Anna and Nelson made their way glumly through the streets of Monsadasia. The moments following Broderick’s scrying call with Palistrode had been hectic to say the least. Unfortunately, Felicity had heard the announcement. She had burst into tears, causing the twins to immediately begin trying to comfort and console her. Bardis had lobbed question after question at Broderick while Facetia began closing up the shop for the day. Fear was in the air and it was infectious. Amidst the chaos, Broderick had ordered Anna and Nelson to return home with haste so he could get to the castle and help in whatever way he could. Anna kicked a pebble in frustration.

“I’m sorry,” Nelson said soothingly, “I know you were really looking forward to getting started on your wand.”

“It’s fine,” Anna muttered, even though she didn’t think it was fine at all.

The streets were strangely empty. Following the siren, the marketplace had cleared out in a matter of minutes. Even the man from the Kretcher kingdom had somehow managed to pack up his animals and giant fish tank and disappear. It would’ve been quite impressive if Anna hadn’t been so frustrated.

“Clearly the store where we would have bought my seed would be closed anyways, even if Broderick didn’t have to rush off so quickly,” Anna said, trying to make herself feel better.

“You don’t buy your seed,” replied Nelson.

Anna stopped walking and looked at him quizzically.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“You ask the Alltree for your seed,” Nelson answered, as if this cleared things up completely.

“The Alltree? Broderick never mentioned that.”

“He probably wanted to show you,” Nelson said, shrugging his shoulders.

“And where exactly is this Alltree,” Anna asked, trying to sound nonchalant.

“It’s in the heart of the Wandering Woods,” he replied.

“Is that, like, one of the forests around the mountain,” Anna probed.

“Not exactly,” Nelson said, looking at her suspiciously, “you have to go through the gate in the gateyard with the tree carved into it. I know what you’re thinking Anna, and it won’t work. You have to be authorized to open a gate, not just anyone can do it.”

Anna tried to make her face as pitiful as possible, going so far as to stick out her bottom lip.

“Come on, Nelson,” she pleaded, “can’t you just take me to see the gate. Even if we can’t get through, it would cheer me up to at least see the place where I’ll get my seed.”

“Well, you would only be seeing the door to the place, actually,” Nelson corrected, “and absolutely not! Broderick told us to get home and I am making sure you get home safely. You remember what happened the last time we wandered off for too long, I’m sure.”

Anna cocked one of her eyebrows, looking Nelson right in the eyes.

“Fine, I’ll find it myself,” she said before turning and walking away from him.

She had no idea where she was going, but she would walk around the entire mountain if she had to. Nelson sat, seemingly stunned for a moment, before reacting.

“Anna, wait up!” he called.

She heard his heavy footsteps as he ran to catch up with her.

“Seriously, Broderick will be super mad if we don’t return home. And it's my job to keep you safe,” Nelson said pleadingly.

“Then come with me and make sure I’m safe,” Anna replied.

“This isn’t funny,” Nelson said, sounding annoyed, “and you’re not even going the right way.”

“Thank you for the advice,” Anna said before turning down a different street.

“Ugh, that’s not the right way either!” Nelson exclaimed.

“Then show me the right way,” Anna demanded, “we can check it out and be back home before Broderick even leaves the castle.”

Nelson had a furious expression on his face, but Anna could tell he was mulling it over despite himself. He looked around, as if expecting Broderick to pop up behind them. He let out a long sigh.

“Fine, fine, we see the gate and then we get back home. Deal?” he said.

“Deal,” Anna replied, grinning.

“Come on, we need to go this way,” he said, sounding annoyed.

Anna followed after him, barely able to suppress a smile. Nelson led her through the winding, cobblestone streets of Monsadasia. The lack of people made their movement much easier than usual. Ahead of them in the distance, poking up far above the short rooftops, was the white capped top of the mountain. It watched silently over the city. For the first time, Anna truly appreciated it’s massive size. She found herself wondering how there could be snow at the top in this strange dimension, but when she asked Nelson about it, he merely shrugged. Anna could tell he was annoyed with her. As they walked, he occasionally muttered under his breath. Anna was sure she caught the words “nonsense” and “unbelievable” but she ignored them. Her excitement drove away any guilt she might have felt.

“Stop,” Nelson said suddenly.

“Come on, we’ve come this far, there’s no point going-” Anna started, but before she could finish, Nelson had grabbed a hold of her arm tightly.

He yanked her quickly off of the road and pulled her down beside a small flight of stairs leading up to one of the buildings.

“What are you doing?” Anna demanded.

“Shut up,” Nelson said forcibly, “please,” he added a little more kindly.

He was watching a spot in the middle of the road about twenty feet ahead of them. Anna followed his gaze, but saw nothing. No, wait, that wasn’t right. There was something there, but she wasn’t quite sure what it could be. The air was shimmering, as if there were some source of heat bearing down on the road. But it was no warmer than usual. The shimmering turned to waves, distorting the appearance of everything behind it. There was a blinding flash of light and, suddenly, a person stood in the middle of the road. Anna felt her breath leave her. The person, the man, was completely featureless. A black silhouette set against the mountain backdrop. The only thing that made him distinguishable was the rippling coat of flames that completely surrounded his black figure.

The man wreathed in flame was bent down on one knee. Anna had the impression that he was trying to catch his breath, or else brace himself for something. He slowly turned his head back and forth. Anna and Nelson ducked behind the stairs in a flash, neither of them even daring to breathe. They waited in fear and anticipation. What if the man had seen them? But then, another flash lit up the street. In unison, they slowly began to peek back over the edge of the steps. The man was gone. The street stood just as still and empty as it had moments before, save for a small scorch mark in the middle of the road.

Anna’s heart was racing and she was still trying to catch her breath, but she wasn’t going to let that stop her.

“Come on,” she said, jumping up and beginning to walk again.

“You can’t be serious,” Nelson replied exasperatedly.

“Look Nelson, I’m not going to live my life in fear of that man, so let’s go,” she said defiantly.

“He just murdered Stuvelle. He would have probably done the same to us if he had seen us,” Nelson told her.

“And now he’s gone. Likely on the run from the castle guards and councilmembers,” she said, “I’ll bet that nasty captain of the guard is leading a full battalion in search of him right now.”

“And what if we are so unlucky enough to run into him again?” Nelson asked.

“What would be the chances of that?” Anna retorted, “you saw him teleport away, chances are he’s going somewhere to hide while things die down.”

Nelson flinched at the word ‘die’. Anna ignored him and continued walking. Nelson hesitated for a moment, but apparently decided to continue accompanying her. They walked in silence for a few more minutes before the buildings broke. They had arrived at the edge of a sparsely populated forest. Nelson stepped in front of Anna and made his way to the treeline.

“Hurry up,” he said, turning back to her, “I want to get this over with so we can go home.”

Anna followed him into the trees, being careful not to trip over the ancient, exposed roots on the ground. After a while, she began to be able to make out a break in the forest and a clearing up ahead. She felt a small wave of exhilaration flow through her as they emerged from the foliage. The warmth from the Sol Regnum washed over her face. Anna looked around in awe at the massive stone gates that littered the clearing. She had seen them before, of course. The first night she had arrived in Monsadasia was through one of these timeworn stone archways. Due to the circumstances of her arrival, she had not been able to fully appreciate their beauty and grandeur at the time.

Each gate had symbols and runes etched into the stone. Anna had seen some of the runes during her studies and immediately recognized the symbol for ‘open’ carved on all of the archways. Their tops were adorned with a different emblem for each gate, imprinted on a stone circle, as well as a spot clearly meant for a hand to be placed in on the right side. In the middle of the clearing stood the four most impressive gates, arranged equal distances apart. They were not only larger than the rest, but had slightly more intricate insignias at their tops as well, sculpted on a shield rather than a circle.

The closest of the four sported a tiger’s head emblem, with amber jewels for the eyes that glinted in the light of the Sol Regnum. The left gate had a beautifully carved rose that was so detailed, Anna almost believed she would be able to smell its fragrance if she got close enough. The right gate’s shield was embossed with a set of scales, the weighing pans made from what appeared to be solid gold. The furthest gate had a spear and sword etched into its emblem, and the entire gate seemed to have a more brutalist, blocky design than the rest.

“Where do those go?” Anna asked in amazement.

“Those four lead to each of the other kingdoms, they are the main method of travel for our kind,” Nelson answered, clearly still annoyed at this little side adventure, “they are not our concern right now though, and we aren’t here for a history lesson. That’s the one we are here to see.”

He was pointing to a much smaller gate, barely big enough for someone like Facetia to fit through. He went to take a step to lead Anna to it, but before his foot had hit the ground, she had started running towards the gate. She stopped just in front of it, taking in the allure and artistry of the stone archway. Though it wasn’t as detailed as the four kingdom gates, it still had an elegance to it that Anna had never quite seen before. Parts of the stone were covered in moss and age-old dirt, though it only served to add to the mystery and style of the gate. At the top was a simply carved pine tree, barely more than a few lines. She heard Nelson’s thumping footsteps approaching behind her, stopping a few feet back.

“Okay, you’ve seen it, can we go now?” he asked exasperatedly.

“Just a sec,” Anna said quietly, stepping even closer to the gate.

She ran her fingers over the rough stone. It was warmer than she had expected, likely from its constant exposure to the light from above. She traced around the outline of the handprint, wondering what would happen if-

“It’s no use, you can’t get through,” Nelson said matter-of-factly, “you aren’t authorized to use the gate. Only those whose magical signature has been sanctioned can open them.”

Then it won’t hurt anything to do this, Anna thought wryly. She placed her open palm into the indention and the effects were immediate. The imprint began to glow all around her skin, and the runes carved into the gate began gleaming and shimmering with an arcane radiance. The rune for ‘open’ started emitting a blue light, brighter than the other runes.

“What the-” Nelson began.

A rush of wind seemed to erupt from the gate. There was a flickering of light in the open space between the archway. Suddenly, the flickering exploded throughout the whole opening so that the gate was now filled with a wall of light and Anna could no longer see through the arch to the other side.

She looked back at Nelson, a mischievous grin spread across her face.

“Don’t you dare,” he said warningly, sounding slightly afraid.

Anna removed her hand and, feeling her heart racing with a mixture of elation and fear, stepped through the expanse of brightness.

Her discomfort was immediate. Just as the last time she had traveled through one of the gates, she felt as though her entire body was being stretched and compressed, as if she were being vacuumed through a tiny straw. She could not breathe and she felt a crushing pressure on her skull. It did not seem to last nearly as long as the last time though, and a few moments later she found herself crashing to the ground. Fallen leaves shifted under her palms as she attempted to pick herself up. Fighting the disorientation and vertigo she now felt, she clambered to her feet.

It took Anna’s eyes a moment to adjust to this foreign place. The eternally shining light provided by the Sol Regnum had disappeared, to be replaced by a much darker atmosphere. The smells around her had changed as well. Where the gateyard had tinted her breaths with faint scents of stone and moss, this new place smelled of flowers and nectar. It was inviting and enticing in a way. A thick fog was settled all around her. When coupled with the darkness, it made it very hard to see more than a few feet in front of her. She could just barely make out the silhouettes of massive tree trunks encompassing the gate she had just come through.

Anna turned to the gate to see if Nelson had planned on following her. To her surprise, the gate seemed to have closed after her odyssey through it. The ‘open’ rune was no longer glowing. Instead, a rune that Anna did not recognize was now emitting a much more sinister red glow. A bit of fear began to creep into Anna. She had no idea what this place was, nor where she actually needed to go. It began to dawn on her that she hadn’t thought things through very well. She quickly decided that perhaps it would be better to go back through the gate and return home with Nelson. She could come back for her seed later with Broderick.

She placed her hand in the imprint. Nothing happened. The bit of fear grew just a bit, and Anna bit her lip nervously. She removed her hand and then put it back again. To her horror, nothing happened this time either. She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths, trying to remain calm. An idea struck Anna. Leaving her hand on the gate, she attempted to send her magic into it, hoping to activate it that way, but something was wrong. She could feel her magic inside of her still, but she could not will it to come out of her. Something in this place was interfering with her control. Frustration was quickly replacing her fear.

“Ok then,” she said aloud, “don’t panic Anna.”

She thought about the choices she had at this point. She could wait here; Nelson would likely go find Broderick and they would eventually come for her. Hopefully. But she did not like the idea of sitting around waiting for someone to come rescue her. Chances were, regardless of what she did, Broderick would come at some point. So she figured that until that time came, she might as well begin exploring her surroundings. Perhaps she could find a different way out of this place. Maybe she could even manage to find the ‘Alltree’ Nelson had told her about. She wondered if she would even be able to recognize it if she did find it. From the look of things, there were a lot of trees in this place and she had no idea what the Alltree looked like.

She turned back to face the darkness. A small flash of light floated in the air in front of her, reminding Anna of a lightning bug. Anna reached out for it, attempting to catch the tiny thing. As her hand closed around it, though, it disappeared. As Anna looked around, she noticed more of the little sprites. They appeared to pop into existence in the blackness, flitting around for a moment, before disappearing back into the nothingness. Though the light they emitted was faint, it did allow her to see a bit of her surroundings. She realized she could use that to make her way through the inky forest with a little more ease.

Doing her best to silently encourage herself, she stepped into the crowded forest, trying not to run into any trees. Ignoring the creeping fear in the back of her mind, she began trekking through the wood. Before long, she could no longer make out the shape of the stone gate behind her. Anna became slightly worried that she might get lost in the forest, unable to find her way back to the gate, but she pushed on anyways.

The shadows and sounds of the forest began to play tricks on her after a while, adding to her anxiety. She kept thinking she could hear whispers coming from somewhere around her, but she could not quite pinpoint the location of the sounds. Every once in a while, she would hear strange, ethereal laughter causing her to quicken her pace through the trees. Anna feared that the laughter might be at her expense, and she was not keen to find out what was so funny. Occasionally, flashes of light would illuminate the trees in front of her, but as soon as she would turn to find the source, the light would dim and vanish. She tried once or twice to produce a small flame in her palm, but again something in this place interfered with her magic.

Multiple times, she could have sworn that she saw the shape of a small child peeking out from behind the trees around her. As she would approach to investigate, a sound like a baby’s rattle would echo through the trees, and the evasive observer would quickly disappear. Anna’s ability to keep calm was quickly disappearing as well. She was beginning to understand why this place was called the Wandering Woods.

After what felt like hours of walking, the sounds of the forest seemed to change. The laughter and rattles subsided. Up ahead somewhere in the distance, Anna was sure that she could hear the sound of music. It was simultaneously beautiful and tragic, a haunting, melancholy melody floating through the air. It seemed to grow louder as Anna progressed. Something inside of her told her that she should follow the notes, and so she continued travelling in the direction that they were coming from. The sound continued to rise, while at the same time, the trees seemed to thin out around her. The pitch blackness was lessening as well, replaced by a faint blue light that had no source that Anna could see. Something shining stood up ahead.

Anna finally seemed to reach the edge of the forest. A wave of relief swept through her as the claustrophobia of the tightly knit trees dissipated. The music sounded as if it were coming from all around her now, and it had reached a crescendo. She could feel the rhythm in her very bones, though the great volume of it did not seem to actually hurt her ears. In front of her stood a regal and impressive statue. It depicted a weeping willow tree. The bark and branches were molded from rich, resplendent gold while the cornucopia of leaves looked to be made from shining plates of silver. Anna approached it slowly. The statue was giving off a heat that reminded her very much of the warmth provided by the Sol Regnum.

She ran her hands along the smooth, metallic bark of the willow.

“Wow,” she said quietly.

The word did not quite do justice to the majesty of the sculpture, but Anna was lost for words to describe the beautiful creation that stood before her. As she looked past the tree she noticed her next obstacle. At the opposite end of the glade stood a soaring hedge. There was a break in it, and Anna knew that it was some kind of entrance. She felt a sadness in her to leave the splendor and warmth of the willow, but she had come this far and she did not plan on stopping now. She moved towards the gap in the hedge, halting a few feet before it. Silently, she steeled herself against whatever lay ahead before forcing her feet to move, carrying her through the entryway.

As she passed through, the music died immediately. It was replaced with a silence unlike any Anna had ever experienced before. The quiet was so absolute that she could hear her heartbeat in her ears like a drum and her breaths rang out with the intensity of a windstorm. In front of her stood more of the massive, viney hedge. It ran down both ways before turning off into the unknown.

This is a maze, Anna realized.

As the thought occurred to her, she faintly remembered a story she had read somewhere long ago. A boy had been trapped in a similar kind of maze and had found his way through it by keeping his left hand on the wall as he travelled through the winding halls of the maze. It would be a rather arduous undertaking, but it was the best chance Anna had at this point. She turned down the left pathway, placing her hand on the wall, and started walking.

It was very hard to tell the passage of time in this strange place. It felt as if hours had passed since she stepped through the gate, but she felt no hunger in her stomach, nor the fatigue she would have expected from walking that long. As she reached the end of the path, she turned right to continue down another. After a while, she lost track of the directions she had turned down. She kept her left hand to the wall, hoping that would be enough to get her through the maze.

At one point, she grew weary of trying to traverse the labyrinth. She had the idea to try to peek through the hedge, thinking maybe she could squeeze through and make her trip quicker. To her surprise, a stone wall covered in strange, swirling symbols met her. Apparently, the vines were actually growing over this barrier. Frustrated, Anna decided to just climb the wall. It was a long climb, but she figured she could make it without too much trouble. Plus, a bird's eye view would allow her to figure out where she needed to go much easier. She gripped the vines tightly and began to pull herself up. She regretted the decision immediately.

The plants seemed to come to life, wriggling and squirming like a mass of snakes. They quickly began to wrap themselves around her wrists and ankles, gripping Anna with enough force to make her cry out in pain. She let go in surprise and fear. To her utter relief, the vines released her as she released them and she fell backwards onto the cold ground. Anna picked herself up, and to her shame, felt the beginnings of tears welling up in her eyes. She should have listened to Nelson, then she would be safe at home right now, eating a warm meal and laughing with him and Misaada. Instead, she was stuck in this dark, dreary place with no idea of how to escape and no hope of making it through. She was only allowed to wallow in her self-pity for a short time.

The silence that had been so pervasive in the maze was suddenly interrupted. A roar rang out, piercing the quiet and sending an icy terror straight to Anna’s very soul. From somewhere not so far away, she could hear the sound of stone being broken apart, smashed into presumable pieces. The crashing sound repeated a few more times, growing closer with each eruption of noise. Anna’s heart was beating so fast that it hurt. She placed her left hand on the wall again and started running, hoping beyond hope to put distance between herself and the cause of the commotion.

BOOM!

Anna felt bits of rubble pelt against her back as the wall behind her exploded. She tripped over her own feet, falling hard to the ground. She scrambled on the floor, trying to pick herself up from where she had fallen. Her fright felt nearly insurmountable and she felt the urge to curl up in a ball and just accept whatever was coming for her. She fought the feeling and forced herself to get up and face whatever was now just behind her. Legs shaking, she turned around to the source of the explosion. She did not like what she saw one bit.

A massive, monstrous creature now shared the hall of the maze with her. It had the appearance of a large humanoid tree-like creature, with dead, decaying branches on its crown. Its feet resembled roots that squirmed on the ground as if looking for earth in which to find purchase. The mouth was a gaping hole with shards of bark making up sharp, menacing looking teeth. The monster’s eyes seemed to glow red in the darkness of the maze, and it’s long arms ended in jagged claws. The smell of rot and mold invaded the air, causing Anna to have to fight the urge to wretch. There was something much worse than it’s frightening appearance or it’s horrid smell though.

The monster had noticed Anna and it was now headed right for her.