The Which Within Chapter Two The Forest Of Illusions

Illusions Of Food

Loc was in her aircraft, which was the shape of a rectangular box which was powered by magical crystals that allowed it to lift and move. She was in a well lit room where the door was, which had its own bedrooms and bathrooms with baths included. It seemed very posh to her and she could not believe that she was in such a structure.

She looked out and saw an ocean of trees with a long, black, thin triangular based pyramid stuck out over the trees like a sword. This, she knew, was where she would be staying for the next month. This would be where she would learn how to decipher the difference between what is real and what is but an illusion.

The moment that she landed she walked out she could see fifteen others looking at her with both horror and anger. Then there was one boy with a good crop of dark brunette hair and crystal grey eyes with skin just as pale as hers who just looked at her and gave her a smile. He then waved at her cheerily to the anger of the rest.

So, this must be the rest of my class. She deduced and already knew that there would be some that would wish her nothing but the most painful death to her. She also could tell that the boy would probably be the only one that would even be welcome to her.

Part of her wanted to go and get back home and forget all about this, however she knew that she had to do this, after all, if she did not then her sisters would be able to deceive her with their illusions again and again and who knows who else would end up dead because of that? No this would be something that she would have to get over with as soon as possible.

They were led by a man into the building. The corridor was black and doors. They then walked down to the end, where there was a spiral staircase that wrapped around the inside of the building. They were taken to the second level, where their bedrooms were. They were all given their own with a bathroom.

Hers' was a dark purple room and a back sun above her door. Her bed was white and opposite was a mirror in the shape of a pointed nail with a black rim. She walked to an apple wardrobe with two black lion heads with a ring for the doorknobs and unpacked.

She took a bath and cleaned her teeth. She then fell asleep.

The next day she made her way to her classroom she spotted that boy that waved to her leaning by the door.

“Hi! I'm Max, you?” he said as he extended his hand. She took it and shook it.

“Loc.”

“That's a cool name.” he said as they entered the room.

There was a man with a crimson robe with his hood up concealing his face.

“Hello, my name is Curogh Cliff. I will be your teacher for your time here. This will be your first lesson. Subtle clues of illusions.” he said his voice low and calm. He then raised his thin tight and smooth hand. In it was a basket of apples. He walked up to each of the students. He then placed down each apple in front of them. He then went back and he gave them another apple.

“Now eat both apples.” he said. She looked at the identical apples and took a bite out of both. There seemed to be no difference but there seemed to be something odd about the first apple. She then frowned and took a second bite, and then took another. Soon it hit! The first had a dulled taste to it and it felt less like she was biting an apple and more like she was eating a piece of paper, no, even that had even more taste.

“Anything wrong Miss Cerberus?” Curogh asked.

“That apple is an illusion isn't it?” she asked. 

“Yes, how could you tell?”

“It tastes like paper and it doesn't feel right.” she replied.

“Good.”

The others looked at her in such a spiteful way that she knew that one or two of then would have given her a beating within an inch of her life soon, but she also knew that if she kept to herself then that would help her chances of not getting beaten up. So this became her game plan for the next week and it worked. Then on Monday morning she was woken by Curogh and they were taken by him to an aircraft. They then were taken to the edge of the forest and they all were given their own coloured path, hers' was a dark purple. So they all took their first step at the same time.

They all looked in the forest. They did not need to be told what they were to do for it was self-explanatory. They heard the arrow and most of them ran into the forest on their paths. Loc and Max and five others simply walked down the path. These seven had the same thought, that running and rushing would only make the forest's job of tempting you away much easier. Then who knows what would happen to you the moment that you did.

She just walked in the forest which in a way, was quite pleasant. Then she realised sometime that she and the others did not have breakfast. This caused her stomach to growl. She started to smell ice-cream and she followed the scent where it was which she spotted a bowl of mint chocolate ice-cream at the base of a tree trunk. She felt her mouth water as she approached the bowl where she wanted to see if there was a spoon which she quickly found.

She reached out her hand but then she knew what that was. She then lifted herself up and then walked back to the road and walked on. 

She then spotted a bowl of strawberries.

Come on. That's not even my favourite fruit!

Then she walked on to see a bowl of crimson apples.

Better, but still no.

She then walked on and spotted that there was a bend in the road. To see a full and untouched fruit cake next to the road. Her stomach started to hurt as it growled. She walked up to the cake and it was covered in her favourite hard icing. Which broke as she took off a sluice and shoved it in her mouth and from the moment that it entered she knew what it was and walked on to the end to get some real food. 

She then spotted that Max had just left. Half of the eight that ran returned.

Illusions Of Animals

After the first time she had been in the Forest Of Illusions Loc felt more confident about the next time as she sat there in her classroom. The next time was about discerning the difference between true and illusion made animals and creatures.

“Yo, Loc, someone sitting there?” asked Max. She shook her head and he sat down next to her. “Good.”

“I didn't say that you sit there.”

“Didn't ask, plus nobody should sit alone.”

They heard the sound of many meows coming from the door. Then it banged open and they saw several metal boxes with holes in them on a metal trolley. Then came two hands that belonged to Curogh. He then pulled out two cats and placed them down on the table in front of each student. They looked at them and Loc stroked them, but then the one on the left grew a long fang and scaly skin and jumped at her. She felt a scratch on her face.

“Loc! Don't believe it exists!” Max shouted as he reached out but his hands went right through the creatures' body.

“Loc, Max is right, an illusion is as powerful as your mind makes it!” Curogh shouted.

Loc nodded and closed her eyes and when she opened the pain and the cat was gone! She looked at the other cat and hesitated but stroked it lightly and could feel the warmth beneath her palms. She soon remembered that there was no warmth in the illusion and it had a hollow feeling. This, she knew was the real cat and the other was a fake, an illusion, just like Max and Curogh had just said.

“Ha! Serves you right!” said a girl on the other side of the room.

“Sara! Never do that again!” Curogh snapped. She looked at him and her lip curled but she accepted the correction. “Now write down everything that you learn from the two cats in front of you. Then get a good night's sleep because at nine o'clock sharp you shall be going back into the Forest Of Illusions tomorrow. Then the day after you will all have psychological evaluations.”

They nodded and then they all wrote down everything that they had gathered. Loc and Max shared his cat. They both talked about many things and observations that the other missed. Together they both had double the amount of notes than the others by the end of the lesson. This caused the rest to give them with envy.

She woke up at seven o'clock and got into her white t-shirt and black trousers. She then ate her breakfast, Max again sat next to her. They then walked to the aircraft. They then were led to their paths and then walked in, even the ones that ran the first time. It was all too clear that they had learnt from the first time.

She had walked a good distance where she saw a young kid whimpering alone. She was just about to pass it by until it started to howl and cry. She looked at it in horror as tears fell from the big black eyes. 

Foxes don't shed tears. 

She walked on as the sound died down. She walked further until she spotted a lamb chained to the bark of the tree. She walked over to it but her eyes dropped to her feet to see that the lamb had twin toes. Knowing that this was an illusion she returned to the path.

She walked on and her stomach started to rumble. She felt herself getting slightly tired and tripped over something. She looked down and spotted that there was a sleeping puppy. He licked his paw and then opened his eyes and looked at her. He sat up and then grew into a wolf. Loc backed away and as he jumped up and her eyes closed.

“You're not real!” she shouted and flicked her eyes open and the wolf was gone and she got to her feet.

She walked and walked until she started to feel bored, so bored that she could have sworn that she heard the meowing of a small kitten. Then she saw the kitten just sat there whining away almost like how a dog or wolf howls. Feeling her weakness for cuteness come over her and she walked over to the kitten and picked it up and hugged it. 

For her, she needed this. She had lost her parents and her sisters. Worst of all they were the ones that killed them in the first place. They were the reason that she was here, because of their illusion that they had used to distract her so that they had the time to do it. However there was a part of her that wanted things to go back to the way they were. There was another part of her that frightened her, a part of her that wished for revenge for that.

Then she felt hair and something embrace her. Her eyes opened in confusion only to see that the kitten had somehow grown spider arms and the mouth opened to reveal serpents' teeth. In horror she threw it away and ran as she was chased by the spider kitten.

Then she heard the cry of a baby and knowing that this too was an illusion she covered her ears until she left the forest with tears lining her cheeks.

An Illusion of Books

Loc had decided to branch out to talk to the others, other than Max, but this was unsuccessful. None responded whenever she would try to start a conversation with anyone. She tried to sit near others but they moved to another table. The only one that seemed to want to talk to her was Max and that was what they did. They spoke of many things before they walked into the classroom. They took their seats and Max looked at the others and waved to them.

“Yo! Come on over here!” he called. 

They all looked at him and her with a glimpse of fear. Loc understood. They saw the witch and not her. Her eyes slid away knowing that she should have expected as much, but to her surprise they did sit near her. Probably out of the fear of her bringing harm to then or their family if they did not.

“I..”

No, nothing that I can say will comfort them or not make things worse. So with that she had decided just to focus on the lesson at hand.

Curogh walked in with a trolley of twenty four books. He gave them all two books and then went to the front of the class. He looked at them all and placed down the two remainder books.

“Right, I am going to ask some of you to tell me the title of the books that are in front of you.” he said. “First, Gabriel Alexis, what are the titles of the books that are in front of you?”

“Well, the one on the right is Fairies And Their Dark Magic and the other's The Seven Lost Worlds.” she said.

“Max Ahriman?”

“Got you! The one on the right is Valour Across The Ages, sounds like a good read, and the one on the left is The Destruction of The Dark God Slayer.”

Loc spotted that his eyes narrowed like he had a sour taste in his mouth.

“Lora Cerberus?”

“Oh, the one on the right is The Universe Guide and the other-” she felt her lip curl. “Is The Secret Of Grasharlo.”

They all raised their eyebrows as they looked at her in utter horror.

“Relax! Kissendou Cin?”

“The one on the right is Robbers of the Grave and the left is The Death Of Grasharlo.” he looked behind her to look at Loc who had taken a sudden interest in the book. “I'd read that if I were you.”

“Well it would help me defeat my sisters, and I would do the same if I were you too. By the Demon Realm! You might be the one to do it! For good this time!” she said back.

“Would this include letting us kill you?”

“If that's what it takes, but please know, I am me not her. I may be a part of her but I will never be her.” 

“Anyway.” Curogh said sternly. “Now onto the lesson. Book illusions are not like other illusions although they do you little good just as much, but they are designed to plant ideas or seeds in your minds that will trap you to go a specific path, a path that will lead to great suffering and pain. So, regardless of how tempting, Lora, Kissendou, you must not read the books on the left.”

They all looked at the books on the left, realising that they were the enemy of their minds and their faces were stuck with horror.

“So, why are you telling us this?” Max asked.

“Because tomorrow, you will be facing the Forest's books, now get some sleep and be here by noon! So remember to get an early breakfast and lunch, believe me, you'd need it.” he replied and with that they left.

The following day Loc noticed that Kissendou and Gabriel both joined her for breakfast.

“I've been thinking about what you said yesterday and I'm sorry and I think that we could be good friends.” he said.

“It's alright, I get this treatment a lot and I agree.” she said as she extended her hand. “Call me Loc.”

“Endou.” 

Their hands shook.

“Now let's get through this together.” Gabriel said and their hands shook.

Soon it came time to go in the forest and they were talking so much and so long that they barely noticed it when they arrived. They were led to their pathways and entered the Forest Of Illusions again.

She had not even travelled that far when she came to a purple book with a gold frame with a small green emerald at each corner with a crimson heart in the centre. Above the heart in gold Vladimir Script was the title. The History Of Grasharlo Volume I. 

She felt her curious hand open the book but her left threw it away realising it was an illusion and she knew exactly what it would try to do. She then decided to move on, paying not one bit of attention to the bibliophile side of her that wanted to go back and collect that book to add to the library back in her home.

If that home is still mine, you mean. Came a stray thought. This made her realise that there was a possibility that she might have to find a new home if her parents deaths meant that she was now homeless. To do that she also knew that she would have to get a job of some kind.

She felt her foot knock something. She looked down to see that there was another book on the ground. This one looked almost identical to the other apart from the fact that the purple was a darker shade and had lighter gold. However instead of a heart below the text there was a crimson apple. She then looked at the title to see if it was the same. It was still in Vladimir Script but the title said the same but there was an extra I, so it read The History Of Grasharlo Volume II. 

She picked it up and tossed it as fast and far as she could into the void of the forest. She realized in that moment just how much she hated that witch and how much more she despised the fact that she was always a part of her. It made her feel as if she was covered in dirt and mould. She could even swear that maggots and worms lived inside her. She felt herself cringe and had to look at herself and comb through her hair with her fingers to remind herself that that was not the case.

She then found another book just like the other, only this one was black with the same look and rubies instead of emeralds and the frame and the text were silver and read, The History Of Grasharlo Volume III. She looked at it in pure disgust and knew that she did not want anything to do with Grasharlo nor that book. However she knew that in reality that witch, her sister would dominate her life and destiny. So she kicked it into the forest.

“Here have your dirty little book back!” she shouted and stormed away from the spot in a fit of rage that she knew that she quite could not understand. She knew that she was not always like this but she could not quite tell what it was that had enraged her this much.

Then she then tripped over another book. She looked down at it and spotted that it was a white book with a black frame with diamond shaped rubies at each corner with a bronze wand pointing to the title that was not in Vladimir Script but silver Old English. It said The Tale Of The Witch Within, the author Lora Alex Cerberus.

She felt taken back by this, her gut told her that this was a trick but something told her that this was her book and that she had written it. She also knew that she had known little of Grasharlo, despite being part of her. She crouched down and picked up the book and opened it. She looked at the chapters and spotted that the first part was named The M Universe and the second The X Universe. She frowned.

What does this mean?

Nothing! This is not your book for it has Alex in the middle! You don't have a middle name! This she could not argue with so she placed the book down and she soon left the forest. She knew that a new ambition had been born there, to learn as much as she can about Grasharlo.

Nightfall

Loc found herself the first in class sitting alone, her mind was on Grasharlo, almost like it was drawn to her and her mind drifting to what she knew and what she did not know about her. What that was, was that somehow, Grasharlo, somehow became one of the worst witch, one that could nether be trusted to live or die, that she was part of her and that her sisters were also part of her, however because they woke they know more about her than she, who hadn't.

When the others walked in and, again, sat near her. 

“Hey Loc.”

“You alright Endow?”

“Yeah you?”

“Didn't get that much sleep but yeah!” she said. She felt a pat on her shoulder.

“Brooding?” 

“Just a bit, what about you Max?”

“I don't brood. I just think.” he said as he sat next to her.

“What about?”

“Many things, mainly about the future and the past. I must admit that I am quite interested in the Dark Lord Age.” he said as Curogh walked in. He did not have anything with him this time and he walked to the front.

“Good morning. I can see that you have all become settled in. I know that you have noticed that there is nothing with me. Now, the reason for that is because this time you will be in the forest at nightfall, illusions become, for some reason, don't ask me why, however more powerful and unpredictable when it becomes darker. And they are at the most powerful and unpredictable between midnight and three of the clock.” he explained. “So I will tell you to revise everything that I have taught you.”

They all looked around and they all looked at all their books. They did this together and each other looked at their notes and filled in gaps that others had noticed and by the end of the lesson they were all ready. They then left and all took a nap before they left in the evening. They were led to their paths and then entered.

She walked onwards. She felt odd, as the twilight turned to darkness. She suddenly felt her loneliness sink in and she started to feel scared. She wanted her mother and father to wrap their arms around her. She wanted to go home and crash on her bed. She wanted to hear their warm laughs and remember how they always made her laugh.

She turned the corner to see her home. Her old home, before she had to move to Underground Town. It was a two level three bedroomed cottage with white stone walls and the black wood foundations that helped keep it up were exposed. She looked up at the roof and had quite forgotten that it had a crimson thatched roof. 

She slowly walked up to the small black door with a rippled window which she used to believe was only like that because the window was frozen water, until she had been told otherwise. She pressed down on the doorknob and walked in.

It was like she had remembered it. The stairs at the back and the living room at the left and the kitchen on the right. She ran up the stairs to the top where she was greeted by three doors and ran to her and her sisters room. She saw her bright blue bed with the white snowflakes on. She found herself falling on it and closing her eyes.

In her dreams she saw a man in the far distance but she could not make out his look but knew that, somehow, he knew who she was and vice versa. He turned to her and looked at her.

“Wake up!” he called and her eyes opened.

Soon she remembered where she was and fell onto the ground. She could feel that her chin had been cut. It hurt but not that much. She returned to her path and started to hear crying. She stopped for a moment. She spotted a woman in the distance huddled over a branch. She felt her step towards her only to realise with her horror that it was her mother! That was when she ran to her and then she looked down at her only to see that the woman had no face! 

Her leg stepped back and the faceless woman raised her head as if it could see her. With that she broke out into a run to the path.

“Loc!” came her mother's voice. She looked back and spotted that the faceless woman was coming right for her. She quickly realised where that voice came from and ran and ran as fast as she could to the path. Then when she was on it she closed her eyes.

It's not you! It's not real! 

Then she opened them again and ran away from that. She then started to hear laughter. Warm laughter, her father's warm laughter. She covered her ears not wishing to find herself repeating the same mistake. Until she saw him in the corner of her eye. Well, it was his figure but not him, his face was just as absent as her mother's impersonator. 

She looked away from him and then she spotted the end of the road. She was out.

“Dart that Demon Realm!” she shouted as others left but there was no sign of Gabriel.

It was in this moment that Loc to her horror, realised that this forest takes lives!

Midnight

“Why didn't it say that the Forest Of Illusions took lives?” she snapped the moment that Curogh walked in. He looked at her as if he was some-what gleefully surprised that she had figured it out. She could even see his overly large grin that made her feel uncomfortable.

“Would any of you come if you knew?” he asked.

“No! I would've done everything in my power to put an end to all of this!”

He let out a soft and laid back sigh.

“That I can see, but the gods of illusion and forests demand their sacrifice. That is the true purpose of the Forest Of Illusions. The only ones that do not become the sacrifice are the ones that are strong enough to live.” he explained almost as if he was giving them a lesson.

“And you expect us to go along with this?” Endow snapped as his lip curled.

“You have no choice. The moment that you signed on to take this course you were all placed under an enchantment so that you can not physically leave until you have finished nor can you do anything to harm or return to the forest once you have completed the course. There is even an enchantment that means that none of you can warn others about this possibility either.”

“And how do you know that?” Max asked.

“It is not your place to know.” he said with an ominous tone to his voice. “Now that you know there is nothing that you can do let me start this morning's lesson. Now tonight you will go to sleep early and then get up as late as you wish but tomorrow night at no sooner than midnight you will be back in the forest and this time you will see the faces and they will be less difficult to resist. This will be the last lesson and no less than four days from then you will enter your final exam, where you will not get the sleep that you will get tonight and tomorrow morning.”

He then left them to think about what happened and what he just said. Loc only had one thought, somehow, some way she was going to burn this forest down to the ground. She looked at the others and it was all too clear with their fiery eyes that they were thinking the exact same thing. They looked at her.

“You got a light?” a boy younger than her.

“No, but I wish that I did.”

“No magic?”

“I can't control it nor is it reliable.”

“Max?”

“I don't have anything. So sorry I can't help.”

They all looked around. Wondering if there were people listening. Loc then looked at them and placed her and in the centre her palm facing the floor.

“Let's agree that one day when we are strong and prepared enough, we'll come back and destroy this forest.” she said. “If you wish to help then place your hand on mine.”

They all looked at each-other and placed their hands on hers. Max then placed his hand on their pile last and then pressed down and raised and broke apart. They then spent the rest of the day in the library looking at the history of the Forest Of Illusion.

“Well that's interesting. This forest was planted by the forest god Panifore and fertilised by the illusion goddess, Illutai and they did this to create an altar to them and the more people that die in this forest the more powerful they become.” Endow said.

“I've found something too! It also mentions that the more powerful the individual that dies the more powerful the they and the forest they become!” Max contributed.

“It also says here that the souls who die here become slaves to their whim and they also become trapped in their corpse!”

“You mean that there are zombie slaves out there?!” said the boy.

“According to this book. Yes.” she said as she passed the book over to him. He read and his eyes widened.

He looked up at her with dread in his eyes. With that they all decided to go to their bedrooms and slept until it was well past midday and had breakfast at three o'clock in the afternoon. They again went to the library but soon found that there were no other books left about the Forest Of Illusions. This left them to read the books that they all started but they mainly gave the names of all the victims that the forest had taken. This to their horror took up the rest of the books that they were reading!

“We need to get out of here.” the boy said but as he turned to leave they noticed Curogh standing there smiling as if to remind them that they can't.

“I see that you are studying the Forest Of Illusions. Very good but it will not help you nor will it lead you to take the forest down, no, that answer lies elsewhere, where I do not know.” he said as he pointed to the clock. It was eleven. It was time to go. 

It took them even longer to get to the forest and the path for it was too dark and there were several illusions that were flying in the air. They were there at twelve o'clock on the dot. Loc found her place as did the others and in sheer anger they set foot before the teacher could say anything. 

The first thing that Loc did was pick up a stick and found a plank of wood and tried to light a fire but for some reason her arms were weaker than usual almost as if they did not want to light this fire. She tried again but her arms were unresponsive and she soon realised what was going on. She threw the pieces of wood out of anger. She then got to her feet and walked on in rage and determination. 

She then felt her anger slowly subside and the darkness and silence made her feel a slight sting of fear. She could die in this forest, she could die and nobody will know or care. Her parents were dead and her sisters were the ones that did it. Her sisters were now two awakened pieces of Grasharlo and because she was the third, she was hated and even-though everyone here may be talking to her and seemed to like her, she could not be quite certain that they were only pretending to appease her. To save their own skin and make sure that she did not hurt their friends or families.

“You could be right about that.” came her father's voice. She screamed and looked behind her. There she could see him, her father had a face too. Her eyes were wider than she thought possible.

“F-f-no, you're not my father.” 

“You may be right, you may be wrong, but that matters not. All I know is that that Max, is not good for you.” he said as he placed a hand on her shoulder. “Nor is anybody, for that matter.”

“Really? And why is that?” she asked.

“Yes, after all they will always get in the way and get themselves killed by those who are your enemies.” he replied. “It is better that you die before that. Before you cause them to.”

“You're wrong. They will not be killed because they're my friend and they are my friends and there's nothing that you can say or do anything that will change my mind so get away from me.” she shouted and walked on with even more anger in her than before. She walked on and on.

“That was not very nice. I thought that we raised you better than that.” came a woman's voice. Her heart dropped and her eyes began to water as she turned around to see the form of her mother in front of her.

“You didn't raise me.” she said her voice hollow and more shaky than she wanted.

“How do you know that?” she asked as she came closer to her. “After all, how can you know that I am not your mother? Do you not remember how I played with you and your sisters? Do you not remember how often we used to pretend to be knights and princesses?”

“Yeah, you were always the queen and father was always was the evil dark lord that we always wanted to save.” she let slip as her tears started to fall.

“Yes and however hard he would make it you was always the one that would 'rescue' me and your sisters would always 'fight' the evil dark lord.” she laughed.

“Yeah, that probably made it easier to kill the pair of you.” she cried. “I'm sorry. I should've been there. I should've stopped them.” 

She broke out into a weep. She felt her arms around her. She placed her hand on the arms and squeezed.

“Shh, shh, it's alright, it's alright.” she whispered. “I'm here, I'm here.”

She felt the tears fall faster and she soon could not breathe. She soon felt pain in her head and her ribs. Then she tasted blood in her mouth. Her eyes opened and she pulled away to see the spikes covering her body. She screamed and flew away from this monster of illusion. She ran and ran on her path just wishing to get away from her but when she looked over her shoulder and spotted that she was already close behind her. She felt her lungs hurt by trying to get enough air through her weeping and her vision was blurring. She then fell and curled up as she cried and covered her head.

Then she heard two steps coming for her.

“Just give up Loc, it is not worth it.” came her sisters.

“You killed me, and so you did this. So all you can do is to stop yourself from killing others by stepping off the road and let the forest take you.” she said. “If you don't you will kill others and cause the deaths of more.”

“Shut up!” she shouted as she released something and a ripple of the wind left her. She then got onto her feet and then walked on and out of the forest. She turned back to the forest.

“I'm going to burn you down!” she shouted.

The Final Time

Loc woke up from a nightmare that she quickly forgot but the only thing that she remembered was words that she knew did not make any sense.

“'The multiverse is counting on you'? What's a multiverse?” she muttered as she slipped out of her bed knowing that this would be the last time that she would be here. Somehow her gut told her that she would not return but told herself that she would. She had made a promise and she had every intention to keep it. 

She changed into a yellow vest and crimson coat and black pants. Then she opened the door to be met by Max.

“You alright?” he asked. She nodded.

“Just a nightmare that's all.” she brushed off as she walked on. They walked into the cafe' and the class sat together.

“So, have any of  you thought of a way to take down this forest?” she asked.

“Well we all tried to burn it down but it was odd...It was as if neither of us had the heart to.” 

Loc nodded empathetically. 

“It seems like they were telling us the truth...” Max tailed.

“But it still shouldn't mean that we should give in and let anyone of us give up. We can find a way to take this forest down, and we have to take this forest down.” Loc half shouted.

“Well, then we must find a way to break the spells over us first.”

“Then, whatever we do after this we must find a way to dedicate ourselves to this.” Endow finished. 

With that they finished their food and Loc and Max helped Max pack his many clothes and books. They then walked to her room and packed. They then knew that they would have to think about things to keep themselves awake, mainly by drinking teas and coffees with high caffeine. 

Then the time came when it was time to go back into the forest. They were there in front of their path before they knew it.

Loc walked for a while but the darkness and her tiredness made her vision go blurry. Her mind was dull and her eyelids fell several times. Her legs barely lifted from the purple stones below. 

She saw two children by the side of the path as blurred blobs. She blinked several times and soon saw that they were Sharimon and Gracey before the War of the Witch. Their eyes were just as innocent as hers. There was no malice back then. No hint of evil. Even their smile was pure and innocent.

“Hi sis!” said one as he opened their arms to her.

“H-Hello.”

“Why don't you join us?”

“I will not. I'm not like you.”

“Why?”

“I'm going to take down as much evil as possible.”

“Does this mean that you will be taking down as much of our work as possible?”

“You mean Grasharlo, and yes.”

“And what about the forest?”

“Yes, I'm going to burn this place down.”

“Well, why don't you see if we have any connection with this forest?”

“I might as well.”

That was when she realised that she was walking towards them and her foot was off her path. Then she retreated her foot. Her eyes looked up at them as small spider legs sprouted out from their backs. Their bodies grew and jumped at her. She closed her eyes knowing that they were illusions and when she opened them they were gone.

She walked along the path and saw her parents on the path in front of her. Their hands joined  blocking her way. She walked up to them with both grief and guilt. She felt like she had now truly accepted that they were dead and they were not going to be coming back. Part of her still wanted them back, but she knew now, better than to entertain that part. It was time for her to let go of them.

“I'm sorry I failed you.” she said as she walked right through them.

She walked on and her tiredness got the better of her and she tripped over her own feet and then hit her forehead the purple stones. The shock of the pain of the fall rippled through her entire body and her mind woke up. She slowly climbed to her feet and walked on.

Sooner I get out of here sooner I can get some sleep. She told herself. She focused on the road and soon left the Forest Of Illusion.

The first thing that she did was close her eyes now immune to all illusions.

WW

When she woke, she packed her final things. Her class looked at each-other and nodded. 

“So, what's next for you?” he asked.

“I'm going to the academe to find out more about Grasharlo.” she said. “Maybe she might have found something.”

“Maybe...”

WW

Meanwhile in the T.O.O.T.R.O.E the eldest one, Eden Elric walked up to the leader, Tarmo Bran, 

“Ringer. She has survived.” she said, her hair was long and white as her skin and eyes.

“Good.” he replied his hair was short with his fringe in his green eyes. 

“As I can tell, the forest tried to get her most of all.” she explained as he passed him the file. His fingers were scarred with burns after all his time using his battle rings.