I closed my eyes momentarily as I tried to calm my nerves despite having no sense of what was right in front of me.  

I couldn't see even a tiny smidge of anything around me, my senses disoriented by the fog which had swallowed the entire search party whole. 

My stallion whined for the same reason and I found myself gently caressing its neck, not entirely sure if I was comforting just him or the both of us. 

"We're okay," I whispered trying to sound like I mean it. 

"Princess?" I could hear the note of uncertainty in my guard's tone which sounded next to me and yet when I turned my face towards her voice all I could see was the thick white wall between us. 

Damn it. 

"Do not panic." Kai's voice drifts through the air, firm, calm and clear. "It is a temporary inconvenience which will pass soon enough so stay on your path and stand your ground." 

His words were clearly meant for the entire squad and yet for some strange reason, they almost felt directed towards me. 

I rolled my eyes.

Of course, he had that effect on me too...

I was able to muster a certain amount of composure at the sound of his voice despite not having regained my vision or feeling any less disoriented. 

"I'm fine Merida." I found myself saying while I adjusted my hood. "We'll be able to see each other soon enough."

True to his words the fog slowly dissipated as we trudged deeper into the groves, the borderlines of each figure around me appearing more clearer by the minute. 

"We're past the wall," Micheal muttered. 

I blinked as my eyes adjusted to the space of dense forest before me which appeared...dimmer? 

I frowned.

Was it just me or did it get darker in here?

I looked up at the sky which was obscured by the bushy branches of the tall trees that surrounded us. The light surrounding us after we entered the forest was most definitely dimmer than before.

I looked around to see if anyone else had noticed the sudden change and sure enough many looked rather muddled. 

The grove was undoubtedly dense with its overgrown trees cluttered around us, making our pathway to travel deeper into the forest that much more difficult. In my line of sight, I could see no end to the bushy branches for miles together giving me an idea of just how large the enchanted forest was. 

Although...

My eyes narrowed as I studied the trees closer.

While the thick branches were indeed cluttered with leaves that nearly blocked the sky above us, there seemed to be a dull and dead look about them. The shade of green one would expect the enchanted forest to have, looked rather murky as though it had been slightly drained of life.  

 My eyes immediately searched for Kai at the head of our crew, however, owing to the fact that he had his back to me I was unsure of his facial expression.

 His body language on the other hand...was an entirely different matter. 

His shoulders tensed at its ridge and the restless way in which he kept moving his head and shooting glance around, trying to study our surroundings, gave me an adequate guess that there was something iffy about the grove's appearance. 

He kept straying from the group to study the trees. Considering that he had been protecting it from all kinds of dangers and making frequent trips to the grove to monitor its maintainenace, I suppose he probably knew best that the forest felt concerningly different from what I had known about it so far. 

Despite the stark and common understanding that there seemed to be a foreboding feeling in the circumstances we've walked into, the rally marched forward without so much as a word. 

I suppose it would be severely foolish to allow the panic to unfurl when we're in an unexplored domain overflowing with territorial beasts who are probably not so pleased that we have popped in to say hello. 

Stranger so, in our journey all the way to a small clearing in the middle of the grove where the Duke dismounted and suggested that we set camp and later continue on foot in order to not alert the dragon, we were unable to find the slightest trace of the magical beasts.

Are they hiding?

 I found myself wondering as I unstrapped my bag of parchments from my stallion. 

Waiting to pounce when we start to feel comfortable and let down our defence? 

"Keep your guard up!" Kai instructed while  Micheal set up barricade spells all around our temporary camp. "Just because we have set camp without being attacked does not mean this temporary secure position will prevail. Keep your eyes and ears open. If you so much as detect a possibility of a threat notify me, Lord Micheal or the Royal Commander. Do not engage in battle unless it is the last resort. We are not here to harm any inhabitant of this forest and if I find otherwise I assure you the beasts finding you out here will be a far more merciful fate than if I find you first."  

A chill passed through the camp when his voice dipped into a lethal tone, communicating the graveness of his ruling. 

The armed soldiers around us tensed at their Duke's threat... no, I would say it was equivalent to a promise.

I kept staring at his severe gaze that addressed every single demon in this camp as if scrutinising their thoughts and souls. 

I've never seen Kai act like...well, a Duke and I'm not sure if I was more surprised at his quality to make grown soldiers weak in their knees or intimidated by the same. 

Suddenly I was glad we had been avoiding each other since we got here. 

I would not want that tone directed at me, thank you very much.

"Dismissed." 

The soldier bowed before retreating to their positions. 

I turned back to the table in front of me, the extensive map that I had acquired from the marine minister splayed on top of it as I tried to keep my thoughts from straying back to the Duke. 

Which I wasn't entirely succeeding at if I do say so myself but I was willing to try just the same. 

I tracked the journey so far on the map with my gaze, an iffy feeling travelling up my spine. I had sat with the documents the Minister gave, reading about the enchanted forest to acquaint myself thoroughly with its mysterious and limited history. However, in the documents, the forest that I had read about had been described as alive, luminous, healthy and yet...

"Somethings wrong." Micheal voiced my feelings out loud snapping me from my inner thoughts. "Very wrong. I've had a hunch about it ever since we entered but now that I tried weaving a defensive spell into the ground, my suspicion has grown firmer." 

Micheal looked rather concerned, more so than when we were notified that Hydra had burnt half of Titan to the ground.

"The forest's aura is weak. I don't quite understand why but it is as though it's recovering from something. I can feel it." 

"I was going to say the same thing." The royal commander muttered frowning. "I may not have the ability to feel auras, but I have visited the forest occasionally and something isn't quite right with it. It's too dark in here...and as far as my experience goes? the forest is never dark." 

So I'm not the only one encountering the feeling that there's something else at play here. It was as if my gut was telling me this entire situation seemed off. 

"The state of the forest, the lack of beasts around and even the dragon's sudden appearance." Kai mused picking up a fallen branch that had turned nearly black. "Feels too much of a coincidence." 

My eyes narrowed. 

"When coincidences suddenly begin to not feel like coincidences, it's mainly because they aren't," I finally added to the conversation, the wary feeling in the pit of my stomach, supporting my conclusion. 

"Something is tampering with the forest," Merida agreed leaning against a tree trunk. "Why else would a vast grove that has been healthy since the dawn of time suddenly look like it's dying?" 

The wind ruffled the clearing, blowing away the weakened leaves from the branches which rained all around us. I gazed at the grey leaves which appeared shrivelled upon closer inspection, as though they would crumple beneath my palms at the slightest amount of force. 

"Or it can be the Dragon." Micheal proposed thoughtfully. "He's quite an anomaly to the forest." 

"That's highly unlikely." Kai disagreed firmly. "Hydra was last seen entering this grove centuries ago and has never harmed it. It's been his home and once a dragon chooses its place of resting, it hybernates until it repucerates and often goes on to reside there without revealing itself. There isn't a lot of information on it but a dragon's hibernation happens every hundred years and goes on for a long period. Even if Hydra came out of his hibernation in the past few years he's never left it before nor disrupted the dynamics of the forest so it is too far-fetched that he's the source of this condition." 

"So hypothetically if something or someone disrupted the forest," I questioned things starting to fall into place in my head. "Isn't it only fitting for the big territorial dragon that sleeps in it to suddenly go torching everything around it?" 

"It is uncharacteristic for a dragon to suddenly strike without a reason." Micheal seemed to find some truth behind my words. "Not when it's never done so before." 

"Then the dragon isn't attacking..." Kai muttered meeting my eyes momentarily before we both looked away. "It's defending." 

Despite agreeing with each other's thoughts we avoided conversing directly. 

I sighed. 

How long were we going to be like this? 

"Even if that is the case, we cannot draw conclusions based on mere speculations." The Royal Commander reminded us. 

"We need to be able to prove it." I finished for him.  

I certainly don't have the capability to determine exactly what led to the forest's current state but we did have someone who may have sufficient knowledge in the field. 

I turned to Micheal with a raised brow. "Would it be possible for you to determine what is wrong if you use sorcery?" 

The heir of Rostaire seemed to ponder on my question for a long moment while studying the black branch in the Duke's hand. 

"I might." He mused softly. "I however ought to get back to Titan in that case. While determining the cause may not take much of our time, I still need certain equipment for it. Furthermore, while I may dab my hand in sorcery extensively even I would require the help of an established medic who has extensive knowledge about herbs to understand the forest's ailment." 

"I can assign a few guards to escort you to the city and back again." Kai nodded. "I have a local demon in the kingdom who is an expert in what you seek. I'm sure you will find him capable of aiding your research." 

"Meanwhile we can continue what we came here for and confirm our suspicions further by looking into the Dragon's lair," Merida pointed out. "While also taking a look around the forest." 

"Let's split into three teams then." Kai suggested, "Lord Micheal will leave for Titan and while one team scouts the forest, the other team will search for the dragon's lair."

We all nodded in agreement. 

 I sighed looking above at the looming trees. 

Things just had to get more complicated didn't they? 

As though a dragon wasn't enough...