Meisla had no idea where to go. The formation of the plants lighting the darkness of the forest did not go in any particular direction. She walked up to a tree and placed a hand on it. Although it looked like a typical oak tree, Meisla felt strange energy from it. Looking at the foliage above, she saw how the branches twisted among themselves, like thread in a tapestry, blocking most of the light.

The girl looked behind the tree and spotted a large rock with symbols on it that she didn't understand. As she moves closer to get a better look at it, the inscriptions started to glow invitingly. Meisla went to touch it, but a hand quickly grabbed her arm.

Meisla lurched back and made a fist with her free hand.

“Whoa there. Easy Meisla.” A familiar voice said.

Meisla squinted her eyes and leaned forward, and her eyes widened.

“Denlo? How did you know I’d be here.”

Denlo let go of his sister’s arm and said, “I’m a light sleeper. I saw you sneaking away with that huge bag and figured you were going to do something stupid and followed you here.”

“I’m not go-”

“You’re not going back to the village until what? You kill the Mage and stop whatever it is going around the village, right?” Denlo said, giving Meisla a small smirk.

Meisla noded. She’s caught off guard at Denlo talking to her so casually and not trying to avoid even speaking with her.

“Don’t worry. I’m not gonna take you back. You’ll only try to sneak off again. Instead, I’m tagging along.”

“I can take of myself!” Meisla shouted. “I came prepared!

“Oh yeah. You’re totally prepared to fight someone no one has been able to defeat before.”

Denlo said as he got closer to his sister. He had a dark look on his face as he made eye contact with his sister and continued to speak,

“And are you ready for that? I doubt going and asking nicely to stop this plague will work. Defeating the Mage means you’ll end up killing him. He may be evil, but still…. That’s blood on your hands.”

“It’s no different than killing an animal. I can do it. You saw how dad is. He and everyone else is going to get worse if we just let this continue. We don’t have time to wait for a healer.” She said, staring back.

Meisla frowned with irritation as Denlo looked at her with disappointment. He turned to the glowing stone and walked over to it, crouching down to get a better look.

The girl turned as well saing, “Why do you even care about if the Mage dies or not?”

“You know, Canno told me that adventurers that came here when he was younger would see these stones with runes scattered in different parts of the forest as they hunted for the Mage. These writings are a twisted version of the language of the Gods. They're extremely powerful and dangerous, so we’ll steer clear of them if we spot one.”

“You didn’t answer my question,” Meisla said flatly.

“I don’t care about the Mage. I care about you. There’s more to it than taking another person’s life… You don’t want that on your conscience.” Denlo said with pain in his voice. The two siblings stood around in awkward silence.

Meisla knew Denlo was thinking of the war, but thoughts of Varlo prevented her from pushing the subject further. Any mention of their older brother and Denlo immediately pulled away and shut down. If they’re going to go on this adventure together, she knew better than to bring it up.

“We should get going.” She said finally and started walking away.

“Yeah,” Denlo said, quietly following behind Meisla.

The two proceeded through the forest. The only noise that was made was the crunching of the ground beneath their feet. Meisla occasionally looked back at Denlo. It was a strange sight for her to see Denlo with leather armor covering his lean frame. A short sword dangled from its sheath on his left hip. Denlo moved ahead with a blank stare, not showing any emotion, it wasn't the trademarked stoicism of a warrior. Meisla could see his hand tremble as he clasped a hand on the hilt of his sword as if the Mage could attack them at any moment. The girl wasn’t scared, though; she walked calmly, taking in the strange forest. Her eyes greedily took in the sights of the strange plants and trees around them.

Meisla looked around the foliage and the ground; she noticed something,” It’s too quiet, isn’t. I don’t hear birds or anything. There are not even animal tracks; it's weird.”

“Don’t forget the Mage has corrupted the forest since he’s been here. That’s including the animals as well, so if we don’t run into anything, that's fine with me.” Denlo said nervously, the thought of other dangers agitating him further.

As if on cue, something rustled the bushes near them. The young man quickly unsheathed his sword and pointed it at the noise. Meisla took out her bow and drew an arrow. Meisla and Denlo stood still, ready to finally face the dangers of the forest.

The rustling became louder and louder until a small creature jumped out with long furry ears and dark beady eyes.

“It just a rabbit,” Denlo said relaxing slightly but still pointing the sword at the small animal. Meisla lowered her bow and approached it slowly.

“Meisla, stay back. I told you we need to be careful with anything we see here!” Denlo whispered sharply.

“Relax, I want to get a better look. Its fur looks weird.” Meisla responded. The rabbit shifted its small head around but seems otherwise uncaring of the two humans in front of it. Its fur was a mix of brown and green, matching the bush behind. The color started changing to a dark brown as it moves further away from the bush.

“Weird… it’s fur changes color to blend in.” Meisla says to her brother.

“I don’t like it. It’s not scared of us. You should get back.” Denlo said, gritting his teeth.

The rabbit perks its ear up and ran off, scampering away into the distance.

“See, it didn’t jump up and attack us with its razor-sharp fangs or anything.”

“I guess,” Denlo sheathed his sword, and the siblings continued walking, “But you need to stop being so careless. We don’t know anything about the forest.”

“If all we have to deal with besides the Mage are animals that change color and glowing plants, then I think we will be fine. People exaggerate stories all the time.” Meisla said casually.

Denlo shook his head and didn’t say anything.

Out of earshot, a large shape followed them slowly…