“Don’t you think it would be best to send someone in your sted, your majesty? The woods haven’t been the safest place to travel through these days.”

Following Elias around became boring quicker than Andrew thought it would. They had come in from the rainy outdoors and got right to work, Elias carrying him back into the room where he had first met the mages.

“No, I would like to make this journey with a small group, possibly just myself and Andrew, if we can.” Elias pointed to a map he had laid out on the large table. “This path here, it should be safe enough for us to venture through. We’ll make it to the Great Lake in a day’s time, which is where Greaned said we should look.”

The mage Elias had pulled over to speak to eyed Andrew for a moment before speaking again. “And… You’re sure that this is safe? Greaned may have told you to look there, but he also told me about the burst of magic that came from Andrew when he did his reading. It reminds me of-”

“It will be safe,” Elias said sternly.

Andrew huffed, slapping his good hand on his knee before standing up from the barely cushioned stone chair Elias plopped him in. “Well, since you two are going to continue to be cryptic and argue, I think I’d like to step out for a little while.” Initially, following Elias around had sounded interesting, like he would finally get to see some behind-the-scenes stuff that would give him hints about where he actually was. But so far all he had seen was Elias looking pensive, and the mage with him giving him weird looks.

“That’s fine, Andrew. If you would like to rest while your hand recovers, you’re more than welcome to go back to your room and lie down for a while. I will come and find you later when I’m ready to talk to you about our journey.”

“Sure, sure.” Andrew stood and looked down at his wrapped hand, grimacing when he tried to flex his fingers. “I’ll see you later, then. Have fun looking at that weird map.” From the one good glance he got of it, Andrew could tell that it wasn’t a full, accurate map. It had to be partially made up past the forest because everything after that were massive expanses of land, none of them marked as names he had heard of.

There had been one place that caught his eye, though. A big portion of it had been dusted in black and simply marked as, “Unsafe”. From that, Andrew guessed that the unsafe part must have been the place he had heard some of the people referring to before. Maybe their little fantasy land had to be closer to a city than they liked and they were told to treat it as some mystical, dangerous land that no one was allowed to mention or go to.

Andrew made his leave from the room, wandering down the halls aimlessly while he got lost in his thoughts.

Already he had been there for a couple of days, and he couldn’t help but wonder how things back home were. He had no pets to worry about, no plants to water, and no plans he had mysteriously canceled. No one but his boss would be wondering where he had gone, and while that was fine with him, Andrew couldn’t stop the empty feeling that settled in his chest.

Shouldn’t someone more than that know he was gone? Maybe his neighbors noticed his mail piling up, at least. Though that sometimes just happened in apartments, and it wasn’t like they could see inside of his box.

He sighed, crossing his arms over his chest. His mood had dropped and his hand still hurt pretty bad, making him wonder if he even could call his time there a vacation.

“I wish I could at least get something for my damn hand,” he grumbled to himself. “If I could just get the stinging to stop, that’d be nice.” Andrew brought his hand up to his face to inspect it.

Purple blotches of skin poked out from the edges of the bandages, though it didn’t look like it had gotten worse from when he had first seen it. Still, if it could heal faster he wouldn’t complain.

Andrew dropped his arms at his side and slouched, only to stand up straight again when he noticed a glowing trail on the ground. The same blue dust that had led him to the kitchen was on the ground, leading him somewhere once more.

Make-believe or not, the stuff had helped him before. Even if it did turn out to somehow be Elias doing some crazy mirror tricks, he wouldn’t mind it if it got him somewhere that could help with the pain.

“It did get me to where I wanted to go last time, so… Alright, I’ll follow this crap again. But whatever special effects crap this is had better not take me somewhere stupid or far away. I’m tired and want to go lay down after this.” Waking up for breakfast with Elias and his mom happened earlier than he was used to, so his body had become sluggish the longer he went on without a nap.

The blue sparkles continued down the hall, leading Andrew further and further into the castle. None of the decor or workers there caught his eye, and if they did it had only been for a brief second because he didn’t want to lose sight of where he was supposed to go.

Eventually, Andrew came upon a door. It wasn’t fancy and was just made of wood, but the handle on it looked a lot like the one that had burned him at the cafe.

“You led me to something I don’t want to touch? Super cool, thanks. I really appreciate the help.” Andrew threw up his good hand and rolled his eyes. “Can’t believe I thought some glowy special effects were going to help me. What on earth is this place doing to my head? If you really wanted to be helpful, then you’d open the door for me and-”

A small creaking sound stopped Andrew from saying more. The blue dust covered the door in an instant and opened it slowly, the hinges whining as it swung towards him.

Andrew gaped at it for a moment, only to shut his dropped jaw and narrow his eyes.

“Alright, haha, you got me. I’m being watched, huh? Good trick, but I should have figured right away that your blue stuff would lead me to a door you could open remotely.” Andrew grabbed the edge of it, glad to feel only wood under his fingers. “I guess I’ll see where this goes, then, since you seem so intent on me following it.”

The door opened fully, a gust of fresh air following it. It led outside, into a garden with plants that twisted and climbed over each other, their vines and roots knotted into thick bushes. It looked like they had once been trimmed and kept, confined to their own plots and watched over, only for time to overtake them and turn the place into a mess.

Andrew snorted, looking at the blue dust on the ground. “What am I supposed to do with a bunch of plants, huh? If anything, these look like they’re going to hurt me more. I bet there are plenty of thorns in there.” He took a few steps forward, breathing in the scents of flowers and dirt. “At least it smells decent out here. Sorta nice.”

The rain had gone from a downpour to a drizzle, something that he could easily ignore while he walked further into the garden. A stone path, while overgrown with grass and some vines, could still be seen and he followed it around a corner where a fountain sat. It also had become more plant than stone, but Andrew could make out the dragon statue in the middle, its mouth open for water to pour out of.

Around it, hundreds of small red flowers poked out from the leaves and vines. Andrew found the cleanest spot on the fountain's edge and sat on it, looking down into the water. Moss had grown all over the bottom and patches of it were floating on the surface, alive with small bugs he had never seen before.

“Huh. The detail of this place never ceases to amaze me.” Andrew could see the blue trail leading into the water, the ripples from the raindrops making them wobble and bounce around, no longer forming a straight line. “Now what could you possibly want me to do with the water? Drink it? Absolutely not. It looks like it could be a magic potion, sure, but not only do I not believe in that, that’s not a good thing!”

Andrew continued to stare down into the water, glaring at it as if that would somehow give him answers. For a few moments, he only saw his distorted reflection, his angry dark eyes directing their heat right back at himself. When he nearly gave up staring at it, the blue sparkles began to form the shape of a hand, one that started on the surface and then sank deeper into the water.

“Dip my hand? You want me to touch that water? After a door knob burned me, you want me to just stick my hand into what looks like a witch’s failed attempt at forest soup? I don’t think so.” Andrew stood up and brushed his pants off, sucking in a breath. He had accidentally used his hurt hand to do it, and it had started to throb all over again. “Shit, that hurt!”

He clenched his jaw and looked back down into the water. The glittery crap repeated the motion of the hand dunking itself into the water over and over again.

“If you think that’s going to help, then fine! I’ll dip my damn hand in the water!” Andrew slammed his good hand down on the edge of the fountain to steady himself, and then without hesitating anymore, he splashed the bandaged hand into the water.

Icy water soaked through the bandages, his burned flesh stinging even worse than before then suddenly going numb. Andrew hadn’t unclenched his jaw and didn’t plan to because, while his hand had stopped hurting, he didn’t like the freezing water on the rest of his arm.

He only kept his hand below the surface for a few seconds then yanked it back up, bringing it in front of his face to examine.

Blue sparkles had stuck to it, and they began to glow brighter while in contact with his skin. They didn’t get so bright that he had to look away, and Andrew was thankful for that because watching them dance around his shaking fingers and the then-dirty wrapping had an enchanting charm to it.

“I still don’t think this magic is real,” Andrew said slowly, “but I will admit, this is kind of cool.” He looked around, sure that he would see Elias appear out of nowhere to offer some sort of warm escape from the cold rain. There was no prince to be seen, though, and Andrew looked down at the ground where the blue sparkles had started to fade away.

“Hey, uh… Whatever you are, could you… Maybe take me to my bedroom now?” Andrew paused, looking at the damp bandages still clinging to his hand. “Or to Elias. Whichever is closer, I guess.”