They rested what they could, although it wasn’t for long. Camping there wasn’t the best idea, but they took refuge in a hollow tree while they cured Leith. While cooperating with them, the female dragon was very suspicious even when her companion trusted him as if he knew him of a lifetime.

Both elthean ended up there in a similar way like them, with little difference to theirs for what they could understand. The two were also running away from somebody, but not the same creature that terrified High Sword. After sharing a healing potion with Leith, they waited in their hideout, alerting if anyone was nearby. But no one bothered them; it was almost as if they wanted them to stay forever.

“The sooner we get out of here, the better,” Aer assured him.

He doubted that whoever controlled the Ellery Forest would allow them to leave, but they could do nothing either. Their only choice was to face those who would have trapped them.

“Your plan is crazy,” Rune blurted out as they walked.

“Really?” Finnian grinned with irony.

“You want me to fight the Forest Sentinel!” Rune said.

“But not alone,” Aer added from Finnian’s shoulder.

The Sentinel watched them, or at least that was the conclusion they came to. No one bothered them, even while hiding, not as long as they remained inside. And while they distinguished others elthean near them, none of them would dare to get closer.

“Why don’t you have more faith in the Signer?” Ead said.

“When I see him do something useful,” Rune said, almost ignoring he was hearing her.

She was not happy with his decisions and understood her motives, but he would not apologize for wanting to help Leith and Eadward. Thus, as they progressed, they found that the dragon separated from her clan when a hunter attacked them and how he found Ead shortly after. That hummingbird was an elthean species known as “Frionach,” with aspects as varied as people in their world.

While Signers like him struggled to restore balance in Elthea, the Frionach were guides. They sensed the potential and helped those who could do something good in their world until they could be self-sufficient.

“See? No one is stopping us from moving forward,” Finnian murmured. “It’s scarier than any spider.”

“But they look are watching us,” Aer said.

“We’re going to fall into his trap, Finnian,” Rune urged. “And we’re not strong enough to defeat whoever the Sentinel is”.

“Yey, this is the first time you call me by name!” Finnian said, widening the smile.

“And the last one,” Rune add with an angry look at him.

“Grumpy!” Aer said.

“Make more noise! After all, they already know where we are,” Leith said, turning his gaze.

That was the idea. Attracting the attention would allow them, at best, to find a way out. At worst, however, they would end up being defeated, which they preferred to avoid. And although they ignored the exact location of the Sentinel, they went straight to him.

“Are you not going to share your plan?” Ead said, fluttering next to him.

“I think everything is pretty clear, right?” Finnian said.

“You don’t know much about what Signers do, am I wrong?” Ead added.

“I didn’t come with an instruction manual,” Finnian shrugged.

“Neither with common sense,” Rune said.

Getting to his lair was the plan, and then they would have to improvise. Fighting was a possibility, and perhaps they were again as lucky as in High Sword, and Rune could evolve. But they were there for a specific reason, although he still did not understand which one. He was not enthusiastic about throwing himself into the trap, but he trusted them and didn’t want to let them down.

“And what about you, Ead?” Aer said. “Have the Frionach seen more Signers?”

“Some, but most of us know them from our studies,” Ead explained.

“Are you going to school?” Finnian said.

“Of course, what did you think?” Aer said, frowning.

“Not everyone is lucky,” Ead added.

“Are Signers going to Career Day?” Finnian joked.

That was relying on where they lived. He expected to see more once they arrived at the Galya, although now their priority was that forest. They soon saw spiders on the branches and black-feather creatures watching them as they looked toward a particular direction. Had he already said the fear he was giving him all that? No?

He had just changed being harassed by huge cats, an elthean with chef tendencies and now by the charming of insects. More than a world with fantastic creatures, it looked like a nightmare. His fear was corroborated as soon as they entered an esplanade where they saw only a more enormous tree than the rest of the Ellery.

With black leaves falling, the lines in the soil meant that there was a river before, or that was Leith said as they passed by. The ground, now cracked, let branches go out of the land and even feared that they could fall into them. And, in the middle of the empty trunk, there was a purple sphere. An entrance!

“It’s the first elevator tree I’ve seen,” Finnian said. “At least it seems.”

“Are we going to get in?” Aer said.

“You are not serious, right?” Rune grunted.

“Why don’t you stop complaining so much and cooperate more?” Finnian said.

“And in the worst situation, we can fly out,” Leith said.

Could they change the situation? Was there anything else they weren’t seeing?

“I didn’t think we were going to get to something like that, but….” Ead began to say.

“As long as this is not the mouth of a carnivorous tree, I think we will ok,” Finnian said.

“It’s not that,” the hummingbird said in an anxious and worried tone. “I don’t like small spaces.”