"I know. I asked that voice the same question. But it only said that they could only rescue me and not others due to various reasons that they can't say. It also added that it couldn't take the risk and gave me certain abilities to help you in case you happened to come here," The girl answered.
Viktor felt that he had no choice but to believe her words for now since there was one thing that was making him feel worried and bad after seeing his destroyed village.
"You said you were imprisoned with the others...did you by chance come across a couple named Avan and Del? They are supposed to be middle-aged and—"
"They were your foster parents, right?" The girl asked in a tone of surety.
"Foster? How...did you know that they were my foster parents and not blood-related parents?" Viktor asked this question because when he was living with his foster parents, everyone considered him to be their real son since nobody knew about his background.
The girl put her finger on her chin and said, "Isn't it quite obvious? Look at you...an immortal with supernatural abilities. So how could you be the child of two normal human beings? And as for your question...yes, they are still undergoing endless torture inside the mansion. In fact, they are suffering double the torture since their souls are not supposed to be here, and the environment here is constantly making their days' miserable while also getting tortured by the servants of the Abominable Feind. The last time I saw them, they were still holding on to their humanity so that they wouldn't turn into horrendous-looking demons that usually walk through this realm. The soldiers you saw are no longer men but vengeful demons of the evil race named Ranar."
"Ranar?" Viktor felt that this race was of no good but the vilest of all just by seeing those evil spirits.
The girl nodded, "Yes. Ranars are a native of the Naraka Realm, and the souls who get sent here and are unable to endure the suffering in this place automatically turns into a Ranar and forever lose whatever humanity or shred of the previous self they had."
"No...I can't let my parents turn into those vile beings. I have to save them quickly," Viktor was feeling restless and sad knowing that all these years, his foster parents were constantly suffering for tens of centuries and woefully smiled, realizing that he was living his life while not knowing what they were enduring.
"Yes, but we have to wait some more time till those Ranars lower their guards. Because if we alert those armies of Ranars, then it means we alert the Abominable Fiend, who would then put up safety measures to get rid of us. I can understand how worried you are but trust me, my wish to save them is no less than yours since they are my people as well. And helplessly watching them suffer only…" The girl began to make sobbing sounds that made Viktor feel pity for her as he couldn't imagine how much she might have suffered before and after getting rescued.
Since this girl was once his people as well, he couldn't help but sympathize with her. He also understood that all along, this girl was the only one trying to help him out while the rest were either hiding things from him or trying to kill him.
He raised his hand to caress her head and said, "Don't worry. My parents are strong. Otherwise, they would not have held on for all these years, and I am sure this is the same for those who are still holding on to their humanity. I promise to save them all and let them rest peacefully."
Viktor was fully determined to save his people and also kill or destroy the Abominable Fiend though he didn't know whether he could kill something which was already dead.
The girl stifled her sobs hearing his words and said in a tone of happiness, "Thank you...Aros. I don't know what I would have done without you and not knowing whether I would even see you again."
Viktor felt nostalgic to hear his old name 'Aros', which was his real name when he lived in the village before taking on the name Raoul to become the king's general.
"See me again? Do you mean you were waiting for me specifically? Did that voice tell you to wait for me?" Viktor asked with knitted brows.
"Mn...yes...that voice told me that you are the only one who can save us, and I also personally couldn't think of anyone else who could possibly take down the Abominable Fiend. And so I know the things you did as General Raoul, and knowing that you finally killed that evil King Borin, you have no idea how much that made us happy. In fact, that was the only thing that allowed most of us to keep enduring the torture because we had faith that you would one day rescue us. We knew that it was just a far-fetched dream, but we all looked up to you as our hero, and I...I also personally liked you as my idol…" The girl trailed off in a timid voice.
'Oh boy...well, I guess I must have unknowingly charmed her as well…' Viktor took it as an innocent girl's first crush, especially considering how old she was when she died and took it as a compliment only.
But at the same time, he couldn't help but wonder if she died in pain or not or how much she and the others suffered while he was away.
And this only made his hatred towards the Abominable Fiend flare up even more, even though he never knew who this fiend was.
"But what's going on in the real world right now? Will Brad be okay? Because last time I saw him he-"
"Don't worry abut him...for now. They all are in a petrified state since the Naraka Bridge momentarily manifested in the real world to pull you here. Things will be back to normal once we take down the one who started this mess. However, it will get real bad if the Abominable Fiend carries out their plan to invade Earth since it seemed as if he has been preparing for it for countless centuries. Why do you think the Wailing Hills were rumored to have evil spirits roaming around? It was because the Abominable Fiend was experimenting using forbidden methods to try and move around evil spirits from this Naraka Bridge to the real world and even got some people killed because of it."
"I don't know what the Abominable Fiend's exact motives are and I know maybe you still don't understand what's really happening here. But let me simplify things and tell you that once the Abominable Fiend executes their plan, Earth would be in grave danger and probably too late to stop it. We can never let these Ranars get summoned to our real world and cause chaos and death since that would mean the end of our world as we know it," The girl said in a grave tone.
"Shit...I definitely can't let that happen..." Viktor mumbled with a determined gaze as the faces of the people he cared about back on Earth flashed in his mind.
"So how long should we wait in this cave? I can't wait to take down those bastards in the mansion," Viktor said as he clenched his fists.
"Let the skies get a bit darker. By then, they should become less vigilant, and we can slip in through. Don't worry, because of your powers, you will be able to last a few days at least before going mad even if you don't die," The girl said straightforwardly.
"What? Mad? Are you serious?" Viktor didn't even want to spend a second here if he didn't have to and now learning that he could probably go mad if he stayed a few days here made him feel apprehensive about his stay here.
The girl nodded, "I told you this place is not for the living, and if by any rare occurrence, any living being were to descend here, then this place would start nibbling away at their soul and body slowly, even if it was a magical being. Otherwise, if it was an ordinary human being, there wouldn't be any question of their survival."
"What about the Fujo Clan people? They should have also gotten dragged to this place, right?" Viktor knew that Nyissa, Ayana, and their people were not too far away from him when all this happened. So he was pretty confident that they must be here as well unless they were excluded by whoever brought him here.
"Actually...they did arrive here, but I think they might be in a pinch since I saw them getting summoned here as well. Maybe the Abominable Fiend has it out for the Fujo Clan people as well, or maybe they got here by accident while you got summoned here," The girl said in a thoughtful tone.
"Then isn't there a high chance that they may be in trouble right now?" Viktor asked as he rubbed his fingers together.
The girl slowly nodded, "Hmm, they could be, especially when this place is filled with Ranars. But what can we do? I anyway can't approach them since they might erase the only remnant of my soul, and I can't risk that since my duty and will is to guide you," The girl said in a resolute tone.
"What if we try to help them out in case they are in danger?" Viktor asked with a narrowed gaze.
"But why put ourselves at risk? I also want to help them, but we can't afford to risk it," The girl said in a worried tone.
Viktor nodded and calmly said, "I know. But you yourself said how dangerous the whole rescue operation is, and we could use an extra set of hands, especially experts who specialize in dealing with Ranars, evil spirits, and whatnot. As for me, I have no experience dealing with these sorts of things, and you told me how they can't be defeated the normal way."
The girl rested her chin on her hand as she felt that he had a point and also that he may need help to get inside.
"Okay...let's find them then.. They should be somewhere near."
