Date: June 19, 155 R.E.
Place: Forest Maze, Rogard

The Forest Maze was a tropical region in the midst of the usually chilly Rogard. Even so, most souls that had ventured into it did not consider it a tropical paradise.

Monsters and vial creatures of all sorts patrolled the Maze, making it their territory, which they protected against any intruders. The Maze was home to a large array of different wildlife, some friendly, but most were not. The sun beat heavily on the Forest Maze year around, and it rained frequently in bursts of a few days straight.

The Maze smelt of the sweet aroma of the honeytree, which produced its own honey without the aid of bees. The honeytree dominated the foliage of the Maze, with the huge housetree as a close second. The huge trunks of both trees warded off the wind, sending it away from the protection of their domain.

“That’s the fifth time I saw that tree,” exclaimed Pryant to his friends as he pointed towards an oddly bent housetree.
“We’re going in circles!”

It was true; for a week Agon, Edgar, Pryant, Sarah, and Samantha walked nowhere in the Forest Maze. Agon had
chosen to take the shortcut through the forest to reach Port City, instead of going down the Plain Plains. Now, they wish they took the longer way, not the shortcut.

Samantha and Pryant both whined and complained the whole time they were there; Edgar and Sarah tried to keep everybody’s spirits up; while the stoic Agon hadn’t said a word since they entered the forest.

The forest provided them with the food and shelter they needed to survive for the whole week. They ate small game
and wild berries; at nighttime they slept in the trunk of a hollow tree; when it rained for two straight days, they used the large spade-shaped leaves of the housetree to ward off the rain.

“If you hadn’t lost the map,” Samantha yelled at Pryant, “we would be out by now!”

Agon could not take any more of their childish bickering; for a week they had been shouting at each other. “Will you
two please be silent!” These were the first words that he had spoken since they entered the forest.

The whole party stopped walking and stared at their guide in disbelief. They had never seen him lose his temper
before. They were all shocked. Shortly after, though, they once again began to walk. It was getting dark and the group
was exhausted.

This time, Laragen led them down a different trail, which no one but he could see. They trekked wearily for
hours, the high humidity prohibiting their sweat to evaporate into the atmosphere. Their clothes became sticky with their perspiration, and their travel cloaks had been abandoned
days ago. The small band continued in pensive silence.

“I see light,” Agon spoke calmly and quietly. “They are the lights of Port City.”

Samantha ran a few hundred yards ahead of the group and shouted: “Yes, we’re out of here!”

As she ran, a gigantic snake appeared before her. The black snake manifested from behind a housetree, and loomed over the teenager. Its scales were all black and shiny in the moonlight.

Samantha stopped running when she caught sight of the serpent, but it was too late. The snake coiled around Samantha and squeezed her body.

“Help!” She struggled to get free, but could not break the snake’s grasp.

Edgar was the first to reach her. “A Spring Snake!” he exclaimed.

Pryant came after Edgar. “What the . . . ?” he mumbled.

Next to arrive was Sarah. “Sister! Edgar, you have to save her,” she yelled in terror.

Bringing up the rear was Agon. “Oh no! Edgar, Factalon! Use it on the snake,” he instructed.

Before Edgar could get the sword out, Pryant was beating the one hundred foot creature with a tree stump. The snake
almost grinned at Pryant, and with its head smacked the boy back up against a tree. Pryant slid down the tree, out for the count. Sarah rushed to him to tend to his injuries. Edgar freed Factalon and charged the snake. To blind the serpent, Agon threw green balls of flame at its eyes. The snake snapped its head back in pain. With Factalon, Edgar sliced the giant Spring Snake in half with one swipe. Samantha fell from the snake’s grasp, coughing after being choked for so long.

When she was done with recovering Pryant, Sarah rushed to her sister and placed her hands on the panting Samantha’s chest. Sarah’s hands began to glow yellow, which flowed from her fingertips to her sister. With that, Samantha started to glow yellow, also. After a few minutes of this, Samantha stood up fully healed.

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