Stranger Lands

As they got back on their feet they found themselves standing on thick smoke.The smoke was dark in places and in other it was white. It was very difficult for them to look at each other.

"It is better if we keep our eyes closed" Said Xie "cut off a piece of your garment and blindfold yourselves. The smoke ahead might even be toxic. Be on your guard. Use your intuitions. " He adviced.

They followed the instructions. As they proceeded carefully they could hear the sounds of sort of birds.

"Boshu.Boshu.Do you hear that? I think it's sort of birds. Would you be able to communicate with them? " Lin asked with his hopes high.

"No no no no no. " Boshu was mumbling.

"What happened? I thought you were a bird yourself" Roe mocked him.

"Boshu i thought you were scared of wolves. Now you are even scared of birds? " Lin was confused.

"You don't understand. This is bad news. This is the sound of the hell bound birds of prey . This is bad news" Boshu was trembling.

"Hell bound birds of prey. But i thought they weren't real" Xie objected.

"Exactly.This is the other side of reality. Everything unreal in our world is a reality in this one" Boshu explained.

"What do we do" They asked in unison.

"First of all, we need to hide our scents" Boshu breathed deep as he tried thinking of possible ways to ward off the evil approaching them.

"Hide our scents? How? " Roe wondered.

"It will be difficult to hide your stink, but we do it by concentrating our soul energy and transporting it to our feet" Lin didn't miss this chance to taunt them "it will hurt a bit at first when you walk or run. But you get used to it".

Xie and Roe looked at eachother. " So that is how you guys have mastered the art of disguise"Roe seemed quite impressed.

Lin smirked arrogantly as he saw them struggle, trying to concentrate their soul energy.

Just as they finished they heard one fly right over their head. They ducked just to avoid the huge force field it's flight generated.

"Where exactly are we supposed to go from here? " Boshu asked in a whisper.

"We need to follow a Direction star that will lead us towards the Land of the lakes, beyond which lies the Infinite Meadows where the Tree of knowledge is" Roe recited from memory.

"But how do we find a star in this smoke? Besides we can't even take our blinds off, least our eyes start to bleed" Boshu complained.

"Under no circumstances can we take the blinds off. Many have gone blind and mad in their pursuit of this journey. These are some of the reasons it's not undertaken by many" Xie warned.

"There is another way of 'seeing'. Everyone try to concentrate hard on your hearing ability. We have to send out sound waves and make out the landscape ahead as the echo returns. " Lin suggested.

"Like the bats? But we will attract the birds of prey if we send out the sound waves" Roe observed.

"Then we will have to deal with them. We can't just keep hiding. Let's move forward" Lin summoned his sword in one hand and a horn in the other.

The rest of them brought forth their own weapons and got ready for defence.

"On the count of three" Lin announced as he got ready to blow the horn "Is everyone ready? " He asked.

"Ready" They echoed as they stood in formation.

As soon as the horn was blown, all hell broke lose as they were attacked by the hell bound birds of prey from left right and centre. As they others fought them off bravely, Lin concentrated into finding the Direction star. The battle continued for quite sometime till they were struggling to fight the creatures off.

"Lin we won't be able to hold on much longer . Do you have any lead? " Roe asked.

"I can sense the star. It's very very close to us. In fact right inside our circle but i can't pin point it" Lin answered.

The others continued warding the birds off as they targeted one after the other.

"I have no other option. I am taking my blinds off. Everyone please hold on a bit more" Lin announced after he could find no more way to detect the star.

"Lin be careful" Boshu yelled.

With a deep sigh, Lin opened his blinds and looked around, feeling for the Direction star or it's aura. After looking around for sometimes, Lin found something glowing under his feet. As he peeked to look closely as his eyes started burning, he saw a star shaped luminescent object under his feet.

"I think I found it. " He said as he pulled it out. But as he tried pulling it out, he felt a sharp pain and yelled "Aahhh!!! "

"Lin.What happened? " Boshu too took off his blind and saw the luminous star in Lin's hand with a luminous string attached with his body.

One by one the others opened their blinds too stood dumbstruck at the sight.

"What is this? " Wondered Roe.

"This could mean only one thing" Xie answered her question.

"What? " Asked Boshu and Roe together.

"This means Lin is very intricately related with the purpose of our quest" Xie answered.

"What is that supposed to mean? " Asked Roe and Boshu unable to understand what Xie just said.

"What he means is that I have some deep connection with the purpose of this quest, that means I have something to do with the curse that is about to wreck havoc in our world" Lin replied before Xie could, trying to defuse the atmosphere of suspicion a little.

It did seem to work as Xie nodded in agreement and said "let's not waste anymore time and head towards our destination".

" Yes. Let's go" Roe pulled Lin's hand as he and Boshu exchanged a quick look. The four of them then moved forward.