[year 93 of gracian era, month 5, day 7, kiltrant forest, around the old path leading to the city]
7 hours has past since felix lead his expeditionary force towards kiltrant forest.
"Halt! Well camp here for the day, Lina and I will take a look deeper in the forest, all of you wait for us to return and make sure be ready to depart once we've return" Felix shouted at his people.
"have a safe trip, milord we will be waiting for your return!" the soldiers and others replied.
"let's go Lina, let's make haste" Felix started riding on horseback galloping towards the forest followed by Lina.
"yes" replied Lina with a serious expression.
at first weird road structures appeared in this sea of creepling tall trees and mysteriously shaking bushes, it covered 20 kilometers at most, the more they enter it deeply, the more unsettling the forest is, for some reason, this creepy forest could be seen as normal when one was just entering it, but the more they go deeper the creepier the people feels. Creaky sounds often be heard from distances, there is some instance where a tree suddenly, its trunks and various wooden parts but they will remain immovable after a seconds of shift. Felix, seems to be expressionless about the events in the surrounding but deep inside him, he was scared that he couldn't make a sound.
This scene relived his memory of such horror films and aww comics he watched in his previous life.
"Lina, are you sure this is the place? This seems to be a haunted forest"
"no worries, it's just the effect of the barrier seal but milord, you should hold the marchion and it will guide you to the barrier gate and disperse the fog"
"fog? I could clearly see the sun high up, it's just that it's too bright to see, even with these tall shades of the trees"
But lina didn't reply and just smiling while keeping her pace up with felix, felix who lead the expedition force was on the front, wearing a sturdy armor and the marchion as well as an extra sword.
Inside the forest, where woods and trees strangely few meters apart each other, but to the force surprised, they suddenly encountered a sudden fog of the woods, smokes completely covers the area, covering the whole area with dense fog. It cause a short uproar but the people calmed down because they knew their leader has his plans. Luckily no one in the force was separated because of the fog that blocks their vision.
'why did a fog suddenly appeared, could it be what lina said is right? Then'
Felix decided to hold the small sword from his waste, the sword was golden as he hold it. Lina ordered a halt from marching she knew felix was going to locate the heart of the barrier. After a few minutes, he was quite confused, nothing seems happened.
"Lina there nothing happened though"
Until she saw he lowered his head while sighing, she then look at felix.
"milord, you should not also forget to unsheath the sword"
"unsheathe.. Ahh I thought I just have to hold it, OK then here i go"
Felix slowly remove the sheathe from the sword, until the golden blade of the sword suddenly glints as it shone brightly. Felix was startled and was dumbfounded when his instinct showed him which way they need to go to the barrier's heart, as if he subconsciously know what he didn't when the sword connected with him, showing the way.
"I think I know the way" he looked at the glowing sword which flashing light is only visible to him.
"milord, I've never thought it would work" she wore a gladdened expression.
"what do you mean by that?" he was utterly confused about lina's sudden remarks.
"ahh, I knew you would forget even that, don't you remember there was once a saying in shadevale city 'the sword of time and space guides the chosen one to the right path to the heart holy protection built in accordance of protecting the humanity' an old man said it. it is what the 6th page verse 2, I read from one of the books in the capital, and lord Belmont also said something related about it too, but it's already a long time ago that I've forgotten about it"
"you still remembered that? It's already been a long time"
"but how did you know that I need unsheathe just to make it work?" felix narrowed his eyes.
"well, read some certain books about such things, as for what book, it's a secret" she seems quite happy that felix could hear her soft chuckles.
'what book? I could only guess it's related to history' felix's suggestive thought.
"then lina tell the the expedition force's leaders to remain standby and uphold order after that come with me"
"ok!" Lina eyes suddenly lit up and started to do the task and finished it faster than what felix anticipated which also surprised him with his beaded sweat fell from his cheek.
"ohh your already done, I didn't expect it to be fast but never mind, let's go, the sword whispers to head north"
"alright, don't worry milord, I won't let anyone ambush you with me by your side"
"as If there's any chance of monster appearing here and besides the sword is guiding me into a safe path"
"who knows, there might be a dark wood treant here, it's also infamous for many plant base monster living here"
"no worries, what's darkwood treant? In the end it's just a monster waiting to be killed" Lina didn't question him any wore but she was still remaining vigilant to his surroundings while on horseback.
Whenever felix feel like changing directions, it must be because the spirit residing on the golden sword whispers in felix's heart and felix's interpret it as his instinct.
After an hour of navigating through the vegetation filled with smoky mist in the air. Felix was certain about the track they take each turn.
"felix, are you sure this is the right way? It doesn't look different than just having a stroll on the woods, these untouched vegetation, are you really sure about this?"
"were near, I have a strong hunch about it, we just need to go north this time"
"aren't you tired holding the blade for such a long time"
"it's fine, I don't feel tired at all" replied felix with a focused gaze at the direction they were taking.
Until the light on the sword suddenly glint wildly.
....