Since I had no other choice I continued walking through the forest. As I walked the forest became patchier. Perfect circles where nothing grew nor even any leaves laid. Mushrooms grew around them as if they were purposefully spored there which made the whole thing even freakier. Thankfully the path never really touched any of these circles.

“Good thing we’re capable of dealing with most of whatever may be out there?” I said with a tinge of fear in my voice. Suddenly, after a few moments, my ears were assaulted by this horrific ringing in my ears.

“What’s going on?” I asked once the ringing stopped. Then the ringing returned. I held my ears in pain and even the mask I wore began morphing as if it too was being affected by the sound. Then it stopped. As it did Mordred appeared out of the pendant.

“What was that?” I asked.

“I don’t know. All we know is that you started talking really quickly and when we talked it looked like it was hurting you.” she said.

“Could time be different here?” I asked.

“Perhaps. Legends do say that time moves slower in the realm of fae, or was it faster. We are in the realm of Oberon and Titania so it would be reasonable to assume that we are in his domain.” she said.

“That is a possibility. For now let’s try and speak to each other when we are in the same realm.” I said.

“There is a problem though.” Elysif said in a way that made me very anxious.

“What?”

“I can’t use my magic between the pendant and this realm. Which means if you want my support then I have to be out here. However, I can’t. I have to make sure that Mordred is properly healing up.” she said

“Can Compton help?” I asked.

“He doesn’t have a weapon and he doesn’t use magic so probably not.” She said.

“Can you still ask him?”

“Sure.” she said before walking over to me and touching the pendant. As she appeared she disappeared into the pendant.

“Welp, I’m fucked.” I said to myself before continuing down the path. Eventually I reached a point in which the path ended. Yet, when I walked off of it the path opened up in the direction I was stepping. I was confused but at this point I have decided that I don’t care. It’s magic and that’s about all I need to know.

As I walked through the newly forming pathway it eventually opened up to a small clearing with an even smaller pond beside it. As I approached the pond the sound of horns blared and bells were ringing. Looking to the other side of the clearing I watched as the forest’s walls opened up. Riding on a strange deer was a man with goat-like legs and deer like antlers. He wasn’t much taller than myself and his face reminded me of a young child. His hair was dreadlocked and fell down to his waist where it was tied together with a ribbon.

Beside the strange man riding a deer was a young woman also riding a deer. She had long black hair which was braided to hold most of her hair back. Unlike the man she had no animalistic features but her ears were pointy and long like an elf from modern fantasy. Also unlike the man she was wearing a white dress, albeit see through. However, it was still covering more skin than the man had covered. He was completely in the nude.

“Welcome to my forest, Lou Barret!” the man said.

“How do you know my name?” I asked as I raised the wooden sword to him.

“Don’t be like that. I am Oberon, King of the Fae and this is my Wife, Titania.” Oberon said.

“It’s good to meet you two but how do you know my name?” I asked.

“I am an Elder One who can control time within a certain area. Titania is also an Elder One who can create false realities. Together we control most of the British isles. Since I have control of time to a degree I am immune to the effects it places. You killed one of my children who had been rather disobedient at the edge of a forest not too far from here. Now you are here in the past and I know of you from both now and then as if there is no distinction between the two.” Oberon explained.

“So, you want retribution for your child?” I questioned as I wasn’t sure where he was going with this.

“Not at all. You actually did us a favor by doing that. I was trying to avoid any trouble with humans and so he needed to be taken care of.” he said.

“So are you here to thank me? I’m very confused.” I said.

“I was actually coming to start the hunt. You see, ever since we made a pact with Arthur to not hurt humans so long as they don’t hurt us, we haven’t been able to enjoy a good hunt. Next thing we know, Mordred is sending us a letter asking us to hunt you for sport. You can imagine that we are very excited. We even had as many of our children come to this spot to join us in the hunt. I’ll give you a few minutes to try and put some distance between you and us before we begin. Also, you should know that you’ll be in here for what feels like a month. In human time though it will only be three days.” Oberon said as he and Titania both pulled bows made from coiled branches from the sides of the deer that they were riding.

“Oh shit!” I said before booking it into the woods.