The morning mist clung to the earth like a jealous lover, thick and low as the six set out, their weapons strapped, spirits high, and tensions sizzling. Sasha, plugged into the communication orb floating beside them, blared some war drums meets electronic remix she swore was "battle vibes."
Mo, perched on Rhiannan's shoulder, nibbled on a piece of candied fruit and muttered, "I swear to the gods, if y'all make me walk, I'm throwing myself off the next cliff and haunting your dreams."
"Pretty sure you're already doing that," Arwen quipped.
Rhiannan chuckled and smacked his shoulder. "Be nice. He's saved your asses more than once."
The terrain grew stranger as they traveled. Trees twisted in on themselves like they were trying to escape the sun. The air turned thick, pungent with rot and something oddly... sweet.
Kaleb squatted near the edge of a clearing. "This wasn't on the map."
The clearing was wide, littered with mushrooms that glowed in hues no mushroom should glow....neon purples, electric blues, one that literally giggled when Liam got too close.
"I don't trust fungus that giggles," Liam muttered. "That's not natural. That's evil."
"Mo?" Rhiannan asked.
But Mo was already holding his tiny breath and waving a paw wildly. "Turn around! Now! Those are highshade shrooms....gassy little bastards. One sniff and you're on a one way trip to batshitville."
Too late. They had been breathing it in already for minutes. Rhiannan sighed.
Elisha, never one to not investigate, inhaled just enough to get a noseful of spore cloud and let out a feral growl. "Why is the moon... whispering my name in French?!"
Sable blinked slowly. "Rhiannan... your hair just turned into snakes and they're singing sea shanties."
Kaleb dropped to his knees and started whispering an apology to a rock he mistook for his mother.
"Oh hell no." Mo facepalmed, then leapt into action. "You hallucinating meat sacks are useless."
With a shrill whistle only the enchanted could hear, he summoned creatures from the woods, a trio of glowing lizard dragons, a spectral fox, and something that looked suspiciously like a floating mushroom with wings.
Together, they yanked the gang back from the gas, dragging them with vines, teeth, and brute force.
Once safe, Mo slapped a mushroom antidote leaf across Elisha's dragon sized nostrils. "Inhale, you overgrown flamethrower."
One by one, they regained themselves, coughing, blinking, and absolutely mortified.
"I made out with a branch," Arwen said, wiping his mouth.
"I challenged a cloud to a duel," Liam muttered, eyes haunted.
Rhiannan winced. "I was about to wed a gopher."
They regrouped near the edge of the corrupted clearing, warily eyeing their surroundings. Nothing could be trusted in this cursed place.
Sasha's voice crackled through the orb. "According to my internal topographic scans, that field? Shouldn't exist. Someone's altering the terrain."
A chill ran through them. Of course someone was fucking with them. Lovely. Rhiannan snorted with exasperation.
Meanwhile...
Deep within the shadows of a twisted ravine, the shadow assassins moved like fog...silent, merciless and patient. Clad in midnight leathers, armed with curved daggers laced with void poison, they slithered toward the Bone Forest.
"We must strike before the goddess reaches the Crown," hissed the leader, her blackened eyes scanning the path ahead. "Kill the dragon, the vampire, the beast, and the demon. Break the pentacle. Leave the goddess breathing, barely. Let her suffer knowing she failed."
Another nodded. "The terrain's been shifted. They'll delay. But not for long."
They disappeared once more into the veil of trees, unseen, unknown, and racing toward blood.
It hit like a bolt of divine lightning.
All six collapsed at once...Rhiannan, Kaleb, Arwen, Elisha, Liam, and Sable, each dropping to the ground like puppets with their strings cut.
A brilliant white light flared behind their eyes, burning through muscle and mind alike. Time froze. Space bled.
And then...
A voice. Straight from the god realm. They all gasped loudly.
"Assassins come. Be on guard." The voice warned.
The words burned through their bones like wildfire, branded into their souls by a force none of them could deny.
But for Rhiannan... it went further.
A second voice, softer. Closer. Blood-deep.
"You are my daughter. You will not fail."
She gasped, clutching her chest as if the words had sliced her open from the inside. The vision shattered, and her mates slowly roused, groaning and blinking in confusion.
Kaleb rubbed his head. "The fuck was that?"
"Warning," Elisha said grimly. "They're coming."
"Too late to run," Arwen added. "Too soon to strike first."
Rhiannan sat there quietly, the soft breeze brushing through her curls as the words echoed inside her skull over and over.
Daughter. She didn't understand, and she didn't want to. Not yet.
She forced a smile onto her face. "Well, guess we know what we're walking into."
Sable's eyes narrowed. "You okay, moonlight?"
"Peachy." She stood, brushing dirt off her leathers. "Let's talk strategy." She barked.
They circled up by the spell fire, the magical map glowing in the center like an ethereal compass. Rhiannan stared hard at the forest marker. Bone Forest. A place that screamed danger.
"We portal there," she said. "But not into it. About a football field out. I want us close, but not ambushed."
Kaleb frowned. "Rhi, that'll drain the shit out of your magic. Opening a long, distance realm portal? That's not nothing."
"I'm aware," she snapped. Then softened. "But we need the element of surprise. We beat them there, we control the playing field."
Elisha stepped forward, golden eyes locked on hers. "Then we protect you. Every second. If you're burning your energy to get us there, we make damn sure no one touches you."
Arwen nodded, his wind aura flaring with protective promise. "You won't lift a finger unless it's to flip someone off."
Liam cracked his neck. "I'll cut down anyone who tries. Might make a new wine outta their blood."
Sable just stepped behind her, sliding his arm around her waist and hissing low in her ear. "They won't touch you. I'll burn their shadows into ash."
Rhiannan swallowed the lump in her throat and gave them a shaky smile.
"Let's get prepped then, boys. We portal at dawn."