"Jordan, I'm back!" Maddy pops her head back into the workshop. It's been three days since she left, but that is only one day in real life so most of the time was spent offline.

"Welcome back!" I wave to her as she heads back down the stairs to the living area.

While reading I incessantly tap my fingers against the desk in boredom. In a quick motion I slam the book closed and leave the room. Heading down the stairs I go to grab Maddy so we can go on an adventure. It's been a number of weeks since we returned to the tower, and I have spent all this time researching magic, and crafting skills. A good portion of my time was spent researching the effects of my potions on the shadowbirds. In my opinion the results were extremely positive. The potions didn't just turn the shadowbirds into humans, but it also allows them to revert back to their demi-human form.

"Maddy! Let's go on an adventure!" I burst into the living quarters and call to Maddy who just arrived as well.

"Hmm? I just got back though." Maddy turns around with a confused look and a rather plain stone in her hand.

"But, I have been stuck in here for ages! We can even take the elite squad out on an adventure!" I try to convince Maddy who didn't actually need much convincing.

"Okay sure." She turns around and heads up the stairs while I gather up the shadowbirds.

After a few moments of walking up the stairs I find Maddy waiting for me in the gateway directory.

"Hello Erz, can you set the gateway to a random location? Preferably a place we can handle." I greet the floating orb and request access to the gateway.

"Of course, but I don't have any proper control when sending you to places you haven't been." The massive orb in the center of the room begins to grow much more brightly.

"Thank you Erz." Maddy leads us through the gateway into unknown lands.

After the dizziness from trans-dimensional travel passes I open my eyes to find we landed in a rather barren desert like region. The twelve of us look around for a bit until we spot a forest far in the distance.

"Boss! I see a forest in the distance, shall we head there?" The shadowbird looks towards Maddy referring to her as boss.

"Sure, it seems fun over there." She begins walking and rest of us follow her.

'God she just does whatever she feels like.'

Once we arrive at the forest I am rather surprised. These bright crimson trees seem to sprout directly out of the cracked earth. The outer edge of the forest is very sparsely populated, but the closer to the center the more densely packed the trees are.

"Let's head in!" I begin to move much more quickly as Maddy was slightly spacing out. The shadowbirds silently follow, they didn't speak originally so even if they are able to they generally refrain.

After stepping into the red-leaved forest the wind seems to become stagnant. I instantly shift into high alert due to my affinity with nature.

"Everyone, don't let your guard down. The wind seems to have stopped, this forest isn't normal." After saying this the shadowbirds instantly begin to shift from their human form and Maddy wakes from the hazy state she was previously in.

"Can you sense anything?" Even though Maddy is a rogue her life detection skill is rather low.

I begin to release a large amount of spiritual energy into the air. Reaching out as far as I can with my mind I become rather disappointed.

"There isn't any wind, so I can't sense anything within the short range of my energy. If the wind was blowing it could move my spiritual essence around further." I begin chewing on my lip out of frustration. Maddy nods her head understanding the limits of my skill.

Rather than worrying too much we head further into the forest to keep the trip from being a waste.

Other than the red-leaved trees the forest is nearly devoid of life. Every couple of trees we find a flower or two all of the same breed. Rather than the stems of the flowers being green their are instead a pale blue color, the same color as the petals and leaves. After seeing the same flowers over six times I go to exam them.

"This is… not good at all." I look towards Maddy visibly scared. "These flowers are 'Corpse Flowers', they are known to only grow from the bodies of the dead. No doubt these trees are similar."

"Well if everything here is dead then hopefully there isn't anything to worry about." Maddy tries to be optimistic.

After thirty minutes of walking straight through the forest something dawns on me. These are the same trees and flowers we passed earlier. Instantly I attempt to project my spiritual power, and my fears came true when I realized our surroundings were the same.

'Crap this is really cliche, stuck in an endless forest?' I have no intention of letting Maddy or I die in such a place.

"Maddy don't be alarmed, but we have been walking in circles for at the very least ten minutes." Maddy's eyebrows tighten as she realized the severity of the our situation.

"Are you positive?" Hoping I made a mistake is probably the best scenario.

"Yes, sorry. I tested it using my spiritual energy and what I felt is the same as what I felt previously. My sense is similar to in the daredevil movie, it's a type of sight I guess."

We all sit down to rest and gather ourselves. We believed ourselves to be going deeper, but we have been stuck at the same spot for a decent period of time. Had I not realized now we could have been walking pointlessly for hours.

"I will try to use some of my survival and tracking skills to see if I can know how many times we walked the same way. I may also find a way to get further into or back out of the forest. If worse comes to worse we can just teleport back to the tower." Maddy takes charge of the situation.

"Okay, I will stick with you. I really don't want us to get separated." Standing up I stay near Maddy while the shadowbirds silently follow.