He replied with a Hmm? My mouth was left parted, and my mind went into a daze. A fear rose into me. What if I wouldn't get to see this face ever again. Such thought bewildered me and filled me with unease.
"You are Tremious?" Her mellow voice came from behind as she raised the same question as me.
Dermis, on the other hand, wasn't all too surprised and replied with a clear voice.
"It's been a while since I saw you take this form."
"Did you two perhaps think that they other tiny version of myself is my real form?" He squinted his eyes with disappointment and judged our mentality for a long time. Kyoko and I glanced at each other and shook our heads.
Tremious breathed out a sum of air from his nose and ruffled through his newly styled hair.
With a poof he turned back into his smaller body. My eyes went round with astonishment. Every time he would turn into his taller self, Ororon's face would falter with perplexed expressions. His little eyebrows turned into giant frowns, and his lips adjusted to a pout.
"Relax, kid, I only turn into my taller self when needed. This form is more comfortable." Tremious rushed towards Ororon as if to explain his new demeanour.
I was again a little hesitant to request his taller form. It's such a waste to prevent the world from placing their gaze upon that face. He is the most handsome person I had ever laid my eyes on. I fidgeted my fingers and tried my best to open my mouth. However, my guilty conscience hindered me from doing so.
Soon enough, the elephant was out of the room, and the party marched forward to the land of the Demi's.
***
"Woah."
Gigantic trails made out of the living roots of the giant timbers, following across the bushy landscape that has been modernised. Several colossus mushrooms of beaming colours barged out of the ground as if to show off. They were large enough to host a family of people in them. The tracks made out of solid squares of wood that couldn't be seen elsewhere. Over the top many bridges connected to different massive sherman trees, where holes were dug inside them to form a household, shops and decors. The sunlight couldn't reach the ground due to the heavy bushes of the sherman trees and strings of elevators stuck to each tree for transport. A busy bustling atmosphere filled with people with horns and Tails carrying languages and bags on their shoulders. Tails, whiskers, and ears called the people of Tailviel.
"You come from such a glamorous place?" I voiced out.
Kyoko didn't answer and just nodded her head while picking up her pace to lead us through the town.
Out of the mere blue, whispers from the town folks surged into my ears. Although I wasn't a demi human, I could still rely on my senses.
(Did you catch that?)
[Yes, they are speaking ill of us]
(What? Why?)
[I wish I know blockhead!]
Her sassy voice cut off my ears, and I frowned deeply to focus and catch their words in the next time.
The people with whiskers at shop fronts and the one's with tails judged us from head to toe from the corner of their eyes. The bustling atmosphere turned crisp cold in a second as the thin pupils followed us through. They read every movement and breath. The whispers I wished to hear came sooner than expected, so? Why are there so many of them?
"Look at her...."
"She came back?"
"Why is she here again?"
"Ehw gross Why her again?"
"And we thought we managed to remove her from here. Mother was right. We weren't hard enough."
"Lily, get away from that woman."
The busy crowd stopped and walked away from us. The party began reading the room immediately. We all stopped at our respectable tracks except for Kyoko. Did she not hear them? No, that's impossible she could hear them from a mile away if she wanted.
"Kyoko?"
She didn't look behind and continued walking. Dermis and I faced each other in confusion.
On contrary to us, Tremious took Ororon and followed behind her, unfazed.
"Dermis?"
"I don't know this time around. Let's just follow them till we get out of here."
"Alright..." I breathed out.
Without another word, we gulped down our worries and followed behind her slim shoulders. The air around us was suffocating enough.
The town sight was being excluded as we went deep inside the Trailveil. The modernising shadows and air were baffling. Soon, the sherman trees became smaller and smaller, and the mushrooms became more moderate size, yet they were still larger than normal. Houses made of bricks and red velvet woods turned into simple huts. The huts were quite familiar. They had the same exterior and design as Kyoko's house in the dragons layer.
At last, Kyoko finally halted at her pace and began to catch her breath. She has been speed walking from the town square up till here. As usual, it was me who tried to call out to her and ask about her actions. This time, I distanced myself from the boys and tried talking to her separately.
"Kyoko.....are you alright?"
She was a little startled by my voice, yet still replied to me with her nurturing voice.
"Yes, I'm."
"What happened back there?"
"Ah....I'm not the most likeable person around here, you see." She gave a rough laugh before taking a pause.
I wanted to question further, but that seemed inappropriate and unwanted. Her body language screamed 'uncomfortable'.
"It's alright, let's not go back there again."
"Yes....that would be for the best."
"How are we supposed to gain information, if not in the town square?" His raspy voice echoed from behind.
"I'm sure there's other ways." I intended to compromise.
"She's right. There might be other ways." At last, his clear voice resonated with mine.
"There is a small town up ahead. It also has merchants,"
"Then we can go there."
Dermis received Kyoko's orders and went to action within seconds. Kyoko finally got her energy back and held Ororon close to her before following behind. Tremious clicked his tongue and frowned with annoyance.
"You don't seem to be happy?"
"She's wasting our time."
"She must have her reasons."
"Why tangle up us along with it?"
"Come on, give her a rest, Sir Dragon."
"That's what I've been doing for the past five years."
"....., she has been in the dragons layer for the past five years?"
"Huh? Yeah, so?"
"Why would she spend her time there? In that dead land?"
"That dead land is a home to many dragons. It may look dead, but it has treasures enough to buy the whole Trailviel kingdom five times."
"I didn't mean that,....., i meant to say, why would she choose dragons' layers out of all the other places?"
"Beats me, I know one fact, though,"
"Hmm?"
"She was quite desperate on living there, as if it depended her life. She scraped every money she could just to buy that land from the yellow dragon."
I felt silent after his words and went into pondering.
(Feel her mana for me)
[No]
(Come on, I will do anything you say.)
[Five ice mana stones]
(Deal!)
Tomb didn't speak for a while, and I could sense a new type of mana being pulled near me. The mana finally was conveyed to me.
[Fear, unease, and diabolical]
(Why?)
[Again!! Why do you ask me as if i know everything, Douchebag!!]
She hissed for a whole five minutes in my head, and at this point, she couldn't do anything else to annoy me.
My brain started magnificenting many possibilities and reasons for why the situation was made in such a way. With the pieces of information from Tremious and Tomb, it was still unclear as to why Kyoko was put on the edge.