The witch began to tell the story of what happened years ago. She said that the entire mortal realm was shrouded with a dark, and thick miasma. All of a sudden, the sky turned red, and it rained ashes. For days, the people suffered, until a golden streak of light passed through the sky, clearing everything away along with the memories of the people and all that they suffered from during that period.
"Me and my amigas, none of us knows what happened," she said. "And the mortals, all of them had totally forgotten everything. Don't bother reading a thousand books, there's nothing in them."
Aiden was still in pieces. "That doesn't answer any of my question at all," he said.
The witch rolled her eyes. "I know. I already told you," she gripped her cane tighter before standing up. "Anyway, the Gates of Orion closed that day, and the heavenly realm had been completely shut out of the world. There had been no contact with any immortal from that day on. It's like they all disappeared without a trace."
Aiden glanced at the three wisps, and judging from their still, dull color, he believed they had gotten the answer they needed and were in deep thoughts.
"That wasn't so helpful," Aiden sighed. "I shouldn't have expected anything."
The witch took offense of his words, and in spite, threw an old, disgusting handkerchief to his face.
He jumped up his seat, "Urgh!"
The stench of the moldy handkerchief reminded him of rotten eggs as they fanned his nostrils. The smell, he believed, would be forever ingrained in the sleeve of his shirt where it landed before making a flopping sound on his seat.
"There's a gorgeous dwarf that's been travelling around various kingdoms," she said. "He'll answer your questions if you give him that."
Aiden pointed at the stinky handkerchief that sat alone on the boney seat he vacated. "Give him that handkerchief?"
The witch giggled, and Aiden found its sound more disgusting than any of the atrocities inside this cabin.
"Yes," she said, tucking a few strands of her grime-covered hair behind her pointy ears. "Don't ask too many questions, young one. There are things only adults can understand."
Aiden's eyebrows furrowed but he remained silent, not wanting to prompt anymore litanies.
"All I can say is we had quite an intimate history so..." she continued anyway. "He'd be happy to help if you give my keepsake."
The three wisps turned green, all of them made vomiting sounds and Aiden was thankful he could not understand things they could.
"Alright, fine," he said, taking a deep breath as he contemplated how to pick up the smelly handkerchief without passing out. The witch continued rambling on about disturbingly explicit memories she had with that dwarf, twirling around the cabin like an eighteen-year-old, but Aiden struggled to focus on anything but the bigger problem at hand.
"Do you at least... have something I can put this in?" Aiden asked. "Because... you know. I think he'd like this better with only your strong smel--urgh--scent in it."
The witch paused for a moment, glaring at Aiden with her pitch black eyes before running toward one of her chest boxes and rummaging them for a good container.
"I didn't think you can be such a romantic, young boy," she said. "Let me pack that for you."
She picked the handkerchief up from the couch and placed it inside an old box with studded termite holes. Aiden dared not to complain. It was better than nothing.
Once everything had been settled, Aiden found himself standing at the end of that acidic lake, back to where they started but with a foul smelling box at hand.
The witch's laughter echoed from the cabin. "Thanks for visiting Miss Grimelda's Cozy Hut!" she yelled. "I hope you never come back for my services ever again!"
With that, she slammed the door shut, and a thick mist enveloped her cabin, never to be seen again.
Aiden walked back to where they left Mr. Busty, praying the rotten atrocity in his hand doesn't awaken the bears in hibernation.
They arrived at the wooden sign he now knew said Miss Grimelda's Cozy Hut. He looked around. Mr. Busty was nowhere in sight.
"Did Mr. Busty... leave?" he asked the wisps.
Lucius glared at Caelum. "We should ask The Great Horse-Whisperer right here."
"So what?" Caelum flashed a petty shade of pink. "Can you blame him? That witch was hideous!"
Aiden sighed. "You're right. I just hope he didn't leave because he thought we'd forsake him."
The four of them were debating which route to take, when the bushes began to rustle. Aiden braced himself, even putting his backpack in front in case a bear attacked him. When the bushes parted, a familiar gray donkey appeared.
Aiden's eyes sparkled."Mr. Busty!" he yelled in a hushed voice. "You didn't leave us!"
Mr. Busty neighed.
"You hear that!" Caelum said. "Mr. Busty's disappointed you would even think he'd abandon us!"
Lucius murmured something to himself, and Caelum irritatingly flew around him like a fly buzzing on someone's ears.
Aiden pat Mr. Busty in the head. "Don't worry," he said. "She won't be coming for you again. You're a free man now, Mr. Busty."
The donkey neighed and tilted its head toward his back as if asking Aiden to jump onto him. Aiden happily obliged, and they began their journey toward exiting the forest.
Thanks to the smelly box they had in hand, they managed to make it back to their first camping point by midnight without any animal crossing their path. Aiden was sure any animal avoided them from a mile away.
"I guess the grotto your team of snakes built wasn't such a waste after all," Riven said, flying toward the grotto that upset Lucius. "You happy now?"
Lucius beamed his usual proud glow. "This was all part of the plan."
Aiden's eyelids were drooping, the exhaustion slowly creeping onto him. He crept inside the grotto, amused by how it was more spacious than what it looked like.
"How's that?" Lucius asked him. "Doesn't it feel like crawling inside your mother's womb?"
Aiden shook his head. "That's not a very pleasant metaphor but... I guess?"
He took his black cape out of his backpack and used it as a blanket, and without much struggle, he drifted into sleep, unaware of the watchful eyes watching him from a distance.