She walked around, observing every little nook and cranny of the environment she journeyed to. In the near distance, on the same path she took, there was a humble cabin. Unfortunately for her, the source of the poisoned land lay ahead of her, past the tiny mark of civilization. She could only hope there were no people around to see her. But today seemed full of bad luck.
"Hello there! Is there something I can help you with?" The tip of a finger tapped Irene's shoulder from behind. The girl yelped in surprise and jumped ten feet away, staring at the touch's owner with panic and fear scribbled on her disoriented face. The first thing she noticed about the man was his giant hair. She couldn't stop staring. She'd never seen anyone with such poofy, thick hair that could stand up like that! But, then again, she hadn't encountered a live human in a very long time.
"Do you need oil for a lantern? I can sell you some," he said. Irene shook her head, not once taking her eyes off of him. The man with an afro inched closer. "Strange things are happening in these woods. It seems like it's coming from over there." He pointed up ahead. Irene could tell the area he gestured was plagued. "See, there's this Forest Temple over yonder. But don't be afraid. I locked it. Don't want any of them monsters coming after us! So, anyway, you sure you don't need any lantern oil? You'd be much safer if you could see at all times."
Noticing how he was now in arms-reach, she screamed, "G-Get away from me!" and ran for the Forest Temple.
"Hey wait! It's not safe! Where are you going?!" the man called, left with confusion.
Irene found herself staring at a dense purple fog covering the entire forest floor. Standing on the dock, she looked down but couldn't make out the ground, if there was ground to begin with. She thought of using her wind abilities to push the fog aside, but she didn't want to spread it to other areas of the forest, especially if it turned out to be poison to the trees. Her only option was to light up the path herself. Snapping her fingers, she ignited a flame and held out her hand so the flame could grow to the size of her palm. She was about to step into the miasma when, out of the corner of her eye, a monkey with a pink flower in its ear approached and stared at the girl with the kindling flame.
"Well hello, little one," she smiled gently. "Something wrong?" The monkey took Irene's free hand and pulled, making extraneous chimp sounds in urgency.
"Oh, I see. You want me to come with you into the depths of this place. Then, by all means, please lead the way. I'm grateful. I'll light the way as much possible for you." She walked hand in hand with the monkey into the fog. Her fire burned more passionately, riding of the mist in their way. On the path, there were a few enemies that approached but were easily defeated. She was determined to help this poor forest and its inhabitants.
Finally reaching the end of the mist, the monkey released the hand of its light bearer. Irene arrived at the locked gate.
"Now, how to open this," she pondered. "It's metal... It would take too long to melt, and a slice of air would be too weak. I need water." She gazed up at the green leaves above the gate. "I'm sorry," she mumbled as she held her hand out to the leaves, watching them turn brown while she sucked the water from them. A blob of water now tingled her fingertips. She used her free hand to gently stroke in one direction around the blob, lengthening it into a flowing, flexible line, similar to a whip. With one end connected to her hand, she made a whipping motion against the lock. The water wrapped itself around the lock. Freezing the lock, she used the water to pull as hard as she could until the metal lock shattered and fell to the floor in pieces. The gate was now open.
Ignoring the frivolous talking bird, who also had a hairstyle similar to that of the man she encountered, Irene and the monkey entered the temple. While the monkey stayed around the entrance, debating on whether or not it should go in or leave, Irene kept going, facing any challenge she came across.
