Crown Prince Lail's feet barely touched the damp ground as he darted between the lean tree trunks, his breath forming small fogs before him in the cool forest, his dark hair sticking to his face. He sprinted through the roiling mists as they swirled around his ankles, settling on his damp skin.
The originally bleak forest was made even more bleaker as the lingering mists muted the black leaves and branches on the giant trees and foliage.
With every piece of landscape and terrain looking exactly the same, it was an arduous task for anyone to find their way around. That is, anyone except for the Crown Prince that had wandered between the Ocean of Blood and the lands of the Amayan Empire since the age of 9.
As Crown Prince Lail moved deeper into the mists, his black Myif started snarling and growling, resisting to move forward. Left with no choice, he jumped off the beast and let it go, entering the wandering mists on his own.
Now, as he navigated his way through the bleak environment, thunderous roars and growls reached his ears. Pulling out his sword, he cautiously moved in the opposite direction of the growls.
The Speaking Ink Tree had not given him the specific location of the Heart of Mistland as the heart had spiritual intelligence that allowed it to ward against intruders. As such, he had to seek for the location of the heart on his own.
Searching for one specific spot in an entire land shrouded in mist would have been an impossible task for anyone. Because one, it was difficult to navigate through the shifting mists.
And two, the region of the heart was a utopia for the magical creatures, resulting in the majority of the wild creatures and beasts living within the heart of the land to gather around its vicinity.
Through their close proximity with the heart, the magical beasts had higher chances of evolving physically and intelligently while acquiring new abilities that made them tougher opponents to deal with.
And entering such territories that were home to beasts of all species was tantamount to willingly walking into the jaws of death. If the magical beasts did not kill the intruder, than the very air of the land itself would.
Because the air was infected with elemental magic.
Elemental magic was magic formed from the composition of the seven elements. They were fire, water, earth, wood, air, light, and darkness. And this elements formed naturally in the vicinity of the heart that was the source of life and magic in a realm.
Breathing in the air of a region that was infected with naturally formed elemental magic was poisonous to ordinary beings.
Only beings that had magic in their bloodline could easily breath in such poisonous air, as their magic bloodline contained scant traces of elemental magic that would freely interact with the magic in the heart of the land, allowing them to breath in the poisonous air without any difficultly.
It was also that scant trace of elemental magic in their bloodline that allowed magical creatures and beings to practice magic.
Aside from the Crown Prince of the Amayan Empire, no other high ranking figure in the entire seven realms had ever willingly entered the heart of a realm's land without knowing whether or not they possessed magic in their veins.
As such, Crown Prince Lail's action was no different from committing suicide.
"I have no intention of dying within the Heart of Mistland. My wife's whereabout is still unknown, and to see her again, I need to be alive." Thinking as such, Crown Prince Lail strayed far from the beast infested regions, only concentrating on gathering clues that could lead him to the heart of the land.
Although he moved into the opposite direction of the beasts, the roars behind him did not decrease. Increasing his speed, the Crown Prince swiftly moved through the mist covered black forest, heading deeper into the wandering mist.
The roars of the beasts insistently increased in volume and might, turning into heavenly shockwaves that shook the black trees, uprooting them from their nests. The ground violently trembled, lifting the fallen trees into the air through the vibrations.
From his blind spot, a huge tree came hurling into Crown Prince Lail, sending him shooting through the air. Leaves and branches snapped and fluttered about as he went crashing through them, falling roughly into a huge gap in the wandering mist that glowed with a black light.
His body flew through the gap and with a splash, he landed in the middle of a lake, its deep, black water veiled under the misty cloak of the mist and dark forest.
"Am I really going to die here? My wife, what will happen to her?" The instant this thought entered his mind, his body sunk under the black water.
Something seemed to pull on his figure as it attempted to drag him down to the bottom of the black lake.
Crown Prince Lail struggled to swim back to the surface as he flailed his hands and legs, desperately thrashing against the black water that only seemed to pull more strongly on his figure the harder he struggled.
"No, I cannot die here!" Crown Prince Lail loudly growled in his mind, his dark eyes flashing with unshakeable determination.
With a final thrash that contained all the strength left in his battered body, he lunged upwards.
However, at this exact instant, a black-blue light viciously slammed into his body, engulfing his entire body in a blue-black glow. A violent flash of light burst from his core in response, shooting right through his body.
It exploded outwards across the black water, a massive pulse of glowing dark light that spread throughout the lake.
Pain, immense and boundless shot through his body. Crown Prince Lail cried out a ragged sound before fainting. His still body convulsed in a rigid arch, muscles clenched and straining. An anguished moan rattled out between his gritted teeth, the sound of torment beyond bearing.
After a long moment where moans and groans resounded throughout the black water, the Crown Prince's body stopped twitching, slowly drifting to the bottom of the lake.
And from the bottom of the lake, a large sinuous creature, with glowing dark eyes and flowing whiskers, slowly drifted upwards towards the Crown Prince's floating figure, stopping just right below his descending body. The unconscious Crown Prince landed softly on the back of the huge blue-black creature.