Through the Mists

By the time Kies and Nina arrived at the forest, it was already around mid-afternoon. The sun was high in the sky and the temperature was warm. They would have arrived much earlier if the guards hadn't stopped them. Because of the war, the kingdom required everyone who was going out to undergo an inspection and have their backgrounds investigated to make sure they weren't spies for the Otanians. Luckily, Nina's father was one of the members of the Council and it wasn't as much of a hassle for them to get permission, but it still took pretty long.

"What was the name of this place again," Kies asked. He couldn't remember when was the last time he was here. It had been so long ago now that he had forgotten that this forest even existed and only remembered it after the wind spirit had brought it up.

"I think it is called the Soft Mist Forest," Nina told him. "Either that or Misty Forest, I don't remember either."

"I think it was the first one you said." Kies waved his hand in front of him. The air was foggy, but not enough to make it difficult to see things. "The name certainty checks out."

"I forgot to ask before, but what did you want to do here?" Nina asked.

"We're searching for something."

"For what?"

"I don't know either but we'll know when we find it."

"..."

"What? Don't look at me like that. I didn't lose my mind or anything."

The pair moved through the forest, trying to find anything that stuck out. After an hour or so of searching, they decided to take a break. Nina sat down on a nearby stump while Kies leaned on a nearby tree.

"We passed that log for the sixth time now I think. Are you sure there's something here?" said Nina.

"Wait, we have?"

"Yes, I remember seeing that log multiple times." Nina rubbed her legs and asked Kies, "Do we want to go back now?" Her legs were sore from all the walking and it didn't look like they were going to find it even if they continued searching.

Kies was just about to give up as well and say yes but before he did, he saw something suddenly flash by the corner of his eye. "Wait here for a moment, I want to check something."

Before Nina could say anything, Kies was already hurrying off. "Wait, where are you going?" Nina quickly got up and chased after him. "Slow down, I can't keep up with you!"

Kies heard her calling after him and as much as he didn't want to leave Nina behind, he would lose the spirit if he ran any slower. "Sorry, please wait at the log for me, it won't take long!" he shouted.

Kies followed the spirit, almost losing its trail several times. The forest was foggy, and with the spirit being transparent as well, it made it especially difficult to track it as it flew through the forest. Finally, after a few twists and turns, Kies reached a small clearing. In the center of the clearing was a dirt patch. There was a circle with strange symbols engraved onto the ground.

Kies looked around. The spirit that he had chased was nowhere to be found. It probably disappeared off after completing its mission of guiding him here.

"It took you a while to get here," a voice suddenly said. Kies jumped in surprise and quickly looked around for where the voice had come from.

"You won't find me how hard you look," the voice told Kies in response to seeing him frantically searching around. Kies recognized the voice as the spirit that talked to him yesterday. "Go stand in the center of the circle," it told him.

"Where are you?" Kies asked. He couldn't pinpoint where the voice was coming from. It sounded like it was coming from all around him.

"Let's not waste any more precious time," it told him. "Please enter the circle."

"This isn't anything dangerous is it?"

"I saved you before. If I had wanted you dead, I would have let those demons blast you apart. Now, please hurry up," the voice said impatiently.

Kies hesitantly walked to the center of the circle, eyeing the symbols that lined the ground, trying to see if he would recognize any of them.

"Pay no heed to them for now, you will eventually be able to read and use those runes in the future."

Kies was now in the center of the circle, waiting for whatever was going to happen, to happen. He didn't know what the voice meant by that. Did it mean that he would be able to read those symbols in the future? Was he going to teach him how to? If so, then Kies was afraid that he was going to disappoint them since he wasn't good at memorizing things.

"Now brace yourself, we're starting." The circle started glowing and Kies instinctively hopped back, crashing into the barrier that now surrounded him. "Stay still," the voice said.

"What are you doing?" Kies asked the voice. Although he knew that something was going to happen to him when he entered the circle, he still wasn't prepared for what was coming. Kies felt his heartbeat growing louder and louder, almost feeling as if it was going to explode. He grabbed his chest and cried out in pain. After what seemed like an eternity, the pain stopped. His heart was back to normal.

Kies weakly pushed himself up from the ground. He was breathing heavily and his vision was blurry. "What did you do..." He croaked. His voice was dry from all the screaming.

"Keeping my promise."

"What?"

"Try shooting wind at that tree in front of you."

Kies did what the voice said and raised his hand and shot a blast of wind at the tree.

The tree rattled fiercely, scattering leaves in every direction. There was a small dent where the wind had hit the tree. The bark had been blown apart, leaving the inner laying of the wood exposed.

"What? How?" Kies looked at his hands and tried gathering another ball of wind. Even though it looked the same as before, Kies could feel that his wind magic was a lot more powerful now. "Who are you and why are you doing this for me?" Kies asked the voice. He still didn't know anything about it nor its goal.

"You will know when the time comes. For now, you need to focus on making it through what happens next."

"Didn't you say that you would answer my questions? Also, what do you mean by that?"

"For reasons, I can't answer your questions right now, but I assure you that I will sometime later," the voice told Kies. "And as for what I mean..."

***

Nina sat by the log, growing more and more anxious. She didn't know how long it had been since Kies ran off and she was worried that he might have gotten lost or hurt. 'That's it, I'm going to search for him.' She had been sitting around for long enough. It was time to start looking for him. Just as Nina got up from the log, she heard rustling in the direction that Kies had run off in.

"Kies?" Nina called out in an unsure voice. "Is that you?"

"Yes," Kies said as he appeared from the trees.

"Where did you go off to? Do you know how worried I was?"

"No time to explain, we need to hurry back to Silverfield. We have a problem."

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