Chapter 217: Confessing the ‘Truth’

Turning around, Aiden faced the blocked pathway once more. The light in his eyes flaring up, he began to focus his attention on the faintly appearing runic symbols, seemingly imprinted in the air, floating just slightly in front of the blockade motionlessly.

Although, he hadn't made an attempt to memorize all the symbols he saw so far whenever he was blocked from 'seeing', he did feel some familiarity with how the rune curved in the air.

Stepping closer, he slowly raised his right hand and reached for the symbol in front. However, there was absolutely no resistance, his fingers passed through with ease, reaching the surface of the gnarled hugging twigs behind it.

The whole motion was slow and careful, the girls watched with a mixture of shock and surprise as the expected reaction, the resistance from the invisible wall of energy did not occur and Aiden's hand easily slipped through the air, crossing the twigs behind it.

"What the…" Voicing her confusion, Naybeah quickly followed suit and reached out with her right hand as well. 

However, contrary to the lack of reaction with Aiden, as soon as her hand touched the rune that was only visible to Aiden, the symbol suddenly flared up with a colorless, white light, and the air instantly transformed into a hardened, shell-like surface, blocking the woman's attempt at crossing through.

"Interesting…" Looking at the reaction with increased focus, Aiden's mind was racing a million miles an hour, trying to figure out the possibilities of the difference in their results. "It seems that there's something that you both are lacking that I do have, that is preventing you from going further…" Aiden voiced his thoughts, looking at the girl's thwarted hand. 

Pulling his own back, he suddenly grabbed the girl's hand, pulling it closer to his eyes. Other than yelping in surprise, and blushing slightly, Naybeah did not try to pull her hand back but enjoyed the boy's touch and full focus.

"What do you see Aiden? What could be the difference?" Not wanting to be left out any further, Sarah leaned closer, looking at the two intertwingled hands in front of the boy.

'Could it be that my goblin form is what that allows me to pass through?' Aiden was lamenting inwardly, not hearing either girl at all. 'But I'm in my normal state right now, how could it possibly know?! And if so, how could I explain that to them?' 

Sighing at the possibility, he looked up and shook his head as he let go of the blonde amazon's hand, who could only pull it back begrudgingly.

"I'm not entirely sure, but I have some theories. For now, let's just go back and try the other way, maybe we can find another route." Changing the subject, Aiden offered to check out the path leading to the right, which he now knew would eventually lead to some sort of holding area for slaves and should be at least lightly guarded. Since he couldn't reveal the knowledge he had gained, he had to be careful with his words.

"Yeah, but we should be quick, it's getting late, and we should also look for a place to rest for the night." Sarah spoke as she turned towards the way they came from, letting out a sigh. "This area is not safe, we do not want any unwelcome surprises during our much-needed rest."

Shifting her attention, she looked at Naybeah. 

"Are you staying with us for the night? I know you told me that your goal is slightly different than ours, but from my knowledge, the place you both are looking for should be close to the orc's camp."

Nodding at the girl's offer, Naybeah stole a quick glance at Aiden's direction, her cheeks betraying her quick notion with their pinkish saturation. 

"S-sure. The more, the merrier! Let's do a quick check towards the right and look for a place to settle for the night. Right, Aiden?"

"Yes, that should be fine." Aiden nodded, beginning a slow-paced trek going back the route they came, leaving the strange bioluminescent lichen-filled clearing. The girl's joining him, the trio soon left the area, arriving at the earlier intersection.

Taking at the only, unexplored path ahead of them, Aiden had multiple thoughts racing in his mind. First, he wasn't sure how he should go on about the knowledge he had about this path and the possible dangers ahead. Second, he wasn't sure how he should break it to the girls about the only way inside the Orc's tribe he could find yet. 

The best approach would be to tell some partial truth. Like that he had an ability, a trick, a 'fake spell' that allowed him to transform and gain the appearance of a goblin. While this could work, it would raise several additional questions, he wasn't sure how to answer, at least not right now. 

However, deciding against revealing any of his secrets, would mean not going forward with the only potential way inside the tribe's ground, and finding out the required, critical information. Exploring the slave pens area could also potentially alert the orcs of their presence, and significantly increase the difficulty of their quest.

"Aiden? You okay?" His silent lamentation was interrupted as he suddenly felt a hand gently touching his right shoulder. Seeing the boy's troubled expression, Sarah leaned closer, she looked at the boy with a worried expression.

"I'm fine… It's just…" Taking a deep breath, he decided to take the necessary risk. Taking a step forward, he turned around to face both girls at once. Giving a light cough, he raised his arms in the air at his side, as he began to tell the details of his half-thought-out plan to the girls.

"I wasn't entirely honest with you both so far." He began speaking, as his wry expression suddenly turned serious. His eyes lighting up, the golden glow suddenly illuminated his figure, creating an awestruck, holier impression of his figure.

"I have met and managed to talk with an old orc shaman as I crossed the barrier earlier. He has revealed some important details that we probably need to use to our advantage if we wish to succeed." He continued.

Raising her right index finger to interject, Sarah asked with an incredulous look.

"You… SPOKE to an orc? H-how?"

Joining the girl, Naybeah also creased her eyebrows, with confusion clearly visible on her face.

"Yeah… just like she said. How could you talk with these violent monsters?"

"Well…" Sighing once again, Aiden slowly closed his eyes, as the troubled smile continued to dominate his expression. 

As his eyelids shut tight, his silhouette suddenly trembled, the air surrounding him began to buzz with visible excitement. His tall stature began to shrink at least a full head, his creole skin darkened as dark green began to mix in, darkening his pigmentation. His muscles stretching and contorting, they seemed to rapidly rearrange themselves into a new form as if they were following a practiced show.

In a manner of a few quick seconds, the tall, handsome boy in front of them transformed into a much smaller dark-green-skinned goblin. Whilst his face still vaguely resembled that of Aiden's natural look and it still had his exotic, golden eyes, it had much cruder contours. His hair remaining the same, but looking much wilder, cascading all the way down to the lower parts of his hip.

Seeing the strange sight and the new 'look' of Aiden, both girls looked at the figure in front of them with shock and horror. If they wouldn't be standing as witnesses, looking through the whole ordeal, they would never believe that the little creature in front of them was the same youth, the handsome boy that was with them just a moment ago.

As the transformation completed, Aiden slowly opened his eyes, and with the same troubled smile stretching across his face, looked at the girls in front of them.

"I used this trick to fool the old shaman." He continued his earlier 'confession'. Slowly darting his eyes from Sarah to Naybeah then back, he asked with a forced smile. "What do you girls think?"

It was Sarah who managed to control her emotions better and managed to regain some of her earlier composure, at least enough to phrase a question.

"Is this… an illusion?" She asked as she looked through Aiden's body scrutinizingly.

Thinking about it for a second, Aiden decided to go with that thought. 

"Well, that's half-true. It's hard to explain, so let's just say it is something similar to that... "

"So… this is just some magic trick, and you are still your old self behind this… 'disguise'?"

Stepping closer, with shock still dominating her expression, Naybeah slowly reached out and poked at Aiden's chest. Feeling as her fingers pushed on her chest, she gave a slight frown.

"It does feel real though…" 

"Woah, it really feels real. Such incredibly potent magic…" Following the amazon's action, Sarah also poked at Aiden's new body with keen interest. "The skin, the flesh under my touch… it feels… real…" She spoke as she continued to scrutinize Aiden's new appearance.