"Kyle?" Erick pondered for a moment before his eyes shone with brilliance.


    "You are also the youngest son of the Magi King of Aurora Haven." He eximed at Kyle.


    Orion nodded. That was what Kyle had told him before in Aethelgard City. Though he did wonder, if the youngest daughter had no idea about all of this, would the youngest son know about anything?


    "Tell me, Kyle, do you know anything about this?" He asked. He didn''t want to be the viin here for Kyle, at least. He had provided some great help in the Aethelgard city by leaking what the Valen family wanted to do so he felt that he should repay the favours.


    "I know." Kyle, surprisingly, nodded.


    "You knew and didn''t tell us until now?" Erick asked, his knife ced at Kyle''s neck.


    "I didn''t want to die." Kyle only said this.


    "Since it is, then I am going to kill you. Anyway, your family is doomed, and there''s no need for people like you, who, knowing the truth, won''t speak, to exist," Erick said as he increased the pressure of his knife, causing blood to flow from Kyle''s neck.


    "Your Highness, he was the one who provided me with the intel of what was about to happen on Sad, what the Valen Family was up to and how to stop them." Orion quickly said this in defence of Kyle, fearing Erick might do something unthinkable.


    "You are defending him?" Erick narrowed his eyes at Orion.


    "No, I am just stating a fact. If he knew about what would happen to the Sad, then his words hold some truth here. At least we should listen to him before you decide what to do with him." Orion said solemnly.


    Erick didn''t say anything for a moment and looked at Kyle.


    "I will give you onest chance; speak what you know; otherwise, only death awaits you." He threatened Kyle with his knife.


    Kyle didn''t reply and looked at Orion.


    Orion nodded at him.


    Kyle sighed and revealed to them what he knew.


    "I overheard Evans talking to someone in the family. I don''t know the exact details but it was about a deal. He would provide as many humans as he could in return for something he wanted. I had thought that by spreading the rumours, he wanted everyone toe closer to the cursed tree for the deal but I was wrong. The deal was about this ce.


    That means there is something or someone here that wants our life."


    Orion and Erick both frowned as they heard him. They could recall what Evans said about the tree talking to him before they plunged into this world. This made them wonder if the other end of the deal was none other than the cursed tree itself.


    However, if that was true, then they were in big trouble. Whoever summoned them here likely didn''t have good intentions, considering the deal involved offering as many humans as possible in exchange for something Evans wanted.


    "Damn it!" Erick cursed, knowing it would be very difficult for them to get out of here.


    Orion also felt helpless. They were stuck in an unfamiliar ce, and to make matters worse, there was something or someone who wanted their lives.


    ''What could be worse than this?''


    He sighed and hoped that they could get out of here.


    At that moment, Astral appeared in front of them; however, to their shock, he was injured. He was bleeding from many parts of his body. His clothing looked burned in some areas, while other parts were frozen with frost. Overall, he was aplete mess.


    He was the strongest of them in this ce and now he was injured when he just went to scout.


    "Let me heal a bit." He immediately took out some mana crystals and began to heal himself.


    Erick frowned and called some people with healing talent who healed Astral as fast as they could.


    About an hourter, all his injuries healed and he was once again at his peak.


    "What happened out there, Astral?" Erick asked, his face dark. He understood that Astral being injured on his scouting duty only meant one thing—this ce was hell for them.


    Elyn also came to listen to Astral but her eyes were always on Orion.


    Orion felt helpless about that and could only ignore her for now.


    Astral didn''t say anything for a while and for reasons unknown, his eyes kept drawing to Orion.


    "Astral?" Orion asked if he wanted anything from him.


    "Nothing." Astral sighed and told them what happened.


    "So, from what I could find, the ce we''re in is a veryrge area. We''re in a forest, and not far from here, there''s a desert. Across the desert lie the peaks of small mountains, where I saw some silhouettes moving. Beyond these silhouettes is a huge door shining brightly with a red light," he exined, recounting what he saw during his scouting.


    He further said: "I don''t know where the door leads or if it even leads to an exit, but it''s the only thing worth noticing in this ce."


    Erick nodded and asked solemnly what he had wanted to ask the whole time. "How did you get injured?"


    Astral''s face turned dark and his eyes once again looked towards Orion.


    "The silhouettes I mentioned earlier—one of them teleported and arrived in front of me. He attacked me and we fought. We were even in every blow; we fought each other until the silhouette''s strength increased all of a sudden and I was no match after that. After a few more rounds, I was heavily injured and I ran for my life.


    But strangely though, he didn''t follow me to finish me and disappeared from there."


    As he recounted what led to his injuries, everyone was shocked. Overpowering Astral in a one-on-one fight was nearly impossible, and making him run for his life was even more unimaginable. They all sucked in a breath of cold air, wondering what could be out there that could defeat Astral—their strongest warrior—like it was nothing.


    "Did you see what monster it was?" Erick asked.


    Astral nodded and pointed at Orion.


    ''''It was you, Orion."


    Everyone was shocked upon hearing him. Most of them felt Astral had gone stupid, while some just frowned and waited for more exnation.


    Meanwhile, Orion was even more shocked. He was with Erick the whole time, so how could he go there and attack him?


    "What do you mean it was me?" He asked with a frown.


    Astral said, "It was you who attacked me. I could clearly remember your face and your clothes. It could only be you, I am sure of it."


    "How could it be me? I was with His Highness the whole time." Orion said it with a frown and looked at Erick.


    Erick nodded in support of him. "Orion has been with me all this time so it couldn''t be him."


    Though he still wondered, if it wasn''t Orion, then who else could it be? He knew Astral very well and understood that he wouldn''t joke about something like that.


    Astral pondered for a moment before agreeing with him.


    He said to them: "Well, I already knew it wasn''t Orion. I was just checking his reactions to make sure it wasn''t him."


    "What do you mean by that?" Orion asked.


    "The one who attacked me was indeed you; there is no doubt about that but he waspletely ck and white, like this world. Also, he used fire and ice attacks on me, which were also ck and white. So, I figured it couldn''t be you but I was checking on you just in case you were doing something behind the scenes." Astral exined.


    ---


    Also, I was hoping you could leave somements or reviews to let me know your thoughts!


    *Some gifts would be appreciated as well, but up to you.... *