Before Ida knew it Alvin had already stood at the front of the cage she was locked in, "not so wise witch." He stared at Lucian who looked like he would dissipate into ice if his hand was still locked there, "release him or you have this snake in your throat."

Ida's eyes darted at the snake which seemed to be staring at Alvin, Alvin smiled as he watched Ida's reaction, "witch, that snake is mine and it would not hesitate to lay itself on you."

Ida looked defeated. She stared at the cage in which one of the holes Lucian had put in his hand had tightened, then immediately the space in between the metals widened and Lucian's hand was immediately released. He stared darkly at her, "You are going to pay for this you filthy witch."

"I don't care if I pay a thousand pounds for it as long as you get killed at the end," Ida chirped which shifted Lucian's mood.

Ida could not tell why something as such could make a man annoyed. She looked at the forbidden Oracle in the sack that was dropped on one seat and stared at Alvin. "What do you want from me?"

"Nothing," he replied. "We want nothing from you but our princess does."

"Your princess?" Ida mindlessly asked. She had thought they were also from Venesia as one of them looked like one but seeing that they had their ruler made her more than suspicious. She also wondered about who they were. Why would a princess need her? Of course, humans need witches and now that they were banned and scarce, they stopped demanding them.

"Yes. We live not far away from where the beasts dwell."

What? Could it mean that they could walk past the beast's land? How was that even possible? They did not look like guards or warriors. They just looked like some random young men whose lives were spent on teasing people but on looking at the other side, for them to be with the forbidden Oracle meant that they were not actually what they looked on the inside. They were worse. "Where is your town and were you aware that we were heading here?"

Alvin looked at Lucian and before Ida could exchange the confused looks of hers with their own, Alvin burst into a great peal of laughter while Lucian who looked like he also wanted to laugh stood still.

When she sensed that they were not ready to answer she asked again, "Where are all the people who were drinking and eating? How could..."

Alvin whose eyes looked a bit watery due to his excessive laughter breathed so hard to stop his laughter, "Okay. Sorry. I find your questions funny. Well, first of all, the people here and the waiter were just illusions. Lucian had seen you guys heading towards here before we decided to create illusions to deceive. We could not let the opportunity of catching a witch slide off us. Else we would starve to death."

Ida's eyes widened. She knew that everything could be nothing but illusions but she still did not understand how they were able to do so. Those people looked real and the fact that they saw her as a prize or goal made her even more stunned and at the same time annoyed, "Caging me like this does not guarantee that I would follow you. Besides, our law forbids us going to the beast land."

"A witch should not be scared of a beast," Lucian spoke this time, he had grown silent and cold after the exchange of words between Ida and him that Ida thought she wouldn't stop laughing within.

"Not a beast. The land in which the 'beasts' dwell in." Ida voiced back.

Alvin looked at the both of them for a minute before talking, "Would you believe it when we tell you that this pavilion is also an illusion?"

"What?!" Ida's eyes widened and her eyes rolled up and down the four corners of the pavilion but when she caught the sight of the four caged snakes she shook.

Seeing this, Alvin explained, "and the snakes are not even real." When Ida heard it, her fear disappeared and her fists clenched but the already vanished fear flew in back when she heard him continue, "of course, the uncaged snake isn't an illusion. It's mine, a very good and flesh-thirsty pet." Alvin smiled. His puffy cheeks enlarging.

"How is that possible? How are you able to create illusions?"

"We are born with it." Lucian was the one who added.

"Are...are you twins?"

"No. Cousins," Alvin replied.

"and...and how...were you able to pass through the beast land?"

"You are a slow learner." Lucian was the one who replied as he walked to Cole who appeared to just be awakening, "well this one could be of help?" Lucian asked Alvin. Alvin nodded in approval.

What help?

Seeing that Ida was still confused, Alvin helped her, "We create illusions. The beasts see us as one. Of course, they are animals and are overpopulated they do not easily recognize their kind, so we pass through as one. "

"As beasts, should you not understand that," Lucian added.

That made a little sense, the way the both of them spoke they appeared nice but Ida could believe that it could even be an illusion. The fact that they were with the forbidden Oracle would tell her that she was not wrong about her acclamation. She cooked up the courage and asked, "The forbidden Oracle. How did you get hold of it?" She needed to know. It was also part of her mission but she could not think that the strongest of her mission was so close. They only needed to hijack it.

Alvin and Lucian exchanged mysterious looks before Alvin replied, "it's an illusion too"

No!

She did not believe that.