Chapter 214: The Shack

"What is it? Can we get through?" Naybeah asked with concern in her voice, seeing Sarah's reaction.

With the same frown she had just before, Sarah shook her head, as she looked at the tall, blonde amazon with a defeated expression.

"No. There's some sort of energy blocking the way ahead. We just can't get through."

"Huh?!" Shocked by what she just heard, Naybeah almost dropped her colossal weapon on the ground. "Are you sure? W-what should we do now?! Aiden could be in trouble! We can't just wait here!"

Sarah's eye wandered towards the left, looking at the thick dark grey tree trunks, and vegetation going further ahead, creating a wooden wall all around.

"Let's take a look around first. That's what he said also. There has to be another way through. If this place really is not a natural phenomenon then there has to be another way forward to avoid the traps."

Turning towards the left side she raised her right arm, pointing in the chosen direction.

"I will check the left side, you should go to the right and let's call for the other one if we find anything interesting. Okay?"

Not waiting for the blonde woman's response, Sarah left towards the chosen direction with quick, hurried steps. Even though she did her best to sound cool, she barely managed to keep herself from falling to pieces with worry.

Not wanting to waste even a second, she immediately launched herself into the task at hand, trying to find any spot through the vegetation to reach the other side. At the same time, Naybeah also threw herself to be the first of finding a way through to her chosen mate. Nothing and nobody can possibly stop her from saving the youth, trapped at the other side!

While the girls busied themselves in finding a way through the luminescent glade they were now trapped in, Aiden found herself in a vastly different scape all of a sudden. 

Crossing through the wooden branches although was quite inconvenient, did not prove too much of a hassle. As soon as his feet touched the ground, he felt a solid, hard surface, something vastly different from the smooth soil he felt just a moment before. If the area behind him were created through magic, then that meant that the place he was seeing now was the true, original landscape that should have greeted them.

Looking around he found himself in a wide clearing, probably more than fifty feet across from one end to the other. The vegetation was basically none-existent, the ground, and the trees were completely charred, giving the feel of a wasteland than that of a healthy forest biome where they should be at still.

Even the air was dry, much different from the humidity he felt just a few steps before. At the far side of the barren clearing a makeshift, circular yurt-like tent could be seen, looking more like a rundown shack than a proper tent. Although the side was dark, and there were no signs of life, Aiden's senses suddenly gave warning of a large coalesce of energies inside. Someone or something that had an apt control of his or her own energies were residing inside.

Knowing that whoever or whatever was inside was most likely part of the horde and would not take kindly to humans invading his or her space, Aiden closed his eyes and took a deep breath. As his feet began to slowly take him forward, his whole figure began to rapidly change. His lean but tall body suddenly began to shrink, his bronze skin turned darker with each step. His shirt vanished into the depths of his System's inventory, whilst he kept his linen pants that suddenly seemed several sizes larger.

Although his hair hasn't changed a bit, it now seemed to reach all the way down at his now dark green back, reaching the lower reaches of his hip. It did seem much more unrestrained, slightly spikier, wilder. His golden eyes gave an exotic, but at the same time majestic presence to the little goblin lord, he became in just a few simple, silent steps.

As the final touch, the gnarled goblin staff with the scarlet gemstone perched at its top appeared in his right hand as he approached the hut. He tried searching through the memories of the absorbed goblin leader for some mental notes about this place, but unfortunately, he was met with blurry, unreadable images each time. Someone or something modified the goblin's mind to make sure that no information was exportable from that defenseless organ of his.

As Aiden reached closer to the yurt, the dark entrance that had several smaller bones hanging from threads began to collide and make way as a decrepit, dark-grey-skinned wrinkled old figure wobbled out, using a similarly gnarled stick with gemstones as his walking aid. Although there was no hair on the top of his head, the aged figure had an incredibly long, silvery beard stretching all the way down towards the ground, just a couple inches short of touching it and sweeping away the dust. 

As the old man lifted his head from the ground to take a closer 'look' at the uninvited guest, Aiden could see no irises inside the pearly-white sclera in his eyes. Still, he felt as if he saw perfectly, or at least there was some sort of sense-type skill at play that provided her with all the visual aid that he would have required.

What was more important was the fact that Aiden felt the same thick swirling, tumultuous convergence of energies inside that frail, thin body of his. Even though he looked completely miserable and defenseless as he walked bent over using a gnarled stick as aid, Aiden was sure that if it would come to a fight, this old man would be the hardest challenge he had ever faced.

Tense silence ensued between the two figures as they slowly scanned each other. Although the moment lasted only for some seconds, it felt as if an eternity had passed before the old figure's stoic, bearded face began to twist and slowly contort into a probably unfamiliar grimace of his, a friendly smile, a welcoming gesture. 

"Greetings, little one. What brings you to this place? What are you looking for?" The raspy voice of the elder spoke the goblin tongue fluently, much to Aiden's surprise.

Although it sounded friendly and kind, the years of experience that merged into his mind from the absorbed goblin leader warned him of a different situation. The figure in front of him was some sort of shaman, an Orc Ritualist, a powerful figure at the top of the orcish hierarchy. As such, he should know that by the size of his hair, Aiden should be a pretty high-standing figure in their kind's societal ladder, so the address of 'little one' was quite a rude remark. 

Not to mention, that if Aiden was a high-standing, leading figure of the goblins, then the elder should also be pretty much aware of the meaning of his presence, and he should guide him towards their camp to meet with the leaders. 

But instead of that, he simply smiled, calling him a nameless, titleless being and asked about the reason for his arrival. This was blatant disrespect, not just to him, but to his 'current' race as well.

Knowing that he had to take up the mantle and defend his honor otherwise he would not be respected, Aiden's face twisted into a disdainful glare as he eyed the old man.

"Interesting. For being the 'wise man' of your tribe, you are pretty retarded, you old sack of bones. Is this how you greet your allies? No wonder your kind is only referred to as mindless pigs by the other races." 

Hearing his spiteful words, the orc shaman threateningly raised his stick in the air. The lifeless scarlet gemstone began to faintly pulsate a dim light, giving off a fair warning to the much smaller and weaker-looking Aiden.

Raising his head, the full-white sclera seemed to fixate upon the figure of Aiden for quite a while, before the elderly shaman nodded with a content look on his wrinkled face.

"Good, good! Seems like you really are different than most of the leaders of your kind. If you are looking for the leaders, just go behind my little shack and enter the village a bit ahead. Go towards the large tent in the middle, that's where most of them are at the moment."

Nodding Aiden was about to walk forward but the old man raised his hand, blocking his way once again. 

Looking at the old man, with a slightly offended, and questioning stare, before he had the chance to voice his dissatisfaction, the elder spoke as his lips curved into a nasty-looking hideous grin.

"Before you go… There's a question I want to ask." Pointing at the spot where he came from, the old orc raised the question, that Aiden was hoping to skip. "What are the other two tall ones doing just outside? Are they with you, by chance? I was alerted to three presences as you approached."