Zodiac Chapter 1: Down The Rabbit Hole...

Titane, swinging and slinging as he pleased, would hurl himself into a hand made of ivy that, when he curled his hand to the side like a surfer, arced him around and shot him off in a curved direction and dispersed once he was sent flying. He was immediately met with a hand that not only caught him but carried him on the surface of its palm mid-skate and flicked off of the finger, sent soaring into the air. Trees of variable height growing based on the distance he flew up into the air as well as how far and how fast. He was leaving behind some of his Souzenryoku, the Shinsanity of Earth, all over the land, bringing new life sprouting up from the seeds placed by this Life Energy. "Yeah, yeah, I'mma comin..." he huffed, poking out his cheek as another earthen hand carried him sliding on his side through the air, "Don't be Grumpin' all over the place." The hand that carried him cuffed around and rotated vertically a bit, facing the range of the marked land and pointing Titane toward it, "I've still gotta clean up YOUR mess, after all." Sliding off of the hand and slightly into the air, with a powerful slap like spiking a volleyball, Titane was spanked clear over the horizon and to the Earth Sanctuary, clearing the field what trampled on by the Nature Spirits controlled by the Taurus. "That about cover it...?" He stuck out his tongue playfully, snickering to himself.

They didn't fall for long, El tightened himself up so that they would accelerate to terminal velocity much faster than they would by free falling, and he landed solidly with a thud in the forest. "You alright, Lady L'sia?" He asked, turning her head to make sure she was still hanging on behind him. If she'd slipped off, then he prepared himself to catch her.

El hadn't yet taken a look around. He was bothering with making sure that Tzita was uninjured, which she seemed to be. It was just an extra precaution. Once he got verbal affirmation, El finally turned around to take in the scenery. As usually, it was just as breathtaking as he would have imagined it, perhaps even more so. The lands of the Veritas that El had visited hadn't disappointed him yet when it came to their individualistic beautiful, In fact, he was able to see the charm in even the downtrodden lands of Valparaiso. It was a much more colorful world than he had come from.

He casually ran a few fingers through his raven hair, careful to avoid the horns which he had gotten used to but hadn't forgotten were there, and pushed a few strands out of his eyes. "Wow, that must have been some dream then." He commented quietly, surveying the area with his eyes. He could still she the path that they needed to travel, which was good, and it looked like it didn't go on for that much further from what his eyes could discern. He and Tzita would be upon their distance in a short time if he ran at full speed, instead of a jog, but El wanted to enjoy the forest and would take it at a leisure pace.

In fact, he turned his head to look over his shoulder, "Lady L'sia, would you care to enjoy a nice stroll with me through this lush greenery?" He asked with a gallant smile befitting that of a honorable king of knights, as he was currently. The secrets behind how he had come to be so in the short amount of time between his disappearance, and his re-summoning, would be explained later. For now, it was clear that it had something to do with the way in which he had been summoned and the connection that now lay between his sword and Tzita.

El smiled. It was clear by Tzita's response that she hadnt understood what he meant, and that was fine. "Lady L'sia, what I was asking," Gently he hooked his arm with hers, "was if you'd allow me to escort you on a date." They already needed to take this path to get to where they needed to go, and El wanted to enjoy the scenery instead of running through it so it appeared on his perception as a simple blur.

El couldn't help but laugh heartily, amused by her confusion. He thought her various moments of misunderstanding what he meant were some of the best things to witness. It confused him as to how she had been confused though, since she struck him as the type to having tons of suitors. This fact was driven home when they were in Valparaiso and all the men there seemed angry to see them together.

He began to walk with her, through the forest and following the path illuminated for them. This wasn't really a full date, not how El would have done his thing, but a calm stroll through a beautiful expanse of greenery. It was like a walk through a lush garden or park. "Lady L'sia, are you, perhaps, not approached often?" He asked curiously, looking towards her.

El looked away from her, after she answered his question. His suspicions had been correct, as he figured they would be, and he understood now where her confusion from his actions stemmed from. While she had suitors, it seemed very few probably actually treated her as a lady. It wasn't surprising, but El figured there was probably something more to that as well.

He refused his urge to pry, however, deciding to give his head a slight tilt for a moment, symbolizing his loss in thought, before he turned his head back to look at her again. "Hmm, no reason in particular, Lady L'sia, I was only curious. It seems like you often get confused when I ask something of you, and I was wondering why that was is all." He supposed saying that she gets confused wasn't the correct way to state it. It wasn't so much that she got confused, but that she misunderstood initially and pieced together the actual meaning a few seconds later. Either way, he enjoyed seeing it.

He glanced around them eagerly, taking in as many of the sights as he could. "So, can you tell me anything about this place? This forest is wondrous." He asked, waving his free hand outward towards the greenery around them, as to carry on with small talk, and maybe change the subject a bit.

While Tzita went on to explain what she could, and reveal her knowledge, or lack thereof, of this place, El continued to survey the area. It really was a serene place, almost to the point of inducing a zen like meditative state even while the people within were in motion. He hadn't see any animals yet, though the bunny tracks they were following, from Tzita's dream, were clear and hinted towards wildlife of some sort existing here. El wondered what kind of interesting creatures they would be able to see, if any. Maybe the wildlife was more akin to the likes of the world he originally came from, but he doubted.

As she snuggled into his arm more, El smiled and looked down at her. "Hmm, perhaps destiny had a hand in my coming here then. Or lady luck owed you a favor." He joked calmly, but didn't chuckle as he probably would have. Part of what she said, the part about not going out much, worried him a little. This world seemed so magnificent that he couldn't imagine staying in one place for too long. Then again, Tzita had already prove that she wasn't the type to wander if she could get comfortable.

"And by the territory you come from, you mean the old Witch City that Nehkir Maledictus was a part of?" He asked, assuming it to be such since that was the place she shared information on so fondly. It was also used to be the home of the witches, if he recalled correctly, which Tzita told him that she was.

Now that he really thought about it, the person who had arranged for them to go out was her father. Perhaps he worried more about his children than El originally thought. Usually the knight didn't jump to conclusions so readily, especially not based on someone's appearance, and he was glad that he hadn't. They were approaching the end of their path now, getting closer to the end game they had come here for. He stopped walking, just so in the shade of a tree rather large compared to the comparable rest.

The gentle rustling of the trees suddenly grew sightly louder, as if a stronger wind were blowing and shaking them into a stir. The soft and incoherent whispers muffled under the guise of the ruffled leaves would suddenly become a little louder, partially able to be heard now. "Who...?" voices echoed lowly, "... ... ... What...?" more continued, though from a different location entirely. They soon died down.

With the surreal shifting of the trees, nearly like the stop-motion of oil canvas paintings portraying motion, the foot prints on the ground would mimic the shifting of the trees, gradually parting from each other in some areas, some even changing direction entirely, but so subtly that if one were not paying direct and close attention, they would think they had always been that way. It was as slow and as subtle as the grass growing. It was unknown how long this had been occurring, nor how far they'd walked whilst it were happening, but even now, if they didn't pay it any mind, they would not notice it at all. The moment they thought to look, much like waking from a dream, the subtle shifting would come to an abrupt halt for as long as they looked at the area with great focus.

El hadn't particularly stopped walking for no reason. He had just done so because he noticed subtle changes in both the environment and Tzita's level of comfort as well. While he hoped they had gotten close enough to where she would share information about herself, she had never done so to such an extent before. The memories had seemed painful for her, and he never felt like prying was a good idea.

"The trees?" El questioned the Taurus spirit, once the old man began to speak to them again. He had been quiet since they entered this forest, and El thought that maybe he had gone ahead forward and prepared the spirit they were suppose to be looking for for their arrival. He wasn't exactly sure how all of this worked, still, and felt like that was an entirely normal conclusion to come to. It wasn't Taurus fault they had gotten side tracked though, this forest seemed almost... too perfect.

With the state of serenity Tzita seemed to have been lulled into, El could think that this was magic related, but he wouldn't make the assumption. Instead, he scooped her up in his arms and took a look around to see, exactly, what trees Taurus was talking about. "Is there something wrong with this forest? It seems a bit... unnatural, Taurus." Even if they had lost the trail they were suppose to follow, El believed that Tzita's Ankh could still lead them true. It hadn't led them astray before.

"Don't worry, Lady L'sia. If this forest is leading us astray, then I'll get us out of here."

"... Why... Are...?" the wind whispered again, the trees out of El's line of sight shifting slightly behind him. As he turned his head, they, too, would shift in tandem with the motion of his head, as if the entire forest were moving in tune with the movements of he, himself. "... Who... Are...?" The footprints on the ground were all suddenly pointing to El and Tzita, as if they were now the targets of focus for this strange and ambiguous, yet beautiful forest.

"You cannot even answer those questions, can you, dear boy...?" a Phantom's voice spoke from the shadows. A large hook shot up from the midst of Tzita's shade and cast itself into the shape of a man garbed in complete black. The umbra of his hood was far too thick to see his face. "And certainly, you wouldn't have wondered how long you were wandering around in circles, would you...?" He looked down at the pitiful duo, seeing to what the old girl had degenerated into. "... Hmhmhm. You'll never exit this place..." he already knew, paying neither of them any mind any further. "Yet, the shadow of my path will be new footsteps to follow..." He knew where he was going, and he needn't any light to show him the way. "... I hope you don't get lost in here, like the poor sap that pours from heart of this forest..." Another stop along the way. "... Take care of yourself," he muttered, turning away from them as his body flickered forward. With every shift of the trees, his body would match, fluctuating in perfect time with every pulsation and sending him skipping forward through time at the natural speed in which it was being accelerated. This made it seem as if the figure were jumping through spacial distortions and appearing in random places, further into the darkness of the forest. The footprints left behind were distinguished and completely set in the ground; they would not be shifted by the ground, yet would always remain completely proportionate to the set specifications they were imprinted at all times, unlike each of the footprints left by the local spirits. His body began to fade away swiftly, barely remaining in sight after a few moments.

El tried his best to ignore Tzita's inebriated advances. He was a man of honor, and this lady was in trouble. If he gave in to her suggestive actions, in her current state, then he would be no better than a rapist or pervert. El was neither. He was a knight and would save this damsel in distress with the utmost swiftness.

"I'll follow your call." He said to Taurus, ignoring the path that the shadow man created as he went on his way. El was never one to follow the path of the shadows, and was a denizen of the light. He turned to go the path that Tzita's Ankh led them towards, paying attention to its glow instead of the shifting footprints of the rabbits and the bulls.

Despite her squirming, El tried to hold Tzita as close to his chest as possible as he run at full speed to get her away from this forest that was messing with her. He didn't know, specifically, what was wrong with her, but figured it had something to do with her being a witch. "Don't worry, Lady L'sia. I promise to get you out of here and to safety. I won't fail you." He swore this on his honor.