As Lin and Boshu stepped on sacred land of the Forbidden Woods, they were on their tip toe. This place was quite unique. It was a levitating piece of land. However the gateway to the realm of the Tree of Ages was situated right at the centre of it. The most peculiar thing about the place was that it could gauge intentions. Anybody with malice or ill intention would immediately turn to ashes the moment they set foot on this land. So before descending, one had to make a firm resolution with a pure heart and stick to that intention for the rest of their journey forward and back. Any difference of heart would be sensed by the sacred land and the person immediately eliminated from it.

"Boshu.why exactly are you here?" Lin teased the already tensed Boshu as they strolled forward.

"I.um ... I'm here to help you with solving the case of the eternal curse. " Boshu replied very carefully choosing his words as he stuttered.

"Are you sure? Don't you have any ulterior motive behind it? " Lin continued teasing him.

"Wha... Wha... What are you talking about Lin. Stop teasing me. " He was still stammering to get his words out.

"Are you here to get close to me, you dirty little bird" Lin laughed as he tapped hard on Boshu's back.

" Lin........ " And Lin ran as Boshu ran after him to catch him.

By the time Roe and Xie landed on the place, it was already night. The sky was lit up with beautiful lamps hanging from the heavens. They stopped for a moment to admire the beauty before heading forward towards their destination.

"Roe, do you have any set of question in mind you will be asking the tree of knowledge? " Xie asked his sister.

"Uhhh.not really. I didn't think about that yet" Roe replied.

"You know there will only be three chances" He let her know.

"No, six. Three for you, three for me" She smiled wide pointing with her finger towards herself and her brother.

"You" He pretended to hit her "you little girl. Don't you think you are being too clever. The tree of knowledge asks for a sacrifice in exchange for three answers. I might not be willing to make that sacrifice" He gave her a look.

"Won't you? Not even for me? " She made a puppy face with winking eyes.

"You... " He brother pulled her along "your tricks won't work on me".

She laughed as they walked forward. Suddenly they heard some rustling sound from behind the bush.

" Carefull Roe Roe " Yelled xie as they stood back to back with their swords drawn in their hands.

From nowhere, a whirlwind appeared and started coming right at them. They ducked and dodged. Then there were whooshing of leaves and the branches started coming at them with force.

"Roe, do whatever you can to dodge them but remember not to make a single scratch on them" Xie instructed his sister.

"I know. I know brother. These are sacred lands and we are not allowed to cause anything any harm here. But why are they attacking us? " She asked confused.

"I don't know. May be they are not satisfied with the reason we have for visiting this land. Or may be they are testing us. It's difficult to say" Xie replied.

"Brother come here. Look there's a pit down here. Let's hide here for awhile" Roe said huffing and puffing from all the action.

"Good good. Let's go" Xie pulled at his sisters hand and both went down the rabbit hole.

They landed on what seemed like a pile of hay. The surrounding was pitch dark and they couldn't see where they were initially.

Then from nowhere a voice started screaming "Wolves.Those wolves are here too. Liiiiinnnn what am I going to do? Where will I hide. Help. Please somebody. Wolves help" It was Boshu shouting his heart out due to his phobia that he developed because of his previous encounter with the wolves. Boshu had once been brutally attacked and mauled by some rouge wolves. He was almost dead when Lin had saved him. He had been so grateful that he had dedicated his entire existence to serve Lin there after. At the moment he was

hanging upside down from a net. So was Lin. They had both fallen in a boobie trap. Lin was very relaxed. He was taking immense pleasure in Boshu's fright.

"Who are you? " asked Roe.

"It's a bird look Brother and a Fox. Whatever on heaven and earth are you doing here. And why are you in this state? " Roe answered her own question as she curiously checked them out.

Xie pulled his sister away out of caution "what is you purpose here? " He asked them holding his sword out.

"As you can see, we got stuck in these traps after suddenly being attacked by whirlwind and hale out of nowhere" Lin explained.

"We too were attacked and fell in this pit" Roe said as she cut them loose.

"What are you doing? " Her brother asked her in sign language

"They look reliable" She said "tell us who you are and where are you headed"

"Thank you. We are just travellers" Boshu tried avoiding the question timidly

Roe immediately held him at her swords end "Don't you dare ignore me. I am the daughter of the wolf king"

"My apology my lady" Lin showed courtesy "I am the seventh prince of the Fox clan and this is my bird friend Boshu. We are headed towards the tree of knowledge"

"I think I have seen you somewhere" Xie was particularly suspicious about Lin.

"" That's great. So are we" Roe cut her brother short " You might have seen him, he is a prince, you are a prince. But I think the heavens wants us to work together, that is why the turmoil sent us here" She observed.

"" Work together? "Lin pretended to be lame

" We are here to solve the puzzle about the curse " Roe said.

"So are we" Boshu let out, now quite excited at the sight of the beautiful she-wolf.

" I guess we are all stuck with each other for awhile now" Lin said.

"Guess there isn't much choice" Xie agreed quite annoyed. Roe and Boshu were the happiest with the arrangement.

Mia , though was comfortable in the ridge, she felt very very lonely. The days and nights were all alike. She had her little storage of food. Lin had left behind some books and papers to keep herself busy. But she couldn't do anything much other than overthink and worry. Some time Or the other she would take out a book and flip through, other times she would scribble something and then mash the papers and throw it away disheartened. She wanted to help Lin too. She wanted to figure a way out of the mess too.She was feeling she was loosing badly at this game of waiting. She didn't want to be a liability, she wanted to be an aid, an ally.

One such lonely morning, as she paced up and down in her tiny confinement, she heard a noise. She wasn't sure what it was so she followed it to check. It took her to the opening. It was sealed with Lin's power, which was pretty strong. She saw an injured animal whining in the bush infront. She tried calling it but apparently it couldn't hear her. The animal slowly shape shifted into a very large man. He was on a lot of agony. The day set into night. She could no longer ignore his mourns. She tried pushing the barrier open. There was no luck in the beginning. She tried concentrating. All her life she had only seen immortals practice their magic, but had she ever tried it herself. This was her first time. She tried her best. But she was failing badly. The barrier seemed pretty strong. But she neither could ignore the injured person suffering infront of her. After several attempts she sat down exhausted. Then after a while she thought to herself "one last time" and barged in with all her might with closed eyes.

She opened her eyes and found herself standing outside the ridge, the barrier behind her.

"Yes! " She exclaimed in joy.

The man looked up as she composes herself again.

"Excuse me.Are you alright sir. You have been in pain all day" She asked going near him.

The man made a grunting sound that clearly showed that he was annoyed. She backed off a few steps and exclaimed "clam down sir. I come in peace. I just want to help you if you allow me"

"Who are you? " The man growled.

"Umm... I am Mia" Mia no longer knew how she should introduce herself " May I? " She asked as she bent down to examine his wounds.

He seemed rather agitated by her touch but never the less allowed her to take a look.

"These are some really serious injuries. What sort of a weapon did tear your flesh? " She asked as she went on examining the rest of his wounded body "sir try to rest a bit . I will go look for something to clean your wound and make an oinment to apply on the affected areas. "

She went ahead looking for some water source. There was one inside the barrier but she was afraid she might not be able to break out of it again if she went inside. After looking for sometimes she found a little pond under some rocks. She tore a portion of her cloth to carry the water to the injured.

"Here let me clean the wounds. Please bear with me. It might be unpleasant. " She gave him a warning but he seemed to totally ignore her. As she finished her cleaning she went ahead to see if she could find any medicinal herbs to apply on the wounds. It took her some time but she did find a handful.

"Here you go. I have been collecting these with my mother for sometimes now. Lucky that i found them here. Mr...? " She was happily mumbling but stopped mid track when she realised her patient was gone.

"How rude. He couldn't even wait for a little thanks giving " She looked here and there then decided it would be best for her to get back inside the barrier after all.

" Are you hungry? I am" She asked her baby bump " Let's go and eat then" .Her mood seemed to have cheered up immensely.

Lin, Boshu, Xie and Roe tied themselves with the ropes they assembled . They had made it with the net on which Lin and Boshu had got trapped. As they got ready to climb out a swarm of bats attacked them. Each one fought bravely. Though badly scratched and injured, they made their way out. Each helping the other.

"Now what" Roe asked huffing from the excitement.

Lin took out an ancient compass like device from his pocket.

"Wow.what is this? " Roe was excited at most things new.

"It's a family heirloom. It helps us to identify reality. " Lin explained " Once we identify the direction where reality goes, we have to travel the other way. The mirror will then take us to the other side ".

" How does your family have the reality identifier? " Xie was looking at Lin with an expression that could burn him.

"Aren't we happy that he has that. Otherwise how would we make out the real from the fake in this maze? " Roe intervened to diffuse the situation.

"The lady is correct. We must co-operate since we share the same goal" Boshu tried to help and impress Roe at the same time.

As they started walking the reality identifier began vibrating " This way" Lin pointed after checking. As they walked ahead, they came face to face with a huge silver mirror, that seemed to hold a silvery liquid inside instead of glass. All four marveled with awe.