The trees were purple, the sky was star-filled. The grass was blue, and unmoving as no wind moved in the forest. He looked around but he saw no sight of his body. The only thing that moved was small wisps, dancing between the trees.

Leaning over, he touched one and flinched when the cold touch sent a sap through his body. For a second, he saw a scene of an old woman, knitting on a rocking chair, watching her grandchildren play in the yard.

“What was that?” Blake muttered, rubbing his temples.

“Memories of the dead.” A voice sounded, neither male nor female. It was inhumane in nature and made Blake shudder. He turned around to face a terrifying creature standing hunched over, watching him.

The creature was carrying a long leather jacket, tightly fitted armor seemingly made of vines, leather, and bark. The creature carried a mask over his or her face, with tall antlers horn, and had long braids adorned with bronze jewelry.

The creature moved almost animalistically, being close to the ground and reaching over to Blake who backed away with a few stumbling steps. “What are you?”

“Human,” the creature said. “Druid.”

The druid stopped moving forward, raising his hand and pointing at something behind Blake. Blake darted around, staring at a strange glade. The grass was black and the trees were mere bones. He could hear something scratch and move around from underneath the earth. Black roots seemed to engulf the trees and ground, draining it of life.

“What is that?”

“Defiled earth, sick and growing. Touched by dark magic. Zarazen,” the druid made little sense, just giving him bits and pieces of information. “The child of Khaos closed the temple, imprisoning all phantoms within, but the dark magic is spreading. Defiling everything it touches.”

Blake frowned at the dark spot, sensing the power from it. “Can it be stopped?”

“Stand with bare feet on the darkened soil,” the druid said, gesturing towards him to take off his shoes. Blake looked down, frowning. He leaned down to do so when a hand grabbed onto his shoulder.

“How naïve are you? Haven’t your mother taught you not to trust strangers?” asked Denesha, glaring at him before turning her gaze toward the druid who stood up, showing their tall length. “And who are you? You are not from this realm.”

“Neither are you, but still you walk the land of the dead,” the druid said, tilting their head.

“The land of the dead?” Blake asked.

“Yes, you went to the wrong place. This isn’t the spirit realm but the Hereafter, where the souls of the dead await to be collected by-“ Denesha went silent, suddenly staring at a dark clothes figure walking with a lantern through the darkness. It stopped for a while, its dark hood turning towards them. Denesha pushed Blake’s face into her chest, like a mother protecting her child and Blake peered up at the dark figure who seemed to watch them for a while before turning around to continue its search.

Denesha exhaled, letting the struggling Blake go. She hit him over the head. “By reapers. We don’t want the attention of the reapers of souls. We need to-“

She turned her head toward the druid who now was gone, sneaking away when they had been busy with the reaper. Denesha swore, grabbing onto Blake’s hands. “I will guide us to the Spirit Realm, just allow me to bring you there. Don’t struggle, bey.”

Blake could feel himself floating, the landscape slowly changing. Then something suddenly grabbed onto his angle. A terrifying screech echoed as he saw a shadowy figure grab onto his leg and drag him down.

He stumbled to the stony earth, grimacing as his astral body started to ache.

“Damnit!” Denesha said, pulling him up. “We need to move.”

Blake looked up and felt his breath getting caught in his throat, a thousand shadows, twisted and bleeding black goo, crawled over the ground like ants towards them. “What-“

“Shades, we have been pulled into the lands of the shades. Only reapers can walk here,” Denesha shouted and ran.

“Where are we going?”

“Anywhere! We need to find a place where we can hide, so I can focus on getting us-“ Denesha suddenly turned right, toward a high mountain cliff. There was a hole there, a cave entrance and she didn’t hesitate to pull them in.

Blake groaned when he squeezed himself in, hurryingly hiding between a rock in the dark cavern with Denesha who gestured for him to be quiet.

Blake listened, finally daring to peer over the edge of the rock only to see shades trying to crawl in. “Denesha!”

Denesha grimaced, standing up to fight them when the shades suddenly froze. Their entire bodies just grew rigid, then the sound of rumbling came from them when all of them started to screech. First, it was silent, like a whisper but it slowly rose to such heights that Blake had to cover his eyes. He watches them scurry off in absolute terror, while he stood up, walking up beside Denesha who looked as confused as him.

“Did you do something?” Blake asked.

“No,” Denesha said slowly, starting to walk over to the entrance with Blake. Then Blake felt her grab onto him, pulling him back. The light of the entrance suddenly faded away. Darkness engulfed them and only a few movements along the walls seemed to catch Blake’s eyes. Something large was here with them.

“Denesha?” Blake’s voice came out faint. “Is this a shade?”

“Of course it is a shade. Only shades live here-“

She was interrupted by a dark chuckle, seemingly amused by her words. “Scratch that, this is not a shade.”

A light suddenly hit Blake’s eyes as Denesha had summoned a small orb of light from her palm by drawing a summoning circle on it. His eyes darted up when movement was caught from the edge of his eyes, and he let out a horrified scream when a wide jaw and large slits met his. An enormous snake head watched them, its body circling around them. Considering the size of the head, the body must be as large as the mountain.

“What has entered my nest?” the snake said. Its tongue sniffing the air.

“A human and… Now, this is interesting,”  The snake's head was suddenly gone, replaced by the moving body. It moved with a speed too fast to catch as Denesha cursed under her breath and was trying to keep up. She was suddenly pushed out of the way, the body getting in between her and Blake.

Blake let out a whimper as the snake’s head suddenly was facing him. “Are you lost, little one. Where is your parent?”

Only a whimper came as a reply to the snake’s question, but the snake didn’t seem to care as it started to hum, clearly pondering the answer.

“Blake! Don’t promise him anything.”

“Denesha? What is he?” Blake shouted back. The snake hissed in annoyance and Blake heard a shout, of surprise.

“Nasty little human. Don’t interfere in my conversation.” The snake moved closer, and Blake tried to back away but was met by the snake’s body. Turning his face away when a wet tongue touches him, Blake let out another whimper. “So pure, when were you born? From who?”

“I was born 17 years ago in Kingsland. My parents are Jacob Oakley and Mary Oakley!”

“Humans? No, that’s-“

The snake suddenly let out a loud hiss as something slammed into it snort, pushing him back. Blake looked up into the familiar face of Ahriman who looked far off from his usual mischievous self.

“Ahriman! I have not seen you in such a long time, brat. Where is your brother?” the snake hissed, its eyes narrowing.

“Apep, long time indeed. I’ve heard you have taken the name Soul devourer now.”

Apep clicked his tongue in annoyance, “If I cannot devour the world then I just have to make do. There wasn’t much else to eat in this… prison your brother tethered me to.”

“I see you have grown plenty despite that,” Ahriman said, his eyes darting over the body of the snake.

“Ahriman?” Blake whispered but was only met by Ahriman hushing him. Ahriman grabbed onto Blake, hiding Blake in his embrace while lifting his other arm as if to ward Apep off. Apep just seemed amused by it all.

“Is that yours?”

“Isn’t that obvious?” Ahriman smirked, his eyes starting to glow.

“It has been too long since I have left this place. I even heard another World Devourer was born, that nasty brat Fenrir. How is the mutt?”

“Still imprisoned.”

“The fate of all World Devourers as long as your brother walks this earth. I heard it was your fate as well. How did you escape?” the snake slowly came closer. “Why don’t you tell me? I might even let you go if you do.”

A loud hiss came out as Apep suddenly attacked. Ahriman just chuckled, snapping his fingers as they both vanished into a whirlwind of black mist.

Stumbling out of the mist, Blake let out a gasp. He hadn’t even realized he had held his breath. “What the hell was that?”

“Apep, an archon of Khaos. The first world-destroyer.”

“World destroyer?”

“An archon born to end the world so it could be born again. My brother sealed him away in the hereafter with the help of Apep’s brother, Ra.”

“Another archon?”

“No, a mortal. A shifter to be exact,” Ahriman said, rolling his eyes when Blake stared at him. “The world-destroyer has to be born as a mortal, to then become a shifter. He and his brother were among the first shifters of the world. The two brothers were leaders of their clan, long before Egypt was ever a kingdom. They were attacked by enemies from the desert and ventured alongside their allies into the Spirit Realm to get aid. Ra chooses an eagle as his form, while Apep wanted something more powerful. He ventured deeper and deeper until he found it, an ancient animal since long extinct. I think humans have named it Titanoboa.”

“Unfortunately for the world, that set into in motion his destiny as he ascended to become an archon, and hungered to devour every life of this planet. I heard that the Vikings called him Jörmundgand, the greeks called him Apophis, the Aztecs called him Quetzalcoatl and the Egyptians called him by the name he was born with, Apep.”

“Before he could devour the world though, he was sealed away by my brother,” Ahriman explained, his face shifting with the word brother.

“It sounds like your brother saved us.”

“Yes, but at what cost. Everything Khaos does is for a purpose, there was a reason why Apep was born. It became even more apparent when seven thousand years later a new world-destroyer was born, Fenrir.”

“The wolf?”

“Exactly, a large amount of the European wolf shifters can trace their lineage to Fenrir who in many cases can be considered one of their originators.”

“So, what you are saying is that the world needed to be destroyed?” Blake said, staring incredulously at Ahriman.

“Or at least culled. What do I know, this is Khaos plan, not mine,” Ahriman said, tired of this topic. “I just hope that my brother locking up every world-destroyer won’t come back to bite us in the ass.”

Blake looked around, suddenly turning pale. “Where is Denesha?”

“I send her to the mortal plane. Back to her body,” Ahriman said, before nodding to something behind Blake who turned around. “I wanted to show you something first.”

Blake stared at the trees, most were filled with leaves shifting colors, one towered over the others. He recognized it as Crann Eolais, the tree of knowledge and the entrance to the Elan Coven, but what was so special about the tree was not what he knew of it but what he saw. He saw the face of a man, still eerily dead but underneath the tree was a strange creature. Tall, and thin, made of bark with antlers horns so large that moss grew on them and birds nested. The creature had a long beard, made entirely of moss, and the eyes were glowing white.

Peering back at Ahriman, he just nodded for Blake to walk closer. Blake turned back, taking a few uncertain steps toward the creature, but froze when a sigh escaped it. “Welcome, he who is loved by spirits.”

The creature's voice sounded old, like wood scraping together. Blake was about to ask who he was when it suddenly hit him. “You are Crann Eolais.”

“Is that what you mortals call me?” the old spirit said, seemingly tasting the words. “I have never heard it uttered to me before.”

“You are the spirit of this world tree?” Blake asked, walking closer.

The spirit nodded, “Yes, I heard my brother was finally allowed to rest. I envy him. A new seed was born though, I can feel it in the earth. The seedling's roots haven’t gone far yet but maybe soon we can embrace each other.”

“Yes, I think I spoke with him for a second,” Blake said, remembering the words of gratitude he heard when the new world tree was born.

“You hearing is very good,” the old spirit said, seemingly pleased with his word. “Most have forgotten our language and our words have been lost to time. Only children of the Horned God still have the power to hear us.”

“Children of the Horned God? Who are they?”

“You have already met one of them, I suggest heeding that one’s words. They know many things, as they sacrificed everything, their love, their gender, their identity to become what they are and gain the power and knowledge of the natural world. When they speak, they do so with the wisdom of a god.”

Blake turned to Ahriman. “Is this why you brought me here?”

“Not at all, I know what you plan to do with the hedgewitches, so I thought it would be good for you to speak with an old spirit of a world tree. Especially when you will need the aid of the new one,” Ahriman said with a shrug.

“Speak, little one. What is your plan?” the old spirit asked, and Blake sat down. Ready to ask his questions and get answers.