(AN.: Before we start, I need to apologize. I got a bit too busy juggling all of the RL stuff that was thrown at me. The storm is hopefully passing now, and I am doing my best to re-create the backlog I have just used up.
Again, apologies for this short hiatus. Those that followed my other novel, The Last Primal, should already know that it's very rare for such situations to happen.)
---
As if crossing through an imaginary border, the previously sparse oak-brown barrier of trees changed. The light tones of brown, green, and blue transformed into their more ominous, darker shades.
The inner regions of this mythical forest were vastly different. What seemed like an impassive wall, an uncrossable barrier from the other side, felt as if Lucien stepped out from the land of dreams delving deeper into the border between reality and nightmares.