CHAPTER 39: CHAPTER 38: PARADISE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FOREST (12)

After Orion finished recounting the details of his story, silence filled the place for only a few seconds.

After that, Oliver stepped toward him.

"Did you say you passed through an area with trees that had black leaves and black fog?"

Orion lifted his head toward him.

"Yes, that is exactly what happened."

It was the same area he and his companions had crossed before arriving here.

Upon hearing that, he kept his expression calm.

Unlike him, the reaction was clearly visible on Lemur’s face, although he still did not move.

Aria’s eyes also widened slightly and a real interest appeared on her face.

Oliver approached her.

"Have you passed through such an area too?"

"It seems you have passed through it as well."

He ignored her direct comment and moved on to the next point.

"Is there a way to communicate with the mythical creature Orion made a deal with?"

"I do not think it would enjoy communicating with its food during digestion."

"What exactly do you mean?"

She spread her arms while looking at him.

"Listen, kid. What I can deduce from that failed king’s story is that he was deceived. He made a deal with a mythical creature. Only idiots trust mythical creatures."

Oliver’s eyes narrowed as he listened to her.

"Are you saying I was deceived by you because I made a deal with you?"

"No, not like that, kid." She tapped his head lightly. "I am half mythical creature, yes, but I have no benefit in deceiving you. If I wanted to do that, I would have done it from the start."

Oliver sighed.

"As I said before, you are like the witches who trick children in fairy tales."

She raised her hand and hit his head again, this time more forcefully.

"Listen, kid. Mythical creatures do not give anything for free. As long as they will not get something equal in value to what they offer, they will not do it."

Oliver leaned forward slightly.

"And what did that mythical creature gain from its deal with Orion?"

"To create a place like this a place built from dreams mixed with reality, it requires an enormous amount of memories at the start. And some mythical creatures rely on belief to become stronger."

"Belief?"

"Yes. The more people who believe in that creature’s existence, the stronger it becomes. You can rely on fear too, or both."

Oliver took a deep breath.

"So that creature made a deal with the king to swallow the memories of his followers and the power of their belief."

Aria nodded.

"Exactly. The foolish king did not think it through. He should not have made the deal and should have died peacefully."

"Die? Why? Can they not escape this place?"

"Do you think it would allow them to leave just like that? As long as they no longer have value and their belief is no longer useful, it will simply devour them."

Oliver quickly turned around.

Orion was sitting there on the ground, his back slightly bent, staring at the wall with vacant eyes.

He turned his gaze back to Aria.

"In that case, why is Orion still here? Shouldn’t the creature have devoured him at least hundreds of years ago like the others?"

"I do not know, maybe it has to do with a special agreement between them."

"And why does he not remember the details of the agreement?"

"I do not know either. Maybe it was one of the conditions of the deal. Or maybe it is because of all the years he spent here. He is human in the end." She glanced at him from the corner of her eye. "Look at him. He looks like he has completely lost the will to live."

Oliver fell silent for a moment, staring at the ground while his mind sank into a whirlpool of thoughts.

"In that case, how exactly are we going to get out of here?"

Aria raised her hand and the chair appeared behind her again. She sat on it, crossed one leg over the other, and looked at him steadily.

"We wait for your father to come and save me from here."

"As I told you before, he is not my father. And why are you so confident? Shouldn’t you be worried that he might not come? What will we do if he does not arrive?"

"Now that I heard what that king said, all I have to do is wait. He will come without a doubt."

"Why?"

"A mythical creature of this kind your father will definitely not let it roam free peacefully. Besides, staying here and waiting is not a bad option. I have already waited for a long time. It is not like anything here can harm us now."

"He is not my father..." Oliver sighed. "And what about the others? What will happen to them here?"

"You mean the humans? Most likely they will end up as food for this mythical creature like the rest."

"We have to find a way to stop that."

"We? No, kid. I do not care what happens to these humans. I fulfilled my part of the deal. If you want to save them, do it yourself."

Behind them, Lemur was kneeling next to Orion trying to calm him, patting his shoulder from time to time.

Oliver stood in front of the door for a moment, then opened it and left the tower.

When he walked toward the village, whenever a villager saw him, they ran to their homes, shutting their doors quickly while screaming.

"It is the witch’s apprentice!"

The title did not bother him. What bothered him was that the village and the entire place were becoming more like his old village than they originally were.

Even the faces, many of them resembled people he actually knew. It was no longer a mere resemblance but a complete replication.

He tightened his fist and kept walking without looking back, trying to ignore them and avoid looking at them.

He walked quickly until he found the sage again.

The sage was sitting on a chair in the middle of the square. This time Oliver intended to actually talk to him.

He assumed that the villagers were afraid of him now, and therefore, the woman who resembled Eleanor would fear him as well.

But what happened was the complete opposite.

As soon as he approached and opened his mouth to speak with the sage, that woman appeared beside him.

The one who previously only resembled Eleanor, but this time she was an exact replica.

The short brown hair, the emerald eyes, the facial expressions, the posture, every other detail.

Oliver froze in place, unable to move, while she was the one who spoke first.

"Are you alright, Oliver?"

Even her voice was an exact copy of Eleanor’s.

His body moved before his mind. He ran away from her immediately.

He quickly regained his balance and tried to return, standing at a close distance, but the moment he saw her again he could not move.

His legs refused to step forward, and no matter how hard he tried to speak with the sage, every time he saw her, he stopped in place, unable to move.