Benjamin, Sebastian, and Trinity held on tightly as Christy flew through the horizon. Trinity shut his eyes tight and held on for dear life, while Sebastian and Benjamin kept a calm but worried demeanor about the whole situation. The trio tried their best to block out the sun, see through the winds, and not fall off.

“Do you see the grotto?” Sebastian asked out loud.

“Hang on, I’m trying to search for it!” Benjamin cried out.

“What do you mean? I thought you knew where it was!”

“It’s hard to tell from all the wind in my face, though!”

Christy stopped in place. Their bodies swerved forward from the inertia. Once Benjamin straightened his bearings, he squinted his eyes and looked around. The light purple contrasting against the dark green had to be around here somewhere. He blinked a couple more times as something shiny caught his eye. A small array of sparkles formed together in his view. His glance shifted toward a bunch of them huddling over to the horizon before him, creating a long trail almost as if leading them toward their destination.

“Uh, Benjamin, what’s going on?” Trinity inquired, with his eyes still shut.

“I think I can see where we need to go!” Benjamin exclaimed.

“You do?” Sebastian asked.

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“That way!” Benjamin pointed. “Quickly, we don’t have much time!”

What’s he talking about? Sebastian squinted his eyes. The specific patch didn’t look any different from the rest, to him anyway. He shook his head. “Alright, if you say so. Let’s do this, Christy!”

Christy cried triumphantly as she zipped past their original starting point, above the tree leaves, at ridiculous speed, prompting everyone else to hold on tightly. Benjamin gave out instructions on which way to go. Sebastian would repeat to his dragon, and then she’d swerve in that corresponding direction. They flew at a consistent but steady pace as Benjamin continued to examine his surroundings.

Another light caught his eye amongst the glitter, one colored a mix of bright red, orange, and yellow. The glow got bigger as it shot out of the forest, grazing past Benjamin’s hat. The distance was small, but heat emanated from his body as the color drained from his face. Benjamin clutched his chest, trying to keep his heart steady from what had just happened.

“What was that?” He asked, his voice quivering.

“I saw that too,” Sebastian pointed out. “Any idea what that could be?”

Another one shot out; Christy dodged the fireball.

“I think we’re being attacked!” Trinity thundered.

“Attack the beast!” Some voices shouted out loud. “Stop the intruder from going any further!”

The trio looked down and peered. Sprites and fairies alike pulled their bows and arrows containing fire orbs and fired them all at once. Other sprites on standby backed them up and threw forms of fire magic at the supposed intruders.

Sebastian, Benjamin, and Trinity held on to the dragon’s back with all their might, while Christy did her best to avoid every attack.

“Hurry and fall back!” Sebastian exclaimed.