(Two chapters in one; please vote with your monthly tickets before the month ends.)
Raphael realized that this teleportation array had to be connected to the Evernight Goddess.
But he had no intention of investigating that now. Instead, he asked the golden-haired Audrey, "Did Mr. Fool mention how to activate the teleportation array in reverse so we can return to Backlund?"
Audrey smiled helplessly. "I didn't ask, either."
"Oh," Raphael said, thinking, Then let's not ask. The Fool might not know, either. Asking would only embarrass everyone.
He took a deep breath. "The Lord of Evil Desires has a way to send us back, but we would need to pray to this deity and ask for help."
"Would you rather we look together for a way to use the teleportation array to return to the Northern Continent, or ask the Lord of Evil Desires to send us back?"
Audrey said instead, "If possible, I'd like to look around the Forsaken Land of the Gods."
An opportunity like this might only come once.
"That works, too," Raphael said. "I'm fairly familiar with the surroundings. I can be your guide."
Audrey smiled happily. "Thank you."
Then a thought suddenly occurred to her. "Does that mean all the people who disappeared were sent to the Forsaken Land of the Gods by the teleportation array?"
"Most likely."
"Then they-"
"There's no chance any of them survived," Raphael said.
An ordinary person wouldn't last three minutes here!
They had no lamps, at most a lighter on their person. Without a source of light around them, they could easily vanish.
Even if they had disappeared at night and happened to be carrying a lantern, they would be no match for the monsters in the darkness.
Both Raphael and Audrey could sense numerous monsters watching them from