Aurnia started walking down the path and silently motioned for her companions to follow suit. The sound of warping air drifted from somewhere behind her and before long her mother brushed past her in the form of a large grey wolf. Frost lined the tips of her fur and the woman made no effort to hide the ice forming beneath her paws. It seemed that her mother had decided that her wolven form was more suited to the mission on hand. Aurnia saw no fault in the logic for the sharpened senses of animal were usually helpful in navigating the wonders of the Morinstar forest.

The three women followed the winding path deeper into the trees and the further they went, the damper the air become. Charged particles of wayward magic tickled Aurnia's skin and she found herself questioning if the shadows darting across the moss covered trees were simply that or something more. Silence hung heavily in the air but before long the thunderous sound of a rushing river reached their ears. The path sloped, leading down to a riverbank.

Here more sunlight filtered through the gaps in the canopy and where the light hit the river, the water looked as if specks of gold were sprinkled within it. Aurnia felt the orb twitch in her hand and when she looked down, the arrow had shifted to point towards the right.

"What is it telling you?

Aurnia jumped upon hearing her aunt's voice at her shoulder. She took a deep breath, casting a look at her mother who had ventured close to the water's edge, before answering. "The compass is saying that Orion went down that way."

Aurnia pointed further down the riverbank where several low-lying shrubs and stones lay waiting. If anything, everything looked the same and didn't provide any extra hints about where their nephew might have ended up. Reuna clearly felt the same for she sighed and tapped her staff on a nearby stone.

"We should not feel disheartened. The orb has already brought us further than before and at least we know that he didn't cross the river and venture towards the heart of the forest."

"My dear sister, your optimism is englightning as per usual," Aurnia's mother slunk between them with a low growl. "However, optimism should never be taken as solace. If the orb says we should continue on, then we shall do that and save our judgments towards the end."

At that the wolf set off, only stopping to look back and make sure that Aurnia and her aunt were following close by. Before long, the air began to thicken and a sickly sweetness invaded Aurnia's senses. She shook her head, trying to ward off the heavy drowsiness creeping into her skull and found herself feeling grateful for the irritating tingle of wild magic trickling across her skin. It gave her something to keep her awake and something to distract her from the spirits' clamour which had only grown louder and they'd ventured deeper into the forest.

It was clear that her mother felt the same way, for the frost lining the tips of her fur had spread to cover the thickest part of her coat. Concern rippled through Aurnia's mind and she peered into her bag.

"How are you feeling Koa?"

The sinyo raised his head with a quiet chirp, "I feel sleepy and my fur won't stop sticking up."

"Sticking up?" Aurnia reached in to gently stroke Koa's back and when her fingers made contact with his fur, her fingertips tingled with raw magic.

She stiffened. Perhaps that was the problem; this place's magic was out of control, aggravating the spirits and causing silence to reign where it should not. Aurnia looked up to say something but before she could utter a word, Renua's voice cut through the air.

"What is that thing?"

Aurnia turned to follow her aunt's pointed finger and her gaze landed on an odd purple flower jutting out from within a rock in the middle of the river. Although she had no answer, Aurnia's stomach lurched when she caught sight of what looked to be green fluid-filled veins pulsating up its stem, across its petals and down into the centre of the flower.

"Does it–is it beating like a heart?" Nausea coasted through her stomach and Aurnia was certain her revulsion was plain to see. Then her mother responded with an uncharacteristic whisper.

"It is an abomination. From where, I do not know but it is unlike anything I know about. But mysteries aside, I believe there is a more pressing matter that you two need to come look at."

Aurnia and her aunt approached her with a frown. Aurnia reached her first and when she stopped, her mother nudged the ground with her paw. "What do you see?"

"See?" Confusion laced her thoughts as Aurnia looked down at where her mother was pointing. As expected of a forest, pebbles, soil and twigs were scattered across the ground in an indiscernible mess. When she didn't answer, her mother sighed and said, "I know you do not hunt, so perhaps this is asking too much of you but take a step back and look again."

Aurnia raised an eyebrow but obliged and retreated. At first, nothing came to mind. Then slowly the mess fell into place and her eyes widened.

"Something was running."

"You're close," her mother moved to one side to reveal another set of jumbled prints. "Two entities passed through here and given the markings, I would hazard a guess and say they were human. Now, I don't want to cause alarm but the compass pointed us in this direction and now..."

Her mother trailed off and the three women reluctantly followed the tracks until they reached a fallen log lying across the river. When Aurnia caught sight of the uprooted moss on its surface, her heart sank. The prints were too uniform to have been made by an animals. They were uncomfortably close to shoe prints and deep down Aurnia knew she was right.

Her heart sank even further when she followed the tracks across the log and into the darkness that lay waiting on the opposite riverbank. It seemed that Orion had crossed the river after all and now all they could hope was that somehow he had not found himself lost in the heart of Morinstar.

Aurnia felt the compass twitch once again and she closed her eyes, silently begging Agrona's magic to point them in the other direction, far away from the dangers lurking in the forest. It was a silly wish for the evidence pointed to a disturbing truth, and it was only when she felt her aunt's hand upon her shoulder that she opened her eyes and dared to listen to what the orb had to say.

The golden arrow pointed straight ahead, into the trees and the yawning darkness beyond. Fate had played a cruel hand and Orion had indeed crossed the river. Aurnia looked back over her shoulder and the expression on Reuna's face mirrored her fear. Even her mother had nothing to say, as she hopped a top the log and wordlessly strode to the other side with frost burrowing deep beneath her every step.

Reuna followed closely and upon reaching the other side she glanced at Aurnia, silently beckoning her to follow suit. Aurnia hesitated, foot hovering uncertainly over the battered log as if each step that she took would seal Orion's fate. The river was the last line of defence holding back the worst of the Morinstar's spirits and once they stepped beyond the trees, the First Mother's protections would come to an end. And although they had not had the time to discuss it, Aurnia sensed that her companions were troubled by the flower in the river.

She watched her mother stand before a trampled section of the undergrowth, tail stiff and ears alert for any sign of trouble and it suddenly struck her how differently things could have been. In another life she would not be chasing down a nephew lost to the whims of a treacherous forest. Lily would not be imprisoned and her mother wouldn't hide her pain.

"Aurnia..." Reuna's voice pushed through the haze, chasing Aurnia's wayward thoughts back into their corner. Aurnia shook her head, heeding her aunt's instructions and admonished herself for becoming distracted. If they were stepping into possible danger then she needed to clear mind. But with each step across the slippery log, her headache grew until it became a relentless pounding paired with muddled whispers and pleas. The spirits were agitated and even without her draconian form, the bitter taste of their fury forced its way down her throat.

Aurnia wavered on the edge of the log and felt herself sway, tipping dangerously close to falling into the rushing water below. Her thoughts spiralled silently through the air and finally Aurnia asked the question that had hounded her.

"Who has stirred up your pain?"

There was a pause, a brief moment of respite, before something tried to lodge themselves firmly in Aurnia's mind. She saw flashes of her nephew, hollowed out and broken, a boy whose soul was stolen before it could blossom, a boy reduced to a husk of who he should be. The spirits mocked her and their voices were like sand in her thoughts, shifting and impossible to fully eradicate.

"I cannot help you. The gods are the ones responsible for your imprisonment. Go torment them. I am not your enemy and neither is that boy you taunt me with."

Aurnia clenched her fists and it was only when Reuna called out to her once again that she realised that she'd been snarling at empty air. Power flickered at her fingertips as she used a sliver of her gifts to hurl out one last thought.

"Go away."

She felt the presence hesitate before retreating with a quiet wail. Ordinarily, she would have been more polite. However, if one intrudes into another's mind without permission, then Aurnia believed they forfeit the privilege of general niceties.

Rotten leaves squelched beneath her shoe as Aurnia finally set foot on the riverbank where her mother and aunt stood waiting in the shadows. Looking to the dense trees behind them sent another wave of nausea rolling through her stomach. It pained her to admit just how much she wanted to run away. But it was far too late fear was no excuse to abandon her aunt's quest to find Orion.

Aurnia took her place by her mother's side and ignored her steely gaze. Perhaps she was a coward for not wanting to face the forest's dangers head-on, however her mother had never told her exactly why the First Mother had chosen to seal spirits within the Morinstar. All she had described were ferocious spirits with endless appetites–not exactly the sort of bedtime story you bestowed upon your children before bedtime. So, once upon a time, Aurnia had tried speaking with the spirits herself and although they weren't always chatty, they had once let slip that someone had committed a crime. But as to what that crime was or who that someone might have been, the spirits refused to share.

They too claimed that they had forgotten the true reason behind their confinement. Aurnia was not inclined to believe them so between her mother's stories and the spirits' tales, for al she knew going into the heart of the Morinstar Forest was equivalent to walking blindly towards a painful death.

Still, she was her mother's daughter and certainly not one to back down from a challenge, especially is said challenge involved proving her mother wrong. Squaring her shoulders, Aurnia followed her mother into the dense thicket ahead of them. The air instantly thickened and the sensation of stepping through a thin layer of wispy film crawled across her skin. Aurnia shuddered and paused to follow her eyes to adjust to the darkness.

She briefly contemplated shifting into a dragon for her thick hide should be enough to withstand any trouble if they were to stumble across it. But after a moment's thought, she shook her head and instead summoned an icy blade. Another gift from her mother, from a time when she still believed in keeping a watchful eye over her children. But now the blade's frigid hilt served only as a reminder of the distance that had grown between them.

Here the path did not mirror the world beyond. For rather than twigs, stones and vibrant moss, the route ahead stank of rotting leaves, liquidated by mould and short-lived parasites. Aurnia winced with each step, desperately hoping that whatever was crunching beneath her shoes was twig and not bone. Vanity aside, she liked these shoes and did not fancy having to return to the shoemakers to purchase a new pair. That required a journey into Piranth and that town had the honour of being near the bottom of her travel-list. If anything, Herun, the town's shoemaker was the only one keeping from making rock-bottom.

Her bag shifted by her side and before long Koa's wimpers reached her ears. She had no need to tap into her abilities for the trembling of her bag indicated that his fear was about to spill over. Aurnia kicked herself for not being firmer and demanding that he stay behind. His bravery was indeed something to remember, but if he got loose or snatched then there was no guarantee that she could save him and selfishly, Aurnia did not want to lose her friend.

She softly patted the side of her bag and asked, "Koa, are you alright?"

Moments past before his terror filled reply filtered into her mind. "The eyes watching us from between the trees, they have not blinked ever since we entered this place."

Eyes? Aurnia scanned the impenetrable mess of branches and thorns before finally settling on a pair of orange, crescent-shaped lights hovering several paces before her. For two breaths nothing happened, then the lights flickered before reappeaing several steps to her right.

A slow chill crept down Aurnia's back and she blanched. Those dots were blinking. She tilted the blade, letting its cold gleam illuminate the air before her and sent out a silent warning to back off. To their credit, whoever owned the pair of eyes retreated until they ducked behind a particularly jagged rock and the orange light dimmed, stretched and narrowed until they formed a pair of slits who peered out just over its edge.

Aurnia waited, half-expecting an explosion of movement to knock her back on her feet. When nothing came, she pursed her lips and glanced at Reuna who tapped her staff onto the ground to release a cool green light from the lump of amber embedded at its top. A low hiss emanated from behind the rock and the eyes retreated once again until they peeped from behind a distant tree. It was almost cute if cute didn't come with the threat of imminent death and losing the ability to control your thoughts.

"This feels wrong. I don't like how it's simply watching us from afar."

"Would you prefer to be attacked?" Her mother's sharp retort draggaed a short growl from Aurnia's throat but she played it off with a cough.

"You know that's not what I meant. Rather, don't you find it unsettling how its behaviour deviates from everything we know about these spirits?"

Her mother sighed. "Let us keep our wits about us and press on. We've come too far to turn back and if Orion is indeed lost somewhere in this thicket, then we best go find him." She turned on her heels, paws sinking deeper into the rotting mulch lining the forest floor and gestured with her head at the ground directly beneath her.

"Reuna, do us the favour of illuminating the path before us. I fear that without it, we may quickly lose sight of the tracks we are following."

Aurnia stepped aside to allow her aunt to get ahead of her and the three women continued on in complete silence. The rank soil was soft enough to slow their very movements but as if by some cruel miracle, it had preserved the distinct pattern of footprints engaged in a furious chase. 

Seconds turned into minutes and the footprints continued to sprawl endlessly into the distance and when Aurnia looked down at Agrona's compass, the arrow remained steadfast in following the tracks. Her heart ached to think of just how far Orion had had to run but seeing that they were on the right track, Aurnia saw no use in holding the compass for any longer. She tucked it back into her bag and when she looked up, she realised that they'd stopped at the edge of a clearing.