As she went further into the forest, going a few miles to the left, then zagging a few miles to the right, she felt as free as one of the forest creatures; lost in a moment of zen. A half hour later she stopped, confused. She couldn't be more than seven miles into the forest and she didn't recognize anything. 

    That was more than a bit strange. She'd known every inch of this forest. Weird. She turned around , thinking it might be best to turn around and go back to the castle. As she turned her foot slipped into something wet, cold and gritty. She looked down to see her foot stuck in a teal pool of glittery mud.

It wasn't any ordinary mud puddle... it was a mud- portal. As she looked down, desperately clutching her magick bag. Goddess knows where she was going to end up. Closing her eyes as tight as she could, the empress was dropped through the sparkling teal mud-water.