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There is a reason why there is so much cautionary lore when it comes to the Fae in the Earth Realm, it’s well earned. We all fall silent as we move through the trees, and thankfully, this time, I remain silent in my movements as well.

Thank fuck.

The further that we walk through the trees, the more on edge we all become. I really thought that something would have jumped out at us by this point, and Asael is buzzing impatiently in hand, clearly as bored as I am. I’m half tempted to put him on my back, but I know that the second I do that, something will come out of the trees and try to eat me.

I pull a face, of course, I wouldn’t be bored if that happened. Is it worth the risk?

“Whatever you are thinking of doing right now, don’t do it,” Van says with a knowing smirk.

I sigh dramatically, “Fine, spoil sport.”

“I think I see a break in the trees up ahead,” Griff says suddenly.

My excitement picks back up, finally, a change of scenery.

We all follow Griff as he switches to take the lead, and sure enough, I soon see the break in the trees that Griff was talking about. It’s not a clear gap, it could honestly be just a slightly thinner patch of trees, but at this point I pretty much have everything crossed that there really is something different beyond the trees. Maybe even something a bit stabby that would be fun.

I don’t know what it says about me that I want to run into something that wants to kill me, but I am certain that it’s not good, so maybe that’s one of those things that we don’t ever tell a therapist.

Yeah, because that’s a sane plan.

Thankfully, it’s at that moment that we step through the break and find ourselves at the very edge of the woods. Stretching before us is a rocky and deserted landscape. There are deep crevices and high rocky outcroppings; none of them show a cave, but in the distance, I can make out a sheer cliff wall. It stretches in either direction as far as the eye can see, and I can see pretty damn far. It’s impressive and intimidating in the sheer size of it, and quite frankly, I kind of miss the woods.

“Well, at least we know where we’ve got to go,” River says. He points, “The cave has got to be high up on that wall somewhere.”

“Well, Griff and I aren’t hampered by the trees and space anymore, we could fly ahead and see if we can find the cave, so at least we know what direction we’re supposed to be heading in,” Reed suggests.

“Yeah, that’s a great idea actually, it will be easier to find now and head in the right direction instead of getting to the cliff face and trying to find it, we have no idea what’s over there. It looks like this rocky terrain leads straight to the cliffside, but it could be that there’s a massive crevice there or some sort of obstacle that’s going to make it difficult to search that close to the cliff,” Raiden replies.

Van nods, “It’s settled then, be as quick as you can, we’re quite exposed out here. Does anyone recognize what realm we’re in?”

“No idea,” Griff replies with a frown. Everyone else shakes their heads that they have no idea either and Griff continues, “The problem is that there are a few realms that all look similar, so unless you go to one of the ones that has a defining and obvious feature about it, like the one that’s surface is nearly all lava, and the inhabitants live within the ground rather than on top of it, you have no real way of knowing where you are unless you speak to the inhabitants.”

“That’s a really good point,” Doc agrees. “But sometimes you’re better off not meeting the locals, there are quite a few realms where they aren’t very hospitable to outsiders.”

Ransom frowns, “Yeah, I’ve heard some pretty awful stories. Let’s get this done as quickly as we can. I don’t like that it looks like late afternoon. I don’t want to be still here when night falls.”

River pulls a face, “We were in the woods for a long time.”

“Don’t forget time could work differently here, their days could be shorter,” Raiden reminds, and River nods.

“We’ll be back as soon as we can,” Reed says, as both he and Griff transform.

Well, Griff transforms into all of his gargoyle glory, but Reed only lets his wings free.

“Be careful,” I tell them, as I bite my lip with worry. Something isn’t sitting right with me, but I think it’s because I don’t like the idea of us splitting up. That never works out well for anyone in the movies.

Griff smiles, “Don’t worry, we will.”

I nod, but don’t reply as I watch them take off. I don’t dare take my eyes off them as that feeling of unease grows.

“Guys, something's not right,” I finally say when the feeling gets too much.

As soon as the words leave my mouth, there’s a massive explosion, and a geyser of lava shoots high in the air heading straight for Reed and Griff. I call out in panic, and feel magic surge from beside me as a familiar glowing golden light wraps around them and pulls them out of the way of the lava stream just in time.

Relief fills me as I glance to the side and see Ransom watching the guys closely, as he controls the magic around them. Just as we all breathe a sigh of relief, thinking that they’re safe, another geyser erupts, and seems to set off a chain reaction that has multiple streams of what at least looks like lava shooting high in the air.

“Fucking lava,” Doc curses. “After this whole experience, I now have a very strong dislike of lava. I was indifferent before.”