I ran as fast as I could to try and put some distance between me and them. After a few moments I heard the distinct sound of a loud horn being blown. It echoed through the forest like a banshee’s wail as I ran. Suddenly, several of the trees around me began moving on their own. Four different trees all turned and began swatting at me with their limbs. I attempted to block them with the practice sword. Upon touching it to their limb their arms would grow limp before locking up as a stiff branche. Repeatedly hitting them allowed me enough room to jump forward and whack them on the trunk. As soon as I touched the trunk of one of the trees the entire tree locked up stiff.

I repeated this as I dodged each of the tree's limbs. Within thirty seconds I had stopped all four of the Fae tree’s before continuing through the forest. Upon reaching a small clearing filled with rhubarb plants. Their large leaf-like stalks covered the clearing floor to where it was barely visible. I began moving through the clearing in between the rhubarb. The thick stalks made it difficult to move my practice sword. Then out of the corner of my eye I saw a flash of white and black moving between the leaves.

I began running through the stalks as fast as I could. The flashing of black and white between the leaves continued. It seemed faster than before or perhaps there were several of them. I didn’t know what they were but if trees could kill me then I think everything can in some way. Upon reaching the edge of the clearing I turned to face the creature or creatures.

Out of the rhubarb came several rabbit-like creatures with antlers and the legs of a lizard. They all jumped at me at the same time with a screech. Each of them, going for a different spot on my body as I desperately tried to block or dodge them. I was able to hit two of them mid-air and dodge another. The third bit into my left hand as I tried to swing at it. I moved the sword back with my right hand and swung at the creature. As I did though, it let go of my hand and my hand exploded in a stream of flesh confetti.

I screamed in pain as I brought the sword down on its head. The fourth one attempted to do the same thing with my foot before I whacked it with the practice sword. Now that all of them were unconscious I looked to my hand which began healing as if it wasn’t just blown up like a party balloon. However, I noticed it was healing much slower than usual.

“Not kill me, my ass.” I said to myself as I continued away.

I couldn’t run much more but I still tried to keep at a steady jog. The fear of fighting an Elder One was constantly on my mind. If Oberon and Titania were anything like Medea then I was in for a beating. All I could do though was run. For hours I ran and fought anything that came even close to me. The constant fighting and running caused me to get rather tired quite quickly.

It was when I felt like I was going to collapse that I heard the horn once again. It resonated through the forest as it did the first time. Just as it did Oberon walked up to me, followed by Titania. I attempted to run, but as I did the vines in the area closed off any way of escape. With no other choice I stood to face Oberon.

“Don’t worry. The hunt is over for the time being. The first horn starts the hunt and the second ends it. This will continue for the remainder of your time here.” Titania said.

“How did you know where I was?” I asked.

“We control this realm so we can know where you are at, at any point in time.” Oberon said.

“Then why not just look where I am and go there?” I asked.

“Because we have rules, and we follow them. It is not right for a leader to make rules and not follow them.” Oberon replied with a smile.

“What now?” I asked.

“Go to sleep and try not to get killed tomorrow. I will have the fae bring you some food. Also, I have altered the time constraints to affect your pendant as well. I noticed you weren’t using those special abilities that Mordred mentioned so I assume it had something to do with your pendant.” Titania said as she and Oberon slowly walked off.

With them both gone I slumped to the ground. The plants and trees weaved around and formed a quite comfortable bed for me. A small man wearing a green robe approached me holding a plate covered with an assortment of cooked vegetables and fish. I quickly began eating as if it was the best meal I had ever had. It probably was. The flavor and texture were both amazing and the fish was cooked to perfection.

Once I was done another small man wearing green came to me and handed me several bottles of my favorite malt beer from the 2010’s in a bucket of ice. I was surprised that he could create something like that then I remembered that Titania can alter reality and Oberon can affect time. As I began to open one of them Compton, Elysif, Mordred, and Iscarat all popped out of the pendant. Upon their arrival the trees moved to create them seats and more small men brought out food and beers for them.

“Nice of you guys to show up, you know, after I nearly died on several occasions today.” I said snarkily.

“I nearly went insane.” Iscarat replied.

“What?” I asked.

“I was locked in a closet for days!” he continued.

“Explain, please?”

“I was working on connecting the pendant cell to my home when someone locked the door on the outside. I was let out a few moments ago by Elysif.” he explains.

“Who locked you in?”

“I did. I wanted to prevent him from lashing out at us if he started to go insane while he was working. I may have forgotten about locking it.” Compton said as he began to eat his food.

“Did you connect the two places though?” I asked.

“Oh, of course. I did that a day or two ago.” Iscarat said as he too began to eat.