The Road of the Elements

The travelers

The Forest of Dreams was an impenetrable jungle filled with nothing but the echoes of your breathing and the flora around you. At least, that's what the people that survive their journey's through the woods say. Sometimes people take a gamble and have their bets blow up in their face. Such was the life of the group of Esther. The travellers all left their homes, for various reasons. The forest was the only option they had if they wished to continue their journey. The time was turning to night, with the cicadas around them and the setting sun providing the only light under the leaves.
"We should set up a camp here."-said a man wearing a black cloak as he stepped in front of the group-"Tomorrow we can continue"
While not ecstatic about being stuck in the woodlands, the rest of the group had to agree that continuing in the night was even worse. Soon, five tents stood in a circle around a campfire with the cloaked man feeding it some dry wood pieces.
"That would be the last of our supplies. Boreas could you please go and cut a tree down?"
"Fine. I will be back soon."A man wearing a brown leather jacket and black pants stood up from the ground and walked over to one of the tents, went inside and brought out an axe. With the tool in hand, Boreas (because that was his name) walked away into the darkness. But, soon enough, he was back with five logs of an evergreen tree, chopped up into smaller bits and placed into a bag, which he laid next to Mars. He put down the axe next to it and went into his tent to hit the hay, leaving only the black-cloaked man, Esther, another woman named Olivia and a man named Cornelius around the flames of the campfire.
"Well, this was fun, I will go to sleep now," Said Cornelius as he stood up and walked towards the tents.
"Yeah, we will go too" With that, Esther and Olivia entered their tents. Mars was left alone next to the fire, its glow being the only thing to provide light on that moonless night. The firewood crackled and the wind blew around the fallen leaves of the early fall. Mars had stayed at the campfire, sitting on a log and watching the flames.

By midnight, the glow of the bonfire was almost gone when Esther stepped out of her tent to stretch. After her eyes adjusted to the darkness around her, she realised Mars was gone. Her panic only increased after she heard creaking from the branches above her. She looked up and saw a humanoid figure sitting on them. She stepped back in fear, breaking a stick in half. Esther stumbled, but she quickly regained balance and stared at the person on the tree.
Suddenly, the one sitting on the tree spoke "Did I scare you?" It was Mars, of course.
"You think?" she said in a slightly raised tone.
"Can you outrage just a bit louder?!"
"Why are you not in your tent?"
"I've got a bad feeling about this place. I just couldn't sleep..."
"You are paranoid Mars. Just go to bed..."
Suddenly, the last embers of the campfire burned out. They were left in complete darkness. The air got chilly, the wind picked up. All the bushes started rustling. Esther got the feeling she was being watched. As she turned around to look at the nearest bush, a pair of red eyes stared back from the leaves. Esther stepped back as a black wolf jumped out to attack her. She closed her eyes, ready to get bit. But the pain never came, as Mars jumped down from the branches, striking the wolf with a steel blade. The beast yelped and jumped back into the shadows.
"You said I am paranoid?! EVERYONE! WAKE UP"
But there was no response, the tents stayed quiet. Both of them suspected what that meant but they hoped they were wrong. The wolves now slowly approached them, giving them a chance to observe the beasts. They were smaller than average wolves, Their fur was black and looked almost transparent. The bright red eyes lacked all the features that they were supposed to have. Their claws dug into the dirt without effort as they stepped forward, The snow-white fangs in the creatures' jaws were shiny even in complete darkness. The creature was interrupted by Mars
He struck forward with his blade, but as a wolf fell back, another one took its place, while Esther tried her best to keep the attackers from injuring her, but the strikes from the creatures began landing. But as the wolves pounced to finish the two off, a bright blue light appeared in the distance. Suddenly a pair of light blue crystals flew in, hitting the wolves, making them vanish immediately. The light from the projectiles made the rest of them jump back in fear. As Mars glanced over his shoulder, he saw Cornelius standing between the tents. He snapped his fingers, making more of the crystals appear to attack the wolves. Soon enough, all that remained was the blue light that the crystals emitted. With the last crystal breaking on a tree, Mars, Esther and Cornelius were left in silence, staring at each other.
"Consider your next words very carefully, Cornelius. What happened to the others?"
"I managed to save Boreas and Via from the wolves. I am surprised neither of you noticed the lights..."
"We were kinda distracted."
Soon enough the first lights of the morning sun appeared on the horizon, shining a light on the three of them, with Boreas and Via soon joining them. Mars looked to the other four travellers, sighed, then stabbed his sword into the ground and sat down next to it.
"Alright, where do we go now?"
"Well, we will get out of this forest... The next city should be just thirty kilometres away from the edge of the woods. There, we can decide on our next course of action."-said Cornelius while staring at a map-"That being said, the next major city is still two days of walking away."
"Great... Olivia, how are our supplies looking?"
"Could be better. We have food for one day at most."-she replied while looking into her bag-"Not to mention three of our tents are now useless since the wolves ripped into them, so we need to replace those."
"Well that's not good, but I guess we can get food from the next city alongside a new pair of tents. The good thing is the situation can't get worse... Wait no I take that ba-"
"Sorry... I got bit by one of the wolves..."-Esther said as she held her arm.
"FOR GOODNESS SAKE! Cornelius, do your thing!"
"Let's see... Mhhh yes, that is blood. I'm going to need something... Via, Boreas, I need you two to get me pigmy saffron. They have a yellow glow, even Mars could find it."-he said while taking out some bandages from his bags-"What are you two waiting for? The pigmy saffron will not bring itself here."
The two of them nod before they walk into the darkness.
"Are you sure they'll be fine?"
"I hope so. Otherwise, I just sent two of my closest friends to die."
The three of them were left in silence, with Cornelius tending to Esther's wound and Mars looking at the sky. But after a couple minutes of silence, the sounds of Boreas screaming echoed through the forest, filling the small clearing and grabbing the attention of all three, even the half-asleep Mars. The scream, breaking the silence of the Forest of Dreams.