The Dark Forest; Dragon Guard.

Batya travelled safe with her companions, once in a while the curse will act up but she kept it inside, there were more dangers ahead and even though the appearance of Ax has helped them a lot, she still didn't want be a nuisance and delay them further. With Ax as their escort, creeping roots and snapping dead branches laid low as if his presence kept them at bay. She couldn't tell the number of days they had spent travelling through the forest, time was just nonexistent in a place like this.

Their escort suddenly stopped and Caden asked what the matter was. Ax turned to them and right before their eyes his silver armor disappeared and now he was in a simple dark clothes, his curious lifeless eyes scanned the surroundings and then pointed north.

"We are standing at the heart of the Dark Forest, just a few more steps and you will find the Dark Castle"…

"But why are telling us, I thought you were our escort?" the knight asked him.

"Not anymore my orders was to lead you here and then I am good to go"

"But…"

"Nothing, if I hadn't come in time Lilith would have delayed you, you are an asset to us and we can't let anything stop you from breaking your curse, farewell"…with that he left, disappeared into thin air.

They were alone once again and taking the advice of Ax, they went North, Batya had her sword drawn and so did Caden. Ahead of them, Batya thought she heard the sound of a river, a river in the dark forest? Hope the fishes in it too were not undead like most of the inhabitants in the dead place. Her hearing was good, they came across a suspension bridge and below it flowed a river, the water was black and mysterious, stench rose from its dark surface and it filled the air, must be the stench of rotten fishes swimming in its body. Across the bridge stood a castle, must be the castle of the dark lord. Its walls were fortified and looked impossible to penetrate, how they were going to go through that was another problem for them.

The knight checked the ropes their firmness and he nodded to his princess, Batya held the huge ropes and with her breath held she took a step, the bridge swayed slightly due to their weight. They were half way through it when Caden who was ahead asked her to stop…she was already trying hard not to look down into the dark river, which looked ready to swallow anyone who had the guts to feed it, and now she was asked to stopped at this critical time, when she was almost losing her sanity, he knew she was afraid of heights and yet he still went ahead to stop her, did he really want to help her cross it or he was ready to feed her to the hungry river.

"Something is amiss"

"I know, Ax"... she replied impatiently.

"No, we have experienced a lot of things on our way here and though Ax presence had ward them off, this is way too easy to believe"…

"Caden, not now please, this isn't one of your hunting expeditions"

"Which is why it's strange…." He drew his sword and held it with both hands, his scanning eyes at work, he is not letting anything escape him. They already stormy sky seemed to have grown dark as if a huge dome was enveloping it, and there it was the roar, Batya freaked out and almost jumped on her knight's back, above them was a dragon, a zombie dragon. This is news, this forest must have been home to a lot of mythical creatures.

The dragon roared again and spat something out of its mouth, smoke? No black fire, the ropes that held the bridge started to burn…

"Run to the other end, I will take care of this"…Caden instructed and she hesitated, her knight was known to be the most powerful knight in the kingdom, she is yet to see him fight.

His legendary reaper sword, blazed with holy fire and he swung it at the base of the left wing that hung too low, easy to reach.

"Reaper, you are a vanquisher, I see"…the dragon talked and Batya who was running stopped to look at the creature once again, it talks?

The dragon breathed his fire again and it came to their knowledge that he didn't want to harm them rather, it was stopping them from crossing the bridge. The fire was destroying the bridge to their dismay, this was getting serious, holding his blazing sword in his hands again, Caden jumped into the air right in time to catch the dragon at its shoulder, it roared in pain and flew higher, but his holy fire was already eating away whatever soul he had left in him, he took advantage of this and ran ahead dragging Batya along, they were almost at the end of the bridge when the animal roared again and threw his fire at the humans again, this time the fire hit at the end of the bridge and it collapsed, Batya found herself fallen, her end shouldn't be in this black river, at least let it be something else, but wait doesn't Lilith need her alive, where the hell is that witch when she needs her, or is the dark forest off limits to her? She found herself floating in the air, Caden hand gripped her tightly, the other holding onto whatever his fingers could find up there.

"Hung on"…now both of them dangled in the air and the dragon above them, they were at its mercy.

"Enough!" a voice boomed from nowhere and the dragon swallowed its fire. The wind blew and the scarf that covered her face threatened to fall, her fingers held onto Caden for dear life and her free one was holding her sword.

"They are our guests"…the voice boomed again and the dragon, flew to land before the gate.

Caden felt a hand grab his and he freaked out, no one was there to help them except the dragon, even afraid he still took the stranger's help and they were pulled to land. Batya's scarf had flown away, her scalded face was in view, she looked aside to hide from Caden, she wasn't pleasant to look at anymore, Allister had tried to kill her because of her current look, she looked like a monster, and she didn't want her knight thinking she was a monster. But to her surprise, he held a scarf to her and she looked up at him, the moment she did she wished she hadn't, her eyes caught sight of the blazing sword and she yelled in pain, she felt herself tearing in two, as if her soul was being forced out of her body.

"Put it away, kill the fire"…the stranger told him as even the knight was shocked at her reaction, she had seen him light his sword several times, why was she in pain this time after seeing it.

"Your holy fire is dangerous to her, as long as she still has the curse in her, she will be in danger when exposed to it"…

The knight quickly sheath his sword and held his princess till she calmed down, he held the Reaper as his sword, it scared demons away, its holy fire had the essence to vanquish any evil, he hadn't thought it will affect Batya negatively, she covered her face once again and together they faced the stranger.

"Thank you…" she said to the man and she looked about her, looking for traces of the dragon. She shook when she saw the wound on his soldier, it looked like a fresh wound and even though his dead skin had not the ability to bleed it looked horribly fresh.

"You are…a shifter?" Caden asked and the man nodded. Seriously, this forest was home to stranger things, just how powerful is it? Now he couldn't wait to see the appearance of the dark lord.

"I am the dragon guard, my apologies, I didn't know you were the guests I was expecting"

"You should have asked"

"Trespassers and people with evil intentions once in a while venture to cross the bridge and I am to destroy on sight", the dragon guard explained and they nodded understood. The guard went ahead to push the gates opened and their eyes couldn't help but widen at the sight they saw before them, the insides of the castle was unlike the outside of it, it was beautiful and yet horrifying, living dead people filled the whole place, this was a city on its own, like a kingdom for the DAMNED.