The sludge from the water got thicker and thicker. Most other guardians would've fainted, or been corrupted by now, but not Lucian. He had his mind set on finding Vespera. Stepping over a crocodile, Lucian continued to wade in the water, making slow progress through the Forbidden Forest.

Echo wasn't very helpful, either. Swiftly, the sludge morphed into mud, and Lucian was quick to get out of it. Glancing at his talons, Lucian found himself disgusted by all that clung to him.

Continuing on, Lucian didn't let some dirt stop him. His steps squelched in the mud and water mixture, and it was quite unpleasant to the touch, however, Lucian had a mission, and he was to complete it.

Once the mud turned to grass, Lucian sat down to take a break. Echo moved to sit on Lucian's muzzle, which wasn't surprising considering the duckling was small enough to sit just about anywhere. Shifting into the form of a human, Lucian carefully held Echo in his hands.

In human form, Lucian tended to be right about 6'5", which was usually considered quite tall. It was always amusing seeing humans gawk at his height.

Lucian sat against a tree, and took a deep breath, trying not to gag at the scent of the rot. The fog blanketed the ground as it progressively became warmer, dew started to form on the leaves as morning encroached the area.

Noting how the little duckling started dozing off. Gently, Lucian sat up, and began to make his way through the Forbidden Forest once more. It was never a good idea to sit in one place for too long.

His gentle footfalls squelched in the wet grass as pale dawn light started filtering in through the leaves. Once again, the grass turned to mud, then to the gross and corrupted water. The water encompassed Lucian and reached up to his chest, which was not pleasant. He'd have to make sure not to fall into any holes, and at this point, he may as well be swimming.

Too bad his clothes were now ruined, though. Maybe he can get the stains out later.

Shifting into a better form, Lucian now stood tall, being the form of a pegasus. Taking flight, Lucian progressed his way above water as Echo awoke. The duckling was now on Lucian's back, and all he could do was hope the little guy wouldn't fall off.

Once the trees reached a big break, Lucian saw the center of the Forbidden Forest. A large, jagged rock cut through the earth as a cliff edge was seen, the stone painted golden from the sun's rays as the clouds practically parted to show off the gorgeous landscape.

A low, hiss sound from behind Lucian. He turned, only mildly surprised and disinterested, as he was unable to detect a creature of corruption considering all that was below him.

This creature had a long, spindly body. It was far larger than Lucian in this form and it was rapidly approaching, its beady black eyes setting sight on its prey. "Crap." Lucian hissed, as Echo repeated his exact words.

The hairy skin of the creature shimmered from sweat as Lucian flew upwards and away, not like that'd help, much. "So, Echo, why were you alone? Usually Vespera is too paranoid to let you go off on your own." Lucian calmly asked, as though they weren't being chased by a horrifying beast with jaws that could swallow them whole, and filled to the brim with corruption.

Hearing a quack from Echo solved nothing, as Lucian landed on branches of trees, and shifted to the form of a dragon again, Echo perching on his shoulder near his wings. The branch cracked and crashed to the ground as the beast of corruption loudly growled.

Even in this form, that thing was larger than him still. Regardless of size, that creature was still rapidly approaching. Running as fast as he could, Lucian tore through the trees and tried to make his way closer towards the mountain. He couldn't break out into flight right now, as the branches were too thick, and the beast was hot on his tail.

Speaking of being hot on his tail, apparently, some of these creatures could breathe fire! Lucian was not happy to learn that one today, not at all.

Flames spun around the trees and lit them on fire, igniting their wood and bark as the corrupted creature roared once more. Lucian narrowly avoided getting hit, since as his luck would have it, suddenly improved massively and a break in the leaves occurred.

Now very high in the sky and far above the beast, Lucian took a deep breath, sighing as his frills ceased glowing.

Progressing towards the mountain was now much easier. All Lucian needed to do, after all, was simply land on the cliff.

Easy peasy!

His slow flight towards the center of the Forbidden Forest was exhausting as the sun now rode about early noon. Had it really taken that long? Dark rain clouds were formed on the horizon. Ugh, how annoying. Lucian knew that was the result of altering his luck. In order to keep a balance, Lucian had to lower it more right away.

Well, it was surprising that the beasts of corruption weren't coming out. Or maybe it wasn't, not like those chaos-ridden things had any semblance of hope, nor any strings in relation to luck Lucian could pull. Even if they increased their luck massively, those creatures could break that protection solely to cause chaos.

"I'm sorry." Oh, well thank you for showing up, Uruz. How pleasant to hear your lovely voice again. "Not now, Uruz. Speak to me later. I'm surprised Fehu hadn't said anything yet." Lucian spoke to himself.

Goodness, he must seem like he's gone crazy to poor Echo. Not like Echo could hear the voices in Lucian's head anyhow. Losing altitude, Lucian gracefully landed on the grass as his sore wings stretched out, his joints popping as Lucian thoughtfully hummed. "Thirty minutes to Vespy if we fly really fast, two hours if we walk. Which one do you want to do, Echo?" Lucian asked the duckling, who seemed to think about it.

One quack was all it took for Lucian to know Echo's choice. Brave duck.