Alright, had she gone crazy or did her pet just talk? She was starting to grasp things in a more acceptable manner but some stuff really didn’t make any sense. Eve was happy to see that her capabilities could serve her right, but she still felt that the statues till now had been underwhelming. Or maybe she had just gotten that strong!? She started seeing the pattern tho. After defeating the first two statues, she acquired her pet. After defeating the next ones, her pet could talk. She could only imagine what would happen next. But she also knew that the last remaining two were the strongest ones and she had to get even stronger. She was still perplexed tho, and also enthusiastic.

“I didn’t know you could talk.” said Eve.

“I didn’t either.” replied Tep. “If you’ll excuse me, I have a nap to attend to.”

And he fell asleep.

“Wait, what! No, what do you mean. I have so many questions to ask..”

But it was futile, the pet was already sleeping. Eve started analyzing the situation. She was right back at the fortress but she was weirdly alone. She thought she’d be back and find the squad waiting for her, but that wasn’t the case.

The room was as empty as it could get. She double checked the place to be sure but with no results whatsoever. She then went to check if the portal was still there. It wasn’t.

Evelyn started making up theories about it being a one time thing and stuff like that. But she had to time for that now, she had to find her crew.

Not too long after that, Tok appeared out of nowhere.

“Miss, is that really you!?” said Tok.

“Tok!!” replied Eve and went to hug him. “I almost lost all my hopes of finding ya’ll. What happened in here?”

“It all started right as you disappeared. A crazy guy came in and captured Shaiyla. I was checking the place for hidden stuff so when he came I immediately hid. I heard Shaiyla attempting to fight him, but it was pointless. She was taken.”

“And where was Kotlin in all of this?”

“I don’t know miss, I didn’t hear of him since you last departed.”

“Bloody hell. It’s fine. Did you hear where did they take her?”

“Yes. Something relating to the Capital.”

“Ah, the Capital. Would make sense. That shall be our next destination then. But first, we can’t just presume that they took Kotlin as well. Maybe he hid just like you. Let’s try to find him.”

“Alright.”

They spent the next hour just inspecting the whole fortress. Eve was trying to be discreet at first but when she realized that the whole place had been emptied she just speed-ran it. Their attempt was in vain since they didn’t find anything valuable to them.

Tok and Eve started their journey to the Capital. Eve had no idea where she was going but thankfully she had found a map. The map was the most straightforward thing she had seen since they came here. It was just 4 big circles labelling the cities and a plain direction on how to go to each. It wasn’t the most helpful map, but it served right.

“So, Tok. Did you get to catch a glimpse of how the crazy guy looked like?” asked Eve.

“I couldn’t know how to describe him. But all I remember is that he looked mad and he made some powerful balls of power.” replied Tok.

“So it was indeed Tomal. I should’ve known. Well, it’s gonna be round two then. You did good Tok, nice job.” said Eve.

After a few days of walk and well deserved rest, Eve and Tok finally reached the Capital. It looked exactly like Eve had thought. There was another giant fortress, where Eve presumed the Devil laid and beneath it were some houses and markets which portrayed the Capital.

Eve instructed Tok to be careful and they entered. Only the silence could be heard. After some time, they were right in the middle of the capital. Out of nowhere, she started getting surrounded by guards.

“Hello, sister.”

Evelyn turned just to find Kotlin.