Unmotivated Deity

The conversation didn't last more than an hour after dinner was finished. Jien and the other noble children were all fairly tired from the journey and though they could have spent more time planning they found that it may be in vain if they did not have a firm understanding of where they were going. The lack of information regarding the Warping Forest was a hindrance in many ways that they would only be able to solve once they knew what they were working with.

Some of the children stayed up to sit by the fireplace and ponder over varying thoughts, but Jien wasn't one of them. After their conversation met the barrier of lack of knowledge, he excused himself and left for the room he had been presented with. Once he reached the room and closed the door behind him the first thing he did, was to open the window and let the cool night air in. Not more than a moment after the window opened with a rustle of feathers a silver feathered owl swooped into his room, its eyes showing like brightly burning flames of a bonfire.

Before the owl reached the ground its form seemed to elongate as if it were a feathered cloak made of the finest silver threads. Soon a woman with crimson hair, onyx ram horns and grey skin much the shade of ash took the owl's place. Her eyes were filled with a barely hidden rage as she turned her body, cloaked in a simple silver dress toward Jien, barely able to keep her curses to herself. Having to hide herself like those lowly creatures, who could barely be considered demons in her eyes, was about as bad as asking her to strip of her clothes and parade herself about the city square of Afrem. Yet she couldn't refuse because Jien was adamant about this.

Jien turned to her and ignoring her angered expression asked, "What were you able to discover?" Anuva took a long, deep breath to calm herself before answering to avoid raising her voice and cursing her contractor before answering. Despite the lingering anger in her eyes her voice seemed steady and calm as she answered the question succinctly. "There wasn't much to be found. The forest is off to the west, and one can't just enter haphazardly unless they wish to be stuck there."

Anuva took another long moment pause to gather her thoughts properly before continuing. "The forest is visible to the naked eye from the outside but for some reason appears to be held within a separate space. How people can just enter such a place I have no idea because usually entering would mean being severed into tiny pieces because the two spaces meeting should twist space into a knot."

"Beyond this point the forest itself reaches all the way to the sea and the mists from it spread out of the separated space without any issue. All in all, I can't tell you anything else until we enter the forest because the separate space hides anything else of relevance from view." Jien pondered over her words carefully before nodding and thanking her for scouting ahead as best she could. He didn't share his thoughts, mainly because while he was interested in it any type of magic in regard to manipulation of space was rare to come upon. This was also the reason why the solution their parents had provided for exiting the forest was so absurd to their ears. Four formation plates with spatial magic inscribed on them would likely be worth more than a fortune to the average person. If he could spend some time studying them along the way he would be willing to put in double the effort of the others.

After getting his answers from his contracted demon he prepared for bed and slept without any hesitation, knowing that starting tomorrow life was going to get a lot harder. Every second of sleep he could get here would count. Anuva watched as the young boy slid into the bed, sitting on a chair in the corner of the room and watching over her charge. She remained unmoving in her thoughts, like a picturesque doll as she waited for the next day to come. At least in the forest she likely would not have to hide her form, though she wasn't a fan of roughing it in the outdoors either. She just couldn't seem to win with her contractor.

Like this, hours passed like fleeting seconds in the eyes of the grey skinned demon. Soon the sun rose, and Jien awoke with it, knowing that they would only get a simple traveling breakfast as they made their way to their destination. He quickly got dressed, and though Anuva disdained doing so her form shrank as if folding in on itself until the form of a silver owl took her place on the chair. Jien opened the window once again, feeling the slightly warming morning air as Anuva took to the air in the direction of the horses. She would wait for them to arrive and head out, which didn't take more than a half hour.

The group reached the horses while eating bread, cheese and cured venison for their breakfast. After reaching the stable they filled their waterskins to their fullest and while the others were mounting their steeds for the trip Jien spent several moments thanking Emily for her teachings and wishing her safe travels. Soon the raven-haired fencing instructor made her way away from the group, headed Northeast while the rest headed due west.

It didn't take them more than three hours of riding before their destination came into view. The towering evergreen trees, taller than the tallest of the bell towers of the town's churches stretched toward the heavens, their branches and trunks twisting as if they had grown while held within a whirlpool. The sky above the forest was as dark as night, though the rest of the land around it was in the throes of a gorgeous morning. The final prominent feature was the thick white fog that flowed high and low between the trees, obscuring the inside of the forest from sight, but dissipating within thirty or so feet of the tree line.