Aftermath (2)

Straightening up abruptly, he scanned his surroundings carefully. Orion's head swivelled from side to side as he observed every detail around him, briefly fixating on an unconscious, unfamiliar figure wearing a familiar tulga lying nearby.

After a while, he began to grapple with the reality that he had returned to the village.

'How? How did I return to the village? Where's Aegis of the Arctic Deity? What happened to the trial? What about Crystalia and the other participants? Did they make it?' Orion's mind raced with questions, trying to fathom the various reasons for his return to the village.

'Maybe they managed to free themselves from the mountain?' he considered, but the more he contemplated it, the less plausible it seemed.

It was highly unlikely that they had settled the war, regrouped, defeated White Flame, and escaped the mountain in such a short span of time.