A few hours later, far from the city of the "Forgotten Fog", but still in the territory of Womskinner, behind the mountain range, a huge dark creature descended to the foot, on whose back two figures were sitting.
After crossing the mountain range, an endless dark valley opened up in front of them.
"Weāre here," Idan whispered, hugging Arabel, who was sitting in front.
Coco, hearing Idanās words, woke up from her dream and, stretching, began to whine. Then, seeing the vast dark valley, she nodded in agreement, confirming Idanās words.
"How are you?" asked Idan, noticing that Arabel was silent.
"Iām fine, ā Arabel replied, as if waking up from her thoughts, and sighed.
"I still canāt come to terms with what Ned did."
It came as a real shock to Arabel to learn that all the slaves who were under the Trading House died, and none of them survived. She was particularly struck by the fact that Ned killed almost half of them personally.
Idan was silent. When he gave Ned the task of creating chaos and hiding the disappearance of the Awakened in this chaos, he did not rule out such a possibility. But even Idan was shocked when he found out that it ended exactly like that.
"According to Essora and Milla, we should be on the south side of the valley," Idan said after a short silence, looking around and surveying the valley. Meanwhile, Ned, in the form of a wyvern, was rapidly moving forward.
"What do you suggest?" asked Arabel, putting aside all gloomy thoughts and focusing on the task at hand.
"I think we should split up," Idan said, finally making his decision.
"So one of us will go north to the open portal, and the other will go to one of those two?" said Arabel.
"Yes, Belle, but you didnāt take Ned into account. One of us will go to the open portal to the north of the valley, and Ned and one of us will go to the other two," corrected Arabel Idan.
"Oh. Okay, ā Arabel agreed, still feeling a little awkward sitting on Nedās back.
"We cannot ignore these two portals. Maybe weāll be lucky and weāll be able to catch the moment when they open and use them instead of that open portal," Idan shared his opinion.
"Well, thatās if Essora and Milla are right and those outsiders who are on the other side havenāt returned yet while we were getting here," Arabel added, recalling her conversation with Essora and Milla.
According to them, of the five groups sent to their world, only three have returned so far. Essora and Milla were sure that these two groups would definitely return for the upcoming auction. Perhaps they were delayed because they were busy abducting the awakened ones on the other side and would only return at the very last moment.
"Letās hope they havenāt come yet. Otherwise, we will have to come up with something and break through to our only option."
"Okay," Arabel agreed, but immediately asked a clarifying question: "How are we going to split up? Should I fly north or to one of the two portals?"
"No, Ned will fly north to the furthest and most open portal. He has more disguise abilities, and in case of an ambush, he can easily hide and retreat." With that, Idan patted the wyvernās back, and Ned growled in agreement.
Although Arabel disapproved of Nedās recent massacre and felt a little embarrassed, she also patted him on the back. She understood that this was his nature, and Ned would not do anything to harm them.
"Should I go east, then?" asked Arabel, turning around.
"Why did you decide that?" asked Idan.
"Knowing you, Iām sure youāll choose the western portal because it leads close to the Federation capital and, according to you, is more secure and dangerous than the other three," Arabel said, rolling her eyes.
"Ahahaha, ā Idan laughed, hugging Arabel. "Yes, youāre right, Iāll go to the west, and youāll go to the east. You donāt mind, do you?"
"No, I donāt mind," Arabel replied.
Then, looking at the dark valley ahead, she said:
"Who would have thought that these creatures have almost completely surrounded the Federation and even opened a portal near the capital."
"Yeah, ā Idan nodded. "I am more than sure that there is a traitor among the government who is covering for them. People like Milla."
Upon hearing this, Arabel immediately frowned.
"Considering that only members of the Womskinner race from this world have access to our world, itās safe to say that the traitors are beautiful women," she added.
"Haha, thatās for sure, ā Idan agreed.
"We need to tell everyone about this when we get back," Arabel said with a serious look.
"It goes without saying. Although we are not that wellāknown, we can use the influence of your brother and my sister to share all the information we have found out," Idan replied.
Arabel nodded, agreeing with his words.
"Dan, are you still sure we should keep hiding? I donāt want to brag, but as far as I know, we have enough strength to stand up for ourselves," she asked.
Idan gently hugged Arabelle from behind, enjoying the warmth of her body and hearing her heartbeat accelerate.
"Yes, Belle, youāre right, we have enough strength to stand up for ourselves," Idan whispered to her. "But I still think we should hide our true identity for as long as possible."
"Why?" she asked curiously.
"For the sake of our safety and the safety of our loved ones, Belle," Idan confessed. "Iām already worried that representatives of another world have invaded our world. I do not rule out that they are not the only visitors from other worlds, perhaps there are others that we do not know about and will not find out while they are hiding in the shadows."
"I donāt remember if I told you before, but Iām very worried about the force behind Kraus," Idan added, mentioning Krausā name.
"Hmm?" thought Arabel, frowning. She tried to remember if Idan had told her about it, but for some reason she couldnāt remember. "Please remind me what happened back then and what kind of force are you talking about?"
"The thing is, when I pretended to be a mysterious stranger..." Idan began, and as they flew over the valley, he briefly described how he killed Kraus and what happened after that.
"What? Did the System really say that?" exclaimed Arabel in surprise.
"Yes, the System confirmed that this is exactly the force that Irene didnāt want to talk about either. And according to the System, until we unlock it completely, itās better for us not to mess with this force," Idan said with a serious expression on his face.
"I understand that with our strength and the task we are doing, we are unlikely to be able to completely conceal our identity. But we still need to try to protect our real identity."
"Although we have the strength to stand up for ourselves, our enemies may try to get to our loved ones to get to us. Therefore, itās better for us to continue using fake identities for our safety, at least until we unlock the System completely."
"Hmm... until we unlock the system completely, right?" Arabel blushed as she asked. "Until we..."
"Yes, until we officially become husband and wife," Idan confirmed.