Nightmare was as deserted as usual, and Mahon waited for a few minutes alone for Jorik to spawn in the dreamy world. Surprisingly, he hadn’t met a single other soul since their disastrous scouting mission, and he had no information about what was happening in Ratho, nor could he communicate that they were both still alive.

But again, what would that change? No one would be able to pass the Amentiae line like they did, and even they wouldn’t be able to repeat this feat backwards. It had just been fortunate, or rather unfortunate, circumstances.

Jorik appeared at this moment. Turning his head around, he spotted Mahon and walked to him.

“Sleepy?” Mahon asked.

“Not really. With how slow we walked today, I’m more than capable of staying awake in Nightmare. I’ll meditate later.”

Mahon nodded. He had guessed as much. Jorik wasn’t as used to Nightmare as him, and he needed to meditate to rest. Even though Mahon couldn’t completely understand why, as long as he was in Nightmare, he was resting, and even if he didn’t meditate at all, he would wake up fully rested. It had not been the case for Zac when he joined himself in Nightmare the first times, and it was now the same for Jorik.

Probably because I’m more comfortable in Nightmare.

“Not really the meeting we expected, right?”

Mahon glanced at the noble. Jorik had a tired look, and the poise he used to have in Ratho had completely disappeared. Even his bright blue eyes lacked their usual strength. In short, Jorik was simply a man overwhelmed by recent events, and if they hadn’t stumbled on the trail by a stroke of luck, Mahon wasn’t sure how the noble would have behaved.

“Actually, I’m not sure what I had expected.” Mahon answered. “A part of me believed we would simply find humans like us fighting off the Amentiae. But another part couldn’t believe in such a simple scenario. We would have known of each other already, given the time that has passed.”

“You’re probably right… But still, we got a bunch of weird ones. Who are they exactly?”

“They seemed to be some worshipers of this Poisonous. Whoever he is.” Mahon shrugged. “It doesn’t really matter, does it? We found civilization behind the Amentiae! Human civilization. Don’t you realize what that implies?”

“Everything we know about our past is wrong. Or at least some of it.”

“Exactly! Why would there be humans left when the Amentiae were supposed to have cornered the last of us in Ratho? And they don’t even know about Amentiae! It’s just so…”

“Unexpected?” Jorik suggested.

“Exciting!” Mahon retorted. “There is a new world just in front of us. A world that can cast a new light on who we are, where the Fada or Amentiae come from, or about Nightmare!”

“Yes… Maybe they could help us attack Amentiae from the back and free Ratho?”

“With their string weapons and wooden sticks? I’m not so sure.”

“They also had knives. They probably know about swords and other conventional weapons. We could train them!”

A light seemed to turn back on in Jorik’s eyes, and so Mahon didn’t insist too much on the feasibility of such a task in a still unknown world. For now, it was good enough that Jorik had something to aim for.

“That’s an idea worth looking for. But in the future. What about now?”

“We follow them to their village and learn everything we can about this world and Amentiae. And then, we find a way back.” Jorik said with conviction.

“They already think we’re crazy or stoned. I’m not sure asking about Amentiae everywhere will help us.”

“You’re right...” Jorik slowly acquiesced. “Actually, we should be careful about it, right? They know of the Fada, but they don’t know of Amentiae. Maybe this Poisonous forced them to forget about Amentiae?”

“That’s what I’m afraid of. It’s best we try to blend in without raising too much suspicion on us until we know more about this world. They don’t seem that strong, but once in the village, we don’t know what could happen.” Mahon finally voiced his plan.

“Let’s pretend we were indeed drugged, then.” Jorik suggested. “We got amnesia or something, and no one will question why we ask weird questions.”

“Yeah, that could work.” Mahon mused out loud. “Let’s try that, but don’t overdo it, or we’ll have trouble being taken seriously afterwards.”

Jorik nodded back, and the two men continued to discuss their strategy to learn more about this alien world until Jorik was too tired to talk and started meditating. Mahon went to do his own routine in Nightmare, and it was with eagerness that he woke up back in Ratho.

Was it still Ratho, though?

“How are you feeling?” Tharn asked as he threw them another sandwich each and a water pouch for breakfast.

“Good.” Mahon answered.

“Better actually.” Jorik completed. “I feel my mind has cleared up a bit.”

Tharn threw him a worried look. “That’s good, but that could also mean the delirious poison is leaving your organism. You’ll have to be extra careful until we reach the village or you’ll not survive.”

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“Uh… ok.” Jorik answered with hesitation. “Just to make this extra clear, what exactly could kill me?”

“The entire forest is poisonous.” Tharn answered as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

“Oh, yes, Poisonous… right.”

“What is the village you talked about?” Mahon chimed in.

“It’s Barcombe.” Tharn answered, but after seeing Mahon’s puzzled look, he continued. “It’s one of the biggest forest edge villages. You’ve really never heard of it?”

“Uh… We’re not really from around here.”

“How can you not be from around here? There are only forest edge villages in the vicinity!”

“What my friend meant to say,” Jorik intervened, “is that we actually… don’t know how we got into the forest. I think Poisonous drugged us, and now our memories are all messy.”

“Poisonous drugged you?” Tharn repeated with a skeptical glare.

“Yes, probably. Isn’t that what you think too?” Mahon confirmed Jorik’s story with a confidence he didn’t really feel.

“Ok, listen boys. I’ll tell you what. I can see you have some… trouble, so let me clarify a few things. It’s ok not to know what poisonous means, but it’s incredibly stupid and dangerous not to know it while being here. So let me make this crystal clear. It’s a substance that if you touch it, or inhale it, or eat it, makes you sick. Everything in this forest is poisonous, and some of the poisons can just kill you within minutes.”

In front of the curious look of the duo, Tharn continued his explanation.

“For example, you see this big red fruit?” He pointed to a nearby tree with ripe fruits hanging from all his branches. “Let’s not talk about eating the whole fruit. Just touching his skin with your lips would kill you in two minutes.”

Mahon eyed with a puzzled look the mouth-watering fruit that looked absolutely identical to the fruit they had eaten with Jorik the first time they entered the forest. They had eaten this specific fruit almost every single day since then.

“This one, here,” Tharn continued his explanation, this time pointing at some sort of white grapes, “is more troublesome. At first you feel nothing, and then before you know it, all your senses become dulled, and you can’t see, touch, or smell for hours. A sting of these brambles over there makes you delirious, and you could kill your own mother as you would think she had become a monster.”

Is he telling the truth? But then why didn’t we get affected? And why such things didn’t exist in Ratho?

Mahon also got a better sense as to why the group was moving so slowly. If they believed everything inside this forest had such properties, no wonder they were this cautious.

That also explains the weird tents.

“Now, I’m gonna tell you what probably happened. You escaped from your rich mansions thinking you could make a place on your own in this world like two delusional teens, entered this forest without even knowing about it, got extremely lucky with the poisons and only ended with hallucination. And maybe amnesia or memory trouble.”

“We might not have known, but there is no need to insult us. We’re no teens and perfectly capable of handling ourselves.” Mahon frowned at the ranger's words.

Tharn bursted out laughing. “Cut the crap! Look at you, two young chicks lost in the deadliest zone in the world with no idea what they did wrong. You think because you’ve trained a bit, you’re a grown man now? You forgot to train your brain as well! Only stupid children enter this forest without knowing its dangers!”

“Careful.” Mahon warned in a flat tone. No one had treated him like a child for as long as he could remember, and Tharn was starting to get on his nerves.

“You’re still delusional. It’s probably the poisons in your system.” Tharn said with a sigh, but Mahon had the weird feeling he was actually giving him a way out while backpedaling carefully away from the conversation.

You’re still afraid of us. Then why provoke us?

“You really don’t realize how lucky you were,” Tharn continued, “and you’ll probably never be. Let’s just go to the village and wait until the effects wear off. We can’t have a serious discussion until then.”

The old man gave him a weird look, as if he knew more than he had just said and wanted to add something, but in the end he turned back without adding another word and ordered his teammates to pack up the tents, insisting they also dealt with Mahon and Jorik’s tent. They carefully rolled them inside out and placed them in what looked like very resistant bags.

Mahon chased the thoughts away and went back to the situation at hand. There were fuzzy things he still didn’t get, but at least he understood better why the four people acted this way.

They really believe everything around there could kill them.

The group started walking soon after, and as the day passed, they walked faster and faster. The forest was clearing up, and the trail grew large enough they could walk side by side. Mahon observed them attentively, trying to pierce their mystery, as for any information would help them blend with more ease in this new world.

He tried to put himself in their shoes. If the forest was indeed heavily poisonous, given the few effects the old man had described, a single misstep and they would be as good as dead.

In these perilous circumstances, they had met two random dudes walking in the forest like it was nothing serious and having no idea what they were doing. From their point of view, their reactions were actually understandable. The old man had even found himself an explanation for their presence inside. Although it was far-fetched, that still seemed to be the most plausible in their eyes, and Mahon wouldn’t contradict them.

Having sorted everything, there was only one thing that left him puzzled.

“Why are you in the forest if it’s so dangerous?” He asked during the afternoon.

“We’re rangers.” Meriel answered as if it explained everything.

Not priests then.

“So, you patrol the forest to prevent people like us from entering in the first place?” Mahon tried to guess.

She threw him a weird look. “Yes, although there are very few people stupid enough to enter the forest once they know the dangers.”

Mahon acquiesced. If he had known himself, he would have never entered the forest either. But if no one entered the forest, then why were the rangers even needed in the first place?

“I don’t get it. If no one moves inside because it’s deadly. Then why are you needed to guard it?”

“We don’t just guard the forest.” Meriel answered with a bored tone. “We’re monitoring and harvesting it as well. No one has entered the forest without being a ranger for decades.”

That got Mahon thinking. “If no one entered for that long without your stuff, how can you be so sure it’s still poisonous? Couldn’t the forest have cleared itself in the meantime?”

“By the Fada, you’re really annoying. We’re monitoring the forest, so we obviously keep track of how poisonous it is. And you’re also a clear proof of it.” She said with a critical look.

Mahon stayed silent, but he wanted to ask so many questions it didn’t last long. He wondered how to phrase the next one in the best way, given the woman was showing clear signs of not wanting to answer any questions he had. But if he could just have this answer, he would already have a better idea where he had stepped in.

“I heard you swear by the Fada a few times already…”

“Oh, fuck off.” She immediately interrupted. “No way, I’m explaining to you the twelve right now. Go bother someone else.”