Three days passed and they went through wide fields with individual trees that stood far from one another. Passing one tree and another, Whil kept count of the trees on the third day of the journey since morning until the sun passed above their heads. So far, they passed around nineteen trees according to Whil’s count. He only bothered to count the ones that are absolutely close to the road and did not bothered the ones that were quite far from them. Time to time, the trees were somewhat closer to one another, then, the trees became rarely grown. At the far sides of the fields, trees were growing wild forming forests and small groves. The road stayed far from the forests and kept straight on the lush field.

Soon, the road turned left. Much to Whil’s surprise, they did not follow it. Thornwell kept on going straight, straying away from the path of dirt. They were instead moving straight towards a thick forest up front. Whil could not see much into the forest as the trees grew very thick and close to one another. The only opening that he could see was where two large trees growing a little far from one another and bending, creating an arc that looked like a magical entrance way. Obviously, by the course that they were taking Whil was sure they were heading for the opening.

“What’s in there?” Whil suddenly asked. The whole day had been a quiet one. No one talked or spoke aloud with one another. Even if they were talking, they were more like whispering to one another until the silence was broken by Whil’s loud question.

“Up in there?” Thornwell asked. “Into those woods we will find ourselves ending up in a large village known as Fayem. It is a Thre’adilin village under the rule of King Ethron Brimrod of Fremrost.”

“Oh. So we’re taking a safe short cut?” Sheila asked.

“More or less. Crossing those woods is faster than avoiding it. Most Humans avoid it. No Thre’adilin kingdoms have much Human visitors,” Thornwell answered.

As they entered the woods, the trees suddenly became taller and thicker. Light from the sun became scarce as they went in deeper and deeper.

“The trees didn’t seem to be this big and tall from the outside,” Alph commented.

“Yes. That is true. The Kingdom of Fremrost practices the Mind Sigil. With it, they made illusions. Same goes to the villages under its rule. What you see are mostly illusions made to confuse and keep outsiders from entering. Unless you are a Thre’adil or have a good Sense, you’ll never reach the village in the middle of the woods. They used very strong illusions to enchant the woods effectively. You’ll either be lost forever or ended up exiting where you entered. The magic is strong here.”

“So, they put up the enchantment every day to keep it functioning?” Whil asked.

“No. They used a permanent enchantment. Judging by the looks of it and how it feels, the enchantment is difficult to be tampered with. I don’t believe that anyone can alter or undo this enchantment other the ones who put them up.”

“Yeah. I feel it too. Something or some sort of energy surged around the woods. It’s so strong.” Sheila agreed.

Moments later, they reached the middle of the woods. The sky opened wide and the breeze blew across their faces. They were in Fayem. Whil took notice of the buildings around him. They were remarkably built. Some even seemed impossible to be built. To his right, Whil saw one thick spiralling pillar and on top of the pillar, a building that seemed impossible for the pillar to hold up straight. In his head, the pillar should have snapped like a twig and fall. Next, he saw a floating house with only a staircase connecting the ground to the house. The deeper they went into the village, the weirder the buildings get. There was a building that looked like it was made from diamond and another made entirely of a tree that grew into a house. Remembering that Thornwell said the Thre’adil in Fayem practices illusion magic, he kept in mind that most of what he saw could only be an illusion.

They stopped right in front of an inn that looked like the walls were made of thick strings. They got off and took their stuff from their mounts. Darreos and Gallant returned to their bracelets and the horses and unicorn were taken to a stable beside the inn. Whil went closer to the inn’s wall and inspected it. It looked so real. Then, he touched and caressed the wall just to know how it would feel like. All he felt was a wooden wall. He did not even feel the string’s texture although it seemed like he was touching strings on the wall. They entered the inn and Thornwell stopped in front of them giving them a sudden halt in their march.

“Wait here. I’ll get us rooms.”

“Let me do it, Sir,” Bergarious volunteered.

“No, no. It’s fine. I am capable of getting us proper rooms.” Thornwell left and greeted the innkeeper.

“Oormsael. Aekir fyimyelil umyel ae yelvoi ulanusenyeth umyel noomil faa tu maen. Tei uu keryed ur od. Ner es en emthiilach sii lyoobruil.”

“Eventide. My friends and I require proper accommodations and meals for the night. There are six of us. Make it eight including two Creatures.”

“Riye vir. Mardwell ver idlaan rii so riikir yiinil. Semu ver fe deerud so riikir yiinil draanre,” the innkeeper replied.

“Very well. Mardwell will escort you to your rooms. Dinner will be served to your rooms shortly,”

The night passed by swiftly. They all had a fine dinner. All the food looked very expensive and tasted very delicious. Cakes, sweet desserts and freshly baked herb breads were on their dining table. Besides the desserts, there were mushroom soup and grilled beef with the most extraordinary sauce Whil have ever tasted. They were all in three separate rooms but were served the same meal in every room. Whil was with Alph and Darreos in one room. Next door were Sheila, Gallant and Wyo. At the end of the corridor were Thornwell and Bergarious. Whil, Alph and Darreos enjoyed their meal, as they have never tasted anything more delicious in their entire life. Whil figured that they were special Thre’adilin cuisine.

After dinner, Whil went on writing his journal by the hearth, Alph was reading a book he brought from home and Darreos was outside of his bracelet, sleeping by the hearth next to Whil. It was all rather peaceful and nice. After Whil was done writing, he slipped the journal back into his bag and sat there, staring at the fire. Then, he was reminded about the Sigil Gloves that Sheila gave him. He took them out of his bag and instantly put them on. He pulled a clump of energy and directed it to his right palm. Fire hugged his palm as bright as the one burning in the hearth. He looked at it intently as he was mesmerised by it as always.

“I still can’t believe that you found a Creature of your own. It’s so cool,” Alph suddenly commented as he saw Whil conjured the fire.

“Yeah. I would have never guessed it myself. I’ve always wanted one and now I have one. Although, everything still feels the same as before. Except for the fact that I can conjure fire now,” Whil responded.

“That’s the craziest part. There’s fire on your palm. Does it hurt?”

“Nope. Not at all. Come closer and tell me if it’s hot.”

Alph approached Whil and went closer to his palm. As he got close, he quickly moved away from the fire.

“Whoa. It’s hot. I could feel the heat when I got closer. Dang. It was really hot,” Alph said, giggling.

Whil laughed along. “Darreos told me that it would be hot for other people except myself. I guess I can’t hurt myself with my own magic.”

“That is up for debate. Maybe you can’t be maimed by your fire, but your Matter magic can hurt you.”

“Really? How so?”

“Matter magic is a magic that tampers with the property and characteristics of things. With Matter magic, you can reshape and restructure the appearances, properties and almost every aspect of any object.”

“So how can it hurt me?”

“There was a case once. A man casted a wooden floor into metal spikes with Matter magic and then he ended up falling onto them. The spikes pierced him and killed him instantly.”

“Yeesh. That’s harsh. Mental note; no making metal spikes near myself.”

Both Whil and Alph laughed. They continued talking throughout the night. They shared jokes and secrets between each other. Then, Alph told Whil about the first day of school that Whil skipped. He told Whil all the things that he missed. Up to Whil’s surprise, none of the things said by Alph interested him. Everything was very school related and boring. As much as Alph tried to make it sound interesting, Whil found that he utterly failed.

Then, there was a knock on the door. Whil jumped over the sofa in front of the hearth and rushed to open the door. As he did, Sheila stood in front of him.

“Come on. Thornwell wants to talk to us,” she said to Whil and then looked at Alph, “all of us.”

They left the room and went down the corridor towards Thornwell’s room. Sheila gave a knock and Bergarious opened the door letting them in. The moment Whil entered, he noticed that Wyo was already there.

“Come, sit,” Thornwell said.

“What is it?” Whil said while taking a seat right beside Alph.

“A messenger of mine tracked me down here in Fayem. It seems that I have to return to Drainrock sooner than expected. The messenger carried a letter saying that my father is dying. He had fallen ill and the Healers could not do anything to stop his illness. According to the message, he had fallen into a coma since yesterday. As I could understand, he only had three to four days left before the illness takes him,” Thornwell explained.

Wyo covered her mouth with her hands in shock while the rest gave a concerned look. Whil noticed that Thornwell seemed as calm as always. He was as if unaffected by the news. “In light of this new information, I called you here to ask whether if we could press on harder and faster to Drainrock. The journey would take us about five days, but if we move faster than before, we would arrive within three days or so,” he added.

Whil looked at his friends. They all still seemed to be in shock by the news. “Yes, of course. Whatever you need,” he answered for them.

“You do know that this means less stopping and less resting. We will keep on pressing forward,” Thornwell clarified.

“Yeah. We know. We’ll be fine, I promise you that.”

----- ----- ----- -----

It was very early when they decided to leave. The sun did not even climbed the horizon yet. Everyone was packed and ready. Their mounts were fed and prepped for the journey up ahead. As Whil understood, the journey ahead was going to be faster paced than their journey to Fayem. He expected that they would arrive at Drainrock within three days or maybe less as they were going to rush. Whil readied himself to face the long and tiresome journey on a horseback. He went to Darreos and petted his head.

“It’ll be a long journey up ahead,” Darreos said. Suddenly, Whil felt awkward petting Darreos as he realised that it felt like petting a friend on the head as if he was a pet. He pulled his hands away from Darreos and tucked them in his sweater’s pockets.

“Yup. It’s a long way to Drainrock. Can you manage?” Whil asked.

“I can manage. If I get tired, I’ll just stop and throw you off my back,” he answered while giving a throaty giggle.

“Yeah. Very funny.”

They left the village as soon as Bergarious returned from a market nearby the inn. He bought meat and some bread for the journey. They rode off in a single filed line. Thornwell was the most front as he led them out of the confusing, illusion filled woods. Bergarious was right behind Thornwell, followed by Sheila, Wyo, Alph and finally Whil. Whil volunteered to be the one at the most back before they left. He wanted to experience the woods by himself at the back of the group. The eeriness and uncertainty that filled the woods made the hair behind his neck and arms stood. What was beyond these illusions? Was it worse? Was it better than what the illusion showed? He figured he would never know unless some strong sorcerer lifted the enchantment.

The ride through the woods did not take long. Soon, they were outside the woods on the other side of where they had entered the day before. Thornwell told them that up ahead was Farbos, the northern and second state of Sallestre. Thornwell estimated that they would cross from Gallenhied to Farbos by nightfall. Whil was rather excited when he heard the news. First, he stayed in a Thre’adilin inn and tasted Thre’adilin food for the first time. After that, he was going to cross between states in Sallestre. What is next? Would he be crossing countries? He could not get his mind to believe on how he started to jump into this big journey of his. He could only remember living in Joycelm for ten years and the only journey he had was travelling from Ygmod to Joycelm. The world was even wider now than how he imagined it before.

Moments after they exited the woods, they found the dirt road that led north and followed on the path. Thornwell said it would be wiser to follow it than to go on the journey aimlessly. When Whil asked why, Thornwell only said, “You’ll see.”

Night fell upon them and they reached the edge of Gallenhied. Up ahead was a huge gate and a tall translucent fence expanding from each side of the gate. Above the gate, he saw GALLENHIED written in capital letters. Now he knew why they had to follow the path. There was only one gate that he could see and none other to the far left or right. As they arrived to the gate, a couple of men stopped them. They looked like a couple of regular crodors. Thornwell gave something to one of the crodors and then he handed it back to Thornwell after he inspected it. Then, the crodor looked at the kids that rode with Thornwell. Thornwell turned his head towards the children and looked back to the crodor. He mumbled something to the crodor and the crodor let them pass the gates.

Whil could not hear what the Thre’adil said to the crodor and he was quite curious about the whole process of passing the gates. As he passed the crodor that spoke to Thornwell, the crodor said to him, “Have a nice holiday,” with a smile. Whil smiled back and continued forward. After he passed the gates, Whil turned his head around. He looked at the top of the gate where he saw GALLENHIED before and saw FARBOS written instead. With that, he was sure that he had crossed to Farbos. He smiled wide and told Darreos to catch up with the rest.