VI

THE FOREST

Miko stood in front of Aria who was sitting in front of him with a notebook and pen in her hands.

"So these are the rules of the forest;

1. Respect the forest

2. Do not go out without permission of the leader

3. Do not harass any of the inhabitants of the forest

4. Do not ask questions about anyone's past, any knowledge must be freely tendered

5. No fighting or bullying

6. No criminal activities

7. No going to restricted boundaries, that's all"

"What are the restricted areas?" Aria asked.

"There is a sign which reads 'restricted, do not enter at the front of those areas," Riya told her.

"Okay, I won't go to those areas," Aria said solemnly.

"you will be on probation for one month, so please try not to break any of these rules because Kael won't hesitate to throw you out" Miko pleaded with her.

"And your memory of your experience here would be wiped, I am not sure you would want to lose any part of your memory," Riya added.

Aria looked at her in surprise, "My memory would be wiped? How?" she asked.

"By the witches" Riya replied.

"There are witches here?"

" of course, it's the forest of outcasts, most of them ran here after the king made witchcraft illegal," Miko told her.

"remember Aria, you can't ask anybody about their past or if they are witches or not, they have to tell you on their own" Riya reminded her.

"What about you guys, can I ask you?" Aria asked them.

"Of course, we don't have anything to hide," Riya told her.

"We are normal people, we were in a band of orphans in Eldorada, and the King guards chased us out, we were bad for the perfect aesthetic, Eldorada wanted to portray. Kael's father found the both of us wandering outside the forest and took us in, we have stayed here ever since." Miko explained to her.

"And then you two fell in love and got married, awwn so romantic," Aria said wistfully.

Miko laughed at Aria's words while Riya blushed.

"I think we should all go to bed, It's getting late," Miko told Aria.

"ok, have a good night's rest". Aria told them.

The couple smiled at her before entering their room. Ana relaxed on the bed they had made for her in the living room. For the first time since she left Eldorada, she felt safe.

THE NEXT MORNING

Aria made her way out of the house. Miko and Riya had already left a while ago, Riya had told her to meet her at the school in the forest where she worked and that was where Aria was headed, Riya had already given her the directions, and she hoped she wouldn't lose her way.

She kept looking around as she walked, fascinated by everything she was seeing. She saw a group of three girls standing in a circle chanting softly while a soft purple light glowed around them, she paused her walk to stare at them open-mouthed, she had never seen such a sight before.

However, her fascination wasn't looked upon kindly by the girls. They stopped their chanting and glared at her.

"Who are you and what the hell are you looking at?" One of them who appeared to be their leader asked Aria.

"My name is Aria, I just moved here newly" Aria Introduced herself with a friendly smile on her face.

The girls didn't look pleased with her introduction, Instead, they stared at her with more hostility.

"And where did you come from?"

"Eldorada" Aria answered.

The look of hostility on the girl's face morphed into disgust.

"Eldorada? And who gave you the permission to stay here?" the leader asked.

"Uhm Kael did"

"leader Kael to you, I don't know how you managed to bewitch him to let you stay here, he doesn't accept Eldorada trash" she replied.

Aria stared at them in surprise, she didn't know what she had done to deserve their hostility.

"with due respect, I don't know what I could have possibly done for you guys to treat me this way, I am not trash and if you don't mind, I would like to leave," Ana told them

she made her way to leave but they stepped in front of her and blocked her path. And looked around but nobody was in sight.

"What are you doing?" She asked worriedly.

"I didn't give you permission to leave," the leader told her.

"This is harassment and it's against the rules" She pointed out to them.

"Nah! You were the one who harassed us first"

"How?" Aria asked in a confused voice.

"you were the one who stopped to ogle at us as we did our forbidden Magic, for all we know you could be a spy from Eldorada" the leader told her with an arrogant smirk on her face.

Aria stared into her arrogant face and a fuse Iit inside her. She decided that she was done with bullies thinking they could dictate her life. Neither Lila nor this Witch in front of her would push her around her anymore. She pushed the leader back.

"I did nothing to you and I won't stand around to let you make up ridiculous claims," she told her.

The next thing that happened shocked her, the leader seized her by the hair.

"Who do you think you are to talk to me like that?" She snarled in Aria's face.

"I am Aria and I am done with bullies like you" she replied and then she seized the leader's hair.

The two of them held each other's hair and kicked at each other. The two remaining girls stood by the side, completely stunned. This was the first time somebody was standing up to their leader.

"What's going on here?" A male voice rang out with authority.

They ceased their fighting and looked at the newcomer in shock, It was Kael.

"Don't make me repeat myself" he told them.

The leader released Aria and pointed at her accusingly.

"She started it," She told Kael.