The poor druid would lose his vision a short while later; while his short life came to an end, only the bitter taste of doing what he believed in remained in his hand.
Life force was withdrawing from his veins; I guess this is what they call death, Ainle thought. He wanted to accustom himself to his body getting colder gradually, but in these last moments, a voice he was familiar with from before would ring in his mind and shake him.
"I knew you wouldn't disappoint me; now you can come to my side!"
The voice he heard was the same as the one telling him it was waiting at the top of the pyramid, the shimmer he saw while leaving the third dungeon; while the vitality running away from his body returned rapidly, the young druid opened his eyes in panic.
He was still in the position he took to solve the symbols, that is, sitting cross-legged; while advancing in the air ten meters above the ground, all he could see were the two orcs looking at him from below.
"Nafız, what is happening; putting aside the weird movements he made since we entered, where is he going now?"
What Ainle didn't know was that he managed to open the door before the attacks coming onto the Blood Dome tore it apart; a light had swallowed them and brought all three to the place they were in, which was wide and whose ceiling couldn't be seen.
"I guess he passed his last trial successfully too; I wonder very much what we will encounter upon his return!"
Watching the meditating druid, the female orc had more or less figured out what happened; writhing in pain, drowning in tears, and finally coming to the brink of death was the last test his will had to give.
"Okay, what will we do; those outside got quite angry when they couldn't break your shield, especially that geezer who came later was almost gnawing on his staff from anger!"
"I don't know; surely something cooking at the neighbor's will fall to us too!"
While the two friends chatted, the scrawny druid had already risen high enough not to see them; as he approached the green seal appearing on the ceiling, he couldn't contain his excitement.
Two breaths later, when he touched the seal, he would feel like a small dot inside the void; in these moments, he had closed his eyes with fear and wouldn't open them until the sweet breeze hit his face.
"I have been waiting for you for a thousand years, Ainle; are you ready to be reborn?"
Leaving aside what he heard, the scrawny druid was speechless faced with the scenery before him; he was in the middle of a clearing with a diameter of at most five meters inside a dense forest.
While all four sides were surrounded by flowers of every color, the sound of the river flowing right next to him was cleaning his soul almost like a divine melody.
There was a small hut right opposite him; it was very simple with its narrow door and single window. It had a structure different from what he had seen before; as if the woods forming the hut had grown from the ground and taken this shape.
"Come on, come; only if you drink the tea without letting it cool can you get its real taste!"
When the voice possessed by the green shimmer called out once more, the enchanted Ainle came to his senses, but a second later he would dive into another dream world.
It was no longer a green shimmer talking to him; with her skin resembling porcelain, lips the color of newly blossomed cherry blossoms, and magnificent body lines that would make those who saw feel pitiful, it was a woman calling out to him.
Ainle ran to the side of the magnificent woman almost floating in the air; taking the tea prepared for him, he would sit exactly opposite her. There wasn't more than a span of distance between the duo sitting in meditation position; the scrawny druid could feel the goddess's breath on his skin.
"I wonder why you brought me here?"
While words came out of the mouth of the young druid speaking with a gulp, overlapping each other, the poor thing couldn't take his eyes off the beauty in front of him.
"Young Ainle, do you know the true story of the Orc Steppes and the Wild Swamp?"
Ainle, receiving a question in return for his question, shook his head left and right meaning no; it was impossible for someone who spent most of his life inside the Main Settlement to know these subjects.
While Ainle began to meet the realities at the peak of the pyramid, there was a surprise for the two orcs waiting for him below.
"Nafız, look behind you quickly!"
The female orc, turning to the place Alyon indicated with his hand, saw two wide beams of light hitting the ground; undoubtedly, this was a sign given for them.
"Come on, let's see; I wonder what kind of thing we will deal with this time!"
While the two friends walked under the lights hitting the ground, the tests in the three dungeons they passed before were in their minds; they were desperately trying to guess how the last one could be.
Since they couldn't know without living it, the duo passed under the lights without hesitation; vanishing before a moment passed, they would open their eyes in a completely different place just like Ainle.
Apart from being sent to different places, there wasn't the slightest similarity in the environments they were in; Alyon was in a chaotic battlefield with his terrifying axe in his hand.
Before understanding what happened, he was surrounded by humans attacking him as if indicating they were his enemies; judging by their appearances, it was obvious they weren't very strong, but the grey-haired orc couldn't be this optimistic about their numbers.
If someone attacked him, how could Alyon stand calm? The orc warrior started mowing down whoever came before him; blood splashing on his face and severed limbs had become a natural part of his life for a long time.
He felt good mostly here, on the battlefield; only a single voice was echoing in his mind cleared of all thoughts.
"Fight!"
While one of the two orcs was in a mad struggle, the other was walking calmly in the streets of a city with wide avenues.
While watching her surroundings indifferently, she kept her head always upright to let the sunlight warm her face.
There were so many people passing around her; what was really interesting were the orcs included in this crowd.
This race, which had always lived isolated from the rest of the world, was wandering in the streets of the city in their leather armors, drinking, laughing, and having fun in shops with tables thrown in front of them.
"Hey half-orc, wouldn't you want to come and have a drink with us?"
Nafız would be quite surprised because the warriors established around a table called out to her; this group consisting of a total of five people was composed of two orcs, two druids, and one human.
"Did you call out to me?"
"Of course we called out to you, friend; come on, don't be shy, join us!"
The ugly orc, having a huge leg in front of him, was speaking with an attitude completely contrary to his external appearance; faced with this situation attracting her interest considerably, Nafız wouldn't resist much either.
"Thanks for your invitation, but why did you call me half-orc?"
The ugly orc with the wide frame had said so while calling her, half-orc; this was the subject the female orc, hearing this term for the first time, wondered about the most.
"Friend, looking at your physique which is slender for an orc and your petite facial features, I can say very easily that one of your parents was human or druid!"
Nafız was shocked at what she heard, but more importantly, these words had come out of the man's mouth as if it were a very normal and ordinary thing.
"Then I will be pleased to accompany my friends; I am new around here, I hope you can give me some information about the surroundings!"
Although she didn't understand what was happening, the female orc couldn't miss this opportunity; she joined the conversation continuing with plenty of laughter and jokes.
One orc was on the battlefield, the other at a table of friends; the druid who ensured their arrival here had turned all his attention to the cherry blossom-colored lips of the breathtaking woman to hear what would come out of her mouth.
"If I said Druids and Orcs were two tight allies ruling the whole world together for thousands of years, would you believe me?"
Ainle, whose head was already spinning with the aroma spread by the goddess's pleasant breath, had heard something he wouldn't see even in his wildest dream.
Were orcs drowning in their own sh*t in a corner of the world and druids constantly harassed by four civilizations looking down on everyone once upon a time?