Tsana stood on the riverbank, the same place where she had freed Kylos and seen the silver gate appear, along with the giant red eye and Cayn's body being torn apart right in front of her eyes.
The river surface was calm, the silver gate that had brought her into the Time Dimension was no longer there. The place returned to its original state, as if nothing had ever happened there.
Tsana stared straight at the middle of the river.
Currently, what she had just remembered from her past was her childhood, and also her time with Kylos. She still hadn't remembered anything else.
A short while ago, she had just parted ways with Cayn without saying anything after she revealed the fact about Cayn's true identity. She briefly met with Aldis again to ask him to train Rolan and Helena, and then she came here.
Tsana was not stupid. Ever since she saw Cayn's true appearance, as well as her childhood memory of the horse carriage with the flag shaped like two triangles with the dragon symbol.
Cayn's identity was clearly obvious.
Cayn's pair of gold eyes were the same as the Light Dragon's gold eyes.
Although she had forgotten her own past, Tsana's knowledge of magic was still deeply ingrained, more than anything else.
She knew that no human being possessed gold eyes.
If someone saw a person with gold eyes, most likely- no, one hundred percent- that person was the Light Dragon.
That knowledge was always present in Tsana's memory, it hadn't disappeared like her past.
But Tsana didn't understand why Cayn had to bother hiding his true identity from Tsana. Why did he have to bother disguising himself? Claiming to be the Dragon's friend and not the Dragon himself?
Why did he do something so troublesome instead of telling Tsana directly about his identity?
The flag she saw in the battlefield vision at that time, and the flag on Cayn's childhood carriage, were the same flag.
She didn't know why, but she felt like a very big event had happened in the past.
A war?
Who against whom?
Could Cayn and she have fought in the past?
Tsana sighed, touching her head which felt dizzy.
Suddenly, an arrow shot towards Tsana from behind the trees. However, the arrow immediately bounced off before reaching Tsana.
Tsana turned to look into the forest, which was silent. "Come out."
Soon after, one by one, people emerged from their hiding places. They numbered over 50 people.
Tsana narrowed her eyes. 'Are there other humans here?'
One of the people stepped out and walked closer to Tsana. His luxurious-looking boots were the most conspicuous among all the clothes he wore.
It was a man with black hair and purple eyes.
At a glance, this person looked very similar to Helena, which made Tsana inevitably think that this person might be Helena's brother.
"We finally meet, Singing Witch," the man said proudly.
Tsana just realized that these people were the monster hunter group who entered the forest. She thought that she and her group were not the only ones who could enter this part of the forest, but other groups could also enter.
The black-haired man spoke again. "I, Hans Kamal, the leader of the best monster hunter group from the Zivilia kingdom, have gathered the leaders of other monster hunter groups here who managed to enter this forest to challenge you to a duel, Singing Witch."
Tsana's guess was correct, this man was indeed related to Helena after hearing the surname Kamal behind his name.
But she didn't understand this man's duel invitation.
"What kind of duel are you referring to?" Tsana asked.
Hans smirked. "A duel of life and death, of course. The prize for this duel is very big, you know?"
Tsana remained silent, listening.
"Whoever can kill you will become the next Guardian of the Nightmare Forest."
Somehow, Tsana found the challenge amusing. She was a person who would live after death, so this duel invitation felt like getting the answer before the exam took place.
However, she felt like she missed moments like this. It had been a long time since she had fought, and being invited to a duel like this brought a feeling of longing into her heart.
Tsana nodded and said that the Duel would take place 3 days later in the second part of the forest.
Everyone agreed.
Hans smirked, already having a cunning plan in his head.
Meanwhile, at the edge of the third part of the forest, Cayn stood with his arms crossed, staring at the gold-haired man in front of him who was smirking at him.
"Hello, my other self, how are you?" the man said.
Cayn furrowed his brows. "Why did you come here?"
"Ah! I miss our wife so much, but you're taking too long to bring her to our place," the man said in a playful tone.
"Don't mess around. The curse hasn't completely disappeared, and I haven't undergone the second and third punishments. If you act rashly, the entire course of this punishment will be messed up and will trigger Heaven's wrath. Go back to your place."
Cayn with the gold hair smirked. "Ah, you worry too much. Isn't it unfair if you're the only one having fun with our wife?"
Cayn gritted his teeth. "You are just a separated fragment of my soul. You are the one who caused all of this. Don't act recklessly."
"But I regret it," gold-haired Cayn said in a more serious tone, then he mocked Cayn. "Isn't it hard to undergo this punishment alone? You have to erase the curse on our wife's body and undergo the punishment of death 3 times before our soul can reunite again. Even though we can meet each other, and the Dragon soul form and I can enter and exit this forest as we please, you still can't unite our soul because you haven't completed your punishment and removed the curse from her body. We've been asleep for hundreds of years because of Heaven's doing. Now that we're awake, Heaven is even making our path to peace difficult."
Cayn replied. "I know."
Gold-haired Cayn smirked. "The curse will only disappear if she remembers all her past and breaks all her past bonds... Do you think, after she remembers all her past, will she still love us, or will she hate us?"
Cayn furrowed his brows in annoyance. "Ask yourself. All of this happened because I have a soul like you, aggressive, barbaric, arrogant, careless, and unable to distinguish right from wrong."
"Don't blame me, because I am a part of you. I am just the smallest part of your soul, you should be blaming yourself."
Cayn sighed. "The bottom line is you're at fault."
"Alright, alright, let's end this conversation. I want to see my wife."
Cayn sighed. "Don't do anything that triggers Heaven's wrath."
"Okay, okay."
★★★
Just as Cayn and gold-haired Cayn arrived at the group's gathering place, everyone was already there. William, Zephyr, Rolan, Helena, Aldis, including Tsana herself.
Tsana didn't notice Cayn's arrival and a strange man who looked very much like Cayn next to him.
They all heard an unexpected thing from Tsana's mouth.
"Someone challenged me to a duel of life and death for the seat of the Nightmare Forest Guardian 3 days from now. The duel will be held here."
Everyone there was shocked.
"What?"
★★★
Volume 2 Completed, will continue with Kylos' past story.