Ponfail Forest

*Creak*

The servant's heart stops as he accidentally makes a sound.

Katrina looks over in his direction; at this point, being terrified is an understatement.

"What's taking you so long?" Lawrence pokes his servant.

Letting out a sudden gasp in terror, he took a deep breath and returned to his composure.

Lawrence shoves himself in front of his servant, curious about what may be happening.

The room reveals to him the massacre Katrina has brought upon her house servants.

"Daddy!" Like a little girl, she's happy to see her father, ignoring everything she has done.

"Oh, my little princess, looks like I'm not the only one keeping busy." Lawrence cracks a joke.

Katrina giggles as if she was a dorky girl who had accidentally broken her toys.

"Yeah, I had loads of fun!" Katrina says in excitement.

Just like an average, sane child, Katrina speaks to her father without regard for what she did, as if it didn't just happen.

Lawrence's servant still can't stop sweating from just looking upon the atrocity Katrina inflicted.

Nervous to his core, he promises to be more loyal to his master and the young miss than ever before.

"How has your toy been treating you?" Lawrence says.

"It's why I asked you here," Katrina puts on a serious face.

"Oh, tell me about it," Lawrence responds.

Katrina starts complaining about Zac and the un-easy way of controlling him.

"I understand your frustration. I had thought about the inconvenience this would pose when I first tested him; after two years, we are close but not close enough for test trials.You will have to keep him close to you until we are ready. Okay?" Lawrence comforts Katrina.

Katrina continues to complain about how much she struggles daily due to Zac.

Bothered by the constant complaints, Lawrence orders Katrina to clean up her mess since no one is left alive to do it for her, and this brings on more complaints.

Lawrence leaves the mansion after leaving her to do the cleaning.

For Katrina, cleaning would be something she could never do in her lifetime, so she orders Zac to do the cleaning.

Unfortunately for both, Zac doesn't know how to clean either, maybe dusting off shelves and doing the dishes, but what is he supposed to do with dead bodies?

It's not like Zac is contemplating how to do it; he just picks up a broom and starts sweeping away at the bodies as if they were dirt on the floor.

Needless to say, the bodies only budge but don't go anywhere.

So, how does Katrina respond to such a problem?

She doesn't; she had already left the dungeon once she gave her order.

Reminded of how the bugs ate away at the previous victims, Zac's next thought was to drag the bodies to the cells and flip the switch.

He stood there, thinking he had already fulfilled his order, waiting again, as always.

~[3 Days Later]

Katrina now has Zac doing every chore in the house, from doing dishes, laundry, cooking, and everything that took 20 servants to do is now Zac's responsibility.

Ultimately, he also fails at everything he is ordered to do.

The task was complete, but from broken dishes, wrinkled wet dresses, and food that looked and tasted like dead rodents were now daily for Katrina; it also put a strain on Zac.

He had collapsed almost every hour of the day, woke up, and went back to work.

It was disastrous.

Although Zac's obedience was unwavering, his mentality also took its toll from Katrina screaming at him for his failures, making him even more tired.

The first emotions he's shown in two years were drowsiness, his eyes always starting to shut slowly, but it did not stop him from doing his work.

When Zac goes outside to do the laundry, he spots a raven circling him; on its foot is a letter carrier.

Zac watches the raven as his hands also scrub Katrina's dress.

"Don't you dare rip my dress by scrubbing too hard like last time!" Katrina yells.

Katrina goes outside to berate Zac and finds the Raven circling in the sky.

Katrina orders Zac to kill the raven.

Immediately, Zac pulls out his trustee knife strapped to his side and throws it at the raven, killing it instantly.

Katrina then orders him to pick it up and show it to her as she does not want filth touching her smooth hands.

Picking it up, Zac brings it over to Katrina, where she carefully picks out the note strapped to the raven's leg, opens it up, and reads what's inside.

"It's a note from father!" Katrina excites.

The same puppy face she always makes when her father is involved glows up as soon as she starts reading.

`Dear Katrina,

I have found the last ingredient to create a better drug to help you with your situation.

Sadly I am far from its location, so I have hired new servants for you that will be arriving in four days, as I will be having your toy fetch the ingredient for me with men I have sent who will also arrive with the servants. I know you may feel uncomfortable letting your toy go for a while, but for two years, he has been without exercise and training, which will be needed if he is to protect you.

Oh, and do be best on your best behavior, please, and do not kill these new ones, as it has been getting harder to find servants since your little incident.

From - Father`

Reading the last sentence, Katrina pouts as if she is being nagged.

"It seems your going away for a while. I can't wait to finally get a new and improved version of you!" Katrina says in excitement.

Throughout the four-day wait, until the new servants arrive, Katrina has put all the work on Zac again without change.

Four days pass and Zac is now ordered to obey the men that seem to be a part of the bandit group Lawrence leads.

Leaving Katrina alone, the servants did not arrive until later, which put Katrina in a bad mood.

Zac and the group set off to Ponfail Forest.

A forest where the unknown resides, a dangerous forest that hasn't been fully discovered due to the high density of fog that never seems to fade away deep into the forest, but if you think that fog is what makes it dangerous, you would be mistaken.

The fog makes it hard to navigate through.

You can lose sight of your hand if you reach out in front of you, but what makes the fog?

That is the question that explorers, adventurers, and even historians need help to figure out.

The forest is not in a mountain, so it does not even come close to the clouds, and it can't be a cloud because even on the sunniest days when no clouds reside, it stays there, as still as possible, leaving everyone to question its existence.

Even when everyone knows it isn't a cloud, it's still compared to one.

The fog isn't the only thing that stays still; the temperature never drops or rises an inch above it stays at an exact temperature where it isn't too hot or cold, but just right.

In this forest, inside the fog, are numerous plants that can only grow in such an environment that it doesn't grow anywhere else, and one of the plants is called SilverLeaf Saffron.

Though it's called SilverLeaf, it's anything but that.

It is a silver-colored moss that grows partway in the forest of Ponfail, and as far as anyone has gotten when entering, the type of area you would mark danger zone on the map.

The moss is a drug in of itself rather than just an ingredient, and it gives the effects of Ether except more advanced and better than anything else.

Though not entirely the same, with every upside has its downsides.

First, the moss is a rarity, meaning it cannot be mass-produced nor keep Zac in a state of hypnosis for as long as they want.

Second, it can create immunity against poisons, including ether.

If the drug were to dissipate, it could completely screw with Zac's mind.

Lastly, The moss can give the person who takes it supernatural healing abilities, meaning Zac is more likely to snap out of his hypnosis-induced state and be even more potent than he is now.

So why Is Lawrence giving the drug to Zac?

Instead, he's not.

Zac is but a tool to Lawrence, and Lawrence will use this moss to make himself more powerful than he already is.

At the entrance of Ponfail, Zac and the bandits stop as they meet a person who guards the forest.

"Stop! That'll be 10 Solars if you wanna enter." The guard demands.

"What the hell did you just say to me?!" The group leader replies.

A commotion breaks between the group leader and the guard, but ultimately they end up paying the entrance fee and make their way into the forest.

You would think that these bandits would fear for their lives as soon as they entered due to the rumors, but no, these arrogant men know no fear as they had never risked their lives before and could only ever hurt the weak as they drown themselves in alcohol and the poor's hard earned money.

It is dog-eat-dog from their world point of view.

Only ten minutes into the forest do the bandits finally torment Zac as if they had been so eager to from the moment they laid eyes on him.

Thus marks the journey in a forest filled with evil bandits, Zac, and the unknown that haunts Ponfail.