Okay, before you read this chapter, please be advised that from this chapter on, there will be elements from Wizards: Tales of Arcadia. So if you haven't watched it yet, I recommend you do so before reading this chapter.

-pawssible

"We need to send in some scouts." Merlin said, gesturing to the land where Mordred stood.

"Varvatos volunteers to go" Varvatos said, starting to stand up. But Krel pulled him back down.

"You will be too easily seen, we need someone smaller." Krel said.

"I'll go." Stu volunteered
"Me too" Pid said.
"We never really do anything, so this will be a good opportunity to do something helpful." La concluded.

Mezra smiled at the three Akiridions, proud that they were brave enough to face the evil that was Mordred.

"You guys go," she said "Good luck." And so Aja lent them a teleporter, and they were off.

They teleported to a tree a few ways behind Morded, and watched what he was doing.

They sat for minutes until La suddenly had an idea.

"That curly-head has the Ring of Power, right? So why don't we snatch it from him!"

Stu immediately objected, saying "No! It's too dangerous. We're just supposed to scout!"

Pid was stuck in the middle of the bickering Akiridions, so he slowly stood up, and was about to use the teleporter when La grabbed his arm

"What do you think you're doing?" La asked, his voice stern.

"Going to get the Trolls' Lifelead." Pid said, as if nothing was wrong with it.

La said that he would come with Pid, and Stu had no choice but to follow.

They teleported to a spot at least six feet behind Mordred. La lunged first, and missed Mordred by a hair. Those who stayed behind were shocked to find their scouts fighting with Mordred.

Mezra immediately ran to protect them, but Merlin stopped her. "Look" he said. It was only then that Mezra saw that Stu, Pid, and La were trying to steal back the Ring of Power. La found where Mordred was hiding the Ring of Power, but it wasn't easy to get it when Mordred was attacking them.

Where is this Ring of Power? You may ask. Why, on Mordred's finger, where else? Mordred was attacking La, at most, with the other two trying to distract the evil wizard.

Soon, La was cornered against a stone, and was about to get blasted by a Mordred's magic and a giant stone; when Pid pushed La out of the way and took the hits himself, disintegrating in seconds and giving a last thumbs-up and a sad smile.

Everyone but Mordred was shocked, but Stu and La were furious. Pid had always been the peacemaker between the three of them, and was always so joyful and full of life; always there to cheer you up. And now that he was gone, there was no stopping the two in getting their revenge.

Stu attacked first, fighting blindly against the evil wizard, his grief making him stronger, but also, making his moves clumsy and uncoordinated.

Somehow, however, Stu managed to get the Ring of Power from Mordred's finger. There was a look of surprise from everyone, and the fighting stopped momentarily. But Mordred is not one to lose so quickly.

Stu was still smiling when Mordred attacked again. But without the Ring of Power, his magic was less powerful, but could still cause severe damage. Which is why Stu knew that he didn't have much time left. He was running around the clearing now, but made sure that Mordred didn't come close to the group.

He looked around and saw La standing close to the bushes where the group hid. And when Stu saw he was near La, he stopped.

Abruptly. La was going to run to him when he motioned for La to stay where he was. And, being a single target attacker Mordred was, he aimed his power at Stu, and when the blast came close and could no longer be moved, Stu threw the Ring to La.

And just as the blast hit him Stu shouted "Go!", and La ran as fast as he could to the bushes where the group hid. Mezra could only look on in horror as Mordred chased after the last remaining member of her crew; and could barely stretch her hand to receive the Ring of Power that La handed to her; all while watching him get disintegrated right in front of her eyes.

Mezra was so shocked about what she had seen she didn't even notice being teleported and darkness closing in.

She woke up to hear voices speaking to each other, and she immediately sat up.

"Oh! You are awake! Good." Aja told Mezra. Mezra looked around saw that they were walking through a dark forest. Wait, walking? Only then did she realize that she was being carried in a makeshift stretcher.

"If you're already ok, do you mind getting off? We've been carrying you for hours." Jim asked, looking over his shoulder. "Oh! Of course. Sorry" Mezra said, quickly getting off the stretcher. "Thanks, that helped" Tyler said, stretching his arms.

"Where are we, anyway?" Mezra asked, looking around at the dark but beautiful surroundings.

"Hmm, glowing flowers, many fireflies; welcome to the Wild Wood!" Douxie exclaimed, gesturing to the forest.

Then Claire told them all to be quiet "I sense something here." She said, looking around.

Jim sniffed the air "Yeah, something's following us." he said.

Suddenly, some leaves rustled behind them, and they all turned to look at where they heard the sound. And then they saw something move in the trees and that something, suddenly lunged at Douxie. "Hisirdoux!" Merlin shouted, and was about to attack when he clearly saw the 'something' for the first time since they came into the forest.

"Nari?" Merlin asked, confused.

"What's a Nari?" Krel questioned, still on guard. But the something- Nari, was not minding the others. Nari was focused on who she had attacked; namely, Douxie.

"You're not supposed to be here, why are you here? I told you to never come back!" Nari said, her voice soft but imposing authority and anger.

"I- I'm sorry about all that happened before, but I- I just had to bring them all here. It was the only safe place I could think of…" Douxie replied, still trying to get away from Nari's grip.

Only then did Nari seem to notice the others, but she still did not loosen her grip on Douxie (or rather, Douxie's neck); that is, until she heard a soft voice behind her.

"Mother, who are these creatures?" The soft voice said. Nari looked surprised when she heard the voice, and immediately dropped Douxie and went over to the source of the voice.

The group saw what seemed to be another Nari, but about half a foot smaller, blue green, instead of green, and black hair instead of green hair.

"Who are these creatures, Mother?" the littler Nari asked again, curiosity showing in her wide eyes. Nari seemed to try to make an excuse about who they were, when Valerie blurted out "I see that you're the protector of this forest like Merlin always talked about, and that you don't want intruders in your space; but we really need help right now so won't you at least give us a proper place to rest and eat and we'll all be on our way."

Nari pondered on the thought, and approved of it. But as she turned to go, the littler Nari asked the question again.

"Mother, who are these creatures?" and, knowing her daughter, Nari knew she wouldn't stop asking until her question was answered; much like any seven-year-old, not that she had met many.

"Okay," Nari started, and walked over to Merlin "This is Merlin. Merlin, this is Lena" Nari said gesturing to the Merlin and Lena and vice versa, then she walked over to Claire.

"This is?" she asked "Claire" said the sorceress "Claire, this is Lena" then she walked over to Jim "This one here is a Troll, and his name is?" Nari asked again "Jim, and correction; I'm half-troll" Nari just nodded and said the same things that she said previously to Lena and the others.

This process continued to the other members until they finally came to Douxie. "This, Lena, is Douxie. He's… he's a friend" Nari said.

Then for a while, she seemed to be lost in her own thoughts, until she snapped out of it and ran with her daughter, saying "Everyone, follow me to the nest!"

And when something very strange happens suddenly, you have no choice but to follow. And that's what the group did, running to catch up with Nari, who, though she was just quite taller than a young Toby, she ran very fast; leaping through treetops and looking back every once in a while to see if the group was following.

The Halveas, Claire, and Aja found this amusing, since they could leap through treetops too. But those who ran below had a hard time, since they couldn't jump or run as fast as the others; particularly Toby, who had to ride on AAARRRGGHH's back after a few meters; and Blinky, who had to be magic-lifted through the air by Merlin (poor old wizard…).

And at last, they reached what Nari called 'the nest'.

This 'nest' looked like a huge sphere made of sticks with circular openings that looked like windows. And it was also very conveniently placed. At least for Nari. Why? Because it was on top of a very, very, VERY tall tree.

"Great Grumbly Gruesome! However will we get up there?! I am exhausted from running all the way going here!" Merlin shot a death glare at Blinky, who immediately stopped talking.

Nari was already inside the nest and was laughing so hard she almost fell down. "Oh, do not worry, I have created a ladder in case Lena couldn't jump up as high as she should." Nari said, as she casually tossed down a ladder made of vines to those on the ground. All of them climbed up the ladder except Varvatos, AAARRRGGHH and Toby, who were too heavy to climb the vines.

So Nari used her magic to grow a line of trees arranged in a way that allowed Varvatos, AAARRRGGHH and Toby to climb safely into the nest. Once everyone was seated on wood that were carved into sofas (except AAARRRGGHH and Varvatos, of course, who sat on the floor), Nari asked a question to the group. "Why are you here?"

Douxie was about to answer when he remembered that Nari was still mad at him, so he let Jim answer instead.

"We had no idea where we were being teleported, but we need to make sure Mordred doesn't get the Lifeleads or else the End of Days will be unleashed. Can you help us with that?" Nari looked down, and asked "You have all three Lifeleads, am I correct?"

All of the group nodded in unison, and Nari sighed sadly. "I know Mordred, and he knows that he is not powerful enough to reach his goal. He will need help, and I know exactly who he will go to."

Hmmm, I just wonder who the great and evil Mordred will go to for help. And why is Nari so angry at Douxie? What will Mezra do?; now that Mordred killed her whole crew? Answers to be seen at further chapters. Until then!

-pawssible