Hellbound Heart

Alexander secretly sighed in relief when Sebastian finally nodded and agreed to their suggestion. And he could tell it was Izabelle's plea that had him relenting and giving in.

He had been trying to lure Sebastian to visit the Black Forest for a long time now, but the man was truly elusive. No matter how he tried, Sebastian would never give in. He had even tried a few times to trick the guy into coming - to the extent of using his children. But nothing had ever worked so far. So, now he was just glad that he did not need to do anything more than just saying a few words to convince Sebastian. He knew that this was all thanks to Izabelle! Without her, this was totally not possible. Convincing Sebastian was harder than getting a rock to sprout flowers!

"Well then, we should move now." Alex then said with a flourish and with that, the four of them immediately packed up whatever was necessary and left the house to head for their destination.

Elle still could not quite get used to this new method of transportation mode she had been experiencing. Running, leaping and jumping so powerfully that it more often than not seemed as though they were flying at a lower altitude, Elle truly felt that it was an eye opener for her. It was just all too surreal for her that she still could not help but want to shake her head and force out a chuckle.

When Sebastian stopped, Elle breathed out in relief and opened her tightly shut eyes. Seeing that Abigail was no longer cradled in her husband's arms, Elle hurriedly asked Sebastian to put her down as well.

Sebastian arched an eyebrow at her before slowly putting her down. But his arm did not fully let go of her waist, as if to make himself her very own anchor. It was as though he thought that perhaps she might be dizzy from the travels and that she would fall or stumble the moment he released her.

"Now, here we are." Alexander's voice pulled Elle's gaze from Sebastian. She blinked a couple of times before lightly clearing her throat in embarrassment for being caught staring at her husband.

When Elle finally looked at the couple, they were both looking to the area that was behind her. Abi met her gaze and said, "This is the entrance to the Black Forest, Elle."

Slowly, Elle turned around and what welcomed her vision made her lips to involuntarily part. There were two large, towering tall trees that somehow seemed to act like the pillars to the entrance. And behind those two trees respectively were rows of the same kind of trees, forming a long entryway into the Black Forest. The branches of the trees were long and limber, stretching upward to form a dense canopy over them. They were neither straight nor were they curvy, but just very organic and seemingly like arms that reached further inward to the depths of the forest. It was as though they were pointing all visitors to a certain direction. The entrance still had some light shining brilliantly through the spaces of the not so dense foliage, but further down the path, Elle could see how the light dimmed and cast a dark emerald shadow that was surprisingly not eerie but kind of faerie-like.

"W-wow... this looks so... so mystifying and... enchanting." Elle uttered in an amazed whisper. She felt like whatever it was that was further behind that entrance would be something that might rock her world once again. Her heartbeat raced with an unprecedented thrill and excitement and perhaps even a little fear of the unknown.

Once again, she was shocked at herself. She had not expected how well she was reacting to all these new experiences and not really freaking out. In fact, she was even getting quite excited to find out more. But perhaps, it did help that she had mentally reminded and psyched herself up not to think too much into the things that she would be seeing and just focus on all the new experiences as just one long and extremely realistic dream. Like perhaps how one would experience a fantasy movie in 5D.

"Alright, let's go." Alex said and they started to walk forward.

Elle glanced over at Sebastian and saw that his expression was quite blank as his gaze focused ahead of the entrance. His seemingly indifferent reactions right now made Elle's curiosity escalate.

Her grip on Sebastian's hand slightly tightened as the two of them followed after Alexander and Abigail.

As they moved forward, Elle started to feel some changes in the air. She could not quite explain but she felt like she was heading into some uncharted territory. Some kind of territory that was supposed to exist only in one's imagination and not in reality.

Now that she thought about it, she remembered how she always felt something peculiar about this country. Since the moment she had set foot in Viscarria, she had felt something different. And again, the reason for that was coming to light. It seems as though Viscarria was truly a different and peculiar place.

Right now, the feeling was even more intense. Everything felt really obvious now that even her mind was unable to defend logic anymore. It was unbelievable, but this place was... it was just not... normal...

It had gotten even darker as they moved forward. However, Elle did not feel a creepy feeling that she thought she should feel. Perhaps because she was with Sebastian and with Abi and Alexander too.

Or perhaps it was also because Abi kept glancing back at her and giving her a reassuring smile. "We're almost there, Elle. Once we cross the entrance, it won't be this dark anymore." She told her and gave her a small wink.

Elle nodded at Abi. She was truly glad that Abi was around.

"Here we are." Alexander's voice soon echoed and what welcomed Elle's vision next had her eyes stretching wide.

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A/N: See the picture of the forest entrance in the comment box