Menedelia and Angnded outside the hut.
Menedelia quickly unties Ang from the rope that is binding her to the chair.
The door opened.
Reba looked at the strangers outside the house in surprise. Only the two women returned? How did it happen? "Where is Granny Menedelia?" she asked them.
Ang and Menedelia looked at each other.
"Child, it''s me... Granny!" Menedelia stated.
Frowning, Reba shook her head. "Whaaaat!? You don''t look like her at all!" she said.
"What are you talking about!?" Menedelia looked at Ang and quickly removed the gagged from her mouth. "Ang, looked at me... what''s wrong with my face?" she asked.
Ang shakes her head. "You''re not the old Granny Menedelia that I know!" she replied quickly.
Menedelia''s eyes widened in shock. If Ang and Reba no longer know her, then something must have changed on her face! Did that old witch turn her into something else other than her old woman self?
What if...?
Holy shiit!
She rushed inside the house, went to her room, grabbed the mirror, and looked at herself.
She had a hard time believing what she saw in the mirror! Oh, my! She''s no longer an old woman! The wrinkles and sagging skin were gone! Her younger self is back!
She smiled brightly looking at herself in the mirror! Tears of happiness flooded her face.
Reba stood in the doorway, she stared at the stranger crying on the floor, she wore the same clothes as Granny before she left earlier. Which only means one thing... "Granny, don''t tell me that the curse was already lifted by that witch?" she asked for confirmation.
Menedelia nods her head. Then she remembered her friend Evelyn that went missing!
Where the hell is she?
Why she didn''t stick to their ns?
She rose to her feet. She needs to go back to the abandoned manor and find her friend!
She left her room and saw Ang sitting on the chair in the tiny living room crying silently. She went to her side. "Ang, did you see your mother? Why she''s gone? What happened to her?" she bombarded her with questions.
Ang raised her tear-stained eyes to Menedelia and replied, "My mother told Rigor that she will stay by his side as long he will set me free, then they suddenly vanished from the room!" She continues sobbing.
Menedelia''s knees weakened, she lowered herself on the chair. C-could it be that the reason why Evelyn finally decided to go with Rigor... to free her daughter and to undo the curse? Is that the reason why Evelyn discarded their n?
No, this can''t be!
She needs to find Evelyn!
She looked at Reba, she''s currently giving Ang a ss of water to drink. "Child, take care of Ang for me. I''ll return soon. I have to find Evelyn!" she said worriedly.
Reba sighed. "Go on. I''ll take care of Ang," she replied.
Menedelia patted Ang''s shoulder. "I''ll find your mother!" she said with a fierce determination shing in her eyes. "Stay here and wait for me!"
"Okay," Ang said.
Reba gave Ang a handkerchief to wipe the tears from her face.
Menedelia looked at Reba. "Take care of her..."
"I will!" Reba assured her.
Menedelia closed her eyes and teleported herself back to the abandoned manor.
A few momentster.
Menedelianded in the same ce, but to her surprise, the abandoned manor was no longer in sight. The only thing that can be seen around the area was the ttened surface, with a few pieces of rocks and rubble above it. Even the garden and theke where she had seen Rigor bathed before was nowhere to be seen.
So... the old couple told her the truth earlier. The whole ce will crumble into the ground!
Everything that was associated with the abandoned manor was gone!
What the hell is going on!?
What happened to this ce? She was only gone for a few minutes? How can such a huge change take ce so quickly? Could it be that the abandoned manor didn''t exist in its physical form, but it''s only part of an illusion?
If yes... then where is the exact hiding ce of the Naga creatures?
She looked around the area... just a vast wilderness, mountains, wild trees, nts, and bushes staring back at her!
Nothing else to see here but wilderness!
"Evelynnnnnnnnnnnnn!"
"Evelynnnnnnn whereeeeee areeeeeeeeeeee youoooooo!"
"Evlynnnnnnn answerrrrrrrr meeeeeeeeeeee!"
Menedelia shouted at the top of her lungs over and over again until her voice grew hoarse due to so much shouting.
No one answered her call.
A few minutester.
She got tired of shouting and lowered herself above the t surface of the rock located under the shade of the tree.
She took a deep breath and looked heavenward, the sun is shining brightly in the sky.
The atmosphere around the area is windy.
She watched the nearest mountain.
She looked into the East, West, South, and North.
Where to find Evelyn in this vast area?
She got a headache just thinking about it.
"Evelyn, where are you!?" she said aloud.
The only answer she can hear was the loud chirping of the birds hopping from branches to branches.
She closed her eyes for a few minutes trying to listen to the loud beating of her heart.
Then she remembered Ang!
She needs to bring her back to the capital and exin everything to Lord Tony. Then there''s also Evelyn''s parents.
Although Evelyn already made a letter for her parents, she still needs to exin everything to them in a personal manner. She just can''t drop the letter in the couple''s room while they were sleeping and go away as if nothing happens.
Then she also needs to exin to them her new appearance!
Ugh, so many things to exin to a lot of people! And none of them is pleasant at all!
Now that Evelyn is gone, she''s left alone to deal with everything and do the exining... and it''s gonna be a painful truth for everyone to deal with.
She stood up.
She was ready to leave the ce. She will return here the next day to explore the ce further.
Then all of a sudden she heard a voice...
"Mendee!"
"Mendeeee..."
"Mendeeeeeee..."
"Mendeeeeeeeeeeee..."
It''s a woman''s voice calling her name like a whisper. It sounded like the voice of someone familiar to her.
She spun around in circles trying to locate the location of the voice, but the voice is everywhere carried by the wind.
A painful headache hammered her head.
She sat on the rock again, trying to rest, she closed her eyes hoping the pain will go away.
A few minutester.
The pain in her head finally subsided. She got a headache due to overthinking her problems!
"Mendeeee..."
"Mendeeeeeeee..."
There it is again, she heard the voice again... where is it?"
She looked at the side of the East... it seemed that it''s where the voice came from!
She rushed in that direction, she encountered wild bushes along the way, pping her face several times. She put her hands in front of her face to shield her face from the shrubs.
She had searched for minutes and yet she can''t locate the origin of the voice.
Then she reached a clearing in the middle of the forest.
There... she saw something behind the big trunk of the tree.
When she rushed to the trunk... what she saw behind the tree made her knees go weak and she crumbled to the ground.
Her world suddenly went spinning around, her surrounding turned dark and she fainted right on the spot.
Meanwhile...
Back at Menedelia''s fortress.
Reba was getting worried.
Two hours already passed, and yet Granny hasn''t returned yet.
Ang was done with her crying and was rehearsing in her mind how to exin everything to her family regarding what transpired on thest hour she saw her mother.
Reba was walking back and forth on the floor in a state of restlessness. She looked at Ang. "Can you bring me to that ce? I''ve never been there. I''m getting worried of Granny. Let''s find out why it took her so long to return?" she said.
"Okay," Ang replied.
The women held hands and teleported to the location of the abandoned manor.
When theynded there...
Ang was stunned. "What''s going on here? What happened to this ce?" she asked, her brows knitted together in confusion.
Reba looked at herpanion. "What is it? Why you look so shock?" she asked.
Ang looked around her, scanning the whole area. "The abandoned manor was gone! And this is the only thing left, a t area!" she replied, still reeling from the shock.
Reba stared at the t area in front of her. "Indeed! I see no crumbling structure of a manor here. What''s going on? Is this the ce where Rigor imprisoned you?"
Ang nodded her head. "Yeah, there should be an old manor standing in front of us now! But it''s gone! Where did it go?" she asked in bewilderment.
Reba shrugged. "Well... there''s nothing we can do about it. We shall start looking for Granny, she must be somewhere around these area," she said, scanning the area, looking for possible ces that Menedelia will try to explore.
Ang nods her head. "I''ll check the North and East part, while you check the West and South area. Then we shall meet again here a few minutester," she suggested.
"Okay, I''ll go now and check my designated areas!" Reba said. She rose in the air and went to the West part of the area.
Ang levitated in the air and scanned the area in her jurisdiction.
Meanwhile...
Reba was getting deeper into the Western part of the area. Below her, she saw a clearing surrounded by towering trees.
She lowered herself to the ground and scanned the surroundings.
Then her eyes caught something near the trunk of a big tree.
Human forms?
She went closer...
And there...
What she saw made her vomit!
A dirty old woman with messy hair covering her whole face was eating something with her hand... her mouth was covered with blood... and on herp was Granny Menedelia''s blooded face!
Holy shiit!