“I guess so,” I said, and started moving again. “Just for the sake of certainty, let’s take the middle path again.”

True to our suspicions, pretty soon our magic left us yet again and after some more walking, we reached the same all-too-familiar two-way split. Nobody was nullifying magic. It was the forest’s way of letting us know that we were going the wrong way.

“The forest is enchanted,” Kai said in an enthusiastic tone, as we started walking on the right path yet again. “Just like in the tales, Myriam. We were going in circles.”

“It’s a great defense against anyone who has no magic items or cannot cast any spells,” I agreed. “But now that we’ve figured it out, all we have to do is write down the correct sequence of paths and we’ll be able to reach its end.”

“Wait. Since we know this path is the wrong one,” said Kai, “why don’t we simply run back to the intersection and take a different one?”

“Let’s try it,” I agreed, and soon we were backtracking to where we came from.

However, it looked like we were simply walking on a straight path with no end. The split in the road should have appeared again by now, let alone some of the turns the path had taken on its way here. Eventually, we realized that returning was not going to work, and the only way would be moving forward and starting over, and so we did.

Not more than a minute later, we reached the place where we’d had the realization about how the forest worked, which meant the path leading back was an endless loop leading nowhere.

“Should we rest before we—” Kai said, and abruptly stopped talking when we suddenly heard footsteps coming from behind us.

This time, I didn’t need to warn Kai about hiding, since we would be helpless without our items and my magic. Instead, we started running forward, where we knew magic would return to us. As soon as we felt the warm comfort of our robes and protective orbs, I made my stand in the middle of the path while Kai hid behind some bushes on the side. These people would not go away—there was no way for them to go back, after all—and since I had to face them, I had a big advantage as long as I could use magic and they could not.

I saw a couple walking toward me. The man looked tall and lean, wearing baggy robes and a belt holding a longsword on each of its sides. However, the swords were sheathed and his posture did not strike me as offensive.

Name : Manal Im

Race : Human

Class : Tyrant

Level : 34

The woman, on the other hand, looked much more dangerous, wearing robes that looked a lot like those of spellcasters, while the big gem on the tip of her staff left me no doubt of her abilities. Her face…

This face— I recognized her.

“Seika?” I said in disbelief, as waves of childhood memories rushed through my head.

Name : Seika Leonil

Race : Human

Class : Fateweaver

Level : 41

I hadn’t seen any of the survivors of Nara for almost a year and a half, and Seika had left to study in the university some years even before the liturgy.

Seika, my first and only tutor. The woman who made me love studying and also the strongest of the young spellcasters I knew. I believed I would never see her again.

“Myriam!” she whispered, though I could hear her clearly in the silence of the forest. “By The Divine, Myriam, we’ve been searching everywhere for you.”

She continued walking toward me, the man who was with her following very close to her. I had completely forgotten how much I loved her. How much I missed her. I never got the chance to say how sorry I was about what had happened to her parents, sorry that I left her brother to deal with the aftermath.

“Seika, how—” was all I managed before Kai came out of his hiding place and stood in front of me.

“Is it you, Kai?” she asked, as she laid her eyes on him while the man slowly moved his hands to the pommels of his swords.

“Seika, who is this man?” I said, and moved my hand in front of Kai. “Take your hands off your weapons.”

“Man, what do you think you’re doing?” Seika scolded him, but continued walking toward us herself. “This is Manal Im, my husband-to-be. And he is very protective. By The Divine, you have both grown so much.”

“Seika, I missed you,” Kai said, taking me by surprise.

“I missed you too, Kai,” she replied, as she fell on one knee in front of him. “Your metamorphosis spell was nullified in here? Is that why your skin is golden?”

Kai didn’t respond verbally, but he nodded and Seika touched his cheek and chanted an incantation, almost too fast for me to react. Once she was finished, what looked like a bucket of lights was poured over Kai and his skin returned to its normal color.

“That’s better, isn’t it?” she said, and I saw Kai nod at her before she stood up and faced me. “You must have been through so much, Miri.”

I wasn’t sure if it was due to not having seen her for years, the memories of innocence returning, or because nobody had called me Miri for so long, but I felt the need to throw myself into her arms. I realized that I yearned for a hug from someone who would be able to tell me everything was going to be fine. From someone who would be strong enough and wise enough for me to believe it. And if there was anyone I would trust, it would be my teacher and friend, Seika.

“I missed you so—” I said, but stopped as I heard a branch cracking somewhere behind us.

“Myriam, don’t be alarmed,” Seika said, as I threw her back. “We’re not alone.”

Images of what had happened the last time I let my guard down blurred my vision and I immediately started casting a protective spell around us. The man who was walking next to Seika was now rushing toward her. She held her hands up as if to signal everyone to calm down.

Before I managed to finish the spell, Kai threw his left hand in the direction of Seika and golden arrows flashed at her. Just before touching her, the man with the dual swords lunged at her and pushed her out of harm’s way.

“I have a mission, Seika,” I said, as soon as I’d raised a powerful sphere of protection around us, acting as if I was not surprised by Kai’s sudden resurgence of powers. “Return where you came from, and let’s not harm each other.”

Before she was able to stand up behind the tree where she was now hidden, along with the man who was supposed to become her husband, a very thin arrow passed through the hind side of my barrier and hit Kai in his shoulder.

“No!” I screamed, and stood in front of him looking desperately in the direction the arrow had come from. “Why are you hurting us?”

“That’s a magic-nullifying arrow,” I heard a voice say, as a familiar figure appeared between the trees some distance behind me. “It won’t hurt him, just control his magic abilities… as well as pierce through protective barriers.”

Name : Krysha Vasser

Race : Human

Class : Bow of Dawn

Level : 31