Ominous

Orion opened his eyes and saw the worried face of Karina. He frowned and slowly sat up. It was a bit confusing for him but after he collected himself, he looked around the people surrounding him.

"I'm sorry," he whispered which was heard by his entourage.

"No need for that, are you feeling alright?" General Rohan asked.

Orion nodded, he doesn't feel anything out of place. He was just a bit dizzy and his mind is still a bit fuzzy. He didn't know how it happens, he just felt that after they entered the forest something made him irritated all of a sudden.

"The forest is filled with a negative aura which is a contrast to your innate affinity, this might be the reason why you were affected by it and you were a bit unstable even before we entered this forest." General Rohan explained. The forest's negative aura was so dense that if they were just ordinary people passing through, they would surely not survive. The general was not sure about what was happening inside the Emerald Forest but one is for certain, they needed to get out from the forest as soon as possible.

According to his calculation, it would take at least two days before they are out of the ominous forest but since the horses were terrified and can't be used during this time, they needed to walk and it would take them an additional day to reach Forest's opening on the other side. That is not appealing since the general doesn't want them to spend one or two nights inside the forest. They don't know what happened and even if they wanted to investigate, they can't do it at the moment. General Rohan resolved to send a message to the Capital and ask the king to send someone to investigate.

"Let's get moving, the longer the distance we can cover, the shorter the time we will spend here." General Rohan announced after he was sure that the prince can continue. Orion nodded and stood up with Karina's help.

"Why don't you ride one of the horses, I'll cast healing magic on it along the journey," Karina suggested, she's worried that Orion might get tired and suddenly collapse.

"No, I'm fine walking. It's more dangerous to ride a horse in my situation." Orion shook his head and he knew that to continuously cast a spell will eventually exhaust Karina. He didn't want to spend Karina's energy anymore in case they encounter something unexpected on the way.

They were able to cover quite a distance and was forced to stop and camp. It would do them no good to continue during the night as it was more dangerous. They continued on the first ray of light cautiously.

"Have you received any messages from Captain Rom or any information from the border?" General Rohan asked Arthur who was busy conversing with his wind spirits.

He shook his head in disappointment, "nothing, there's too much interference here that my wind spirits can't roam around freely or be able to pass and get out of the forest."

General Rohan can't do anything about this. The negative energy in the forest was too thick that even an ordinary person like him could feel it in his bones. He could only sigh and gestured for them to continue. The group spent almost three days inside the forest before they were able to reach the other side.

They were in a better mood after they came out of the forest without encounter any mishaps. "We will be passing through the Serpens River before we can reach the birder base, it will only take less than a day with a horse, but we need to rest first."

The soldiers and the order found a place to rest. They were glad to be finally out of that ominous forest. Some conditioned the horses for the fast ride since they were a bit uncooperative after their journey inside the Emerald forest.

"Your highness, let me check your pulse." Karina crouched down in front of Orion and duly noted the Prince's pulse. After a while, she nodded in satisfaction, his pulse was strong and there was nothing wrong with the flow of energy inside his body. "I'm glad that you're alright now."

"Thank you," Orion sincerely thanked Karina. She was always there to look after him, ever since he can remember. The Order was already part of his family.

"We will be taking the Serpens Pass, since the weather is good, we can reach the border base by noon now that we can use the horses," General Rohan informed them. The Serpens Pass was made by carving the side of the mountain range of the Serpentine Mountain just above the Serpens River that flows until the bordering kingdom of Archellia and beyond. Nobody knows where the river ends since no one had ever tried to explore it because of its natural rapids that can easily pull and sunk boats, aside from that the river is full of large boulders that no boat can easily travel the river. It's a dangerous site during stormy weather but a sight to behold during the sunny weather.

"Can't we just spend the night here and wait for the border warriors to come and get us?" Arthur suddenly suggested out of the blue. All eyes turned to him with a questioning look. It was rare for Arthur to suddenly suggest something like this.

"We can't, we've already wasted time inside the Emerald Forest, since we're already there, we shouldn't waste time anymore," General Rohan frowned, it's not like he doesn't want to but he can't. The Southern Border is in a dire situation right now and they can't be leisurely on the journey. "We are not sure of the border's situation right now, so we must hurry. We can't predict what will happen if we still delay."

"I agree with the general, the border hasn't sent any replies to our messages, this is a sign that something must have happened, I just hope that nothing worse happened to our warriors in that place," Orion spoke up in concern.

Arthur agreed with them but he can't shake off the nagging feeling that something bad will happen if they leave the area they are in right now. "But..." he hesitated for a moment, he was unsure if he can say it since it was only his gut feelings, no basis at all.

Orion watched as Arthur became more anxious and restless, "what is it? Is something wrong?"

Arthur sighed, "I just feel an ominous feeling. I don't have any evidence but something's not right..." he voiced out his concern which made the group silent for a moment.

"We just need to risk it. Let's just be more vigilant on the way. We can't remain here, the more time we stall the more time we lose." Orion decided. He knows that it's wrong for him to ignore Arthur's words but they can't spend their time just resting while the Southern border is in an unknown danger.

Arthur remained silent before he gave up and nodded his head in agreement. He might as well be prepared in case something happens. Karina and Apollo also made some preparations to make sure that the prince will remain safe if Arthur's premonition comes to pass.