Mitch and Jerome wandered aimlessly together through the roads of the village. Access to the forest had been restricted for an 'unknown' reason, and one or two of Castle Guards stood watch outside the forest entrance to enforce the new rule. Most people just assumed it had to do with Mitch's 'skeleton attack' incident, and let it be. They were partially right, at least...

Soon, the two passed by Brice, sitting under a tree and drawing in a sketchbook. "Hey, Brice," Mitch greeted as he passed.

"Hi," Brice replied, not looking up.

"Hey, where's Seto?" Jerome asked, coming to a halt. "You're usually with him at this time of day."

Brice looked up and put his pencil down on the grass beside him. "Oh, uh...he was called to ShadShine for some...'business'. Maybe they needed to borrow his magic for something?"

Jerome and Mitch exchanged glances. "Do you know what the 'business' is?" Mitch asked.

Brice shrugged. "Nope. Neither did Seto when he was called to the castle."

"Weird," Jerome said with a frown.

Mitch glanced in the direction of the castle. "Isn't that Seto heading towards us right now?"

"What?" Brice asked, standing up. "He's back already?"

Seto was walking down the road, most likely returning from the castle. He paused when he noticed the three staring at him, then cautiously made his way towards them.

"What's wrong at the castle?" Mitch asked him without even saying hello.

Seto paused, taken aback, then turned to Brice. "You didn't need to tell the whole village I went to the castle, Brice..."

"They asked where you were, so I told them!" Brice said defensively. "Anyways, I'm curious, too. What's up?"

"Uh...I'm going on a mission," Seto said quietly.

"What?!" Mitch, Jerome and Brice exclaimed.

"Shh," Seto hissed. "We'll talk about it at my house, I was going there to get supplies anyways."

"Supplies? This sounds good," Jerome gasped in awe, as the three followed Seto to his house.

Soon enough they arrived at Seto's house, where he hastily opened the door, grabbed a small leather bag and plopped it on the table, and began searching the house for whatever it was that he needed.

"So, what's the mission that you need to go on?" Brice asked, standing near the doorway as not to get in his friend's way.

"It's...a secret," Seto replied, scanning his wall of potions.

"A secret? Then why'd you bring us here to talk in private in the first place?" Jerome asked.

"Is this about the portal thingie?" Mitch guessed.

Seto froze, and Jerome shot Mitch a glare.

"What portal thingie?" Brice asked.

Mitch remembered he wasn't supposed to say anything about that. Oops.

"Well...I guess it makes sense that you two should know about it already," Seto sighed after a moment.

"Know about what?" Brice demanded.

"Sorry," Seto apologized as he hurried over to the bag and placed an unidentified potion inside. "Ty and Adam just told me. Turns out Mitch was never attacked by skeletons after all, there's a bunch of strange portals popping up in the forest that weird demons and creatures are coming out of. Mitch was attacked by one of those."

Brice's eyes widened and he glanced over at Mitch. "Seriously?!"

Mitch nodded. "It was scary as hell," he added.

"I wouldn't be surprised if that thing came from hell," Jerome muttered.

"My mission is to find an active portal and investigate its magic if I can," Seto explained, looking through the drawers in a desk near the left wall. "Not going in it, obviously. Just inspecting from the outside."

"You're going alone?" Jerome asked.

"No, I'm getting an escort from the Castle Guard," Seto replied.

"Cool," Mitch breathed. He wanted to go on a special mission. He'd actually be prepared to fight then.

"So when do you leave?" Brice asked.

"Now," Seto said, throwing the leather bag over his shoulder.

"Oh," Brice blinked. "Well, good luck!"

"Let's hope for it," Seto muttered. He opened the front door and left, with Jerome, Brice and Mitch following behind.

The three stood outside Seto's house, watching him make his way to the forest.

"You think he'll be okay?" Brice asked.

"He'll be fine!" Jerome assured him. "He'll be gone for what, like, ten minutes?"

"True," Brice agreed. "He seems pretty serious about it, though. He must be excited."

Mitch watched Seto leave until he turned the corner behind the house and went out of sight. He wasn't jealous of Seto for going on a mission, he just...was curious.

"I'm gonna follow him," Mitch declared.

"Don't even think about it," Jerome growled, grabbing Mitch's hood as he tried to walk away. "We're not allowed in the forest, remember? We'll get in a lot of trouble if they find us!"

"We'll sneak in through the sides," Mitch explained. "They can't have guards surrounding the entire forest."

"Uh, I think what Jerome means is that we shouldn't go into the forest, not that we can't go in," Brice explained.

"So you agree that we can get into the forest, then!" Mitch said happily.

Brice looked baffled. "That's not what I m-"

Before he could finish, Mitch suddenly lunged away from Jerome so quickly that he lost his grip on Mitch's hood.

"You guys can come if you want," Mitch invited, jogging away before Jerome could chase him.

"Well...it'd probably be fun," Jerome considered. "No one will see us if we're careful."

"You, too?" Brice groaned.

"Let's go!" Jerome declared, following Mitch and forcing Brice to tag along.