The leaves made crisping sounds as Arcane ran through them. The Forest was getting darker and darker with each passing moment, the density of the trees started to increase. The sharp stems of the trees were blocking the way making it hard for Arcane to slip through them. Her hair got caught in them as well, it was hurting all over but Arcane guarded the cat in her arms and caused no harm to reach it. 

“Gosh! My throat is all dry!! I wish there was water nearby” said Arcane in a desperate tone. The cat’s ears perked up and it wriggled in Arcane’s arms. “What happened?” She looked down at the cat. Arcane loosened her grip around it and allowed it to move freely, the cat hopped out of her arms and onto the leaves. It looked around the forest with the eyes of a predator, her ears high up listening intently to the sounds around them. Arcane watched as the cat observed the surroundings. And after a few minutes of silence, the cat purred and ran in a direction. Arcane, who was not ready for it, ran behind it to catch it before it got hurt.

“Stop! YOu will get lost!... I mean we are already lost but, What the hell am I talking about?’ Arcane clicked her tongue and followed the cat who had saved her a while ago, and it was the only thing that was keeping her company in the lonely dark woods. 

Slowly the darkness faded and Arcane noticed that the trees got less dense and there was a sound of water flowing coming from not far away. The cat pounced over a giant boulder and waited for Arcane to catch up.  She emerged from the last line of trees in a disheveled manner and glared at the cat that was leisurely licking its paws.

“Huff! HUff!!!” She breathed out and held onto her poor back that was hurting, “Don’t you ever do that again!” She hissed at the cat but got completely ignored. 

The sound of water was coming from that exact spot, Arcane didn’t mind the cat for a moment and looked around to find the water. She walked past the huge rock so she could see the other side.

Her steps paused, She was in a state of disbelief when she saw the other side. 

It was just like heaven on the earth. The trees that shadowed the other side were not that close allowing sunlight to penetrate through the leaves. The rays fell on the water making it glister like some precious jewels. Arcane looked down into the water, it reflected her messy hair and dirty face. She had a few leaves stuck in her hair along with some innocent twigs, Her face has small cuts due to the branches that hit her sharply when she tried to slither through them, But as her eyes moved down she saw her white slender neck, It had no bandage over it nor there was a scar left. Instead, there was a red pendant hanging down her neck. Arcane’s eyebrows twitched when she saw an unknown object dangling down her neck.

“What am I wearing?” She slowly lifted her hand. Her fingers were stinging due to the small cuts on them but she didn’t bother herself with that for a moment and grabbed the red object and pulled it away from her neck. She opened her palm and looked at the crystal sandglass filled with shiny red sand.

“It is a tiny hourglass...Did I steal it from Symon’s home?” Arcane pondered over it, as she stared at the pendant in her palm. Her eyebrows slowly parted when she noticed an odd phenomenon. The wounds on her hand slowly started to fill up, the redness disappeared and new skin replaced it. 

Arcane’s heart skipped out of her chest and she threw the pendant away before jumping in the opposite direction. The pendant fell into the water.

“What was that?...” Arcane examined her hand that was fully cured unlike the other, where she wasn’t holding the pendant. “Did it just heal me?” 

Arcane crawled back towards the water and looked at her flawless neck. “I am sure that the doctor said it would take a few months to heal completely. Her eyes narrowed with curiosity until she saw the pendant inside the water, it had landed among the rocks at the bottom, and the red sand slowly escaped the crystal. The shiny red sand mixed with the water and reached the side where Arcane sat, her knees were resting on a small weed, Arcane pulled back to avoid the contaminated water from touching her, but slowly and steadily the water touched the weed that was trampled under Arcane's knees, And miraculously the dead weed and a few other wilted flowers started to change color, The yellow leaves of the dead masses turned green, and started to gain life.

“Wow!!” Arcane’s eyes opened wide when she saw the magnificent scene. The sand kept on oozing out of the crystal and gave life to everything that had died off. While Arcane was mesmerized, the cat who was looking at Arcane from up the boulder decided to take action, it jumped into the water and bit the chain of the pendant. It swam out of the water while holding the almost empty crystal and placed it in her palm. 

‘MEoW!!’ It said as if telling her to not do stupid stuff to it.

“Now that I think about it...Arcane told me that my character could use magic...Was it true or was it just a stupid dream?” Arcane mumbled to herself and lifted the pendant to her eye level. The sand inside the crystal had almost run out.

“Ahm...Let me try something,” Arcane took a deep breath and lifted her hand. She decided to chant something. “Bibbidy Bobbady boo!!” She blinked a few times and expected something miraculous to happen but not a single leave moved from its place. 

“Darn it! I was getting happy for no reason.” She clicked her tongue and wore the pendant around her neck again. She got up from the grass and patted away the mud from her skirt, 

“Wait a minute! Where am I going?” She looked around with distress. “Should I just run away? If I am not part of the story I bet I won’t get killed for poisoning Sorase.” Arcane bit her finger while thinking.

‘MEow! The cat called out. Arcaen glanced down at the small creature who was slowy walking away from the water. “What?” she asked.

“Meow!!” THe cat responded and continued to walk away.

“Do you want me to follow you?” Arcane asked, to which the cat purred gently. Arcane followed the cat silently as it seemed to know what it was doing.