FIVE

"Well this is different from what I expected." Isabel commented as they took their first look around. 

"Right! I was expecting moss covered trees and the floor to be caked in thick mud but… this is beautiful." She beamed. 

After their moment of awe passed, they continued their trail deeper into the woods. As they got further and further the trees became taller and thicker until eventually there was no sky to be seen, ultimately consuming them. It wasn't until that point that Elaine began to feel slightly anxious, and just a little claustrophobic. 

"You uh… you don't think there could be anything hiding around here, do you?" She quizzed with a humourless laugh. 

"Honestly, I can't be certain. I mean, at first it was magical, when you could still see the sky and everything, but now that we are surrounded by trees that seem to scrape the sky, it is a little daunting." Isabel responded, taking her eyes away from a particular tree which seemed to have carvings in its bark. 

Elaine didn't speak again and gave her best friend a nod. She stopped for a moment to take another look at the map. With a forest like this, she couldn't be certain that they were still heading in the right direction. It was safer to double check before going any further. 

Looking back and forth between the map and what was ahead of them, her eyes lingered on the path in front. Something about it seemed different to what was shown on the map. A look of panic flashed on her face as she turned to her best friend and held the piece of paper up for her to see. 

Isabel looked at the map, then at the path ahead and then at Elaine. Both girls were thinking the exact same thing. They were lost. It felt almost as if their surroundings were trying to trick them, as though the forest had come to life. 

"Which path should we take from here?" Isabel asked, looking around at their different options.

"That's the thing… I don't know. The path we are currently on looks different from the path shown on the map." Elaine explained. 

"So we are lost." The fairy concluded in frustration. 

"Pretty much, but I'm sure that we can figure this out." She reassured, as confidently as she could. 

The truth was that she wasn't so sure. Without being able to follow the map, it would take a lot longer to reach their destination and a lot more thought to ensure that they choose the right direction. But there was no possible way of knowing which path was the right one since they had never travelled outside of Delphi before. 

If they randomly chose then they could end up further away from their destination and lost for a long time, or even worse… it could put them in danger. Both girls began to think long and hard about which one was the right path, during which they exchanged a lot of looks and glanced around the forest carefully for any signs that might help them make the right choice. 

"This is hopeless! How are we ever supposed to choose right when we have nothing to confirm it!" Isabel grumbled in frustration. 

"I know, I know alright, just calm down. We will figure this one out together." Elaine soothed, feeling equally as frustrated although she did not show it. 

"Oh yeah, how?" She questioned, skeptical of her friend's words. 

"Well…there was a tree with carvings in right? Maybe we should take a look and see if it holds any information." She stated, clicking her fingers. 

Dismounting her snow white horse, she hurried over to the tree that they had not long ago passed and began to carefully examine the carvings. It was a long shot but she had hope that this would be able to point them in the right direction. 

She managed to make out a few letters followed by some symbols and some kind of picture attempt. Looking a little harder, she noticed that one of the symbols was an arrow that pointed East. With an eagerness building up, she looked over the rest of the carvings again.

The letters appeared to be some kind of initials. So far she had managed to make out the letters U and W with an arrow pointing East. The only thing she could not work out was the attempted picture carving. 

"Issy! I think I found something useful!" She called out, causing her best friend to come rushing over to the tree. 

The fairy came to an abrupt stop before she could crash into Elaine and took a look at what had been discovered. She too, examined the attempted picture carefully, in the hopes that she could uncover a meaning behind it. For a moment the two girls studied it hard, searching their heads for any possible answers. 

"If you look carefully, those two bits kinda look like a flame shape." Isabel pointed out. 

Elaine's eyes widened as she began to see the image of flames and once she had grasped that picture, the rest of the carving became a lot clearer in her mind. Above the flame carving, there appeared to be a mountain shape with a throne carved in the centre. 

"Looks like this may have been left by someone who attempted this journey a long time ago… I think we should follow the path that heads East and see where it takes us." She concluded with an eager grin. 

Racing over to their horses, the girls were quick to mount them and begin riding off in the direction that the carvings had shown them. Elaine had regained her confidence as the path quickly began to resemble the one that was shown on the map.