"I was told by the soldiers who are guarding you outside that you have been sealed here. They were worried about your situation, so they asked me to check on you."

"What is left there to worry about me? They should realize the queen who they once served is no more. That she died the day her own father killed her child. There nothing more left to know about me!"

She sounded angry, but there was a hint of grieve mixed in her voice. I felt a little sorry for her, but there was nothing that could be done at this point. There was no way I would be able to help her even if I wanted to. She must have kept the anger within her for all these years, so the only thing I could do for her was to help her vent her anger.

"But they have been by your side the whole time. Don't you think they at least deserve to know how you are doing for their loyalty?"

"Everyone I cared about, everyone I trusted once betrayed me one after another. I don't trust anyone anymore. Just go away. Go away!"

I was expecting her to say something like this, so I had already come up with a response.

"You need to listen! The times have changed. The war ended centuries ago, and now there is peace everywhere. I know it must be hard for you after everything you went through, but you can't continue like this. You need to realize the change in era, and move on with time."

It might have sounded harsh, but that was the reality at this point. The sooner she accepted the fact, the better.

"Time may have changed, the era may be different, but they are the same creatures I know. They are full of greed and hatred, so much so that they would even sell their own family for the sake of their greed."

Even though it could be interpreted as overthinking, I could understand her position here. Unlike me, who had only lived for a few decades, she had been locked here with regrets for years. It would be foolish to expect her to realize and understand things just based on what I said.

"Alright, I will just leave then. But before I go, is there anything that you would like me to tell the soldier outside?"

I could see no other option at this point. I didn't have all day to convince her that I can be trusted. And with no concrete evidence and enough behavioral knowledge about her, it was almost impossible anyway.

"You can't escape now. He already knows that someone is trying to unseal the manor. It won't take long for him to arrive here."

"What do you mean? Do you mean to say.."

"The Earth dragon, Hazel, must be arriving here anytime now. He has sealed my body in the manor and my soul in the crystal he carries. The seal that you just tampered with is directly connected to the earth, and him from there. There is no way he will just let it slide this time."

I tried sensing the surrounding, but I couldn't do that since only my consciousness was here. If what she said was right, and if the dragon king was coming here just for her, that would make this situation significantly graver.

On top of that, I was trapped inside here, so I wouldn't be able to know what was happening outside. And considering how common misunderstanding was in this kind of scenario, it wasn't a wise idea to stay here for much longer.

I knew how mighty the Dragons were, so wasting even a second here could be fatal. I just ignored her and tried focusing on getting out.

It was somewhat like waking up from a dream that won't let you go. But in this case, the dream was more real than the reality itself.

The reality was something that existed within the gap between the space. The gap was like a trunk of the tree with infinite branches and subbranches. And there, the reality was like leaves. But that was the bigger picture I got when I met Zero, the existence itself.

For me, or any other mortal, it was only possible to move within a leaf. Right now, even though I might be in the gap between the spaces, I was just a little above the leaf. I was not yet capable of moving freely in this gap even though compared to the whole picture; it was somewhat not-so-big deal.

If I had eyes, I would try closing them. But since only my consciousness was there, I just stopped focusing on anything else and tried forcing myself into my body.

It was hard since there were too many things in my mind, and I had somewhat started panicking. But after I confronted my initial thoughts, I was able to focus on getting out of this space.

As I was doing that, I realized I could feel my hands again. Slowly, I could feel my legs, heart, and my whole body.

I then slowly tried opening my eyes. I was unsure if I would see the same dark gap between the space or find myself back in the cave, but it was worth a shot. Since I could feel my body, there was a high chance that I could have been back.

I could see the crystals on the ceiling as I opened my eyes. The lights they were emitting were so dim that it could only illuminate a tiny area around them. The rest of the portion was still dark.

The floor was cold and concrete, but it didn't take me long to realize I was sleeping over a grave. I slowly tried raising myself from there when I saw Markus and Jackie rushing towards me.

"What happened? How long was I out?" I asked as we had no time to waste.

We had to be prepared before the Earth Dragon was here. I already had many pieces of the puzzle, but many were still missing. We had to solve this because a freak of nature was almost about to know on our doors.