They resumed their journey once Mr. Busty had woken up. The donkey looked around and took a moment to breathe in his surroundings before realizing he was still a living, breathing donkey. He neighed of disappointment before standing on all fours.
The woods were deeper than ever, completely shut off of any light that one would assume was a moonless night. There were no small animals around, not even insects. Whatever lurked in this part of the forest appeared to be on the top of the food chain.
"I've surveyed this area," Riven said, unknowingly reassuring Aiden. "There's not much threat except a few bears in hibernation."
Aiden zipped his lips, careful not to utter a single word to potentially awaken a bear. He had enough dangerous encounter for today, he believed. Just like him, Lucius had been quiet the entire time, he could swear the wisp was pouting without lips, still upset over the makeshift shelter his snakes made but got wasted.
Caelum was the only one producing noise with his singing. Obviously, joyful to see Lucius irritated.
"Are we still far from where we're headed?" Riven asked Mr. Busty.
The donkey neighed.
"Really?" Riven flew upwards before settling back down. "A small hut, you say? I don't see anything."
The donkey neighed once again.
"What do you mean we're lost?" Riven asked in a you've-got-to-be-kidding-me manner. "You can't possibly be walking us to our deaths, aren't you?"
Mr. Busty neighed in a manner Aiden could only assume was a donkey's laughter. Riven shook his form before focusing on the path ahead. For an hour, they didn't stumble upon anything dangerous, only the sound of Caelum's singing made their ears ache.
Mr. Busty stopped in front of a worn out road sign that had intelligible letters written in celestial scripts, and so did Caelum in his singing. Aiden only made out the letters: M s G a Co ut, obviously carved out by a sharp object.
Aiden became vigilant of his surroundings. Whatever made Mr. Busty, a donkey who didn't care for his life, stop in his tracks, should be terrifying as hell. The woods whispered to Aiden's ears in an eerie, threatening manner, asking him to turn back and step out of that forest.
Mr. Busty neighed, and the wisps relayed his words.
"Mr. Busty asked you to get down and walk on your own," Riven said. "You're on your own now, he said."
Aiden hesitated before stepping off the donkey's back.
"What do you mean about this, Mr. Busty?" he said while facing the donkey. "You suddenly want to live now?"
The donkey neighed, and Caelum repeated. "He said he'd rather live for a thousand dreadful years than take another step."
Aiden looked at Mr. Busty and took a deep breath. "Bold statement," he said, patting the donkey in the head while bracing himself for what's about to come next. "I understand."
A huge deadly monster? An ugly deformed devil? He could only wonder what awaits him as he took baby steps forward, the three wisps hovering over his shoulders.
They followed a path of cobblestones, brushing past the thick shrubs and grasses, eventually leading them to a swamp with the entire ground covered in green acid. Aiden winced from the rancid smell of decaying flesh, his eyes following the cobblestone path that stretched far ahead, stopping in the doorstep of a small hut.
Lucius beamed with intrigue, finally over his tantrums. "It's overwhelming..."
Aiden asked. "What is?"
"The stench," he replied. "Hundreds of bones are dissolved in these waters."
"Water?" Aiden dipped his boot on the green substance, immediately regretting his action when the tip of his shoes melted like a candlewax tossed into flames.
"There's no way this is water."
"Bears, insects, everything...even a dozen humans." Lucius scrutinized the area. "And more than thousands of snakes. They're all in there."
Aiden took intrigue in Lucius' seriousness. "A thousand snakes? Are you planning on getting revenge?"
Lucius shook his form.
"We're not like you, you silly mortal," Caelum added. "Immortals don't meddle with mortals. Whatever they do on the mortal realm, it's out of our hands."
Aiden's eyebrows furrowed deeper. "Mortal? Whoever's living in that hut is a mortal?"
"Very mortal."
Before Aiden could even ask what they meant by 'very mortal', the wisps urged him to go forward. Pointing out how the green pool was slowly rising up to the cobblestone's level.
Aiden took nimble but careful steps on the cobblestone path, fearing he'd burn himself if he steps into the acidic pool of death. Upon reaching the final step, he knocked on the century-old door of the cabin. The sound of a cane clacking against the wooden floor echoed through that endless swamp, and moments later, a pair of pitch black eyes peered through the gaps in the rotting wood.
"A visitor?" an airy voice said, its foul breath wafted through, causing Aiden to instinctively squint and recoil.
"My, my, it's been a while since I'd had one."
After a few locks clicking, the door opened, revealing an old woman whose skin reminded Aiden of frogs—thick, reptilian green, with dozens of coin-sized warts. Her humongously crooked nose and pointy chin only added to her unsettling presence. In her gnarly hands was a wooden scepter that doubled as a cane. Its head was thicker than rest of its shaft, poked with holes that oozed with what seemed like green pus.
"A witch," Aiden murmured to himself.
The witch seemed amused, a smile drew on her toothless mouth. "An immortal?" she marveled. "Or a mortal... speaking in an immortal's tongue. Fascinating."
The witch pushed her doors wider, "Please come in, my dear visitor."
Aiden glanced at the three wisps, thinking they were not visible to the witch for only addressing one visitor, just to be proven wrong.
"And your three... whatever it is you're with," she said. "Come in."
Both Caelum and Lucius mumbled a bunch of profanities, obviously offended.
"You can see them?" Aiden asked the witch.
She immediately slammed the door shut once Aiden had stepped inside. His eyes wandered around that huge chamber, surprised at the expansive space despite appearing like a small hut from the outside.
The witch chuckled. "I can't see them. I've long condemned immortality," she said. "I can only sense their presence. Quite strong, yet handicapped."
Caelum laughed. "You hear that, mortal. We're strong."
"And handicapped."
The witch offered him a seat, and Aiden obliged. The couch was made of bones, and felt like a thousand needles pricking his skin, but he'd rather get pricked than offend an old witch wielding a gruesome cane.
"Now, what is it that you seek, young one," the witch said. "Only those in utter desperation come visit this place, and you don't look... desperate."
Her bony fingers gently placed a cup of horror—what Aiden assumed to be tea—on a tree stump that had been transformed into a makeshift tea table.
"Well, sorry," Aiden scratched his head. "Should I start begging?"
The witch chuckled. "No, young one," she said. "Only the desperate come here... because only those in desperation have what it takes to pay for my services."
Aiden shuddered at the way the witch's voice made his skin crawl, and the bone seat he sat on felt as though it were gripping him like hands, at the same time, pushing him to walk away.
"Your services..." he said, clearing the tight lump in his throat before asking a question that marked a point of no return. "How much does it cost?"
"State your request," The witch replied. "And I'll tell you my price."