I don't own Di-Gata Defenders or the Di-Gata Defender characters. I did however, come up with Aquinae, Deirdre, the Drevac Clan and Shantra and her sisters(except Karmi).

Chapter Thirteen: The Forsaken Woods

It sounds like a marvelous morning thought Seth as he lied on his sleeping. He had woken up feeling refreshed but slightly disturbed from the dream and had decided to enjoy the feel of the morning with his eyes closed. A tiny smile appeared on his lips as he turned to face the sky.

Slowly, memories of the night before enter his head. He remembered spying on Adam and Mel, he remembered hearing Adam's lame pickup lines, and he also remembered acting like an idiot. Why was I acting like that? What was with the coldness I felt? Wait, something happened between Mel leaving and the cold snap, but what? Try as he might, Seth couldn't remember what had happened in between but he was certain that something important had happened. But what?

He opened his eyes only to see Adam's concerned face hovering over him. "Yikes!" Seth shot out of his sleeping bag while Adam jumped back from him in surprise.

"Oh" said Adam as he sheepishly scratched the back of his head. "You're awake. Did you have a good sleep?"

"Um… yeah. Why were you hovering over me anyway? Were you concern about me?"

"Me? Concerned about you? Don't be silly. I knew that you were a tough guy and that you would have no problem pulling through. I was just…. um… just… um… just making certain that you weren't pretending to sleep. You know, in case you decided to try and surprise someone."

"I'd say that I surprised you, so I guess that means that I succeeded." He smiled as he looked towards the remains of the fire.

"I'm going to go and tell the others that you're okay. Everyone was worried about you, you know." Including me.

"Where is everyone anyway?"

"They went to check out the area that they figured you were…. stupefied in." Seth glared at Adam as he tried to hold back a laugh. "Sorry, I couldn't come up with a better word. Oh, and Mel went to get you some water. I promised to watch over you for her and to inform her if you should wakeup. She was really worried about you, you know. She'll be happy to see that you're awake and okay."

Adam began walking away but stopped when he heard Seth cry out "hey, wait Adam!"

"Yes?" he asked as he turned to Seth.

"The dreams you've been having. Was there a house and a cold blizzard in it as well as a creepy voice?"

"A house? A blizzard? A creepy voice? No, there's nothing at all like that in my dreams. Why do you ask?"

"No reason" said Seth as he waved Adam away. "No reason at all."

"So Seth" said Kara as the defenders rode their Stormers through the woods. "I guess this means we don't have to help the ogre defeat the fairy queen to save the unicorn from the kingdom of the oak."

"Huh? Oh, you're talking about when I was talking nonsense. Yeah, we can completely ignore what I said. Although, I'm pretty certain that I didn't say that."

"Well" said Kara as she giggled. "It was still funny and Erik was taking what you said seriously."

"Don't be silly Kara, I wasn't taking him seriously at all."

"Oh yeah? Then what was with the talk about the darkness and the light, then?"

"I was just commenting on the stuff he was saying."

"Yeah, right!"

"Yeah, I was. Anyway, we need to talk about more important things, like figuring out where we're supposed to go. The Key is pointing in an entirely different direction than it was before. How we suppose to find out where those pieces of the Celestial Abyss are if the Key keeps changing its mind?"

"I don't know. If only there was some way of fixing it" said Seth as he stopped his Stormer. He didn't like how the woods had suddenly changed. The trees here are almost grey and look like they're dying. He looked up at the blue sky above him and saw that the trees ahead were so dense that he doubted that light could get through.

"There's supposed to be a village on the other side of these trees" said Erik. "We could probably reach it by nighttime at the rate we're going at. We should head there and see if we can get some shelter for the night."

"Right" said Seth. "We should go this way."

Seth started moving his Stormer forward when Adam cried out "no Seth! That's the wrong way!"

"Oh, yeah? And how would you know, Adam?"

"I've been here before. You'll just get lost if you go through there. We should go around."

"But that will take longer" said Erik, "and it'll be dark before we reach the village."

"Yes, but we won't get lost if we go…."

"We won't get lost, Adam. Erik's gauntlet…."

"Will be useless there, Kara. It won't work properly."

"What? My gauntlet works just fine, thank you very much. Also, the map on it is perfect and fully functional. It's got some features that will blow your mind and…"

"It will be useless Erik. No map can help you in the Forsaken Woods."

"The Forsaken Woods?" asked Mel as she felt a slight chill on her back.

Shantra had slid off Adam's back and had accidentally touched Mel's. She giggled and skipped about while saying "that was fun Adam. But I bet it would have been funner if I could have sat on the Stormer myself. Hey, I'll race you to the village." She ran off in the direction of the Forsaken Woods while giggling her head off.

Adam watched her run off while thinking that was very random of her. Sigh, she should learn some self-control. He noticed the defenders staring at him weird and he remembered what it was that they were talking about. "Yeah, they call it the Forsaken Woods because everyone thinks that bad things happen in it or something like that. The villagers didn't exactly say why they called it that but that's got to be the reason, right? Anyway, everyone gets lost in the Forsaken Woods"

"Yeah, well we're not going to get lost" said Seth as he gunned his engine. "You guys coming?"

"Oh yeah" said Erik, "no one calls my gadgets useless." Seth and Erik both entered the Forsaken Woods while Kara, Rion and Mel both turned to Adam.

"They're just going to get lost" said Adam. "Come on, I know the fastest and safest route to the village."

"Well" said Erik as he looked at his gauntlet that had went haywire. "We are now officially lost."

"We're not lost" said Seth as he looked at the map. "We probably just took a wrong turn or something."

"What turn? Man, we should have listened to Adam."

"I'm going to ignore that comment."

It was slightly dark out when Adam, Kara, Rion and Mel reached the village. Mel was a bit worried that Seth and Erik weren't there and that there didn't seem to be any sign of a light in the village.

"Adam! Adam! Adam!" cried out Shantra as she ran over to him as he got off Mel's Stormer. "I beat you! I beat you! I beat you! Yah! Yah! I beat you!"

Adam smiled as he kneeled down and whispered "how did you beat us by foot? How did you find your way through the Forsaken Woods?"

Shantra looked at Adam with a serious expression before breaking out with a smile and gleefully saying "I'm not telling." She began hopping and skipping about as she sang "I know something you don't know. I know something you don't know. Hooray for me because I know something you don't know."

Adam felt a bit irritated for Shantra dismissing his question like that but he had to admit it was cute to see her act like that. It's almost too cute.

"Adam?"

"Yes, Mel?" asked Adam as he turned to her.

"I'm… we're worried about Seth and Erik. They should have been here by now."

"Yeah, my big brother is afraid of the dark and he needs me to protect him from the Boogeyman."

"They must have gotten lost" said Rion as he walked over. "Someone should really go and look for them." He looked at Adam with a curious expression. "Adam, how well do you know this area? Do you think that you could find your way through the Forsaken Woods?"

"Well…. I do have an excellent sense of direction and I have been on the outskirts of the woods but I'm certain the others will be here soon. People may get lost in there but they don't stay lost. Most of the time."

"Most of the time? Are you saying that some people have never found their way out?" Kara glanced nervously at the trees as the image of her brother and Seth wandering the forest in vain played in her head. "We have to do something! We have to find them!"

Mel nodded as she and Kara both ran over to the Stormers only for Adam to get in their way. "Get out of the way Adam" said Kara angrily. "We have to find Seth and my brother."

"Yeah, Adam. It does no good for us to stay here and wait for them if they're lost."

"Relax, relax girls. I'll go look for them. You two and Rion should find someone to give us shelter and maybe some more food." Adam smiled at them before heading towards the woods.

"Ummm… Adam? Don't you want to take a Stormer? It's faster" said a confused and concerned Mel.

"No" said Adam without stopping, "they'll just make it harder for me to find my way back. There's certain clues in the forest to tell you which way is the village but the Stormers move too fast and their lights are too bright in order to see them. Plus the clues are really small and require one to look extra carefully at one's surroundings. I'll find them without the Stormers and I'll lead them back here. See you guys later!"

The others watched as Adam disappeared into the dark brush before turning to the dark village.

"Something doesn't feel right" said Mel uncomfortably as she stared at the village.

"You're right Mel" said Rion. "It's barely dark out but surely there should be a light on somewhere."

"Also" said Kara, "there's no sign of anyone. I don't see or hear anyone."

"No, it's more than that" said Mel. "Something doesn't feel right here. In fact, something feels very wrong here. Very wrong and very bad." Her eyes swept over the abandoned village before she cautiously started moving towards the closest house.

Rion and Kara nervously followed her, prepared for the worst. They didn't know what was wrong but they were certain they were going to find out.

"What is wrong with these people?" muttered Shantra. "So it's quiet here. Big deal. It's not like it's the end of Rados or anything like that." She signed as she decided to follow the careful group. I betcha Adam's having lots of fun right now. I should have gone with him. What's that? Shantra squinted her eyes at the dark figure that was hiding behind a tree. "Well, the village isn't empty after all. These defenders will be pretty embarrassed when they realize they're getting all worked up for nothing." Shantra giggled before skipping over to where she had seen the shadow, but when she got there she found nothing. How did that person move so fast? Wait! Maybe this person's hiding from the defenders. That can only mean one thing…. they're playing hide and seek!