Chapter 180: 180: An escape..?
Eden gently tapped on Lenny, and he came back to life.
"We should get going," Eden said.
Lenny looked around. "Shouldn’t we take him? He came to save you, after all."
Eden stared at Felix. "Of course we should. Even though he was late... at least he was useful, I guess."
Eden stretched out his hands toward Felix. He used some powers and pulled Felix to the fox where he was sitting.
And as Felix sat down behind Eden on the fox, he came back to himself.
He shook his head and looked around. "Where am I?" He stared at Eden. "You?"
"Yes, me."
"What’s happening...?" Felix looked around. The place was still paused.
"Let’s leave now that we have time. I don’t know how long it’ll be like this if I leave it..." Eden said.
"Oh. Sure." Felix nodded.
"Where’s the horse?" Eden asked.
Felix pointed at a horse standing at a distance all alone. "Should we take it?"
"I think we should," Eden said.
He stretched out his hands to magically unfreeze the horse.
But immediately, a purple wave went around and everything was unfrozen. Everything was now back to normal.
Eden blinked. "Well. I guess that was a bad use of magic—again," he muttered as he looked at Leo, who was now staring in their direction. He was certainly confused about what had just happened.
"Don’t let them leave. Take them down now!" Leo could already tell they were about to take off.
"Let’s leave. Now," Lenny stated as he immediately took off.
With Eden and Felix on his back, the fox ran past the soldiers, who were now running after him, and soon was rushing into the woods.
The soldiers were behind them, running as fast as they could to make sure they didn’t lose him.
As the fox ran, Eden looked back to see them. "Are you sure it’s convenient for you to move as a big fox?"
"I don’t think so," Lenny muttered as he ran. Soon, while running, he morphed into a white horse.
Eden and Felix were still on his back. They held him tightly now as Lenny ran. He moved twice as fast, and soon the soldiers were losing sight of them.
The soldiers were still persistent as they continued chasing, and so Felix decided to turn and send something their way.
He felled some trees and sent blue waves in their direction. Soon, they had officially lost sight of Eden and his people.
Leo was standing in front of his mansion as some men came to report back to him.
"I’m sorry, My Lord, we lost them."
Leo stood there, both hands behind him as he stared into the sky—furious yet calm. He took a deep breath and calmed himself down.
"That lunatic... He actually did escape my grip this time around..." he muttered. "Well, there’s always a next time..."
He was about to turn and head inside when someone rushed up to them.
One of the soldiers had approached, panting.
"My lord..." he called, calming down from the long run he had just had.
Leo stared at him, both hands behind him. "What is it? Speak up," he demanded.
The man panted for a while and then said, "I came to report that one of us found them..."
Leo was shocked and impressed. "You did? How?"
"While they tried distracting us with their magic, one of us had sneaked off to another route and followed them from another path."
"So they know where they are currently heading right now?"
"Yes. He saw them heading down the stream side close to the hilltop. So they should be found around there," he explained.
Leo now smiled, relieved. "That’s good, then. Send more troops to follow them there. Monitor their moves and don’t be discovered at all. Watch them and then strike when they least expect. Take them down and bring their head."
The soldier nodded. "Yes! I’ll make sure of it!"
He led some soldiers with him, off to go after Eden.
Meanwhile, Leo stood there, hoping that they would bring him the head of Eden.
"This should be your end then," Leo said, both hands behind him as he smiled.
---
They were finally out of sight and had no one chasing them, so Lenny slowed down.
While Lenny walked through the woods, Eden calmed himself down from all that had happened.
A lot had happened in the past minutes, and he didn’t have time to digest it all—escaping death’s hands in Leo’s mansion, fighting, using his power, and mysteriously being trapped in some dimension.
He still didn’t understand why that happened.
Why was he trapped in that dimension? Why had his powers tormented him, and why had the images of his ex-boyfriend flashed right through his vision?
He didn’t understand anything.
"What’s wrong with you? You don’t look too good," Felix said, staring into his face.
Eden pulled back. "Nothing. I’m just tired from the fights..."
"And your eyes... did you cry?" Felix observed.
"No. Why would I cry, though?" he demanded.
Felix stared at him for a while. "Nothing. Just saying."
"Sorry I was late, Master. I was so immersed in practicing that I missed it." Felix ran a hand through his neck.
"No one asked," Eden muttered.
They were passing by a riverside, and Eden decided to stop.
"Lenny. Let’s stop here. I have to wash my face," Eden said as the horse stopped.
They both got down from the horse as Eden headed to the riverside.
Felix found himself admiring the horse before him. "So this talking animal of yours also changes into different things?"
He seemed amused.
"Yes. Why?" Eden asked. He wasn’t even looking his way. He was already at the waterside.
"Nothing. It’s just interesting sorcery. I wonder if it can change into humans as well," Felix said.
Eden dug both hands into the river, cupped some water, and washed it over his face.
"I don’t know. I haven’t thought about that," Eden said, still washing his face with the water to clear his mind and calm himself down.