One Twisted Wish

You decided to stay and help the old man bring down the vigorous half-sized bearded man. The old man's grip on him was starting to loosen due to the half-sized man's continual struggling, moreso when the old man saw you approaching him.

"What are you doing?!", he shouted.

"Helping out.", you promptly reply, as you began to assault the half-sized man. First, you struck his arms, then kicked his guts. The half-sized man growled in pain, but didn't seem to do much of an effect. He was still as lively as ever, though your actions did buy the old man enough time to fix and tighten his hold. You continued to kick the half-sized man, from his legs, to his upper torso. You found it difficult to beat him down simply because you weren't used to this kind of stuff back in your world, but it would seem that you are slowly getting used to it. Or perhaps it was simply the adrenaline still pumping in your blood.

Finally, you managed to kick his rather large head, and with such force, too. The half-sized man fell unconscious and was dropped to the ground once the old man realized he was down.

The two of you, then, rushed out the door and strayed off the path, hiding behind a bunch of trees and bushes. There, you sat down on the ground, and sighed in relief. You were finally out of prison.

"Good work, kid.", the old man commended your actions. "But you should have just ran. We were lucky the guards were preoccupied with something else back in the cells."

While the old man seemed to not like your decision to stay and help him, his opinion of you seemed to have grown better. After all, he might have been caught there and sent to a worse sentence than simply staying in jail for a few years.

However, your troubles doesn't end there. Now that you two have broken out of prison, you are now fugitives - the village guard will most likely be searching for you, especially with the ruckus you caused and the humiliation you brought to the warden.

A few minutes after resting there, the old man told you to get ready. Staying there isn't an option for you two, after all.

[] You suggest to the old man to return to the ruins of the house. If what he said is true about Ponnier's book, then it might be of great use to you. Searching for it in daylight could prove to be risky due to your current status, however.
[] The old man leads you to Beglias's Woods. The guards most likely won't be looking there, but that forest possesses many dangers. Hopefully, the old man could protect you from all of them.
[] Write-in.

"Alright. Follow me.", the old man told you. Of course, you did as he said. The two of you went back on the path, then strayed out of it after a few minutes of following it. He led you through a bunch of small unkempt route, which eventually had the two of you end up before a forest. He entered it without another word, gesturing you to follow him. And as you did, you noticed a broken wooden sign left on the ground - with a very clear warning to tread carefully in this place.

Once inside the forest, the old man began to move without direction. Instead, he followed his instincts.

"Where are we going?", you asked him, but he didn't respond. Rather, he simply gestured you to keep quiet.

He took random turns, he stopped at various places, and even ended up in several blocked paths. After a long while, he decided to stop on a small open area surrounded by small trees and thick shrubs. There, he took a seat on the grassy ground.

"Where are we?", you asked the old man.

"In a place we won't get followed. We'll wait for things to calm down a bit, then we can run to the neighboring town.", he answered after sighing in relief.

"This place...", you said, as you looked to your surroundings. It sounded and felt calm, but for some reason, you simply cannot stay still - as if something dangerous lurks in this place. Perhaps it was just your imagination running wild, perhaps it was just due to you being not used to camping outside. This place didn't seem comfortable and safe to you at all. It was until you finally sat down that you remembered about the things you've read in Ponnier's book. "...this is Beglias's Woods, isn't it?"

"Yes.", the old man replied. "Don't worry. It's not what they say it is. There's no powerful monster living in here. It's just a plain old forest."

You decided to trust the old man's words. "What now?"

"We rest.", the old man lied down on the grass. "We'll be moving again soon enough."

"Alright."


Not even an hour had passed, and the old man was already dozing off. You, however, was still wide awake and sitting down. After all, it's still the middle of the day, and you were usually working your butt off in some random office during this time. You breathed in the fresh air, which felt very refreshing - it was something you couldn't just easily do back in your world, with all the pollution going on around. The calm winds blew a cool and soothing breeze got you yawning. You would have lied down and fallen asleep as well if it wasn't for some familiar voice speaking in the back of your head.

"That wasn't amusing at all."

"Wha-", you immediately rose to your feet. You took a look around, and saw nothing has changed. Everything was exactly that same as it was earlier. "Who are you?"

"You know the answer to your question, girl."

"H-Hyzeeldar."

"Anyways. That's not really entertaining, but you did try. As a reward to your humble efforts to please me, I shall grant you one thing."

[] Write-in.

notice

Hyzeeldar has decided to reward Aura! Now, while Aura may ask for pretty much anything, do remember that Hyzeeldar has twisted her wish for magic to be real once, which is one of the many reasons why she was brought here. She can ask for an answer to a question, she can ask to obtain an item, or learn something new. Perhaps even change her form to something else. However, Hyzeeldar will only grant one request - as this is more of a pity reward than an actual one.

Remember the passage, everyone. "Be careful what you wish for."