"Seriously, what were we thinking? This for Initiation test?" I said, pointing the nearby bushes and trees. It was mid-day probably. We had been walking in search of something we did not even remember. See, we were in the Forest of Illusions. Every turn made us forget our previous journey. In that case, anyone might think that we would forget our life. But it is not this way, the forest worked. We would forget only when we changed directions, making it difficult to find a way out of there. It used only selective loss of memory.

"You knew what we were getting into when we agreed to this. And let me refresh your memory, you were the one who argued with the Council for this test when no one agreed."

Chris was right about that. I had protested vehemently when our subject of the initiation was not accepted by the Council. I told them we could do it. They only agreed when I pointed out that all the other tests would not really be testing us, and well, that was a loophole sufficient enough for them to give us permission. No tests were designed for people with our magical power. It was apparent that I always got into trouble.

Now, the problem at the moment was to get out of here and on to the other side of the forest. Yeah. It was so easy. Not.

"You got any plans about this?" I asked pointing the turn ahead.

Chris stopped and observed everything carefully for a moment. The trees formed a canopy and they looked good for a picnic.

"This is like when we enter a room through a door and forget what we came for, right?"

"Yeah. That is the reason the Council created this illusion, to make it difficult to find a way?"

"Two points I have to stress here. First point: The Council did not make this. And second, we must think about how to remember the path." He said ticking off his fingers.

"Who made this then?" I definitely didn't know its history. Maybe it was because I never paid attention to our history class.

"Some say the legendary Sameyra and others insist that this always existed and was not created."

We reached the turning in the path. Every change in direction made us forget the previous. So we knew we would forget the way but still continued on. We could be moving in circles for all I knew and the Council would be laughing at me.

"What if we think and chant out before making the turn so we do not forget it?"

It was actually a good idea if it worked.

"Brilliant, Chris. But you know I face a problem, uh, remembering things."

"You try to overcome that. I don't want to get help from the Scouts and make a fool out of myself," He said grinning. His green eyes were sparkling with excitement. We finally got out of the palace for this quest. I felt like a knight form the stories I read. I didn't know how to fight like a knight though. I liked the fresh air and also the fact that I wasn't under anyone's scrutiny.

"Okay. Let's remember the first letters and make a song or poem."

"Agreed."

The first turn now. Left left left L L L ...

We turned and well I did not remember anything. I looked at Chris. "Now, what?"

"We are Mind Projectors. We should be able to plan something."

"We need something to write on. But, what? There are no papers."

"Hey, we are projectors. Can't we use something from around here to write on, like leaves?" He said with a thoughtful look.

"Can't we use water? We could make use of the Sticking Charm."

"Yeah. We could put our plan into motion now," I said pointing straight ahead where the path branched out.

I took a leaf and held out water from our container. He closed his eyes and opened them in nearly 2 seconds. He had good concentration skills, unlike me. I had daily meditation practice to thank for whatever level of concentration I had now. The water rose and formed a pattern on the leaf. I concentrated on the leaf and used the sticking charm.

"The first problem solved." I exclaimed loud.

Three turns later we realized we had other problem. Order of path in leaves was also necessary.

"Let me join the leaves," I told Chris and handed him some of the leaves.

I concentrated hard on the leaves and imagined then joined. It worked on my third try. It was somewhat hard for me to work on animated things. But it worked and that was important.

"Good job," Chris complemented me. He knew that I had difficulty in working with objects and was still a novice in that part of projection magic.

23 turns later with a leaf map, we were at an intersection and our senses flared up.

"I think there are some things out there in the next turn," Chris pointed out.

"Well, we should be on our high alert."

I noted the direction on the newly procured leaf. He took out his sword and I had no weapon with me. I had begged for a sword and was left disappointed.

We made the turn and stumbled into a trap. At least, that was expected. Ten people with hooded cloaks were upon us. Well, a nice scuffle followed. I was still high on adrenaline to notice that we had incapacitated them. I used my magic and disoriented their senses when Chris fought them.

"What was that?" Chris said examining them.

Before he could move, all of them vanished before our eyes.

"Too shy, I guess," I told him.

He turned towards me with an exasperated expression.

"Who would send them? I don't think there is combat in initiation. Are they expecting us to fight again in our Apprentice test?"

He was agitated, alright.

"I can assure you, they will get an earful when we meet them. Whoever they vanished right before us before we could know their identity."

I turned around and examined our surroundings. There must be some clue. And, apparently, Chris found it. There was some ash in a heap of black clothing. We did not know what it meant.

We stopped for a short while, eating and relaxing. At least, we were out of Illusion forest, after the fight. I wanted no more extra surprises ahead. I was tired and the sky was nearly dark. We needed to find shelter soon. We started our return journey once again. We were now on the land of animal shifters.

Before we could move any further, I spotted a fox watching us, a shifter on watch. I moved towards him.

"State your identity, Projector?" He said in a human voice. Ah, The shifter protocol.Oh, joy. I would be surprised if he allowed us inside their territory.

"I am Aria and this is Chris. We were on our initiation test in the Forest of Illusions. We were hoping that you could provide us with shelter for tonight."

The fox changed back into a guy who was older than us. He looked at Chris and then me.

"I need to verify your identity." He said calmly.

I looked at Chris and he nodded. We produced our crystals for Initiation. They contained information about us apparently.

"Genuine. Get in. "He said pointing to an opening in trees which wasn't there before. We passed the opening into a stone path which led straight to a camp.

"Looks like the shifters were partying," Chris said moving towards the edge and sat on a big rock.

"We need to get out of here tomorrow, as early as possible. The shifters can be demanding."

"We need to figure out, what to give them tomorrow. They will not let us out without something in return." He said surveying the trees on the other side. We ate apples which we carried in our backpacks.

We woke up in the morning, refreshed ourselves and when it was time to leave, we were stopped by an older shifter who could be a wolf if I had to guess.

We offered him a crystal and he frowned.

"Uh. This ... this is a Truth-stone. It contains our magic which reveals the opposite person's intentions like good or bad and it, uh, changes colors."

He nodded.

"You seem like a couple of good kids."

We reached the castle in the afternoon. We were immediately summoned by our mentor. How did he knew that we were back? He was sitting on a chair in the sunlight perusing some book. His apartment was very cool unlike the environment outside. He had many books lined across his shelves and some paintings too. I liked the one with a peacock in it. It was light colored but it was beautiful.

"Ah. You returned early."

Jim, our mentor, rose up from his chair as he regarded us. He put his book aside and turned towards us.

We bowed and he indicated a bench on the side for us to sit in the balcony.

"Why was there an attack at the end of the forest?" I asked him.

He looked at both of us for a long time with a frown before he answered.

"What are you talking about Princess?"

Author's Note:

Thanks for reading :)

This is unedited. I will work on it later, I promise.

This is my first story.And I appreciate your reviews.I would really love to know what you felt about this chapter.