Continuing onward their now chosen path… They ventured closer and closer to a dense forest. Certain trees were horrifying… They had what looked like twisted faces in their wooden flesh. Twisted in a fake expression of agony. Pure agony. Their wooden mouths hung open as if they were forever screaming… But no sound would ever come out. There were multiple theories as to why the trees became like this. Some obviously said the trees were haunted by the souls of dead kids… Others said it was a simple natural element of the planet that caused this. But for Harry… He simply thought the trees were just carved. It made the most logical sense.

The dagger waited on the ground for their return…waiting to be returned to its owner as he moved forward on his fate.

Harry’s horse, Desmona, a large white steed donning a brown royal crown of mane that flew within the wind, free from the emprise of fate. A circlet of jewels adorned her forehead… Red and green jewels that danced with the light cast upon them. Her skin had a few spots of brown color that resembled hands joined together. Desmona galloped at a slow rate as Harry watched the surrounding area, still making sure that no one would be out there to ambush them… A small spark of light took his focus toward a sword that had been stabbed through the trunk of a dead tree… It looked like it had been there for a while now, as vines gripped the blade tightly… The handle was purple? At least that’s what Harry could see from where he was and there was a golden gem encrusted into the guard… It looked like a sword from a legend. Probably a replica someone had made. Not a threat nor of any or much value to anyone who might be or not be nearby.

Harry looked toward Elaria once more but something was truly wrong… She was gone… But she felt present. It was as if reality itself was hiding her from his view. He could only feel her. Was it the forest’s doing? Perhaps even the gem in her pocket… Harry called out for Elaria to raise her arm… He didn’t hear if she was questioning why such a weird request all of a sudden, but soon enough… Harry felt a shift… He could feel that her arm was standing up…

‘‘Your gem is making it impossible for me to perceive you right now. Care to do something about that? ‘‘He said with a low chuckle. He couldn’t protect someone he couldn’t see nor hear.

He could feel her moving… Possibly to interact with the gem… and yet she wasn’t becoming visible to him still… Perhaps it was his other option? Did the forest have some interaction on his brain? But if it was like that, why was it only affecting him and not his horse? It was obvious why it wouldnt be affecting Elaria, if it was some kind of wave in the universe being distorted by the forest’s own gravity since the gem itself had strange abilities… But what about his horse? Why could it still operate as if everything was fine… And why was he only not able to perceive—and then it clicked. It wasn’t the forest or the gem. It was both of them together. The forest had its own wave, while the gem also had it. Elaria and Harry simply weren’t on the same wave as long as they were in the forest and that she was in contact with the gem… So if something jumped at them… Harry could only perceive her using his remaining senses.

‘My queen, I wish to inform you that your gem is currently messing with how the forest interacts with the waves made by the universe itself. I am currently unable to hear or see you for as long as you have this gem in contact with you or that we are in this forest.’’ He said it out loud to explain his reasoning to the invisible queen, knowing damn well he wouldn’t hear back from her.

He could clearly feel her body suddenly whip around as soon as he uttered his words… She must be as surprised as him… At least that’s what it felt like.

He took another glance around to make sure no one had been following them… and thank god he did because, as soon as he took a glance… The dagger that he had left behind was now sent flying straight at his face by the leader of what appeared to be random robbers. Harry sent the dagger flying to the side as he unsheathed his blade in a quick swing of his arm. Of course…as soon as he had to worry about protecting someone he couldn’t see… He just had to be tested on it… Damn you, fate.

Multiple arrows flew around him as he spun his horse around, ready to face the small band head-on… He heard four of the five arrows land on the ground… One had struck…Dammit…

The leader of the band never stood a chance as the man before him quickly jumped off his horse and used the downward momentum to swiftly swing his blade right through him… Like butter. The other members froze in surprise as their leader was swiftly dealt with as if it was nothing for this man before them… Even though it was a four against one now… They were nervous… Or was it truly against one…? An unseen force suddenly struck one of the men right through their neck as if an invisible blade had pierced right throught it… The two other men stumbled back in utter confusion… Clearly thinking that it had been caused by Harry.

Harry tilted his head to the side, watching the men cower in fear and confusion… So no one could see her, huh? It wasn’t just him… Guess that proves his theory…

The collapsed man on the right was suddenly silenced as an invisible blade struck down on him… That poor last guy couldn’t understand anything that was happening… He bolted out of there as fast as he could… Surprisingly… Elaria let him go. Why would she show mercy to someone who had been trying to kill them? Well…him. They couldn’t see her… This was truly un—The wave seemed to shift… Not Elaria’s…Harry’s. He could suddenly see her; she had collapsed against him, the previously shot arrow that Harry was sure had landed… Did, in fact, land… Directly in her chest next to her heart…

She was…alive? The arrow seemed to be pushed out by an unseen force… it was gently pushed out as her wound slowly healed itself… The gem and its strange abilities… This was the second time that Harry had witnessed the gem’s power and it was still as fascinating as ever and terrifying… Harry couldn’t fathom the things he would be able to do if he had gotten his hands on the gem fi—What the hell was he thinking… They had to destroy this gem… Why was he feeling greedy about it all of a sudden… He quickly shook his head side to side before laying Elaria, who had healed her body, against a tree, letting her recover at her own pace.

Despite the gem’s ability to heal her… It still seemed to leave a scar. A cruel reminder that another one of her wound was caused from an attack she couldn’t have seen coming…

The queen lay against the tree…silenced by her deep slumber, leaving Harry alone… If he stopped having contact with her, the gem would lose contact with him, and once again he would be unable to see or hear her until they met again, which would be for the duration of their stay in the forest, which had just been drastically augmented due to her having to recover from an arrow wound, which seemed to be healing pretty quickly, which had the effect of exhausting her.

In other words… For the duration of Elaria’s slumber, Harry was stuck next to her. Unable to pull away. Stuck to his own, though, alone. In a forest where danger could come out from anywhere at any time. He was once more, truly alone. He clutched his blade tightly within his hand, his eyes roaming the paysage of the forest to make sure that no one was coming… He wouldn’t let anyone have the drop on them again…

No matter how much he was against the queen’s ideals… He was still her right hand… He had a duty to follow. A rule. A path. One that he wouldn’t stray from. A cog was needed to make the whole system work… Without it, the system wouldn’t move now, would it? It may seem unimportant at first sight… But a cog will always be the most important part of the system for the previously mentioned reason, of course… Harry was the cog to Elaria’s broken system… The one man who seemed to be different from all the others… One who didn’t mind expressing his doubts, at the right times, and one who still followed orders… He was unlike all other men in Elaria’s dominion… All of them loathed her… Which was justifiable, They were seen as lower than filth… To be used and discarded. To be forced into soldiers, brainwashed. Slaves, in other words, are what men were cherished for in her queendom. But it was clear, even to Harry, That his mere presence was changing her views slightly… But to which side was she steering because of him? Harry thought to himself… Lost to his own mind in the solitude of the forest…

What could he even do… He sat motionless his gaze silently roaming the trees for minutes on ends… Just hoping for something to move and tear him away from this boredom that was creeping in his veins like a drug forcefully injected… You wish for it to hit as quick as possible so it can be over as soon as possible. He leaned his head back against the tree they were both sitting against in silence…

His hands fidgeted against the ground…silently toying with the dirt just like a child would to amuse themself. However, in his case it wasn’t to be playful—merely to stay awake, in fact. He glanced toward her horse’s satchel, noticing what seemed to look like a journal. He gently reached out. His fingers glided against the soft material that was composing the satchel before grabbing the hook and opening it to go and grab the journal… But something else caught his eyes… A picture frame. One of his…mothers, him and someone else… But their face was blurry… The face was clearly there but it was as if he wasn’t able to register its face… His eyes suddently widened as he felt himself being pulled… His head lifted from the tree as he awoke from his sleep… He had been sleeping? Damn… When did he fall asleep?

Elaria pulled him up to his feet, now fully healed from the arrow’s wound, giving him a slight glare from the fact the one protection she had, had been sleeping against a tree for about two minutes now…

“Come on now…Lets get out of this damn forest already…”

Harry tilted his head to the side to glance back at the tree he had been sleeping agaisn’t… Had he really fallen asleep…? When the hell… Whatever… He let out a small sigh as they both got back on their horse, slowly making them walk toward the exit of the forest as Elaria had became invisible again due to the fact they weren’t having contact anymore… It should fix itself as soon as they leave anyways and it did. As soon as they had both left the forest they both seemed to hop right back on the same exact wave…Riding fate together.