30 In the other realm 2

Meanwhile…

[Notice: You have successfully transported to the other realm, Fahren]. Zarame's voice echoed in Aliester's head.

[Mission: find the reincarnated princess of Verbena]. Zarame contiued.

The young lord somehow knew that they had already crossed and he got a new mission, but he could not concentrate.

He felt like he had been thrown around while being teleported with the spell. Thus, he was suffering from slight motion sickness.

Feeling dizzy, Aliester landed with a loud thump on the ground. "Oooof!"

"Damn!" He gasped as he felt an added weight landing hard on top of him.

"Get off!" The young lord grunted as he tried to shove the other person, who happened to be the mage off him.

"Is everyone all right?" Blaze asked as he climbed down the tree where he crash-landed.

The mage tried to get back on his feet while helping the young lord. He replied to the king. "We are okay…"

But was not able to finish his statement as Aliester pulled him down.

"Watch out!" the young duke screamed as he protected the mage. The two rolled on the ground to avoid the incoming attack of the deadly nightshade.

But the creature's attack did not reach them. Suddenly appearing out of nowhere, the Verbenian knight was quick to intercept.

Daxton was able to severe some of the woody fingers with his sword. But instead of stopping the plant like monster, it seemed as though the attack enraged it.

"Damn this monster!" the knight evaded as the nightshade's claws regenerated and elongated to counterattack.

The nightshade once again tried to swipe Daxton. But this time, redheaded king was able to slash at the monster. However, it was not enough to take it down.

"Where did this thing come from?" Aliester asked while getting back on his feet. He helped the mage and produced the same knife he used to cut his palm earlier.

Then he got into a defensive position.

"It came with the guards earlier. But this thing slipped through the pentagram before you transported." Daxton answered while dodging the creature's sharp claws.

The team was at a disadvantage. Conrad was still exhausted from the transportation spell and the backlash. While the others were not able to recover from their injuries they had acquired from the riot.

"This thing is tough!" Blaze grunted as he tried to cut one of its legs.

The enemy was strong and their strength was barely enough to prevent the monster from giving them fatal wounds. But they refused to give up.

"We need to work together." Aliester suggested. "Conrad will you be able restrain him?"

"I still have mana left." The mage answered.

Working as a team, Conrad managed to restrain the creature with bind and the others were able to cut most of its appendages.

Unfortunately, when Blaze tried to give the final blow, the nightshade struggled and threw them off.

The others were thrown to the ground while the young king crashed through several gravestones.

"Darn it!" Blaze cursed as his shoulder snap. Due to the sharp pain, the redhead was not able to stop himself from rolling towards the cliff.

The young king almost fell off the cliff but someone caught his collar before he could fall to his death.

With the enemies rendered defenseless, the monster zeroed in on the closest vulnerable target. The nightshade approached Aliester while raising its remaining claw.

Since the young lord was not able to anticipate that the nightshade would target him, he wasn't able to defend himself properly.

As the claws inched towards the duke's son, Aliester braced himself for the slashes. But instead, he saw a flash of black strands before the nightshade was sent a few meters away and crashing into one of the gravestones.

Aliester was grateful that he was saved from the attack. He tried to see his savior and was astonished to catch a glimpse of a very familiar figure.

Her black coat and short red skirt fluttered as she took off after the nightshade. The white cloth which was used to conceal her weapon danced with the air before it fell on the ground.

The girl held out a sword and unsheathed it. Discarding the sheath, the girl got into a semi crouch position while holding the single edged sword by her left.

It was as if the girl had pulled the monster's aggro. The nightshade gave a resonating roar before charging at the girl head on.

"Watch out!" Blaze shouted when he saw that the nightshade tried to claw the girl.

Aliester tried not to blink as he watched her move. From her initial position, she rose, sidestepped and dodged the claw.

Then she swung her sword and slashed at the nightshade. In a split second she reappeared unscathed a few meters away from the monster.

The monster tried to move but its claw fell off, followed by its head. The rest of its body toppled down and turned into ashes.

After the girl killed the monster, she sheathed her sword and turned towards them. Her face was hidden with shadow since the light from the moon was at her background.

But when she finally sauntered near them, Aliester's eyes almost popped out.

"Aria." His blue grey eyes widened at the sight of his twin.

His younger sister looked the same but he knew that something is different. She looked a bit melancholic and she has lost weight.

[Notice: Mission find the princess, cleared.] came Zarame's notification.

[New mission: convince the princess in going back to Lamiales.]

Aliester was dumbstruck. He was expecting the Kanna was the princess. He never thought that it would be his twin.

He was even more shell shocked when Aria suddenly hyperventilated. She then burst into tears and had jumped to embrace him.

"Bro!" she whimpered.

Aliester's companions gave them puzzled looks in return. Aliester was a bit perplexed.

'Did Aria recognize that it was him inside? They are twins, so may be she instinctively knew that he was Aris.'

Those were the things running in his head.

Since the girl was still crying, he lifted his hand and rubbed her back soothingly.

"It is okay, Aria. Calm down now…" he tried comforting her. He felt that tears were gathering at the corner of his eyes.

It was rare for him to be this emotional, but it was even uncommon for his feisty twin to be crying like a child. She was the mature one.

Aria eventually stopped sobbing. When she broke free from his embraced, Aliester could see her red eyes and somehow runny nose.

"I apologize for hugging you like that. You look so much like my cousin, Aliester Alcove."

'that confirms it.' Aliester thought. The girl is the missing princess. It seemed his twin has memories when she was Innocia.

"I am Aliester Alcove, your highness." He decided to simply act like his predecessor.

However, his little slip of tongue earlier seemed to have not gone unnoticed

"How did you know that my name is Aria?" she skeptically asked.