Twilight of a Hybrid, стр. 33

Vaeludar found it hard if this creature was really a Gorgon or if it was a traumatized human woman who was transformed into a Gorgon from dangerous, dark magic. “What are you talking about? What about a strange building lurking in these parts?” he asked the Gorgon, but the Gorgon didn’t seem to be listening.

After watching the Gorgon slivering for several minutes, the group watched as the Gorgon sliver away from them and out of their view. They looked confused as what to say the Gorgon was referring to or what she was trying to say.

“What was that about?” Flarefur asked Vaeludar.

“I don’t know,” said Vaeludar. “When I last saw her, she acted normal and released everyone she turned to stone. I last saw her in a cave and she concealed herself in that cave. I’d say she was a creature with a lost, confused mind. Maybe not all Gorgons are evil as we thought they might have been.”

“Don’t be thinking about that,” said Geraldus. “Gorgons turn people into stone at sight. Don’t expect the next one to be a posttraumatic like the one we just met.”

Vaeludar nodded his head and proceeded onward. He was starting to think what has happened with that Gorgon in her past, but he had no interest in the Gorgon or what difficulties she may have. He had to focus on his main journey. Vaeludar was close to find the second artifact of an armor that would give him power to make him to be powerful as the Shadow King Lusìvar. The last thing he wanted was any obstacle or distraction getting in his way and thus delaying his search longer by minutes, hours, or days.

As they walked closer to the hills, they felt the ground more rock solid and becoming less sandy. The hills also grew more in size, and the trees became even more dreadful by the step the group took.

“What a dreary, dreadful place to have a secret lab,” said Marina. The Siren clutched to Vaeludar’s right arm, which he allowed her to do since she was his wife after all. Marina seemed to be frightened by the very sight of a quiet, mysterious place. “Why hide such a secret lab in the Greenwood Forest?”

“A secret lab hidden in the Greenwood Forest,” said Vaeludar. “The Greenwood Forest is supposed to be a large forest with only green trees and plants or things, but we have stumbled onto a wasteland. Whatever happened it must have been a deadly battle that has caused this part of the forest to lose its emerald coloring, and I must have been caught in the middle of it. I do remember the Dragon King or the Unicorn King mentioned I was caught in the middle of a bad conflict back on the day I killed the Minotaur. I just hope giving up to Geraldus was a wise decision for my parents made, and make sure that choice was well worth it.”

Vaeludar had sniffed the air carefully. He could smell the scent of dead rats and garbage filth floating among the air of the near horizon of the wasteland. His mind was shaking that they shouldn’t maybe be there. He sensed they could be coming into a graveyard or a trap could be lurking in wait for them to lower their guard and attack them. Even they are walking on solid ground, Vaeludar felt they were walking on ground that was once covered in dead bodies now completely melted to ash and dust.

Then a small weak gush of a cold wind blew. Blinding dust rose from the ground ashy ground. Dead branches of the dead, petrified trees screeched loud noises and dropped without warning. The hills began to swirl around, if the group was seeing them though an underwater look. Dreadful sounds began to take hold of Vaeludar’s nerves, which made him feel strange of his legs feeling thin than muscular.

A sudden cold chill ran up the Siren’s spine, which made her clutch Vaeludar’s arm tighter. The Siren was spooked by the surrounding area and she needed to make sure Vaeludar’s untouchable skin would keep her safe.

Vaeludar had always thought of Sirens weren’t scarred of terrifying places. He’d always thoughts Sirens’ personalities told in those tales Vaeludar has heard of: Sirens being such monstrous, flesh-eating, humanoid fish, but Marina was displaying to Vaeludar that Sirens have more human characters than a monstrous human-eater.

After feeling the chilling wind and the dust partly blinding the group’s eyes, Vaeludar blew his own windy power to counter against the dusty wind. Then his yellow-sclera, red-iris, green-pupil hybrid eyes gazed at a strange figure from a distance that the human eyes would see as a blank spot of an illusion.

He then released his windy power and suddenly strolled off in the direction he had his eyes on a building made of stone. It was that moment the hybrid had been seeking: the laboratory. He knew he has found it.

Marina, who was still holding Vaeludar’s arm, lost her balance and collapsed at her husband’s sudden turn. She saw him flying off all of a sudden and not looking back.

Geraldus and Flarefur, too, saw the hybrid flying from his wife and off in the distance. They were suddenly confused why Vaeludar changed direction and didn’t tell them anything without a warning. “What are you going?” they asked.

Vaeludar didn’t answer; he soared several feet from the ground and glided toward the one direction was the right direction. As he drifted faster, he could feel the feeling of negativity fade away and hope growing in his heart. He closed his eyes as he was flying and felt an entire island being lifted from his shoulder and dosing beneath his feet. His felt the weight of his body decreasing if his muscles were thinning.

Vaeludar kept his eyes closed as he brought his flying to a halt. He could feel a great brightness being taken over by the power of hope, which was starting to fill up