Chapter 46: The Forgotten Forest

Disclaimer:

The Light Mage's Curse first original arc everyone! I hope you guys enjoy it as its something I've been looking forward to. With that said, here is the chapter.


The warm sun shone brightly down at the Clover Kingdom as it was at its highest point. Around Noon, the Golden Dawn had left to start their search for one of the Magic Stones which was rumoured to be located in the Forbidden Forest.

"Woah, no way! Are you serious?" Lucas asked with a very surprised tone. He was riding a spare broomstick that was stored at the Golden Dawn Headquarters and he needed to use it.

"Yep! Isn't that crazy? The fact that the Captain of the Purple Orcas was the traitor all along… if you think about it, he was the reason that Captain Fuegoleon suffered his injury", Letoile replied. She was flying in front of him and the cool breeze hit her face.

"So, was he part of the Eye of the Midnight Sun?" Lucas asked, interested.

"We can't say for sure but all we know is that he helped them out. Whether or not it was as a member or not, well… that remains to be figured out", Letoile replied.

The Golden Dawn were on their way to their mission. However, not all of them could go since it would mean the base would be unattended, as well as the fact that they would get multiple other missions a day since they are the best squad in the kingdom. A lot of the members like Langris and Shiren had to stay behind to work on them and the ones that did go consisted of Lucas, Yuno, Mimosa, Klaus, David, Hamon, Letoile, Alecdora, and the Captain, William Vangeance.

The formation of the Magic Knights in the sky was somewhat that of a triangle. At the front was Captain Vangeance and behind him was Alecdora who was next to Hamon. Behind those two were the triad of Letoile, David, and Klaus. Lucas, Yuno, and Mimosa were the furthest back.

"It's a shame that not everyone could come for this expedition", David added, relaxing on his broom, and leaning back.

"Are you sunbathing or something? Fly carefully!" Letoile spoke with a bit of worry.

"Relax, I'm a pro…", David replied.

Suddenly a very weak breeze of wind came out of nowhere which caused the Dice mage to jerk back and panic. He quickly gripped his broomstick and corrected his posture.

"Wh-where did that come from?" David rustled his blond hair and sighed, looking around in the process.

"I told you!" Letoile pointed her finger and pouted.

"Ohohoho! Now, now, David… if you want to find the source, then look no further than to your right". Hamon smiled as he winked to the culprit.

Everyone turned around and saw Yuno on David's right. However, the real source of the wind was the tiny fairy that was sat down on the Wind mage's shoulder.

"Keep it down over there!" Bell flapped her wings angrily.

"What do you mean? It's not even night! Were you trying to sleep or something?!" David moaned, gaining a smirk from the Wind Spirit.

"Honestly… keep it down you lot! We're on a mission set by Captain Vangeance, himself! We need to act accordingly!" A snide voice sounded out from the front. It was Alecdora who still had his gaze fixated on the captain in front of him.

"Alecdora, let them have fun for now. Once we arrive, we won't have time for such pleasantries so it's good to relax now", William added much to the frustration of the Sand mage.

"He asks us to act accordingly, but he's the one that always gets into arguments…", a few of the mages thought to themselves.

"On to what David was saying, it's a shame that Shiren couldn't come along. His map skills would be great to use in an exploration-type mission like this", Klaus mentioned.

Lucas put his hand up and started talking. "Oh, but we're not short of people who can work with maps and tell us where things are!" He waved and turned his head towards Mimosa. "Mimosa is great with her Plant Magic when it comes to things like this as well!"

However, Mimosa didn't reply straight away and was instead gazing off into the East. After a few calls to her name, she finally turned around.

"Sorry! What were you guys saying?" The Plant mage fumbled, gaining a few laughs.

"Lucas paid you a compliment, I'm surprised you're not acting all flustered for once", Letoile scratched her chin to which Mimosa now blushed at.

The Light mage sort of understood what she was referring to. "David did mention back at the mixer that if girls are interested in you then they get shy at times or act a bit different around you… Mimosa does do that but she also always frantically repeats that we're just friends and nothing more when someone asks her so I'm sure it's not anything else". He tilted his head and replied to the Compass mage. "Hm, why would she act flustered?"

Almost everyone but William and Alecdora internally face-palmed. "Come on, Lucas… really?!"

Mimosa butted in and responded. "Th-that's exactly right! I was just a bit distracted from all the scenery that I just wasn't paying attention! Hm, yes… that's exactly right!" She waved her hands in refusal and everyone agreed to drop the topic in their heads.

"Exactly", Lucas nodded in agreement.

Everyone sweat-dropped and face-palmed.

"You know, the one thing I was extremely surprised by was hearing about you, Lucas. I never would've imagined that you would host two magical attributes!" Klaus turned to Yuno who was listening in. "Isn't that crazy?"

Yuno looked at him and agreed. "It's true. I wonder how he balances them out", he turned to Lucas.

"When I first joined the squad, I couldn't really use my Time Magic. I could feel it and I knew it was there but that was all there was to it. It all started to change when I got those Dual Blades at the dungeon. Slowly, after that I started trying it out and then came a time where I could use a spell. It's all basically just trial and error", Lucas explained.

"Two attributes though. I'm sure it's tough using even one of them since they're so powerful". Yuno said with wonder.

"It does get a bit difficult but I think once I'm used to both of them completely, it'll be no problem", Lucas replied.

"Klaus, you never told us where you were during the morning briefing earlier". Yuno spoke which grabbed the attention of the others. They were also wondering what was going on with the Steel mage since he was absent.

"Oh, that…", he took his glasses off as they had started to fog up. He put them back on after cleaning them and sighed deeply before explaining. "The thing is… I was called back to House Lunettes to discuss an urgent matter. Literally, just as I woke up, I had my family's own personal Spatial Owl in my bedroom with a letter in its beak", he shook his head as if he was disproving about the whole thing.

"That explains it. But what was so important?" Mimosa added in, now engrossed in the conversation.

William Vangeance smirked at the front as he knew what the matter was about. His smile was out of view from the others though so they had to keep pestering the Steel mage for details.

Klaus started to sweat with nerves.

"Look, Klaus. If you just tell us then you won't get nervous anymore!" David explained, gaining the approved looks of the other Magic Knights.

The blue-haired mage thought about this. It is true that if he got the topic off his chest then the pestering and prodding would stop. However, the topic itself was no simple matter.

"I'll let you guys know after this expedition some time…", he replied. The others around him were not content with his decision but if he needed some time then they would give it to him.

After a few hours on their brooms, they saw a huge green forest that towered well above the Royal Capital's height. Looking at it from the front, it was just a huge crowd of dark-oak trees that were bunched up together with no room to weave in between the trunks. As the group were in the sky at first, they thought to look to see how far the forest stretched and if there was any possibility to go from behind or to the side.

There was no such possibility as the forest stretched as far as possible from the back and from the sides. This place was on the edge of the Clover Kingdom and very close to the Heart Kingdom which was signified through the intensity of the nature here.

The group all landed and looked at the skyscrapers of nature that intimidated them all with their height.

"The Forgotten Forest…", Lucas said as he got off his broomstick and putting it to the side. The squad started walking around just to survey the area but all they could see was the huge trees that blocked even the sunlight.

The area gave the team a sense of foreboding, like something was hidden within its confines and ready to attack.

"Calm down, everyone. Didn't I tell you not to freak out at the sight of this forest?" Vangeance reminded with a slight smile to his face.

"That's right. He even told you why it's called 'The Forgotten Forest", Alecdora added. "But… just to remind you lot… we call it that name because of what happened during the time of the first Wizard King", he began to explain.


During the time of the First Wizard King, there was a tribe of people that would dwell in this very forest. Even though they were considered outsiders by the general public, the first Wizard King would place great importance on them. He would frequently visit this place and share a lot of his inventions to help them become equal with the people who lived in the main parts of the Clover Kingdom. They were seen as 'outsiders' due to the colour of their skin which was a darker tone than everyone else but the Wizard King saw them as one of his own people.

As it has been mentioned, the rest of the population did not see them as equal and even hated them for simply existing. However, during the battle between the first Wizard King and the Ancient Demon, the tribe in the forest were called upon to help by various members of the royals and nobles. Once they asked them, the tribe attacked the people who sought out help and murdered all of them but a few people who managed to escape. It is said there was a battle between the nobility and the forest tribe but details about that are relatively unknown.

Since many of the Clover Kingdom royalty and nobility had died fighting, there was a collective decision to never initiate or keep a connection with the tribe ever again after the first Wizard King's death. Ever since then, only the toughest of Magic Knights have been here but even then, they were never granted access to the inner area of 'The Forgotten Forest'.


"… We're not exactly sure how much of that is the truth, but that is all that has been passed down to us for generations". Alecdora finished explaining.

"It's no wonder we can't find the entrance. They must have closed it off centuries ago", David said with a defeated tone to his voice.

"That's where we come in, squad. The Wizard King has tasked us with locating a Magic Stone here and we are going to unlock the secrets of this place! We are the Golden Dawn, are we not? We are the best squad in the kingdom!" William shouted, raising the morale of his team.

"You got that right, Sir!" Letoile saluted.

"The best have to prove they're the best, right?" Hamon chuckled.

William nodded in agreement. "Remember, this place sits on a Grand Magic Zone. The mana in such a place can go haywire at times. I am confident that the people here can keep themselves safe but I have no remind you! Now, the first task for you all is to find an entrance to this place. Yuno, David, Klaus: You three look from the skies for anything that interests you".

The three all shouted and were off. "Yes, Sir!"

"Letoile and Hamon: See if you can use your magic to locate or pinpoint anything like a magnetic field that we can study further. Hamon, see if there are any places that are weaker than others and use your Glass Magic to tear through", William added.

The two agreed and went off to start working.

"Lucas and Mimosa. You two probably have the best chemistry when it comes to working as a team so I'm sure you can figure something out. With Light Magic and Time Magic, you will be able to do it. Mimosa, use your abilities at full capacity as well!" The masked mage said confidently.

"I'll be sure to find the entrance!" Lucas bowed.

"I won't let you down!" Mimosa bowed.

"As for Alecdora and I, we will work together to see if we can open up an entrance", he finally explained.

Alecdora had a smile to his face and nodded.


As everyone got set on their tasks, Lucas and Mimosa were walking around the edge of the forest trying to spot where an entrance could be.

"I have an idea, Lucas! Plant Creation Magic: Magic Flower Guidepost!" A flower sprung from the ground with green vines as support. The flower itself was a red colour and from it, a mana projection appeared.

"Great idea! With this we should be able to see any weak points or where some mana is more concentrated than the others", Lucas smiled.

Mimosa focused on her task and located three points of interest. There weren't any mana signatures but on the Flower Guidepost it showed that the land was more uneven than the rest and it was something to go by.

"There are slight irregularities when it comes to the makeup of the land here. At certain points there are places that could be worthwhile to look through", Mimosa explained.

Lucas thought for a while. "It's the only thing we can do at this point. My Light Magic or Time Magic isn't really helpful at this moment", he nodded. The mage turned to Mimosa and agreed with her plan.

As the two started searching for one of these places, they got talking with each other.

"How does it feel to be on your first expedition with the squad? So far, since you've been here the big missions that you've been on have had you team-up with another squad's members. This is the first one where it's just been the Golden Dawn!" The Vermillion said with a smile.

"You're actually right on that! I didn't realise it until you mentioned it just now. It's a good feeling to be with the people you trust the most. It's not like I don't trust Asta or Daisy or the other squads, but I did personally pick the Golden Dawn so it's nice being with all of you", Lucas replied, returning the smile.

Mimosa upped her speed so she was in front of Lucas. She turned around and faced the mage as she walked backwards with her hands behind her back. "So… I wanted to ask you something since we're alone right now". The royal blushed ever so slightly.

Lucas was intrigued. "Go for it. What do you need?"

"Have you heard of the upcoming Star Awards Festival?" She asked, the sun shining down and illuminated her orange hair.

"Hm, what's that? You have to remember I was out for two weeks so I have no sense of any current or future events that might be happening", he nervously said, scratching his neck.

"Oh right! Well, it's a festival that celebrates the Magic Knights' achievements. Each year, the squad that does the best, in terms of gaining stars and performances, get ranked. That ceremony is at the end of the event, but there are plenty of activities and games to do beforehand!" Mimosa started to get pumped up and excited as her yellow and green-tinted eyes flared up.

"That sounds so cool! It's the first time I'm hearing about this since there was no such thing at Hoffvol… I wonder what squad activities we'll get up to?" Lucas said, putting a downer on the Plant mage's face.

"Oh… um, there will be some squad activities but I was wondering if you'd want to just go together, you know, the two of us! I mean… uh, just because there are more activities suited to small groups like two people rather than a few that are suited for larger ones! I just want you to get the full experience!" Mimosa said and then started to panic. The things she was saying finally caught up to her mind and she realised what it meant.

Lucas tilted his head and wondered why she was acting this way. "You know what? Sure. I'll be happy to go with you around the Festival!" He smiled.

Mimosa felt a nervous weight lift off her chest and she happily sighed. "I'm so glad… Are you happy now, David?! I made a move!" She internally cheered.

Suddenly, as Lucas and Mimosa were continuing their walk, the former tripped and fell on to the grassy ground. He looked up and saw Mimosa looking worriedly at him.

"Gah! Me and my clumsy feet!" Lucas stood back up and brushed the dirt off his clothes.

"Are you alright?" Mimosa asked, bending down, and helping the mage back up.

"Yeah, I'm fine. It's just… why is the ground here so uneven? There's a random slope that I fell down when the rest of the ground is an even surface".

A few second pause separated Lucas's and Mimosa's thoughts as they realised what this meant.

"Looks like I found what we were looking for!" Lucas laughed.

The two searched the uneven ground and saw what looked to be a small, grey pillar made out of mossy stone. Since it was broken, it wasn't the full height, but it was enough to see the intricate detailing on it.

"There's some sort of indent here, Lucas. If you look closely it looks like the shape of a hand". Mimosa walked forward and examined the finding.

"A hand? Shall I place my hand in it and see what happens?" Lucas asked.

"I don't see why not. I don't sense any danger with my Flower Guidepost and there is no other mana signatures apart from our squad. I think it's safe to place your hand on it", Mimosa explained to which Lucas took action after.

The Dual mage placed his right hand in the indent. Conveniently, the indent itself was of a right hand so it fit perfectly. After a few seconds of placing his hand, the faint sound of a rumble started which gained the two Golden Dawn members' attentions.

Lucas and Daisy raised their heads at the source of the noise. The rumbling got closer and closer and the two mages sweat-dropped.

"Mimosa… are you still getting no mana signatures…?" Lucas said, retreating from the stone pillar, and asking in a slight panic.

Mimosa was panicking as well. Her eyes were fixated on her spell yet she couldn't see anything. "L-Lucas, I'm telling you! There's nothing showing on here so I have no idea what's coming!"

As the two got out of the sloped ground, they saw a giant hole open from the dark-oak tree trunks that were in front of them. It opened in a large circle shape and by looking through it, you could only see complete darkness. After the rumbling sound stopped, the sound of a singular, loud hiss replaced it.

Looking into the complete darkness of the hole was short-lived as when the hissing began, a set of red eyes illuminated the vacant space.

"Are you seeing those two eyes?!" Lucas shouted, backing up with Mimosa.

"I… I do see them! Is it a Magic Beast? We… We are in a Grand Magic Zone, so does this mean...?" Mimosa started to explain but was cut off by a giant beast emerging.

As the beast emerged, a single voice filled the area which was the sound of something they never expected.

"INTRUDER DETECTED. INTRUDER DETECTED. THE STONE PILLAR HAS BEEN ACTIVATED BY A MEMBER THAT IS NOT NATIVE TO OUR CLAN. THEY MUST BE REMOVED".

The two mages started to panic. They had never heard a voice like that before and hearing what it said also raised a level of confusion.

"What sort of… voice is that? It doesn't even sound human!" Lucas asked.

"I have no clue! It sounds sort of metallic… like it's not even real!" Mimosa replied.

The Magic Beast that emerged was shaped like a snake with glowing red eyes. Its scales were completely black as well as hard and its tongue was a vicious purple colour that looked acidic. It had a set of twin tails looked like huge spears as the tips of them seemed to contain silver.

"It looks like… we're in for a fight, Mimosa!" Lucas started to prepare himself and he entered a battle stance.

Mimosa returned the stance. That was when she realised that this battle would be impossible for her. "Lucas… I have n-no attack spells!"

Lucas clenched his fists. He realised that he would have to take on two of these Grand Magic Beasts by himself.

"That's fine, Mimosa! See if you can call for help from anyone else… I'll fight them off here!" Lucas said and he turned to face the two monsters. His grimoire flicked open and he got ready to fight.

"I want to… fight! But… my needs aren't what's important right now. I'll go find the others… please, Lucas… be safe!" Mimosa ran off to find the rest of the squad.

"Thank you, Mimosa. I don't want you to be in danger so I'm glad you listened…", he thought to himself. With another set of ear-screeching roars and hisses, he started to fight.

Lucas jumped in the air with the help of his Energy Whips and he was level with the giant snake. His blue eyes looked into its red eyes and he started to fall towards it.

"Light Magic: Spark-Charged Beam!" Lucas used his left hand to bring the light from the sun in his palm. The sparkles of light simmered and formed into a powerful sphere of light and he shot it at the head of the monster.

The snake saw the attack coming and it was at a high speed. It had no time to dodge so instead of it simply hitting it on its head, the snake headbutted the Light Magic away from the forest.

"It… headbutted my spell away?" Lucas asked rhetorically. He clearly saw what happened but was shocked. "My speed increased with me using my Time mana to enhance it but it still wasn't good enough? I guess that's a Grand Magic Zone Magic Beast for you!"

He landed on the floor and looked at the snake's scales. "It's scales are extremely hard so I need an equally powerful spell to damage it".

The snake, however, wasn't going to wait around for Lucas to think of something. It quickly turned around and one of its black tails started to shine a bright purple colour. It dragged the tail back and sent it to smash into Lucas.

"Damn it, I'm not going to be quick enough to dodge…!" Lucas panicked and tried to roll away. However, that was when the tail smacked into the ground, causing it to erupt pieces of grass and soil upwards into the air.

The snake hissed again as it waited to see what the damage was. It definitely felt its tail connect with Lucas so it just needed confirmation.

As the dirt and dust clouds settled, the snake saw a faint, yellow light from where its tail had hit.

Lucas looked up and there was a stream of blood falling down from a big cut on his forehead. However, the rest of his body was fully intact.

"I'm glad I pulled off a Flashing Armour Ritual before its tail fully hit me. It managed to tank the attack, but since it was so powerful, it still managed to cut me…", Lucas stood up and sighed. He felt the cut on his forehead and a faint, purple mist came out of it and shocked his hand. "P-poison?"

The snake hissed again as its purple tongue came out. Its red eyes burned brighter and it was ready for another attack.

Lucas saw that it was readying an attack and thought of a plan. "Okay, with my Reinforcement spell, I can also power up my other spells. This means I could have enough power to damage it!"

The snake's other tail started glowing a bright silver colour. The metallic tip of it began to spin and the snake launched into the air.

"Now what?!" Lucas eyed the attack. He was still ready for his next move but seeing the Magic Beast in action was something else.

The snake looked at the tiny mage on the floor and hissed again. Its other tail's tip was spinning quickly and it looked like it almost turned into some sort of drill with the speed it was going at. As it began to fall, the snake's velocity increased with the speed and direction it was falling at. The dirt on the floor was floating and moving about because of the pressure from its spinning tail attack.

"If that hits me, I'm dead. My Flashing Armour Ritual won't protect me from an attack like that, but that's why I'm glad I've thought of something", Lucas smirked.

He waited for the snake to get close enough to his body before reacting. As it did, the mage's grimoire flicked to the right page and he let his spell do the damage.

"Time Magic: Heaven's Time!" The bottom-half of the snake was stuck in time as it was submerged in a dark-grey colour which prevented complete movement.

The snake started to struggle as it had no idea how to wriggle away from the spell.

"That's not the only thing you have to worry about…!" Lucas panted. He formed a concentrated orb of blue light in his right palm and shot it at the snake. The scales started to erode away as the Time Magic spell aged its defence and caused it to become brittle.

The Magic Beast started to scream in pain when it realised its scales were breaking apart and crumbling away. That was when a lump of something started to form in the black-coloured snake's throat.

"Is it… throwing up?" Lucas wondered out loud.

The enemy's mouth started to illuminate a strong red colour as it let out a stream of burning hot, red acid onto the floor. It first hit some flowers on the ground and they immediately turned into black ash upon contact.

Lucas found himself in the slope once more. The battle had him scrambling around and he was trapped around a small uneven area in the ground and the red acid would easily fill it up. Lucas had no idea what to do so he tried to fire off another Heaven's Time to stop time and let him escape.

However, "Time Magic: Heaven's Time!" The mage uttered, but nothing happened. Instead, a small pain filled his head and his right arm locked up for a few seconds. "Wh-what's happening? Is Cyrus's elixir not enough… or is it that I'm simply not in practice with my Time Magic?!"

It was a few seconds left before the slope would have red acid running down it. Though, before that managed to happen, Lucas saw the sky's clouds gather around and grow dark.

"World Tree Magic: Great Tree Mistilteinn!"

The roots of the Great Tree started to form just next to Lucas and they had absorbed the acidic red attack from the floor. After a few seconds, the attack had all dried up and the Great Tree bloomed as high as the other trees of the Forgotten Forest.

"Lucas, are you alright? You look like you could use some help", a voice sounded out from the distance. Upon looking closely, there was no mistake that Captain Vangeance had just saved Lucas from the snake's final attack.

"Thank you, Captain! B-But look out, the snake's…!" Lucas tried to warn but the mage smiled.

"Don't worry, Lucas!" Another familiar voice came from the opposite direction. The mage looked for the source and saw that it was the Glutton.

"Glass Creation Magic: Verre Epée!" Several strong glass swords erupted from the ground and were enough to penetrate the snake's final defences. It cried out in a final bout of pain and then slumped over. The glass swords were enough to keep it up so it didn't drop to the floor.

Lucas was shocked that the others managed to find him. In the heat of the battle, he had forgotten that he asked Mimosa to get the others for help.

Suddenly, the wind picked up and a small wind constraint formed around Lucas, pulling him up and out of the uneven ground. He landed on the floor and the source of the wind flew down to him.

"You sure got yourself in a mess", Yuno said with a playful smirk to his face.

"Haha, thanks everyone for the help…", he said as he sat down on the floor. "Mimosa and I found some stone pillar and then the next thing you know, there's a huge Magic Beast trying to kill me".

"Do you think it was guarding the entrance?" David said as he joined the group.

"I assume so with how strong it was. It must have been protecting something important", Lucas replied.


Eventually, all of the other Magic Knights joined with Lucas and the others and they all gathered around. Alecdora, Klaus, and Letoile were shocked when they saw a dead snake the size of a huge building next to them but after some explanations they understood.

Mimosa joined the group last.

"Hey guys!" She ran over, panting. "I managed to get… some people here as… quick as… possible for you, Lucas! I hope it wasn't much trouble", she recovered her breath and spoke to the mage who was sat on the floor.

"Thank you, Mimosa. I couldn't have done it without your help in getting the others!" He smiled.

Mimosa became frustrated. "I'm glad you're alright, but I should've been the one to fight with you! If only I had an attack spell, I could be so much more useful! I've been working on one on my own but nothing seems to be clicking!" She clenched her fists.

The Vermillion saw the wound on Lucas's forehead soon after and started to heal it. "Am I only a healer? A support for the rest of the squad… or can I be something more?"

After he was healed, Lucas and Mimosa started to explain what they found to the others. The stone pillar was talked about, as well as the hole where the snake appeared. Surprisingly enough, the other members did not find anything as they looked around.

"I'm sorry guys, if my magic could have detected the Magic Beast then none of this would have happened", the Vermillion said with a soft and defeated tone.

"Nonsense, Mimosa. Without your magic, then we would have never found this area. Besides, I'm sure you're wondering why you couldn't find the mana signature of the Magic Beast, right?" Vangeance said and asked.

"Thank you, Sir! And you're right… I was wondering why that was the case", the Vermillion replied.

"I can answer that", Alecdora piped up, gaining a few silent stares from the rest of the squad except for the captain. "As you know, Grand Magic Zones can mess with the very essence of mana itself. Sometimes it can enhance mana creating crazy storms and natural disasters, but at other times it can hid the very trace of mana! What you saw here was a Magic Beast that had its mana completely cloaked. It still used mana though as prove by our Captain's World Tree Magic. The roots could still absorb the mana from the snake's attack".

"Thank you, Alecdora. So, Mimosa, none of this was your fault. In fact, it's only because of you discovering the little difference in the land that we were able to come to this finding", he smiled.

"Yeah, you're definitely a Golden Dawn member!" David praised.

"I'm proud to call you a friend", Klaus mentioned.

"You go, girl!" Letoile added.

"Thank you, guys", Mimosa smiled.

After a few minutes of rest, mainly for Lucas, the group began to move again. They closed in on the hole that opened up and was the reason the monster snake emerged.

"There's an opening here and I can feel drafts of wind from the inside area. If I'm not mistaken, this is where we need to go", Vangeance said and jumped through the hole.

The other Magic Knights followed their captain. However, as they entered, the hole closed up and the group of Golden Dawn were now standing in darkness.

"Don't panic everyone, I can light this up!" Lucas said as he used his left hand to light up the area.

"Now, look at you being useful!" Alecdora sniggered. "Not going to use your Time Magic?"

"I don't need to… my Light Magic is fine for now", Lucas replied, confused as to what Alecdora was insinuating.

"Don't worry about him, Lucas. He's still in the mindset that you're lying about your magic. It doesn't take a genius to realise that you have it. We can all feel you have two mana signatures but he is just in denial", Hamon explained, wrapping his arm around the ginger-haired teen.

Alecdora bit his lip and turned around in a strop.

"I've been wondering about something. You said you could feel both of my mana signatures, so why didn't any of you mention it before I told you about it?" Lucas asked.

"Well, we never really focused on it other than what we saw initially. It's kind of like that Anti-Magic brat from the Black Bulls. We know he doesn't have magic and that was the extent of our thoughts. Just like that, I think we all gathered there was something different about you, but we didn't make it our mission or anything to figure out more. We all have secrets we want to keep so it's not good to interfere", David explained.

Everyone agreed and Lucas sighed. "So, in other words… all of you knew I was weird but didn't want to find out why", he giggled.

"Wait, that's not…", David tried to keep himself innocent but everyone's laughter made him stop.

"Enough with the games, everyone. Lucas, come to the front and lead the line with your Light Magic", William asked. Lucas agreed and got to the front.

Everyone was in single-file and they followed Lucas through the illuminated darkness. All they could see was either side of them and that was the line of dark-oak trees. It was a very cramped and narrow area they were in so they had to be careful not to run into any more danger.

"It's just trees…", Klaus said.

"And bugs…", Letoile mentioned.

After a few, long minutes of walking, the path started to branch out sideways and open up into a large clearing. With this, Lucas's Light Magic spread and more of the area started to light up. What they saw was something that blew their minds.

"It's…", Lucas began.

"… Civilisation", Yuno finished.

The Golden Dawn members stood next to each other in one line and took in their surroundings. It was some sort of town that they found within the confines of the enormous forest that they had been trying to get into.

The floor was all grey cobblestone brick and gravel. They all lined into paths that connected each seperate area with each other. Where there were no paths, there was grass, flowers, and different kids of plants that filled up the area on the floor.

In front of them was a large fountain that was covered in sticky, green moss but was still functional with extremely clean water. The moss was in place and the water filled up at the bottom. Next to the fountain were empty buckets as well as bottles and glasses.

To the left was a line of market stalls. They all had signs of them signalling what they sold but the problem was that it was all written in some other language that they had no idea what it said or meant. Each stall and building was covered in long, green vines that stretched down and almost acted like curtains with how well they hid the structures.

You could also see people hiding from the Golden Dawn. They all cowered behind the trees, the walls of the buildings, behind the fountain, as well as up in the tree branches.

To the right were a set of other buildings and the signs on them were something the Golden Dawn could understand. It didn't have any words on it, but there was a symbol for a house so it showed that people lived in them. The houses weren't only on the floor, but also in the trees as some type of treehouse. They all had a singular, dark-brown door with two windows either side. There were some single storey houses whereas others were double.

"Look at that", Klaus whispered to the rest as he pointed at the wooden and glass windows on one of the houses.

The others tried to look but all they heard were the windows closing and locking immediately.

Lucas saw a dark hand reach outside the window and it checked the lock. "It looks like the people here don't take too kindly to outsiders.

"The ceiling…", David mentioned and the rest looked up.

It was dimly lit but you could make out what it was. The ceiling had shards of some type of glowing stone plastered all over which made it look like an eternal starry night. There were types of chandeliers also hanging down with lit-up candles attached to them to further light up the place.

"Look at what the people are dressed like…", Yuno said to which the others started to examine.

A male, that looked to be around the age of 18, was the first person that Lucas scanned. He wore dark-green trousers and brown shoes that had a curled flick to them at the ends. They looked to be scaled as well with the same material as what the Magic Beast had. The males didn't wear any shirt to cover their chests, but they did have a thick and mossy fur coat that hung below their waists and on to the floor from behind. They also had a set of black antlers on their heads as well as dark markings on their faces.

Mimosa looked at one of the females that seemed to be around the same age as the male. She wore the same colour of trousers but they were more skirt-like as the ends circled around her legs. Her shoes were light-brown and open-toed with the straps going up their legs. She also didn't wear any clothing to cover her top-half except for a strong, dark-blue pad going around her chest. The females also had a set of antlers, but these were smaller and they also had the same markings on their faces.

"Everyone, remain silent and only move when I do", Captain Vangeance explained.

The people that were hiding started making noise when Vangeance and the others moved their legs to slightly move forward. As they made another step, the noises started growing louder and the civilians became agitated.

"What is their problem?!" Alecdora said with annoyance.

"Relax, we're on their territory after all", Letoile explained, also getting agitated but retaining her composure.

The group almost made it to the fountain when one member of the forest tribe ran out towards the Golden Dawn. It went to target Captain Vangeance but Alecdora stepped in to protect him.

"How dare you try to attack our Captain?! Sand Magic: Suppressing Sand Mass!" The mage started to use a spell to strike the unidentified male who came at them.

"No, Alecdora!" Vangeance tried to stop him but it was too late.

As the Sand mage summoned his spell, an army of the tribe members all surrounded the Golden Dawn and quickly restrained all of them, shoving them to the floor and tying them up with robe.

The mages couldn't make out what they were saying as it was all in a different language but all they knew was that they had become their prisoners.

"Alecdora, you idiot! Do you not listen?!" Letoile shouted, her finely built composure now no more.

"Calm down, everyone. I'm sure we'll be fine…", Klaus tried to calm the nerves of everyone.

"How can we be calm? We've been captured! Wait… I can still grab my grimoire with this so should I use a Time Magic spell? I could stop time and quickly escape these binds!" The mage thought but a touch to his arm was enough to stop that train of thinking.

It was William and he simply shook his head to stop Lucas.

After a few minutes of being trapped, a larger man walked forward. He was of the tribe and he wore the same type of clothes as the other males but the only difference was that this person was much more muscular and had the symbol of a crown cut into his chest.

"We're not going to be able to understand what he says anyway…", Alecdora said with a tone of disgust.

However, he was made to eat his words with what the muscular man said.

"Welcome to the Forgotten Forest, Magic Knights. I hope you enjoy your time here…

… in the home of the Druids".

NOTES:

Do you like the start of this original arc for Lucas and the Golden Dawn? I hope you guys do as this is a little bit of a risk with me inputting a completely new Black Clover arc like this!

The Forgotten Forest… what did you think of the backstory of this area? I plan to expand upon it soon enough. This arc will be multiple chapters so things will be answered.

The Druids are here! A new race for the Black Clover world, I believe? What do you guys think?