Keith looked again at the address written on the small piece of paper to make sure he was on the right place, he began to think that maybe that fortune teller was mocking him. That he would send him to a simple flower shop as a punishment for calling him a liar.

He looked again at the building. 'The Enchanted Forest' was written on the signboard, It was a small and simple store, a dollhouse in contrast with the larger buildings around it. The blonde man looked inside through the large window on the left, just like his exterior, the inside was small, but organized and seemed very cozy, with bouquets and flowers pots along the shelves on the coral walls. In the back of the store he could see a wooden counter with a purple curtain blocking a entrance, and resting his feet on it was a man, no older than him, his back laid on his chair while his shiny green eyes were focused on a book with a leather cover, his long and blue dreadlocks falling over his shoulders.

'Well, the place sure had something enchanted' he thought.

Keith decided he won't be certain about anything standing outside while peeking at the distracted pretty boy. He put the piece of paper inside his jacket's pocket and opens the door, the bell on top of it announcing his presence. The sound made the long"haired man take his attention away from the book, he stood up with a jump.

"Good morning sir! Welcome to The Enchanted Forest. How can I help you?" the boy said with a warm and inviting smile.

Keith couldn't help but return the smile with another

" Good morning." he looked around. He was right, the place sure was cozy, with flowers and other plants distributed around the room on shelves. In a corner, a wooden table with a few bouquets wrapped on shiny paper, a strong scent filled the place, almost nauseous " it's a beautiful store that you have here friend."

The man's smile grew large, with a spark of pride

" Thank you sir. It's not easy keep it like this but all the work is worth it " the man studied him, "I don't remember seeing you around here before."

" Yeah, I moved to the town a few weeks ago " he walked through the store, the scent getting a bif stronger with every minute he spent on that place, but still nothing he couldn't tolerate " and someone told me you could help me with something.

" Well, in that case, welcome to our town " he gave him a wink " so, how can I help you sir?

Keith studied the boy, he didn't seemed like the guy that could help him, but he learned to never judge a book for it's cover. He walks into his direction and leans on the counter.

" I'm looking for mushrooms " he says looking into the man's eyes.

The man blinked, confused.

"mushrooms? "

" Yes, mushrooms. Special ones."

The man giggled

" I'm sorry sir, but i don't sell mushrooms. I have flowers, succulents, cactus... but not mushrooms."

Keith wasn't ready to give up, he tries again.

" I'm sure you sell it, a person told me you could have what I need. Please, I will pay anything."

The man's leans on the counter, his face getting closer to Keith's.

" I said i don't sell mushrooms, whoever told you sir i'm afraid that was mistaken or made you by fool " his voice was firm and serious.

Keith looks at him for a few minutes, then he sighs, disappointed.

" Okay, sorry to bother you. You're right, i was mistaken."

The man smiled again.

" it's okay sir, I'm sorry I couldn't help you."

Keith gave him a weak smirk and turned to leave. He opened the door and closes it behind him. Now outside, Keith lays on the door, sighing deeply, feeling the clean air. He decided the next time he see the guy who sended him to that store he would make sure to give him a unpleasant surprise.

He puts his hands on his pockets and starts his way back home, he passes through the window and looks inside one last time, the man was once again reading, one arm on the counter and the other one holding his left cheek, his long sleeve showing a bit of skin, and what it seems a symbol tattooed on it.

Keith stops immediately. He goes back and presses his face on the window. That mark, an ordinary thing for the eyes of a normal person, but not for Keith.

A smile crosses his face, maybe his mysterious friend wasn't mocking him after all. If someone could give what he needed was definitely that guy.

Keith quickly goes back inside, making the man jump startled once again.

" Already back sir?"

Keith chuckles

" Alright, quit the acting."

The man looks at him confused.

" You almost got me " he slowly walks on his direction " the entire 'flower shop owner' thing. It's a perfect disguise actually. Very good one.

" Sir, I don't know what you're talking about."

Keith leans on the counter.

" Oh you sure do. Now, will you give me what I want?"

The man leans too, visibly impatient.

" I already said I don't sell mushrooms!"

" Of course you do " Keith comes closer " after all, you're a 'Child of Gaia', right?"

The blue haired man's eyes opens wide, shocked. Keith grins, that was all the confirmation he needed.

"The book you're reading " he gesture with his head to the book open on the counter " 'mystical botanic: the spiritual benefits of herbs', it's not a common thing I would find a florist reading about, it gave me a clue but i still wasn't very sure. Anyone can have a weird fascination right?"

The man kept focused on him silently.

"But that mark... I saw it when I was leaving, i would recognize that anywhere. "

The man was still silent

" It represents Gaia, the ancient goddess of nature and creation. Now any person, a very passionate florist maybe, could tattoo that mark. But you didn't tattooed this by the regular way right? It's burned on your skin. Why would you do such a painful thing? Maybe because it was part of a ritual?"

A crushing silence filled the room, the only sound coming from the birds chirping outside and the fan moving slowly on the roof.

Then the long haired man broke the silence

"You said someone told you about my store " he raises a eyebrow " Who did?"

"A fortune teller, he didn't tell me his name but he said that if I found you you would help me."

"What was he like?"

"Very tall, buffy, the guy looks more like an MMA fighter than a fortune teller."

Another silence fills the room. Then this time Keith breaks it.

"So... can I have my mushrooms?"

The man smiles, that inviting and warm smile again. He goes to the left and opens a small door on the counter.

" Follow me, sir."

The shopkeeper opens the purple curtain behind him and leaves the room. Keith follows him and discovers a large hallway. On the right was a entrance with a flight of stairs leading the second floor and in the end of the hallway was a big rustic oak door, with no knobs or any visible way to unlock it.

The man approached the door and puts a hand on it's center, Keith could hear he whispering a few words before the runes carved on the wood began to glow with a green"ish light, he hears a weak 'click' then the door opens. Revealing a set of stairs that leads to a dark basement. The only light illuminating the stairs coming from the weak sunlight invading the hallway through the curtained door behind them.

" This way, sir. " the man says entering the room and began to went down.

Keith followed him, it wasn't the first dark, creepy and hidden place he ever saw, but maybe he could include it on his top 5 creepier places.

As he went down Keith notices it was longer and deeper than he thought. The more he went deeper, the room went darker and the scent got stronger, so much he had to stop and lean on the wall and wait for his head to stop aching.

" You okay there? " the store owner asked, Keith couldn't see him but by his voice tone he knew he was at the end of the flight of stairs.

" Yeah " he answers loud " I can't see shit but I'm kinda used to dark places."

Keith takes a deep breath and goes back on his way. He goes down on another set of stairs when he feels someone grabbing gently his hand.

His instinct was to pull it immediately but he calms down when he hears the man's voice.

"Careful now, just one more set."

Keith felt his cheeks burning at the man's hand feeling on his, It was warm and soft. He was thankful the man couldn't see him like that.

The blond man followed the shopkeeper to a few more sets, he stops when the man gestures to him.

"Wait a minute sir. I recommend you to close your eyes."

Keith couldn't hold a chuckle. 'I don't think it will make a difference on this void' he thinks. But he does it anyway because his felt it was wise to obey him.

Seconds later he wears the man shout

"Calor!"

Followed by a light that even with his eyes closed he could see. Maybe it was really a good idea obey him.

"It's good now, you can open it."

Keith slowly opens his eyes, getting used to it after all that darkness. What he saw made he lose his breath for a few seconds.

Now that place was upped to the 3rd place on his rank.

The basement was three times bigger than the store on the upper floor, with three corridors with shelves full of plants he never saw before, colorful flowers, bottles of potions and bowls with herbs and spices. He looked around in awe and discovered the source of the light, huge vines around the walls going to the roof, with shiny spheres hung along it. So bright he calculated one sphere could illuminate a small room.

"That's...amazing…" he whispered.

The man smirked.

"Yes, it's. My secret store. And you're one of the few living beings who got the chance to see it."

"I'm honored, I really am."

The man offer his hand.

"By the way, let me introduce myself: I'm Gus Grav"

Keith shook his hand.

"I'm Spe" Keith Fermin." he felt it wasn't safe yet for his new friend to know his true identity.

"Pleased to meet you Keith, could you please follow me? Let's find what you need."

Keith followed Gus through a corridor on the middle of the large basement, the scent was still strong, he was relieved the warm temperature of the room could alleviate his nausea. While walking he had to stop to look at the exotic collection, he was feeling like a kid on a toy store. A mix of curiosity and wonder.

They reached the back of the room and there was a door. Gus took a key from his pocket and opened it. Inside was a bit dark. A few seconds later the room got illuminated, Keith noticed the same vines he saw along the basement with the shiny spheres were tangled around the wall and on a table.

The room seemed to be a lab, with shelves on the right corner with bottles with potions, empty bottles, a few bowls and tools. On the left corner was a large table with some tools and chemical materials. in the center was a big cauldron made of dark iron.

'A cauldron' he thought, 'how original..'

"This is where my magic happens" Gus says while cleaning the table, "sorry about the mess but it's a kinda impossible to have this place clean."

"That's fine" keith chuckles, "my work place isn't the most organized place either. I presume I'm not your first customer."

"You're right. I apologise for my behaviour but as I said before, I never saw you around here. I have a good memory so I'm certain that I would remember selling something for you."

"There's another witches on this town?"

"Not on this town" Gus says while dusting a chair from behind the table, "but i'm the only store who sells herbs and potions for witchcraft and potion brewing on the Beta region, so i got customers from different towns around the area."

Keith whistles. "That's a lot."

"Now you understand why I can't never have this place clean. Now, where's it…" he opens the drawers located behind the large table "Aha! Found it" he take from the inside of the second drawer and wand, it was made of dark wood, probably oak, with some silver details.

"Now let's talk about business. Please, have a sit" he makes a quick gesture with the wand and quickly a stool slide from a corner and stops behind Keith. He sits and waits for Gus to get comfortable on his chair.

"Now, how can I help you?" He says crossing his fingers on the table.

Keith moves the stool closer to the table. He reach for his jean's pocket and takes from inside a paper carefully folded. He opens it and slides to the shop keeper. It was a page, ripped from a old book, with a picture of a yellow-ish mushroom and informations about the fungus written on latin.

"I'm looking for this, I heard it's a very rare specimen. I came here with hope that you could have it"

Gus takes the page and analyzes it, biting the tip of his wand. "hmm, it sure is rare. It almost impossible to find Gold Drops since it's very sensible to pollution, the only places you can find it is on remote forests completely distant from human activity. Growing them is impossible." he looks at Keith grinning "Not for me, of course. But they're not cheap though"

Keith smirks. "As I said, I will pay anything for them."

"That's what I like to hear. Wait right here" Gus get up from his chair and leaves the room.

Now alone, Keith can finally dismantle his calm countenance. He rest his head on the table, sweating and gasping. He could feel that damned scent destroying from the inside for any second he stayed on that place.

'There's something really wrong with this place' a deep voice echoed on his mind.

"No shit" keith says rolling his eyes, that simple act making his head hurt like hell "then why aren't you doing your job? Aren't you supposed to protect me from any curses?"

'What do you thing i've been doing all this time?!' a faint red light pulsed on his chest 'but I simply cannot protect you here. Something is neutralizing my powers. Something powerful. We need to get out of here'

"No! I searched for months for that mushrooms. We need them for our plan!"

'You won't get nothing done if you keep on that state Spectra!' the voice roared

"Focus on protecting me and let me take care of the rest."

The voiced stoped, but he could feel it's disapproval. Keith got up and walked around the room, impatient that the shopkeeper was taking too long. His heads was aching and his thoughts were confused. He had no clue what was happening, maybe it was a curse, but he wasn't on the town time enough to make enemies. Maybe it was the fortune teller? But he couldn't find any reason for him to curse him. Maybe it was the hideous food from the food truck near the park?

The room was spinning, he leaned on the wall next to the door. The scent filling his lungs. He gasped out for clean air, like he was drowning. He tried to walk back to his stood but on the way everything was fading black, his consciousness slowly dissipating like a cloud of smoke. The only things he could recall before falling was the shocked blue haired man on the door 11and Helios roaring on his mind.