Meanwhile, Leon and his comrades who were entrusted to welcome the stragglers were finally nearing the portal where Zanya and the other light faes were waiting at.
His heart was racing hard within his ribcage, and it was not caused by the speed of their travels. He knew it was because of her… because of Zanya. Because he was finally going to see her face to face again. It had not been all that long since he had left her in that cave, but he already felt as though it had been months or even years since he had seen her last.
He could not believe how badly he missed her until now. Did she miss him as badly too? He could not help but wonder how she would react once they finally reunite physically.
Leon remembered that time when he first came to the Under Lands looking for her. His heart was also behaving this way. But the good thing this time around was the absence of fear. He was told that they were alright, that she had just stayed behind after negotiating with the dark faes who were guarding the portal to let them enter and head to the Great City without any battle needing to occur between the two groups.
They said that the dark fae lord who was stationed at the portal had decided to let half of them to go ahead first and the other half to stay behind and wait for the King's approval before allowing all the other remaining light faes to enter into the Under Lands.
But despite receiving the reports and knowing that she was alright, his heart was still behaving like this. He felt as though his heartbeat would never go back to beating normally again unless he sees her with his own two eyes.
At last, they finally halted as they reached the camps of the dark faes who were on duty near the portal. It was a surprise to them though that there was not even a single monster that had stopped them while they were crossing the forest. Because the very first time they had passed through this forest, they were forced to fight quite a number of monsters.
"So the three of you are the ones His Majesty the king sent to escort the remaining light faes to the Great City…" a big man, as huge as Samuel stepped up and spoke to them. Leon noticed that this one was filled with so much power, that he felt even stronger than that dark fae lord named Azrael.
There was no need for this man to even introduce himself anymore as they could already tell that he is the lord that the King had mentioned, Lord Cairus. He was not here the last time when they had passed through the portal.
After Samuel spoke to him, the dark fae lord then led them inside the camp. Leon was surprised to see the light faes were already within the camp. He had thought that they did not allow them to cross the portal.
"Tell the light faes to gather now, their escorts are here." Lord Cairus ordered one of his men, and in no time at all, the light faes were all gathered before them.
Leon kept looking through the crowd of light faes. His heart beating wilder because he had yet to spot her. Where is she? Why was Zanya not here with the rest of them?
Suddenly, Leon leapt and landed right before Kariza.
"Where is Zanya?" he asked immediately, causing Kariza to blink for a while.
"Oh, she's with a female dark fae a while ago," the light fae answered.
"Female dark fae?" Leon echoed, when another female light fae spoke.
"I saw them head towards the forest. I think they went in hunting for monsters again –"
"I don't think so, they might –"
Before Kariza could finish her line, Leon was already gone from her sight. He had glanced at Reed and sent a telepathic message telling him that he would go and search for Zanya and then left before Reed could even reply with a single word. Reed could only roll his eyes and report to Samuel what Leon had done.
Leon's face was a bit dark now. Hunting for monsters? Is she serious right now? She should be resting and recuperating instead of running around and hunting for monsters! What was she even thinking?! Was she even thinking in the first place?!
Leon could not help but feel worried and nervous and his heart rate was speeding up crazily. He knew from personal experience that she is strong, but the monsters in this land are very different and she already knew that! Did the female dark fae Kariza mentioned drag her out as her companion to go hunting? He gritted his teeth as he thought that she might get hurt again.
As he entered the forest again, his purple orbs turned completely blood red as he searched the woods in haste and his senses were fully honed to pick up on her scent and sound. He spotted a woman and immediately headed to the spot. It was a female dark fae…
The woman threw a spear created by dark magic as soon Leon landed a few steps away from her. But Leon quickly dodged the projectile and immediately growled out. "I'm not an enemy," he explained. "I am here to fetch Zanya. We need to get back quickly to the Great City now. Our queen is summoning us."
"Oh…" the woman scrutinized him, and it seemed as though she already knew who he was judging from the fact that she had already dropped her weapon and relaxed her attack stance. "Zanya's still not done. She said she'll follow up in a… hey!! Where are you going?" she shouted out after Leon's disappearing back.
Leon ignored the female dark fae's shouts and continued forward. He could no longer take this. He wanted to see her. And he wanted to see her right now! And what did she mean that she is not done? She is not done hunting yet?! This woman…
All of a sudden, Leon skidded to a stop the moment he arrived at a flowing stream. His crimson red eyes quickly returned to their normal and beautiful lavender hue as he looked at the view displayed before him.
Zanya was currently half submerged in the stream's water, fully naked and without a stitch on her exquisite and lithe body. She had lifted her head and was looking at him with a raised brow, without any hint of surprise at all on her beautiful face.. "What's up my dear pervert?" that greeting was then followed by a mischievous smirk spread across her moist and tempting lips.