The start of the purple and green trees began to spring up around him as the forest came into view. Though the sight of thriving life was pleasant after the amount of time he'd spent in the Wastelands, there was something about the energy of the place that bothered him.

It was that same thrumming sensation that he'd felt from Kraim back at the castle, that extra pulse of life within everything, and yet, it flowed differently amongst the woods itself. It felt wild, untamed, and flexible in its uses, a complete opposite to the steady, decisive energy that had come to sit in his chest ever since his last battle. It felt like the very majik of nature itself sought to creep and nestle in the cracks between his armour. The constant itch was beginning to return, much more incessantly than before.

I suppose I'll make this as quick of a trip as I can then, he decided. As his route began to be covered with more and more thorn bushes as he went, he unsheathed his sword, starting to hack away at the rows of vines. After clearing himself a bit of a path, he managed to find something akin to a dirt road, the grass more worn and the leaves coating the ground clearly having been pressed into it several times.

"What are you doing, Stained?"

The targeted feeling of the wild majik trying to prey into him grew, and he turned to face the voice. A small, unmal Fae floated beside his face only about three hand lengths away, their neither masculine nor feminine body supported by a thin, gauzy pair of wings. "We don't want you here," they spoke again, a sour expression on their face.

"H-how did you know I was Stained?" he asked warily, thrown off guard. I'd been trying so hard to cover it.

"Your heka. It is blatantly obvious that you don't belong here. No one wants to deal with your kind, so go back over the mountains you came from." The attitude coming from them almost seemed too large for their body, barely over a hand tall, but Xoris tried to be patient with them.

"Actually I'm not from the mountains, but that's besides the point. I'm here to speak to your rulers," Xoris explained, pulling his hand through his hair and trying to offer them a comforting smile. "I'm a paladin, sent from King Lloyd, with a proposition for your people, so if you could just lead me to your castle..."

"We don't want to make deals with the Humans, or their king, especially if he thinks hiring Stained is a good idea now." A sharpened finger was pointed away from the direction of the path Xoris stood on. "Leave, before you are dealt with like every other visitor."

Xoris breathed out a sigh of impatience, clasping his hands together. "I'm sorry, but I cannot. The proposition I have is of utmost importance, and-" He stopped as the vines he'd cut only moments before twitched out of the corner of his eye.

"I said, leave!" That was as much of a warning as he got, before the bushes surrounding him closed in. Branches stretched over his head to prevent him from climbing, and roots snaked beneath his feet to hold him in. As he heard a small flutter of wings he assumed the Fae left him to rot in a solid cage of plants.

"Let me out! You didn't even listen," came his shouts as he shoved his body against the foliage. Luckily the pauldrons on his shoulder kept any of the nastier looking thorns from sinking in, but even with his weight thrown against them, they refused to budge. He pulled his body back, sword in hand to plunge it into the vine's flesh, but it barely left a scratch, rebounding off the tough surface as the momentum sent painful waves of shock up his arms and into his elbows. A hiss drew out of his mouth. He did not go through this entire ordeal to starve here. He put his gloved hands on the tangled walls in between the spikes, but as he pulled, and even tried to bite at it, the majik stubbornly held, protecting it.

"This is ridiculous!" he shouted, although he doubted anyone was close enough to hear him now. "What did I ever do to you?" There were stories of the Fae's clear stance on the war, pulling themselves into what some had called their own realm, and killing any Human or Beast that drew too close to it, but all the same... They didn't even allow me to make a first impression.

He sat down on the roots beneath him, staring at the branches and leaves that made up the roof of the prison. The light still shone through some of the leaves, revealing the deep indigo veins of the more greenish ones. He'd read before that that was what happened when so much of the river's crimson water was absorbed, but given that he'd always lived closer to the Wastelands, he'd never had the chance to see nature like this before. He had always wanted to travel the world and see new things. In fact, this would have been a lovely visit if it wasn't for the dekhr Fae attacking him and the majik stabbing into his skin, trying to peel back everything he fought hard to keep down.

"Fine!" he announced, even though he knew full well the majik in the air was not a sentient being he could talk to. "You want to deal with my heka so badly? There." He released his hold, vision widening to get a full scope of the enclosure around him from every angle. "Are you satisfied?" He focused his own pair of green eyes at the wall in front of him, glaring at it as if he could bore a hole into it with his eyes alone. After a few drips though, he stopped.

"Ah, what am I even doing? Giving a plant a dirty look. What is that supposed to do?" He closed his eyes for a moment, putting one hand over his face, the other leaning against the wall to support him for a moment to think. He had all the time in the world for that now, he supposed, and yet, he paused as he felt the leather of his glove catch against something hard along the rubbery texture of the vine. A thorn? he thought, but as he lazily flicked an eye on his neck over to glance behind him, he couldn't mistake the speck of grey. Stone?

His face lit up as an idea settled into his mind. "Xoris, you sekhif genius," he muttered to himself, flipping himself back around. He focused harder on staring at the spot, even removing his gloves to get an extra pair of eyes looking at it. While it seemed like only the green ones helped the process to go any faster, there was no denying the slow spread of the petrification across the plants. As it grew to be about the length of his arm in all directions, he stopped, holding the handle of his sword in a backhanded position.

With a cry, he swung at the rocky shape he'd made, delighted to hear a crack coming through. He bashed it again and again, until by the fourth swing, he felt his arms push through to the other side. A hot line of pain formed on his right arm as a stone shard scraped along its side, and he winced as it poked an eye, but even that couldn't manage to fully damper his mood.

He kicked at the rest of the hole, protecting himself with the edges of his metallic shoe until it was a wide enough space for him to crawl through, and he pulled himself out. Then he took in a deep breath, closing his aching eyes for a moment as he flopped back onto the forest floor, feeling the air fill his tired lungs.

"...I did it," he thought aloud, staring up at the clouds in the afternoon sky above him. "I actually did it!" A confident laugh escaped from him, and despite his exhaustion, he sat up, crossing his legs to look at the rounded enclosure he'd escaped from. The amount of majik it must have taken to form it... The Fae are going to be so helpful in fighting back against the Beasts.

Finally, he stretched his limbs, imagining himself slowly walking down the controlled staircase in his mind once again, until his energy settled itself in his system again and he could peacefully close up everything along his arms and body. He slipped his gloves back on, now that the small amount of bleeding had mostly sealed up.

Part of him wondered what was the point of having two different coloured eyes, if only the one was actually going to do anything useful, but he figured now wasn't the time. He had a mission to fulfil, and if the large quantity of majik he felt pulsing in the direction of the path wasn't an indication that he was close, then he didn't know what was.

The path continued on, with no more sighting of the Fae, thankfully, but a wall consisting of tall shrubberies came into view before him. Purple leaves reached up as high as he could see, vines stretching out from the bushes to wind themselves like hinges for the giant, golden gate in the centre of it all. White aelwarda flowers ran along its edges, their countless petals in full bloom to form one sacred sight.

This must be the place, Xoris thought, losing track of his breath in awe. After all, anything outside of the bower before him appeared to be nothing but endless, lavender thorns, and he certainly didn't want to have to walk through that again.

Thankfully, the gate was unlocked, swinging open silently with a single push. The inside only served to reveal even more brush, the walls forming more paths in opposing directions as he took a single step in. He turned his head from side to side. The left and right directions seemed to go on endlessly, and a cobblestone path that ran in front of him led to a tall clearing with a mirror.

Oh. A maze. He had heard that the Fae were a tricky race, but he hadn't assumed that it was meant literally. No matter. He was patient, and he had pieces of papyrus with him in the satchel on his belt. There could only be so many outlets, and he would simply tick them off as he went.

Not liking the centre as an obvious choice, he turned to the left, making a rhythm out of his shoes clacking against the organised brick of the floor if only to help pass the time. A certain sleepiness was maintained in the air around him, only amplifying the further he went, but he pressed on. If something doesn't want me to go this way, then there clearly must be a reason for it.

After a while the tired energy fell away along with the walls until he was presented with a choice. In front of him lay a seemingly endless path, to his right, a clearing with a lonely mirror, and to his left, a gate.

"What?" he yelled out, glancing from side to side. He dug through his pouch to pull out his water clock, watching as the last drip fell from the top container though the hole to the bottom.

Instantly, the water was pulled through the right, small glass tube along the side, vacuum pressure tugging at the marbles nestled inside it until one of them floated into the top compartment, and was eventually pushed into the matching tube on the other side. Xoris made sure to pinch the sturdy axel that ran through it so as not to mess with the full turning of the water flow as it reset. Two more marbles had joined the left side since he'd started walking.

"Two whole turns! I walked for two entire turns to get right back to where I started?" He glanced up at the sky, dark and full of grey clouds despite the fact it was only late afternoon. He couldn't make out the edges yet, but it still felt as though he didn't have much time before night came, and he refused to be trapped in a maze, with majik feeling like it was eating his skin, all the while at a time that Beasts were sure to be walking about. He looked to his right again, the mirror sitting innocently in the centre. "Fine, obvious direction it is."

He strode up to the reflective surface, ignoring the several other paths that stretched out around him. It was clear that they would all be the same, and he was done entertaining the Fae. His reflection stared back, grinning at him unnaturally wide with its jagged teeth, violet eyes staring down at him condescendingly. Xoris frowned at it. He knew for a fact he did not look like that at the moment. "I'm done playing your games, Fae. Where's the exit of the maze?"

No voice answered him, but his reflection took a step back, pointing at the gate that sat directly behind him, echoed back in all its glory. A frustrated growl left his throat. He didn't normally get visibly angry, but it all felt so belittling. Besides, it was only targeted at a reflection of himself, not a genuine person. It didn't count. "That's not what I meant, and you know it. I'm here to speak with your rulers, and I will not be taking my leave before I've even been heard."

Xoris himself backed up, glancing at the silver frame that held the mirror. Its elegant, floral design made it appear as a grand object in of itself.

An idea struck his mind, and he hummed at the thought. "This is the door itself, isn't it? Hiding it in plain sight. Unfortunately for you all, I'm not an ashclaeve, so I'm afraid I've figured your little trick out." He reached out a hand, knocking on the mirror as if it was a door, and waited.

There was no answer.

He tried again, rapping at it harshly. "Stop hiding like a coward. I've proven myself against your challenge, now let me in!" Still nothing.

I am a hero, come to ask for aid, to save my country and my people, and yet they treat me like this? Like I'm something to be caged, to hide from, and have its existence ignored? His knocking hand clenched to form a fist. "Open up!"

His hand slammed into the mirror, rattling from the pressure as a massive crack formed along the glass. Instantly, he flinched his hands back, trying to step away from the accident, but the crack only continued to spread, reaching the edge of the frame. A lacing feeling began to web throughout his veins as the pieces started to fall from the frame. Pain crawled along his body like thin, splitting lines, and as he looked down, it was as though he could watch his body being forcefully shattered as the scenery wrenched itself apart before him, cracking to show a newer world beneath as the old broke away with him in it.

The horrifying sensation dissipated in moments though, and as he opened his eyes, he frantically ran his hands up and down his body and face, checking to see if his whole self was there. He stood up, breathing out a sigh of relief to find himself still intact. The feeling quickly faded though, as he looked up to see an elegant woman standing before him, her ears long as they pointed behind her head, and dressed in a simple white gown that allowed her natural beauty to shine through. What caught his attention the most though, were eyes that stared into him, with an icy blue as cold as her silent fury.

"Are you quite satisfied with yourself, Stained?"