“WHAT?! Are you INSANE? Do you even realise what you are talking about?” Shiara glowered at me, but I didn’t take it to heart. Her emotional outburst was quite reasonable and showed her strong desire for survival; after all, most people would consider that place a death trap ”If you want to go to your own demise, feel free to do so, but DON’T drag us down with you.” She finished with a snort.
Princess Sarratina looked at me with a more level gaze. She stared at me for a moment before evenly saying, “I’m guessing you have a reason for saying this?” Her calm attitude made me acknowledge again that her nobility and renown really weren’t just empty titles. Her open-minded attitude demonstrated her experience and spoke of the many storms she had already weather at her young age. She was also likely privy to many more secrets of the Fei, or as she probably refers it to, ‘The Royal Democratic Kingdom of Fei’
“What reason, that’s utter nonsense. Forgetting about the wide array of deadly monsters, insects and fauna that would mean your demise just from meeting them, no one has lasted for more then ten days after entering the jungle. You should know that jungle is also known in the slums as the Jungle of Doom. Even when the Royal Brigade of Fei went with the support of a dozen experts and different magical divisions-“
“-Along with the exploration experts of several other countries-“
“-They still failed to figure out how their vanguard died and were forced to dissemble and relinquish exploring that zone.”
“Yeah, a majority of the vanguard who suffered no obvious injury died of internal bodily implosion. Their veins ended up bulging and exploding. None of our healers could figure out the cause, but they speculated it was toxins. However none of them or our magicians could detect them, or stop them from entering people. Every magical barrier we attempted failed to stop the toxin.” She paused to stare at me a bit. “Not to mention that all of it is unexplored territory that we have no idea of. The fog is impossible to dissipate, and some of the survivors who made it back out mentioned that they have no idea of North and South once they were inside. Even though the land is claimed to be a part of Fei, we have literally no control over it which is why no roads go even near-”
I waved my hand to stop the two of them. They were derailing off topic.
“I’m not really ready to talk about how I know yet, but I promise I will tell you guys about it in time.” The past involved a lot of topics my parents forbade me from talking about. The elders got really mad that one time my Dad said something to the merchant. I still remember silently watching him being flogged in front of my eyes. Though we may have been forsaken and they might not be around anymore, I wasn’t about to break some important traditions and laws. “All I can say right now is that I know a lot about the Jungle of Illusions and that I know how we can survive going through it. I know I am asking you guys to take a big leap of faith, but as a princess, Sarratina, I’m sure you know that some secrets are best kept secret and are dangerous if accidently learnt.”
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The princess had a complicated expression on her face. It wasn’t a good moment to laugh in such a serious moment, but her face was squashed between a frown, a confused smile and a helpless sigh was barely audible. The torn up expression combined was really funny, but of course, I stifled my laugh. Convincing her right now was the most important thing, as Shiara would probably come as well if the Princess agreed. Her face cleared up as she finished her deliberation.
“Can you give us a bit more information? It’s not that I don’t trust you, but I don’t like the feeling of not knowing anything or being in control of my own life…Please Vixen?”
“Surely you aren’t considering going into that jungle Sarra?!”
“…Fine, I will explain the wildlife and monsters as we see them.” That should barely count as not breaking the ancestral tribal teachings. Right? “As for why people always die after ten days, all I can say is that there is something similar to an invisible toxin in the mana. I know the way to neutralise it once we get inside the jungle, but it would still be best from refraining to use magic as much as possible.” I shut my mouth firmly after that. They weren’t lies.
“Now that wasn’t that hard was it?” She smiled at me cheekily. ”Let’s got then. To the Jungle of Illusion!” Raising her arm in an imaginary command, she started to walk in direction of the Jungle. As she passed me she suddenly whispered, “Miss Uralya’s village was from the jungle right?”
I didn’t do anything wrong. She came to the conclusion herself so it should be fine as long as I don’t confirm it.
“Hey! Princess! You can’t be serious!” Shiara gave me a piercing look before jogging after the princess. Shiara really did follow her heart, a true muscle brain. I packed up the map and placed it carefully back into the sack, shifting around the food and wrapping it with some other spare fabric. I took out another piece of spare cloth and wrapped it around my upper body. It would get cold in parts of the jungle. I sprinted after the two ahead.
…
After walking for a bit, we ended up breaking through some forest trees and finding previous trail that lead to the Jungle of Illusion. Under the blue and white crescent moons, we followed the rest of the trail till we reached the top of hill, or more precisely the edge of a deformed crater. I was confronted by the somewhat familiar sight of a mist covered jungle; the Jungle of Illusions.
“Oh. Wow.”
“Wow indeed. Much more breathtaking then what my royal father told me.”
A downward slope could be seen before quickly being cut off by a layer of mist. Towards the centre, two different giant trees could be seen peaking barely through the mist, one on the left, and one on the right. The mist was reflecting the blue light from above, making it seem similar to the ocean, the night wind creating pseudo waves.
But while the two were cheerfully looking at the beautiful scenery with stars in their eyes, I was silent thinking about all the hidden dangers that were quietly lurking inside. Yet I felt much warmer standing here compared to the last time I was here in the sun.
“Ok girls, I hope you two will listen to what I say once we enter.”