Wizardland

"Gee, that sounds so reassuring Erik," Aiden remarked sarcastically, releasing a sigh in the process.

"My guess is just as good as yours, but I'm thinking that this is not a fun place to be. I've heard that a lot of candidates don't make it out of here alive." Cole then went back to his conversation with Raine: "Nymphs are born with legs, then? I think that normal mermaids would have to drink water or pour it on themselves every few hours while on land so I guess our species are pretty similar."

Raine nodded lightly. "We are similar. I'm glad I got to meet a mermaid. My parents told me stories about them, but since we lived by a lake I never got to meet one." She looked up at the sky to see it darken a bit. "It seems like it might rain. Should we stop and make a shelter if it does?"

"Well then, let's make it into history as the candidates who survived!" Esther grinned. She may not be able to use her abilities in battle, but she does know a thing or two about fighting.

Erik tilted his head when he heard Raine, looking up at the sky as he sniffed the air. He looked over at the hours. "We have two-three hours at best until it starts raining. Perhaps it's best to get a move on. It smells like it'll rain pretty hard tonight."

Aiden blinked at that, looking up at the sky before nodding.

Candidates who survived. Great, just living through this stupid training was going to be tough.

Cole sighed heavily. Rain was the last thing he needed. He was not in complete control of his human-mermaid transformation yet, so he feared that the rain would impact him negatively. And if something evil came up...

Well, maybe as long as it didn't touch him. He pulled his cloak out of his travel bag and hurriedly put it on, leaving the hood off. He just needed to be able to access it in a hurry.

"What do you think is in there?" he asked.

"Who knows, but I'm sure there are dangerous creatures. So let's be prepared and try to make it out alive." Raine smiled while looking around. The forest was quiet. Maybe a bit too quiet.

Esther looked around. "Is it just me or does the forest look foggier?" She looked all around and saw a thick layer of fog cover the entire ground. It rose all up to the trees. "This is weird."

"This is beginning to get worrisome, actually," Erik remarked, eyes narrowing as he looked around. His hands twitched instinctively, feeling something dangerous approaching.

Aiden shifted a bit uneasily, looking around as though he's trying to look for some sort of danger that might come through the mist.

"This might be the reason why it's so dangerous."

"Help! Please! Someone!" A young girl with short blonde hair tumbled through the mist. She was missing one tooth and speaking with an accent native to a nearby village. "The witch got 'im! Got my brother! And she's gonna eat 'im!"

"A witch?" Cole sighed. An evil witch? This was just great.

"I wonder if this was the danger that old woman was talking about. Anyways, we better help them out. Who knows what'll happen next." Raine looked around and tried to interact with the fog around them. Since fog was mist and mist is water, she should be able to lower it so that they can see their surroundings.

Erik continued to sniff the air, eyes becoming a bright gold. "Let's go check it out then. I doubt we'd want this witch to handle things on her own."

Aiden hastily nodded, looking around to see if he can find anything through this fog. Whatever this was, it was beginning to unnerve him.

"Let's go help them! I have a feeling that this may be a part of our test or something like that," Esther said while looking around. "I'll go climb the tree and see if I can spot the village from here." She walked over to a nearby tree and climbed up.

Cole shifted his feet awkwardly as he watched everyone else do useful things. He had no idea what his ability was, so he really did not know how to help. He decided to bend down to the girl's level, but was not quite used to knees and ended up sitting on the ground. "We'll save your brother. What's your name?"

She blinked at the odd teenager then smiled thankfully. "I'm Al! You are all so nice to help me!"

Raine smiled and knelt down next to Cole. "It's no problem Al. Can you show us where your village is?"

"It's the least we can do," Erik told her as he continued to keep an observant eye around their surroundings.

Esther managed to reach the top of the tree and looked around. "It's hard to see, but I can see a small village in the distance! This fog is too thick!"

"Maybe we can hurry before it becomes too think and we get lost," Aiden suggested.

Cole attempted to stand up four times before finally succeeding. Feeling rather proud that he was getting used to the legs (and honestly, a bit embarrassed at his failures), he spoke up. "Sounds good. Let's get to the village quickly."

Al shook her head. "No! The witch has cast a spell on everyone in the village. It's too dangerous." She hesitated. "I think ta stop 'er from hurtin' my brother, we need to get the ingredients to make a spell my mum told me could remove a witch's magic. I think they're...uhm..." She twisted her grubby fingers around awkwardly, clearing thinking. "A dragon tooth, griffin's blood, those flowers that goblins grow in their caves, and parsley." She frowned. "There's something else, too, but I dunno what."

Esther jumped down from the tree and sighed lightly. "Those sound like some rare items. How exactly are we suppose to find them here?"

"Hmmm...that is quite a problem. Those items are extremely rare." Raine thought for a few minutes. She looked down at Al and tilted her head a bit. "Unless those items can be found in this forest, then getting them won't be as much of a problem."

"Oh great," Erik sighed out as he ran a hand through his hair. He looked around, trying to see if he can find some sort of scent of the ingredients through all of this fog.