Ocean/Rheanor flapped his wings, feeling his long pale green hair dancing behind him because of the wind. He had remained in his elf form to avoid any confusion among the people from hence on.

It was already dark outside when Rheanor reached near the woods which were like the no man’s land between the two kingdoms. The Big Dip Valley.

He had carried the map that Kelda had brought. He knew he could have accepted her to be his guide but he also knew that he wasn’t really going to be that inconspicuous.

Rheanor ran a hand through his hair for a moment and then let out a shrill whistle. The dark feathery creature came shooting down at him and he chuckled lightly. Rheanor stretched his arm out and the black owl landed on his forearm.

"Welcome back, what did you find?" Rheanor asked, Nox hooted lightly before he dropped a torn piece of fabric from his beak onto Rheanor’s palm.

Rheanor examined the fabric noticing the insignia on it and sighed shaking his head.

"It’s just as I thought, Nox. While the two dogs are fighting, the snake is waiting for its chance to strike."

Nox hooted and Rheanor smiled.

"Nothing that we can’t fix though," he scratched the underside of Nox’s throat and Nox hooted happily.

"Shall we go now?" He asked and Nox flapped his wings in response.

Rheanor walked down the valley, the path lit by the crescent moon above. Nox was perched over his shoulder and Rheanor moved according to how he recalled from Kelda’s instructions. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

He soon found himself in the wooded area which would continue to the official gate between Ortbon and Elvenland. But he wasn’t going to the gate since it would be sealed and there would be some Elves who would be guarding the gate.

Rheanor walked towards the stream that Kelda said would show him to the underground path. It was still at quite some distance from the border.

Rheanor found the stream pretty quickly and he walked upstream, he made sure to not make much sound as he didn’t even want the critters or animals in the forest to know of his presence.

He reached by the rocks from where the stream was flowing out and he looked around finding the wall of green vines. He walked over and stood before the thick vines and then pushed them aside revealing a small crawl space which would fit a Dwarf. It looked more of a burrow than a secret underground passage into another kingdom.

Rheanor looked once at Nox before he changed his form again to Lynx as he was small enough to crawl into that space.

Rheanor or rather, Lynx crawled into the small passage and kept going with Nox hooted uncomfortably behind him.

"You can fly over the other side, Nox." Lynx said but Nox didn’t leave, he kept following Lynx by hopping behind him instead of flying.

Lynx soon reached an intersection where the routes opened into three more paths. One led to the maze, one to the dead end and last one was the entrance to Elvenland. This was to keep any criminals from infiltrating into Elvenland.

Lynx chose the path on his right which was the correct option, but it would also further open to several other choices and Lynx would have to keep going until he finally reached the other end.

The underground paths were purposely this complicated, and apart from the King of Dwarves, only the highly classified trackers and spies of the Erisgrirlum knew of the correct options. Not even the nobles were aware of it.

After around fifteen minutes of roaming around in the 10 km long winding tunnel, Lynx reached a dead end. He glanced at the large rock that was the dead end and then at Nox who looked exhausted.

He scooped Nox up before he placed his hand on the large rock before him. This was the rock that would need pushing and it would open into the forest close to a small town in Elvenland.

Lynx reached out and placed his hand over the rock and for a moment, he paused as he felt the wave of mana touch him. It was faint and he could sense it coming from beyond the rock. The kind of pull that he had felt when he had first arrived at Edrisyl island.

Lynx made sure that there were no presences on the other side before he pushed the rock aside and then walked out pushing the rock back in its place. From the other side it just looked like some rocks piled together, whoever could have guessed that there was an underground passage that was beyond it.

Once outside, Lynx stretched his arms above his head while Nox flew around and then perched over a branch on the nearby tree. Lynx felt his blood faintly respond to the mana but he didn’t give it much attention as he surmised it was because of Yggdrisil’s mana influencing his.

Lynx changed his form to Rheanor’s and then gestured for Nox to follow along.

Rheanor walked around the forest, the town was close by and he sensed several Elves there but the entrance of the town was barricaded.

"Must be to keep them safe from the Dark Elves." Rheanor murmured to himself and decided to skip the town as he didn’t need to stop by.

Rheanor had a mental map on where he was supposed to go and there was a route through forest, it was dangerous and he could get caught but it was the fastest and smallest route.

Rheanor could have easily decided to fly all the way but the kind of mana that the wings use would easily trigger the barrier like a radar detecting the UFO and everything would be useless. The barrier didn’t trigger inside Elvenland for the infiltrators as long as they used the mana like the Elves or not use mana at all.

So, it left Rheanor only with his physical prowess. He couldn’t use mana as it would ring alarm bells all over.

He was rushing past the towns and villages through the forest path with Nox flying above. Nox also had the mana concealing pendant on which was why he could enter and fly around inconspicuously.

On his way, Rheanor saw a lot of damage done to some villages and some makeshift tents erected for the Elves. He could also smell the scent of blood at such spots which easily gave away the fact that they were attacked.

Rheanor didn’t stop as he rushed ahead up the hills, the faint pulling sensation from earlier was somehow growing more and more now. Rheanor felt the strange friction happening with his mana devices and he prayed that anything happened his devices wouldn’t blow up because of the mana overload.

He brushed his hand over all of the devices that were on him to make sure to keep only those in use active while the others remained inactive like simple jewels.

Then he pressed onward — leaping over cliffs slick with moss, crossing shallow rivers that whispered with the reflection of pale light, until finally, the trees began to thin. Through the shifting mist and the curtain of willow branches, the view opened up before him.

At the heart of the highland ridge stood the Elven Palace, the residence of the Elf King. Unlike the rest of Elvenland, it wasn’t woven from living trees or vines but carved of ancient stone — a relic of an age when Dwarves and Elves had built side by side. Its walls were softened by time and wrapped in cascading wisteria, their violet blooms swaying gently in the breeze. Lanterns of crystal light hung from every archway, glowing faintly like captured stars.

And behind that palace, in the far horizon, rose Yggdrasil — towering, endless, radiant. The sacred tree’s silver light painted the entire valley, and Rheanor felt its mana brushing against his senses like a whisper, gentle yet commanding. The closer he got, the heavier the air became, as if the land itself demanded reverence.

The palace gave Rheanor a strange sense of nostalgia as he recalled a mansion amid the wisteria blossoms looking like a view more dream-like than reality.

Still, he had to get inside the palace and locate the person he was there for. But he couldn’t approach the palace without notifying the guards. There were mana barriers all around the palace and several guards were stationed around. Rheanor was still at a good distance so, he wasn’t detected but if he touched even a single wisteria then he would be detected instantly.

Rheanor sighed and wondered just how he would get past the mana barrier.

"Come..."

Suddenly a whisper brushed against his ear and he whipped his head around wondering if someone spotted him but there was no one around, just the wind that was blowing around.

"Am I hearing things?" Rheanor murmured to himself and quickly dismissed the idea, a Dragon having auditory hallucinations? Even the dead would laugh at this.

But only a moment later, he felt the strange pull again at his chest, as if someone was tugging right at his chest and the voice insisted.

"Come..."