"Well. It's time. Please stay safe out there and most importantly, get those ingredients and save my baby!" Tyler ordered.
"Dad?"
"I'm not your father until the girl is safe. So hurry up!"
Jinx activated a magic circle and everyone in it teleported to a forest.
"Welcome to the mystical forest! The place where all kinds of magic and magical freaks dwell! Have fun finding my ingredients! I'll keep the girl company! Don't die! I'll be back in a month so be back here at this circle by then or get left behind!!! Okay, Bye~~~" Jinx immediately reactivated the circle then left.
πππ² π
"Why the hell did she leave like that!?" Ryder complained.
"No use complaining now." Leo shrugged.
"Yes." Dexter agreed.
"Sigh, guess we're on our own." Ryder sighed.
"Should we separate?" Dexter asked.
"I don't know if splitting up is a good idea," Leo stated.
"It is. We need to get all of the ingredients in under a month. Splitting up is best." Ryder agreed with Dexter.
"But..."
"But nothing. We're splitting up." Ryder asserted.
"I apologise. I thought it was a decent idea..." Dexter apologised to Leo. He regretted speaking.
"Don't apologise for a good idea because one person doesn't agree!" Ryder scolded.
"...Are you mad at me?" Leo asked. He felt attacked.
"...I just want to be alone. The task isn't that hard we don't have to be together," Ryder answered.
"I understand." Leo looked around and noticed there was a perfect three-way fork in the path. "I'll go left."
"I'll take right. Dex you go straight ahead." Ryder instructed.
"Understood." Dexter nodded.
"Be careful guys." Leo waved at the two.
"You as well." Dexter smiled.
"You too man." Ryder started before heading down his path.
πππ±πππ« - ππππ¦, πππ² π.
Dexter walks in his determined direction focused on his note trying to figure out what the things on the list are.
'Honeywater comes across as the most straightforward. I assume it is simply diluted, honey.'
And so Dexter begins his first quest, Finding a tree with a beehive on it. After two hours of searching, he stumbled upon a wooden house. Logically he enters and begins searching the place. I mean when's the last time something bad happened from doing that, right?
It was a delightfully spacious and decently decorated house. The only spot left to check was the kitchen which Dexter saved for last. When he got to the door he realised there were people inside.
There were two guys. They both had dark skin, dark hair and red eyes. They looked around 17. One was 5'8 and the other was 5'7. They seemed to be identical twins.
"I refuse." The taller one asserted.
"What do you mean you refuse? I'm making pizza and that's final!" The shorter one argued.
"We had that last time!!! I want to cook chicken!"
"And I don't want to eat your nasty chicken!!!" The shorter one yelled back in a mocking tone. "I'd rather eat dirt than eat your chicken."
"You wanna fight, BRO!?"
"Sure. If I win I cook and if you win you cook." He declared closing his book.
"Deal." He picked up an axe that immediately started glowing red.
The taller guy then charged at the shorter guy in front of him.
His supposed brother quickly blocked the attack with a sword that was glowing purple, "Not in here, idiot. I don't want your blood all over my clean kitchen."
"You mean your blood." He corrected.
"No, I meanβ"
Dexter realized they were going to leave the room and began sneaking away.
The shorter one who had impeccable hearing heard the footsteps and ordered, "Stop." Dexter froze. He wasn't sure if they were talking to him. "Who are you?"
Dexter did not respond. He hoped that they weren't aware of his presence.
After a moment of silence, the taller one yelled, "Come out now!"
Dexter revealed himself with his hands above his head.
"Wow! Your footsteps were quite light for someone so tall! I barely heard them. Hello, stranger. My name isβ"
"Shut up. Don't tell him our names!" The taller one hit the other one over the head.
"If you want him to talk you have to be friendly!" He hit the taller guy back.
"Ah, yes. I'm sure anyone would be friendly to the guy that just broke into their house, right? No. No, they wouldn't!" The taller one scolded his supposed brother.
'...They do not appear to like each other. Are they truly siblings or am I mistaken?'
"Why the hell are you in our house!?" His words were now for Dexter.
"Shelter," Dexter answered.
"Whoa." He was stunned by Dexter's deep voice.
The shorter guy took advantage of his supposed brother being stunned and asked Dexter, "You want a place to stay?"
Dexter nodded.
"We have spare rooms! You can stay here!" He continued with a friendly smile.
"The Hell!? We can't trust this guy!!!" The taller guy scolded his brother then went on to tell at Dexter, "You might have caught me off guard with your intense voice but I still don't trust you! I mean what kind of sicko breaks into someone's house!?"
"The door was open." Dexter corrected.
"You left the door open!?" The shorter guy asked his brother.
"I didn't expect some...what even is he... werewolf...? to come to waltzing through the front door!" He defended.
"Besides the point. I won't argue with you in front of our guest." The shorter one declared.
"Guest!? The guy broke into our home!!!" The taller one argued.
"No. He walked in because some idiot left the door open." The shorter one corrected.
"We still can't trust him!!!" The taller one asserted.
"Actually, we can. I just finished my evaluation and he's mostly harmless. He can here with two others. His main goal is finding ingredients for a potion to give to an injured girl. When he entered our house he thought it was abandoned. Am I right?"
"Indeed." Dexter agreed.
"And he's not lying?" The taller one whispered to his supposed brother.
"I saw it with my own two eyes." The shorter one confirmed.
"How do you know they came here to find ingredients?"
"Why else would you come to the Mystical Forest with a list when there's something wrong with your friend?" He replied.
"Are you sure this guy has anything to do with a girl? He doesn't seem like your typical knight in shining armour and he sounds like an evil villain."
"That's rude." The shorter one stated.
"He's suspicious."
"Sigh, I don't want to sift through all of his past. I told you what I know if you want to know more you have to ask him or the girl yourself."
"I'm guessing you want to help him?" The taller one asked.
"Obviously." The shorter one responded.
"We'll help you if you let us meet the girl you're trying to save afterwards." The taller one declared.
"Okay." Dexter agreed.
"You don't want to know how I knew those things or why we want to meet her?" The shorter one asked.
"I care not," Dexter replied.
"I'll tell you anyway. I can see the memories of anyone I choose butβ"
"Don't tell him anymore."The taller one cut his supposed brother off.
"Fine." His supposed brother frowned.
"We want to meet the girl because she's piqued our interests." The taller finished explaining for his brother.
"Okay."
"So...What's your name?" The shorter one asked, sitting down at the table. His supposed brother sat on the counter behind him.
"Dexter." He replied, taking a seat.
"Nice to meet you! I'm Rakuten and he's my twin brother Baraten. But please feel free to call me Raku." Raku said in a friendly manner.
"No. You're the only one who changed your name. I'm Cael." His brother corrected.
"Our birth names are soo boring!!! Come on!" Raku complained.
"I like my name." Cael insisted.
"Fine." Raku frowned. "Anyway, what potion are we making?"
"I need to find those in a month." Dexter placed a note on the table.
Raku handed the note to Cael then continued making conversation, "You don't like talking, do you?"
"I don't."
"So we need; wiggentree bark, a sprig of mint, mandrakes, honeywater, moondew drops and at least 10 lionfish spines." Cael read the ingredients.
"Whoever wrote the note was pretty lazy about it," Raku commented.
"Huh?"
"Yeah, they weren't specific with quantities," Cael explained in his brother's place.
"Perhaps she was in a hurry?" Dexter commented.
"She?" Cael asked.
"The witch making the potion," Dexter answered.
"I see. Maybe. But it seems more lazy than rushed to me." Raku commented.
"Oh."
"But these aren't that hard to find so we can just get extra!" Raku smiled.
"Okay." Dexter nodded.
"Do you know what they are?"
"No," Dexter replied.
"Well..."
"Wiggentree bark is the bark of the Wiggentree. Physical contact with Wiggentree bark provides magical protection from being harmed by Dark creatures. For this reason, it is used as a potion ingredient, particularly in the aptly named Wiggenweld Potion. The fresher the bark is when used in potion-making, the more powerful its effects are, and only freshly-stripped bark can be used for the strongest Wiggenweld Potions. So we should probably get this last."
"Mint is a genus of strongly scented herbs. Peppermint is one particular variety of mint. Mint has healing and cooling properties, and is used in wizarding remedies: dried mint leaves are used in the treatment of mad dog bites, as well as, an ingredient in Fire-Breathing Potions. Mint is also used to flavour certain sweets, such as mint humbugs and after-dinner mints. We can get this tomorrow."
"Stewed Mandrake is the potion ingredient, consisting of a Mandrake that had been stewed. It is a common, but powerful potion ingredient, and is most effective when it was shaken. A Mandrake, also known as Mandragora, is a magical and sentient plant that has a root that looked like a human, like a baby when the plant is young but maturing as the plant grows. When matured, its cry could be fatal to any person who heard it. Whenever unearthed, the root screams. The scream of a mature Mandrake when it is unearthed will kill any person who hears it, but a young Mandrake's screams will usually only knock a person out for several hours. Cael is really good at unearthing baby mandrakes. I think we should let him get that."
"Honeywater is a solution of honey diluted in water which could be used in Potion-making. It has a distinctive yellow colour. Drops of Honeywater were required to brew a Wiggenweld Potion, while larger quantities are needed in the brewing of a Volubilis Potion and an Antidote to Common Poisons. This super easy to find I know where we can find a giant beehive."
"Moondew is a flowering plant found here in the Mystical Forest, Scotland and, possibly, Ireland. Moondew is used in liquid form for Potion-making and is an essential ingredient of the Wiggenweld Potion. I know where we can find some although getting there can be a bit difficult.
"Spine of Lionfish is the long and separated vertebrae of the Lionfish. These spines are either used whole or crushed into a powder. They can be used in the brewing of healing potions, such as the Wiggenweld Potion, and is also an ingredient of the Herbicide Potion. A lionfish is a venomous fish. They are notable for their extremely long and separated spines and have a generally striped appearance, red, green, navy green, brown, orange, yellow, black, maroon, or white. I don't know how to handle them and Cael is much better and fishing so let's leave that to him."
"From these ingredients, it seems that a Wiggenweld potion is being made," Raku explained.
"Right, Cael?" Raku was hit with the fragrant smell of fried chicken. "What the hell!? You were cooking this entire time!?" He ran over to Cael.
"Yup," Cael answered casually.
"I won't eat any of your food!" Raku protested.
"That's okay. Starve." Cael replied.
"That guy doesn't listen to a thing I say!" Raku stopped his way back over to the table.
"Why should I? I'm the older twin."
"Whatever. That jerk won't be helping with anything but fights." Raku stated. "He's not very smart."
"I am smart! You're just a nerd! At least I have brains and brawn." Cael defended.
"You only have one of those," Raku stated.
"Sigh, we'll get started tomorrow. I'll prepare your room for you. In the meantime do whatever.