of the caverns. Forget that let alone encountering the unique flora of that section, they didn’t even saw a single poisonous plant in all these days.

And when he asked Zephyr about it the answer he got was really unexpected, he couldn’t help but make a comical expression upon hearing that.

Zephyr simply said a single line at that time which was both absurd and completely reasonable as it explained his doubts clearly.

’At that time when I entered the small cave, I was running.. no, I was coming from the right side of the cave and when we left that small cavity, we headed towards the left direction.’

This line echoed in Black’s mind as though a persistent whisper repeating like a broken record.

These caverns were already so massive to began with and they had been moving in the opposite direction of the dark-fall lake section of the caverns. So of course, they wouldn’t find any flora related to the dark-fall lake section or the lake itself in there section.

’So we were moving in the opposite direction of the one she came from! Huh.’ This was the thought that came to his mind at that time. After he further simplified her one sentence.

At that time Black hadn’t even fully compherended what zephyr had told him yet, when he suddenly came to another hard realization, which caused his expression to turn gloomy in a second, and when he told zephyr about that, even she had a crestfallen expression appear on her face.

if what zephyr said was true, then that means they have to travel all the distance they covered in all these days again. So that they can reach the dark-fall lake section.

Where that damed nether spirit is residing and start their search and what’s the worst part, they didn’t even know if its there anymore since so many days had already passed when the nether spirit had slaughtered her family.

Even so no matter what they thaught since they finally had a clue as to where that Dark-Fall lake might be located, even if they didn’t know where the lake itself was located, they atleast had a direction to follow, which would eventually lead them to the lake one way or another.

Hence, they moved.

Retracing their steps, heading towards the direction they came from.

Towards there destination.

Towards that Dark-Fall Lake. Her home.

They didn’t know what they would do when they reached the dark-fall lake.

And didn’t find that nether spirit there. Since thinking about all these ’what ifs’ was nothing but pointless anyway, and instead it would do nothing but simply drain their minds in vain.

Thus began their long adventure to reach the dark-fall lake.

They moved with a destination in mind. The caverns like massive underground chambers, aglow with a dark but soft light, only illuminated by the iridescent glow of the unique flora present in the surrounding terrain.

The terrain both overrun and supported by the massive gnarled tree roots working as pillars, interconnected like a million coiling worms, descending from the ceiling with a looming presence over them fusing with the earth toned ground below like the ethereal threads connecting heaven and earth.

As they moved over the gnarled roots, jumping from one to another just the gap between the ceiling of the middle-layer and the ground alone was beyond a few, reaching tens of kilometers something that both astonished and shocked them. No matter how many time they see it, they still couldn’t compherend the immensity of the caverns even after spending so much time in it, from birth till present.

While moving they also saw the massive crystalline formation embedded in the ceiling up above like nature’s artistry as the crystals pulsed, sparkled with an otherworldly, dark glow as though echoing eons old secrets, sending ripples of azure light on the surrounding like ethereal stars twinkling in a stygian night.

They moved, however this time they fully took there surroundings with an attentive gaze, the air rippled with an adventurous hue. As their journey continued, they stopped to rest, hunted to eat and even while moving they quarreled with each other just like two kids playing in a garden however in there case the beautiful garden turned out to be a massive underground cavern teaming with untamed monstrosities and unimaginable horrors.

Making their adventure even more entertaining.

Nonetheless even after two days of constant travelling they still hadn’t covered half the distance. But as though being blessed by the goddess of luck.

After two days when both Zephyr and Black were contemplating whether to rush to their destination or take their sweet time, they suddenly spotted a peculiar magical beast hidden in a natural hollow located in one of the tree roots near them.

It was a giant 3 meter tall rabbit with midnight fur and ruby eyes, though savage in nature it still hid itself upon senses Black and zephyr’s aura as they didn’t know how to conceal it yet since in all their battels they never had the need to conceal themselves.

Anyhow the rabbit was a rank 5 magical beast and a savage beast to so how can it hide from their senses, it didn’t take much for Black to subdue it and use one of the new ability he was developing using his two trait to control the rabbit and use it as a ride to reach their destination.

The rabbit proved to be such a wonderful mount for them, it traversed by jumping hundreds of meters high from one root to another. Its soft midnight fur providing a comfortable back for them to either sit or lie on. It travelled beyond a speed typically seen in normal rank 5 creature’s.

Making their rest of the journey even more comfortable.

Nevertheless every journey started must come to an end thus after travelling for another 4 and a half days on the rabbits back just enjoying the cool breeze brushing past them. They finally reached their destination...

However before moving forward into the poisonous forest teeming with unknown.

They decided to take a few hours rest and had a great meal of rabbit meat. After the great meal and with contented sighs they went to sleep in one of the hallows present in the massive tree roots.

After they rested for the next 8 hours.

They moved, left their temporary home behind and headed into the poisonous forest teeming with unknown.

After traversing the poisonous forest for another 2 hours they finally spotted something that made zephyr’s eyes go wide...

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