"I feel like we're going to get murdered."

          Káel had been stumbling through the bumpy trail for a couple minutes now. The forest had closed behind him, its thick canopy consuming every fleck of starlight that fought to light his path. Despite the shroud of blackness that blinded him, he didn't dare to conjure his own light in the forest filled with demonized fairytales. 

          He just had to hope he was going the right way.

          "This path looks rushed," Phantom said, they were his first words since stepping into the forest alongside Káel, and lacked the comfort he was hoping for. The dark seemed to have captivated his attention more than conversation, likely because, like Káel, he didn't trust the forest's occupants one bit.

          "Zalius made it though... right?" Káel whispered, his shoulders flinching as Puff snapped a twig. "It's too old for anyone else to have done it."

          "Yeah, it was probably him. I just don't recognise it," Phantom replied, his towering form casting a wall of black in Káel's corner vision. "There's a log up ahead, watch your feet."

          Minutes crawled by as Káel maneuvered blind, his body shaking from an unhealthy mix of chill and fear. The forest had started to glow in sparse patches, what Káel had first feared to be hungry eyes, now debunked as luminescent plants and bugs, their powerful glow giving a strange and tingling buzz to the air.

          Káel kept his brisk stride, the forest lit enough by its own strange glow to show the shaky trail in all its crumbled glory. It was nothing like the trails he'd walked through the forest, barely two men wide and infested with jutting roots and stones. It couldn't have been a matter of simply being overgrown, the trees knew to move away and form a path, and they took the hazards with them.

          This trail was most definitely a rushed job.

          Káel's heart sunk as he thought about the last dream he had of Zalius, two padded thuds that cut the whistling arrows short.

          Was that why the trail was rushed?

          If it was, Zalius had made it further than Káel could ever dream of as a dead man walking. His darkened thoughts now praying he wouldn't have to pull the journal from the cracking clutches of a thousand year old corpse.

          "That glow up ahead," Phantom spoke, tempting Káel from skimming the ground to face the obstacle before them. "It's the heart of the forest."

          Káel could make out the sight if he squinted past its silver glow. A blackened silhouette cracking through the brilliant white crown of a tree. 

          A few steps closer and he could see the amethyst skin it bore in a coat of rough scales, cradled by a shallow pool of water that refracted its brilliant light. Strange, entrancing, and all too familiar throughout his stay on Lumi.

          At least he knew where that stick came from now.

          Phantom brushed up beside Káel as he stopped at the foot of the stilled puddle, his shoulders clenched in equal awe and confusion. "I thought it was strange that the forest had gotten so touchy about guests. Spirit trees have a horrible love of paranoia."

          Káel pulled Puff back when the dragon got to close to the water, the buzzing air tickling his nerves as he inspected its ethereal canopy from a safe distance. The tree, although large in its own respects, was dwarfed by its ancient familly that didn't allow a speck of sky to peek past the thick net of foliage caging it. Like a beating heart, it didn't draw its life from the outside, hidden from all in the body of the forest.

          He sighed as awe filtered to familiarity. Finding the heart of the forest sounded like it would be a big deal to some people. Grant it the sight was a wonder to behold, but he wasn't 'some people'.

          The biggest deal on his plate was finding Zalius Whitecrown's illusive journal, and he was having his doubts about it being buried anywhere near the alien tree surrounded by glow stick water.

          Ready to turn back in defeat, Káel prepared a salty grumble to toss Phantom. But the shadow he'd kept in his corner vision proved to be a little brighter than Phantom's, ripping a screech from his throat when he glanced at the pasty guest.

          As he stumbled butt first into the sloshing shallows, Puff joined his course in equal fright, two soggy guests staring in wide eyed shock at the grinning spirit come to life.

          Or as close as Zalius Whitecrown's cold dead fingers could get to it.

          "If you do that... One more time," Káel panted, waiting for his heart to stop racing while the water seeped through his clothing.

          Zalius grinned, stretching out his hand to help Káel up.

          "Yeah, you're a ghost I get it, I'm not gonna fall for that trick again," Káel growled, getting to his feet and shaking the mud off his hands. "This glow water had better not be poisonous."

          Puff warbled in distaste as he crawled out of the pool, his cross warbles flattening to worry as he inspected Zalius, the spirit now crouching to stretch his hand for Puff to sniff it.

          Blue lipped and pale as parchment, death didn't suit the fallen monarch well. His cheeks were sharper than the drawings from a starved sink, with the blackened bags under his eyes accentuating the vibrant violet filling his irises. The last of his regality was left to a emblemed cloak hugging his body, the same one from Káel's dreams with two tiny rips peeking through the back.

          The dark cloud in Káel's mind nearly blotted out the sight of Zalius petting Puff, the ghost's fingers pressing at the dragon's soft fur as he let out an obnoxious purr. 

          He was physical.

          Káel backed away when Zalius straightened himself, ready to run as fast as his feet would let him if he'd accidentally stumbled across a flesh eating dream ghoul. The smile creeping onto Zalius cheeks only paled his in return, every horrible end to his decision slowly creeping up on him as the creature waved for him to follow.

          He watched Zalius walk off, steps sloshing through water and crushing leaves in an incredibly unghostly manner.

          Hell no.  

          Káel swallowed. 

          It was good to follow your dreams. 

          Unless said dreams involved midnight strolls through alien infested forests, following a walking corpse into the dark.

          "He won't hurt you," Phantom said, bent to Káel's eye level like a pampering parent as he lifted his voice to a mock. "Since when did a little ghost give you a fright?"

          "I'm not scared," Káel retorted, hesitation sinking its spidery fingers into his stomach when he glanced at Zalius' hollowed eyes. 

          He knew the lie didn't work. Zalius was absolutely terrifying in person. 

          "I'm just surprised he can... touch things," Káel whispered, earning the usual pitying chortle from Phantom.

          "It's the spirit tree. The magic it gushes controls the forest and spirits condense the leftovers for physicality," Phantom said, glancing over his shoulder to give Zalius a wave. "Right?"

          Zalius didn't register the voice, still waiting for Káel to join him with a hint of impatience.

          "Right, I forgot I exist less than him at the moment," Phantom said, a flicker of sadness draining his shoulders and lowering his hand. "I would follow him anyways."

          "If I die I'm haunting you," Káel mumbled, crunching past Phantom to tail Zalius' flowing cloak. 

          Three steps into stalking the ghost, Káel was stopped by his outstretched arms, a wall of shrubs and thickened trees controlling the glowing land ahead. 

          Káel looked at the patch of ground Zalius was staring at, uninterested by the nest of glowing wildflowers occupying it. "What? I'm not digging for you again."

          Zalius stuck his hand out to Káel, his posture expecting to receive something.

          "Words would be great," Káel growled, pulling everything out of his pockets to show the spirit.

          Zalius shrugged, grabbing the Ceptrum out of his hand and holding it up like a gem. It glowed with a bright light that faded just as fast, doing absolutely nothing to the forest beyond.

          He dropped it back into Káel's palm, his smile of triumph earning the opposite from Káel.

          Káel stared at the Ceptrum, the last of his fear fading to dead unamusement. "So it glows... Whoopity doo."

          Zalius rolled his eyes at the teen's sass, gripping his shoulders and moving him into the wall of woven plants. From twisted roots to tiny hairs of grass, everything shuffled away before his foot even met the ground. Káel stared at the ring of plants around him, dumbstruck as Zalius theatrically wiggled his fingers with a silent 'ooh'. 

          Káel pursed his lips before he managed to look stupider,  grabbing Puff to tail Zalius through the shuffling shrubs. The destination wasn't far, tucked into a ditch where the snaking roots of a tree cascaded over the rusted and chipped skin of a blue hatch. Káel watched the roots slither away as Zalius gripped an ornamental handle, tugging its wooden jaws wide open.

          A cloud of dust vacated the black abyss, a stale burp of a thousand years choking his nostrils as he defaulted to a nervous smile. "This where you live?"

          Zalius stopped mid crouch, raising an eyebrow at the question.

          His gaze and corpselike complexion mixed together in Káel's mind, shining a light on the idiocy of his words as the spirit went back to slipping through the hatch.  

          "Or... occupy," Káel muttered, his mouth twisting into a frown as Zalius disappeared into the dark. 

          A light filled the hole with dancing shadows, a little bit of the room visible from Káel's vantage point. It was small, a storage filled with wooden racks, dust, and a surprising lack of dirt and leaves. A few books and trinkets filled the wooden shelves, their forms untouched by time, and perfectly aligned in some mysterious order.

          He was in the middle of staring down a strange fork like crystal when Zalius popped back into view, tossing the thick book in his hands out of the opening and barely missing Káel's face. 

          Káel stared at the journal, filled with frayed and folded pages with a heavy blue skin of scales to wrap its cover. His heart fluttered at the sight, the key to his success had come so easily.

          Too easily.

          Káel looked back into the hatch to help Zalius out, a small blue wisp the only thing floating out of the black hole. He stared at the entrancing ball, rising until it hovered inches from his face and all at once bursting back into the same old terrifying sight of Zalius.

          With a hitched breath Káel clutched his chest, the wicked grin on Zalius face not even needing words to scream 'gotcha'.

          Again.

          Káel breathed out a sharp sigh, the maniacal ring to Phantom's cackles reddening his cheeks with a flush of embarrassment and anger. Zalius' tricks were older than his dried and dusty corpse the first time around, so three definitely wasn't striking a charm with him. 

          He bit his tongue when Zalius swiped the journal before he could, lessening his death glare to simple frustration when he realised the spirit was marking pages for him, folding the corner of two of them before handing the book back to Káel.

          "Thanks," Káel muttered forcing a smile for the spirit's help that was nearly outweighed by his personality. "I need to get back to school now so..."

          Zalius nodded, putting his hands up to keep Káel's attention before motioning for him to wait. He made sure he had Puff's full attention too, miming for the dragon to close his eyes, which he did with a skeptical snort.

          Káel frowned when Zalius mimed for him to cover his eyes, reluctantly following his instructions until all he could see was a world of black. 

          Where do you wish to go master?

          The Ceptrum's voice caught Káel by surprise, his hand lifting to flaunt the tight four corners of stone grey walls he'd found himself in. With a spike of panic he pressed his palms against the surface, the reality resounding through his hands as his heart triple paced. "How do I... where are we?"

          Some relief came when he looked over his shoulder and saw Phantom tucked in beside him, Puff at his feet with his eyes still obediently closed.

          Phantom poked one of the walls, tilting his head when his hand didn't go through it. "I can't go through the walls... I guess it's an interchangeable room?" 

          Master, where do you wish to go within this castle?

          Káel paused, focusing on the Ceptrum's voice over the sound of his pounding heart. Castle? Are we in Cobalt right now?

          If Cobalt is the new name of your keep, then yes master. Now where do you wish to go? Your sleeping quarters?

          Yes!

          Káel nearly threw himself into the wall as a door started to form, breaking into his room with a slapdash stumble that sent him flying into the side of his bed. With a breathless gasp he looked over his shoulder at his empty closet, Puff just outside of it and sniffing the wooden backing.

          Not a speck of stone in sight.

          Káel looked at the journal he'd tossed across his covers in the mess, the smallest smile dimpling his cheeks.

          But one journal closer to success.

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Quality Quip #39:

'No skeptic ever invaded a country or burnt a heretic at the stake.'

~Marty Rubin