Heaven Destroyer

Though they didn't find many things in the house, there was enough water for them to walk quite a few leagues. As for the food, it was hard, but not completely hopeless. Now and then they would find some creatures roaming around.

Just like that, a month passed. In the meantime, Ayaan found his tattoo of the tower on his right wrist, he tried to prob it but couldn't find anything, so he gave up on the idea and focused on the current problems. No one thought that this walk would take this long time. However, after spending so much time in the desert, they knew every danger and could prevent themselves from these dangers easily.

They found a small lake and quite a few animals roaming around the lake. The group became thrilled and replenished their provisions. At least, for another month. Rebecca preserved the meat inside ice cubes, to prevent it from toting due to the heat in this place.

After resting for one day beside that lake, they continued their journey. However, at this moment, they didn't know where they were going—without a map—it was impossible to know their location at this time.

It was the fifteenth day since they had departed from the lake when they saw greenery on the horizon. As they looked at the scene their eyes brightened, and on their dried faces, a smile made its way.

"Looks like we are about to escape this stupid desert." Isobel smiled happily, looking at the greenery in front of her.

"Hmm, let's go," Ayaan nodded and walked with the ladies while Akash sat on his shoulders.

As they walked, the scene in front of them started to become clearer. There were mountains filled with green trees, land covered in forest spreading who knows where wild flying beasts covering the sky of the green land. From a distance, they looked just like small sparrows or crows, but Ayaan knew that they were far bigger than sparrows or crows because he was very far away from these creatures, but he could still see their frame.

Some looked black as crows, but they weren't crows while some looked green like parrots or white like pigeons. However, Ayaan was certain that these creatures didn't belong to any of those categories.

The further they walked the graver their expression became. The forest in front of them looked even more dangerous from the desert, and most of all, they didn't know where they were!

Everyone exchanged glances and eventually decided to move towards the green forest. There wasn't any point in struggling. Therefore, they decided to find out what this place was.

"I think we have reached to our destination." Leafwhisk suddenly spoke.

Ayaan looked at the beasts hovering in the sky. "Yes, we have reached the Central Continent."

"How do you know this isn't any other continent?" exclaimed Noor and her face showed visible excitement. She couldn't believe that she was on the Central Continent. That was like a myth to the people from the other four continents.

"I know because I was aiming to reach this place. Didn't you see in which direction we were walking all this time? To the west where the Central Continent lies while the Eastern Continent is to the east of the Death Desert or Central Continent. That is why it is called Eastern." Ayaan explained. Only now did Noor realize that she was walking towards Central Plains all this time.

She turned towards everyone else and asked, "did you guys know about this?" 

Her face turned red when she saw everyone nodding their heads.

"I didn't know…" at this time a low voice sounded. Noor turned and saw Akash's innocent face.

"Who cares about that. It won't change anything anyway, hmph!" she humped and walked in front of everyone. 

Everyone shook their heads when they saw her acting like a cute child again. Then everyone followed behind her at a steady pace. 

Ayaan could feel the fresh air drifting towards his way from the forest and it was cold and soothing. He closed his eyes and sniffed as if it was his first time—it felt good to feel this fresh air again — no one wanted to live in a desert for their whole life where they couldn't even drink or eat.

Suddenly, Ayaan snapped open his eyes. He felt a sound coming not far away from him. He looked at Leafwhisk and gestured to everyone including Noor who was still grumbling about her previous embarrassment. However, when she saw Ayaan's serious face, she knew this wasn't time to cause trouble.

The group looked in front of them and saw a figure burst out of the bushes—it was a woman—everyone looked at the woman vigilantly. However, looking at her condition, they realized that something was wrong.

The woman was filled with wounds and brushes, her clothes had been tattered while painted in blood. Her black hair was in mess and her beautiful face looked tired. As they saw the woman, she also saw them and her face filled with hope.

"Save me!" she shouted.

Everyone looked at Ayaan for his decision. "Let's save her," he said.

When the lady reached them she fell on the ground, drenched in sweat and exhausted. Rebecca and Noor went up to her and supported the lady. She had a rather fair and beautiful face, but at the moment, her beautiful face was covered in dirt, obscuring her gorgeous face.

After the lady had some water—her eyes closed—looking like a sleeping beauty.

As she fell asleep on the ground. The group of three men smashed the bushes and looked at Ayaan and his group. The leader looked at Ayaan for some time and hesitated for some time. The three men exchanged glances and walked into the bushes again without speaking anything.

"Weird," Ayaan murmured but didn't speak any further. He looked at the woman on the ground and walked towards her. "How is she?" he asked.

"Just overly exhausted, nothing critical," Rebecca replied. 

"Hmm, let's rest for some time. We will resume our walk after waiting." Suggested Ayaan and just like that everyone fell on the ground. Ayaan sat by the support of the tree and moaned when his legs crackled due to the long walk. His entire body pained and groaned.

He turned towards Leafwhisk and asked, "do you have anything to say?"

Leafwhisk showed a surprised expression, but then, she chuckled and said, "nothing."

Ayaan also didn't press her to tell anything. He just now saw her deep in thought. So he thought something might be troubling her.

They rested for about two hours and in this time, the woman woke up from her slumber. Though she was still weak and exhausted, talking wasn't an issue for her.

"So…" Ayaan looked at the woman, "you need to explain yourself. We can't take a stranger with us. If you want to travel with us, you have to tell us your story, or you can go on your own."

The woman looked at Ayaan with her beautiful emerald eyes. The nodded, "Alright. You have saved my life after all. At least, you deserve to know the truth." 

No one interrupted her and waited for her to talk more. Her red lips moved and she continued to speak, "I am an adventurer. I was hunting magical beasts with my companions and we hunted quite a few of them." She sighed disappointedly. 

"However, who knew that someone else was eyeing our hard work. Just when we gathered our hunt and were about to end our hunt. Other hunters attacked us. We were already exhausted due to fighting with the beasts, and so, we were defeated in just a few exchanges. I was the only one who could escape those people because I was the most powerful person in my team.

"They killed my companions one by one. I will never forgive them, I will kill them," she started to cry, and tears fell on her smooth cheeks, portraying a beautiful scene yet sad at the same time.

"Alright, don't cry. We will beat those bad people if we run into them. If I wasn't able to beat them, I would ask my husband, or big sister Leafwhisk. You know they are very strong." Noor said and tried to comfort the lady.

Ayaan looked at her wryly and shook his head. Though Ayaan disapproved of her naive personality, he also didn't want to point to every one of her mistakes—she needed to learn with her own experiences. 

"Oh, yes. You said you were about to end your hunt. Is there a town near this forest?" asked Ayaan to the lady.

"Town? Yes, it is near this forest. However, it is near the forest but not near to us." Smiled the woman towards Ayaan. Her emerald eyes looked amazing.

"What does that mean?" Ayaan looked at the lady.

"It means the town isn't near us. We have to walk at least ten days to arrive at Spiritstar Town." Replied the lady.