Running through the light-brown trees of the forest, both children chased the pack of multicolored spirits.
They stopped suddenly looking to their left. It was the same familiar path where the green light used to be. They turned to each other and, subconsciously, agreed to take the path.
Through it, they found nothing but sticks and leaves on the ground. When they looked up there was nothing but a clear blue ocean. They were both disappointed but then Arina had an idea.
"Hey Ari I remember it led down here" she pointed in a direction that looked the same as the others. Arius nodded and followed her down the path.
Down the path, they noticed fewer and fewer spirits, so they knew it had to be it. But as they got closer something felt wrong. Everything started looking the same as they kept running.
The trees, leaves, sky, and even spirits were all the same. Until Arina came to a stop "Hey Ari weren't we here before?"
Arius paused and asked "Were we?" They didn't know what was happening. But kept running until eventually Arina disappeared into millions of colors and evaporated.
___
In a luxurious mansion, there were dozens of servants scattered everywhere fulfilling their duties.
All maids were wearing the usual Victorian-style white and brown dresses with aprons. The manservant's weared the same but instead of dresses and aprons, they wore suits of black and brown with those affording having watches.
All of these recently hired servants were dispersed like ants in a nest with only a few noticeably standing out. The few were all wearing clothes entirely different from the servants with weapons in their waist or back such as swords, spears, daggers, and some with only books at their side.
One indistinguishable maidservant, who looks the same as the others, was quietly in a rush to reach a large door of many jewels and a crest of a vertical mountain split by a rising wind.
When she reached the door she stopped and knocked but at first there was no answer. She put her knuckles an inch from the door and was about to knock again.
Before she could knock again she heard books falling over, paper moving, loud footsteps and finally the knob of the door twisting.
The door wasn't opened all the way but what could be seen was the face of a young beautaful lean girl of pale skin with a faint, warm tone, long silver-brown pinned back hair, and gray-green eyes.
The beautiful girl opened her mouth slightly and asked "Is it time?" The maid bowed and left.
The girl closed the door and turned back to her large room with books and papers scattered everywhere.
Now I have to clean this… she sighed as she quickly grabbed everything and put it into a drawer to sort out later.
She grabbed a bag and quickly left her room. She somewhat familiarly maneuvered through the house as if getting used to it.
On her way to her intended destination, she got lost and went up to a young green-coated guard with a clock on his right shoulder and gears surrounding his hat.
The young man escorted her to where a middle-aged man of ash-brown tied-back hair and narrow eyes was. He wore a modest Victorian suit of expensive fabric.
"My sweet girl are you ready" he asked his daughter. The young girl nodded her head and said "yes father, where is Mother?"
The guard bowed and left for his assigned post. As the guard left a figure of a beautiful women of dark hair and pale hands came through. She wore an expensive dress of blue and green.
She said "It's time for us to go to the ball Caelis now stay safe at your friend's house" The young girl Caelis smiled and replied "Of course mother and don't worry I'll make myself presentable."
The earl looked at his daughter with a wide smile "My girl how you've grown. I heard there would be others there try to make friends with them."
"Of course dear father. I should go now" she said her goodbyes and left the room. In front of her was her maidservant who she had seen earlier.
The maid understood that the young girl didn't know the way so she led her to the exit and went with her to her friend's house.
Along the way, Caelis asked her maid "Rosalind I've been curious lately, what's with the forest to the north-east? Why is it unclaimed?"
The maid Rosalind calmly answered "Because everyone who enters immediately exits the other side. Scientists and researchers believe there's a spell placed there by a beast who rules the forest."
Caelis took half a minute thinking before speaking once more "Is there really no way to enter? I mean there has to be. Is it dangerous?"
Rosalind calmly replied "Some churches have sent groups to enter but none ever could and no it's not dangerous, no one has ever died there."
The rest of the ride was in silence as Caelis thought about the forest.
___
The white-haired Arius looked around as he hid behind a tree. What he saw was the back of his uncle carving wood and no sight of his mother or spirits.
Upon seeing this the child put his hands and knees to the ground as he started crawling towards a structure of wood and stone. The structure was brown with streaks of red.
It was a place Arius was never allowed in for a reason unknown to him. His curiosity had reached its peak and now he was going to see what was inside.
What may seem like a child breaking the rules by entering a prohibited structure was actually a heist in Arius's eyes.
What he saw in the small structure of brown and red was a castle of unknown treasure with a guarding dragon. Arius as the treasure hunter had never known what was inside and was never allowed in for mysterious reasons.
He believed it was the perfect opportunity to enter and unravel the mystery. So he crawled as quietly as he could towards the castle.
The dragon kept carving wood in a form unrecognizable for the moment. It was serene so the slightest noise would alert him.
The treasure hunter had made preparations beforehand to distract the dragon if necessary. While crawling to the gate of the castle he mustered every muscle in his body. Unfortunately while crawling a snapping sound was made.
It was a single leaf. Normally a standard person wouldn't notice but the traits hunter knew the dragon wasn't a standard being and would immediately know.
His heart sank at the noise as he thought the mission was over and he would surely be eaten. The dragon was turning around about to see its prey until one of the aforementioned preparations quickly flew to the side of the castle.
It was the helper of the treasure hunter, a spirit in the shape of a hummingbird, one that was fast and always drew eyes. It was to the side of the castle opposite to the knight who was secretly hidden on a small hill.
The dragon seeing that the prey was not what it would typically look for turned back to his table and continued carving wood.
The treasure hunter's heart finally calmed down as he carefully crawled toward the gate again. Each step was like a nightmare to the hunter but nonetheless, he trudged forward more to his destination.
Due to his small body and power, each step barely moved forward in the large field. Still moving forward Arius faced another obstacle in a distance not too far from the castle was a structure of wood and stone where another evil watched the hunter.
Through the window was an evil witch watching the hunter. This sped his heartbeat as he knew the witch was far worse than the dragon. But all the witch did was watch for a few seconds before walking out of view.
The hunter knew he didn't have much time left so he crawled faster than before. After a long grueling minute of crawling the hunter had reached the gate to the castle.
Although the hunter had reached the gate he knew opening it would make too much noise and alert the dragon so it was time for his second contingency.
For the dragon not be alerted he would have to be away from the castle so he planned to lure him away.
The hunter had a second helper to distract the dragon. A spirit in the form of a light-brown loud dog ran up to the dragon and spoke a language the hunter didn't know.
They both then looked forward towards the trees of the forest and saw a young girl with white hair. When they stared the girl ran, back facing the two then the dog spoke the same language to the dragon.
The dragon got up and followed the dog into the forest until the hunter could no longer see him.
The hunter finally moved after what felt like an eternity of staying motionless. He reached out to the gate and opened the castle.
What lay inside was a structure much bigger on the inside with tables and chains carrying weapons.