Zander got up and wiped off his clothes and laughed, "nice job Cyrus, let's all walk in together."
The three of them walked past the invisible barrier and noticed an immense fog they had not seen before entering. They all took two steps backwards, and the fog was gone, and when they took two steps forward, they were back in the immense fog.
"I guess they did a really great job concealing this place, it looks like we'll have to rely on our Phoenix eyes from here on out. What about you Cyrus, what can you see?" Sophie asked curiously.
"If I focus and use my chi, I can see through the clouds but this looks like a different terrain than the forest. It almost looks like a barren wasteland, so at least we don't have to worry about walking into trees. Using chi uses up a lot of my energy, though, so it's up to you two from here," Cyrus said.
As they used their Phoenix eyes and started to make their way in, both Sophie and Zander noticed a long, thick blue aura zig-zagging in an unpredictable pattern so they decided to follow it. The deeper they got in, the heavier the fog was, which made Zander realize something.
"Since teleportation and magic isn't allowed here, I think it'd be best if we pull out the tent and see if it works." Zander stated.
Zander pulled out the magical tent from his dimensional void, which he was truly grateful for, as he was able to store all of their belongings.
As he propped up the tent, Cyrus peaked inside and said, "seems to be fine," and walked in.
"Phew, who knows what could have happened if that didn't work." Sophie said.
"Let's rest up, eat some food and hydrate. Who knows what else is out there.
Before Zander turned off his Phoenix eyes, he noticed the blue aura laid about 20 feet outside their tent.
"I'll be right back, you guys wait here," Zander said as he walked out toward the aura and as he approached, he saw the aura go to take off, but because of his Phoenix eyes, he was able to grab it just in time.
"Let go of me human!" And a snake tried to bite down on Zander's arm.
Zander partially transformed and the snake got a mouthful of feathers.
The snake quickly spit them out, "these are disgusting, why doesn't my poison work on this human?" the snake hissed, but Zander responded back.
"If you want a nice meal, I have some meat in my tent," Zander offered.
"You can hear me?" the snake said in a surprised tone.
"Yes, I'm Zander and I'm part Phoenix, so that's why your poison didn't work. Why did you stop when we stopped? It looked like you knew we were following you and leading us in some direction." Zander hissed at the snake.
"Clever. I only bit down because you grabbed me like that, it fricken hurt man," the snake said playfully.
"Sorry about that, the last animal I grabbed was a bear cub so, you know, different weights and such," Zander tried to joke back.
"Well anyway, the names Lister, and well, I kind of have a pretty cool gift from Solace, you see," the snake hissed proudly.
Over hearing the consistent hissing with her sensitive ears, Sophie just laughed and told Cyrus, "I think Zander's talking to a snake. He must have been the one leading the way. I didn't notice it stopped with us."
"No way, let's go check it out," Cyrus said as he got up, only to have Sophie partially transform her arm and grab him to stop him.
"Sorry about that, but we don't need to scare the only lead we have off. Imagine if you were a snake in a barren wasteland and two more humans came running out after you," Sophie sighed.
"Oh, good point, I'm going to take a nap if you are you all good?" Cyrus asked.
"Yes I'm fine, just going through notes and writing down as many as I can in case we have to do this again," Sophie said.
"Thanks Sophie, I don't say it enough, but I really am happy you're in Zander's life. You're so helpful and a great person. I just wish I could repay you somehow," Cyrus said.
"Don't worry about it but thank you Cyrus, if it wasn't for you and Claire we wouldn't have met, so you can call us even," Sophie said as Cyrus smiled and went into his room. He almost immediately fell asleep.
Back outside Zander was curious and asked with a chuckle,
"A special gift from Solace? I showed you my secret and it's not like anyone would believe me if I said I met a snake with special powers, even though I wouldn't tell anyone."
"Yes, you see, I'm the only being in existence, other than the blessed four of Solace, who can see people's life force and it lets me know who is good and bad," Lister proudly hissed.
"That's really neat, how does it work, exactly and why did you allow us to follow you?" Zander played along and asked.
"Well you see, there's an underground city, which I'm sure you're trying to find. The reason most people can't find it is they can't even get to the interior barrier. If they get through the barrier and into the interior, I can immediately sense them and I can teleport to where the intruders are. If they are a certain color, I lead them in the wrong direction until they give up or just let them try to get through the fog. If they start to get close, then I appear and wrap around them and well, have a snack," Lister said proudly.
"That's really awesome. So is that why you're so long, big and pretty handsome if I do say so myself?" Zander asked Lister.
"Ha, you're a strange one, bird guy Zander," Lister said.
"But I thought teleportation wasn't allowed in this area?" Zander asked.
"I told you I'm a blessed being by the Father of Solace himself. I have protected this land for over 100 years, since its creation by the great King. Only those beings of certain colors are allowed in Haven, and you'd be surprised at some of the things I've let in," Lister said.
"Like Minotaurs, vampires and such," Zander said with a polite smile.
"Maybe. Maybe not. I cannot tell you. I can only guide you and your group to the trial, as the three of you possess a very, very rare color. Even the human with you has it. It's strange, but I've said too much," Lister said as he began wrapping around Zander's leg and went up around on his shoulders.
"Everything ok Lister?" Zander asked anxiously.
"Yes, I could just feel the heat burning off you and us snakes are cold blooded, so this is even better than the sun, which unfortunately I only get to see once in a great while," Lister said.
"Well are you hungry and would you like to meet my wife and friend," Zander asked.
"Sure, what's with that tent, it's so small?" Lister moaned.
"You'll see," and with that Zander walked into the tent with Sophie, who yelled "Cyrus, the snakes here," to wake him up and Cyrus sprinted out and told Zander to tell him, "that things so cool!"
"Tell the idiot I can hear him just fine and it's not my problem he can't understand me," Lister said and Zander burst out in laughter.
"What is it?" Sophie asked.
Zander repeated verbatim what Lister had said and explained who and what Lister was. He also thought to himself, "Cyrus' aura really is gold now, I wonder how Sophie and I missed that."
"Nice to meet you, Lister. You are quite the charmer aren't you? Your skin pattern is so pretty, it reminds me of something you imagine when you read scriptures," Sophie said.
"I like her, you have a beautiful wife Zander. Well anyway how bout that food?" Lister asked.
The three of them sat down to eat and Lister kept hissing to Zander what he liked and didn't like. He did enjoy the fact he didn't have to squeeze his food until it stopped breathing.
"So what's this final quest to enter you told me about?" Zander asked Lister, and the group could only hear hissing.
"Ah, that, you will see we are actually close. So are you three ready?" Lister asked.
"Sophie, Cyrus, he says we're close and there is one final quest before getting into Haven," Zander said.
With the tent packed neatly away, Zander put it back in his dimensional void and Lister looked quite curious about it but never asked and just said, "this way."
After about a 30 minute walk, the fog cleared and the sun was shining brightly.
"That feels so good," Sophie, Zander and Lister said at the same time.
"You are in direct sunlight. Your energy will be restored 5 points for every minute in sunlight," the system notified Zander.
"Well, this is where I say goodbye. Next time you come, I'll be there to guide you, unless you fail, in that case, well, I get three free meals, but I'm certain you will all pass," Lister said as he wrapped himself around Zander, then Sophie, then Cyrus, and Zander said that was his way of thanking us for the food and wishing us luck.
In front of them stood nothing but a giant mountain wall.
Cyrus said, "it's right here. It says those of you who are honest and true, use the blessed card bestowed to you."
"How did you know Cyrus? I couldn't even see anything with my Phoenix eyes, and when you touched it, I couldn't understand what it even read," Sophie and Zander explained.
"Hurry, it has a timer of 60 seconds. Do you have some type of card or something?"
Cyrus said as he tried to back up, only to realize they were encased in another barrier.
Remembering back to the black and gold card with the number 1 on it, that Zander received from Attorney Frankfurt, he quickly grabbed it out of his wallet and placed the card in a box underneath the text he couldn't read.
With that, the mountain began to shake, and when the timer ran out, a giant hole appeared in the mountain, dropping out a boulder, which would surely have killed them all, but the barrier protected them as they had used Zander's card.
All three of them jumped, as the sound of the rock crashing was quite loud, and off in the distance, Lister noticed they had successfully passed the trial but also noticed some vampires and werewolves, swirling with black and a hint of red, entering the interior barrier.
"Time for a snack!" He thought as he teleported away.
The three walked in slowly, and three guards approached them, but a woman in the back told them to stand down.
"Welcome to Haven Zander, Sophie and Cyrus. My name is Zoey and let be the first to welcome you to Haven, the secret city!"