Lyra found comfort in these woods; the forest of Virens was slowly becoming one of her favorite places to rest. Lyra loved to feel the bark of the large red oaks beneath the tips of her fingers. The soft rays of sunlight which broke through the thick canopy above, here and there, cast such a soft glow upon a place so rich in color. To Lyra the deep forest of Virens was breathtaking.; even if many had found it frightening.Lyra had made her way somewhat deeply into the Virens Forest; yet not too deeply. With her was a small pale blue songbird with a dark head. The bird twittered wildly, singing a soft tune as it played in the unnatural breeze which typically surrounded Lyra. There had been a bit of a small clearing but not as large as one would probably desire. However, for Lyra it was perfect. In the center sat an old stump, left over from one of these ancient red oaks that had long past its lifeline. There she would sit, upon this stump which just so happened to be directly under a bit of sunlight that had broken its way through the dense canopy. Lyra had heard the stories of the dangers of this forest. Perhaps that is why she only traveled this far inward. Lyra was not in so deep that one shall get lost nor was she on the edge of the forest where it lost all its charm entirely. Though at times strange sounds were produced here and there – Lyra found this strange forest to be a perfect place for some silent meditation – musing if you will.The stump was her cushion and she sat atop of it ‘Indian style’. Her delicate wrists rest gently upon her knees and her index finger and thumb connected on each hand like that of a Hindu goddess. Lyras silver-haired head was tilted upwards, towards the canopy just enough so that the sunlight grazed over her face with its warm soft glow a feeling she adored against her pale cool skin. Her eyes were naturally closed and the songbird continued to buzz about her.Peace…… something she always desired. 

"We aren't lost, we are simply taking a different route!" the young mage shouted to what looked like himself halfway through a heated argument before rubbing his head, "Edgest, we are just looking for some herbs to sell why is that so difficult to understand" almost instantly in a flash of blue the Wraith floated with a annoyed look spread across his face, "Because, Randal its been almost five hours and I rather like my sleep" the both of them groaned into the air before almost putting a hand over their face in sync before the boy started walking through the forest again picking random herb from the grass and chewing on it with the Wratih uttering "one of these days that will be poison" Randal smirked at his comment "And then I won't have to put up with you".

He moved apart a bush to walk through stumbling across a meditating girl, as his wraith spoke quietly causing Randal to raise an eyebrow his direction as Edgest spoke "I sense something spiritual about her, she may be able to see me…" the young mage nodded before a grin crossed his face causing the Wraith to just sigh as the man spoke loudly to the peaceful looking girl "Helloooo! I'm kinda lost and I need directions back towards Adeluna" he chuckled awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck before slowly sliding another random herb into his mouth to chew on while waiting for her to respond.

What..on earth..miscolored eyes snapped opened and her delicate wrists went limp. At the sound of a voice, her head had snapped towards the direction of it just as quickly as her dual colored eyes had opened. What was this? A traveler semi-deep in the Virens forest? Did they not know how dangerous this place was said to be? The songbird which had been fluttering and twittering about her stopped and took cover upon her shoulder under mass strands of long white hair. 

"It's alright little one…" Lyra spoke softly, so softly that one could barely hear her. The small shivering songbird nuzzled itself closer to her neck still hidden amongst the white covering of Lyras hair. Lyra did not move from her seats position she did, however, remain rather still. Her eyes observed the man and….some sort of specter was it? Interesting - she pretended for now as if not to notice anybody but the physical human male.

"…Hello…." Now Lyras voice was something along the lines of songlike, yet depressing - traced by a strange faint echo as if she had been talking into some sort of can or cavern. It was not loud just soft, enough to be noticed. "Adeluna…you say?" Now the boy was truly not that far lost depending on how he looked at things. If directions were all he wanted the Djinn would gladly give them to him. Lyra was, unfortunately, untrusting and not because of any one incident that had happened to her but due to herself and her storm like emotions. 

"follow the moss…" A hand had lifted and been waved towards one of the large red oak trees bases. There was moss growing on one side and if one looked at the other oaks surrounding them they would find that the moss only grew on one side entirely in one direction even. "Or…if you are wary of that…simply follow the breeze"… The Air Djinn closed her eyes again…and a cool soft breeze passed through her…and eventually over the male who had appeared from behind the bushes. 

"You know talking to yourself is the first sign of being insane" the mage spoke quickly before glancing at the Wraith laughing loudly "Oh and you're any better than?" the young man winced at his partner's reply before having to fully concentrate on the girl's voice as she queitly spoke with the small pauses causing him to grow tired of listeining having to tone himself back in before she gave the most crytpic instructions back to the city he had ever heard "What in the seven hells are you talking about?" he sighed out before picking a plant from a bush and chewing on it gaining a roll of the eyes from the Wraith.

He sat infront of her tilting his head at her eye, "Fancy eye, guessing your not human or atleast half of something" he shrugged with his easy going nature showing easily "Name's Randal Hex last of his name, you see I was picking herbs and foraging some stuff for my partner back at home and sheesh this rabbit ran by me and I was like 'I love rabbit' so I ran after it to get its meat then bish bash bosh I was lost" gaining a quick and annoyed "Shut up" from Edgest as the young mage rubbed the back of his neck with a chuckle "Sorry when I get distracted I seem to ramble quite alot".

Dual colored eyes had not removed themselves from the one whom called himself Randal Hex. She took a long moment as she silently listened to the banter between two different personalities. 

Her brow seemed to twist into a rather annoyed expression. "You have done nothing wrong". Now from Lyras quick observations it would appear as if Randal was a mad man; rambling to himself, snapping at himself in a sense. But Lyras white eye could see through - there was another so Randal was not "mad" just haunted. Her brow relaxed and peace returned to her face. Lyra chose to ignore the soul;she simply could not be bothered. Besides, as a Djinn she didn't quite fancy other spirits anyway. 

"Lyra Nystorm, first and last of her name". The Djinn paused as she shifted her entire body this time until she now stood upon the tree stump, gazing down upon him. 

He was not wrong she was something other than human. "Correct. I am a Djinn". Not the wish granting type, but she expected one to ask if she were. Lyra hopped down from the stump so she could be on his level. Lyra could tell he did not understand her instructions, so she would try again. Her words as echoyas they maybe were laced with a bit of annoyance; she had a hard time controlling her emotions and well attitude. 

"The moss in these woods grow in one direction, that direction leads out. Once out many paths will lead you to back to where you came." A short pause "or you can follow the breeze".  Lyra pointed at herself and gave Randal a sarcastic wink of her white eye. 

"You shouldn' eat that." Lyra tipped her silver haired head to  the side. Didn't he know that most things in this forest wanted him dead?

"Oh nice to meet you Lara" he waved his hand at the poor pronunciation of her name before hearing her admit to being part Djinn was shocking but as he was about to ask if she was the wish-granting ones he saw the annoyance twist in her almost neutral face before he simply smiled at her "See I read about the race of Djinn, in the way there's a common misunderstanding that all Djinn are Genies but no Genies are a species of Djinn" still with the long herb sticking out from his mouth he drew quickly on what seemed to be scrap paper to draw a simple diagram of a genie "See? most genies have a vessel but you can also capture Djinns in the same way, which intrigues me about you if a half-human hybrid could also be tethered in that fashion or would it just reject the process".

After she explained her words he almost laughed "Maybe it would be best if I followed someone well versed in the forest, I once walked through a rainforest with an Orc-Elf guiding us, so many raiders and bears" he shuddered at the thought before pulling the herb out of his mouth with a smirk "You won't know if something is useful if you dont take the risk, its how I discovered ways to change a person's skin colour or…" he tapped his chin "I could probably make that eye look almost normal as payment, well for a short amount of time?"

Lyras face twisted again at how he called her….Lara. this threw the Djinn into a momentary rage. That white eye of hers seemed to grow whiter, if that were even a possibility - a faint dim glow something like a soft warm white Christmas light emitted from it and a small rain cloud began to form above the dreary Djinns head. If she so had the nerve shed zap him; but as quickly as it had come it had vanished. she had managed to pull herself together and her face returned to normal save the dull but noticeble traces of lines which emitted from around her white eye, making her look like a cracked porcelain doll. 

Eventually they would fade. "You must excuse me..my emotions are…sometimes difficult for me to bare." The Djinn had returned to a calm state of neutrality. Lyra took a look at the diagram he had produced it was quite impressive really. " you are wise. Djinn are not Genie" Lyra was amused by Randal. 
"There are some Djinn who will grant wishes but those Djinn are unkind". Yes typically those Djinn would grant wishes in return for something of equal value unlike Genies who were usually obligated to grant wishes upon their discovey. 
"It takes a rare and special vessel to capture Djinn like me." This was a fact that one would think they wouldn't want advertised but Lyra feared little and being captured was not one thing that worried her. The days of Djinn hunting were long past so it was uncommon for her to run into a Djinn Hunter. 

"Come then I will take you back". Lyra turned gracefully about upon one of the balls of her feet. Now Lyra had a question or two for Randal. "Now that you know me…explain you and that spirit whom accompanies you." 

She began walking hoping he would automatically follow. "Oh and no thank you…That is my Djinn eye." If he wanted to know more he would have to inquire what she meant by that. 

He waved off her anger with his hand "No, no Ive seen people snap much worse than that, once had a warrior try to kill me with his ancestor's ghost" he chuckled before hearing her compliment before tapping his chin "Its also seen that genies who are forced to do wishes create them to teach lessons to the user, but Djinns are know to take the souls of the ones asking for the wish" purposely ignoring the fact but documenting it in his head mostly due to the fact if he ever had to go up against a rogue Djinn he might have to look into the method.

The question shocked the both of them as Edgest hovered with a palm to his face and Randal simply laughed rubbing the back of his neck "This is Edgest, he's a wraith who is bonded with me until he finds a way to… well leave this plane of exsistence" the young mage seemed to hesitate to explain further due to the fact he would be scared of the silence of his own head without the ghost being there, he was pulled out of his own thought by the Wraith simply raising a hand "Pleasure to meet another spirtual being, most of the time I can only be seen by mortals in my place of death" before shooting a glare too Randal who may have muttered "I cant see how your still angry about us turning it into a spare room" he jogged alongside of the Djinn before "So Lyra, that eye is like a link to your family, or maybe even used to acess your magic" with that he pulled out his staff and Edgest seemed to disappear as the mage's eye glew blue "I have the same issue when using Edgest's mana, even with prolonged time I start to lower the temperature around me and frost appears" he continued his rambles once again with his finger on a chin mostly talking to himself about ideas on how to control his predicement.

Lyra was relieved to see that he was not entirely off-put by her insanity or her fluctuating anger problems. It was hard for her to make friends or talk to strangers because of her stormy disposition, perhaps that's why she has always come off as dreary and depressed. "Yes…Soul taking Djinns are unkind most definitely you are truly better off encountering a Genie". Randal need not worry, Lyra was a friendlier Djinn compared to other members of her race. Perhaps that was due to her human side and how she had been treated as a half-breed growing up in a society of Djinns. 

"Edgest. Hello" She would not entirely ignore the wraith now. Lyra thought it interesting that he was connected to Randal; she couldn't help but wonder how that happened. "I can only see you with my Djinn's eye" Lyra admitted to Edgest. "If not for that I would be blind to you". For a half Djinn, Lyra was extraordinarily talented her magical abilities she was a strange oddity in the Djinn community. Lyra turned her attention to Randal now who had asked her a question about her heritage. 

"Accurate. It is my Djinn eye because I am only half-Djinn I only have been granted one." Her eye allowed her to tap into her Djinn powers. Without it she would still be a Djinn just an extremely weak one. So Randal was right on both accounts. She has paused long enough so she could glance over at his eye with the bluish glow. For some reason this made her feel warm. She had never met another who could so closely relate. 

"It is a blessing and a curse as my mother used to say" Lyra forced a smile. "Frost and cold do not bother me…I am of Air Djinn…" 

Lyra leads him now through the Virens Forest. She was following an unseen current that would eventually lead that right now. The treck was not an easy one due to the thick brush and forest floor growth. Lyra tried her best to push the branches and what not aside with the assistance of her air-based-magic to clear them a reasonable pathway. When they were about halfway through the path Lyra stopped abruptly. She lifted a hand and pointed to a strangely beautiful flower ahead. 

"Maneater" She whispered to Randal. Those were one of the things within this wood that would rather them both be dead than alive. It could easily devour a cow if it wanted and it had vines that would creep silently beneath the heavily littered forest floor until it found the ankles of any passerby.

"Without Edgest's mana pool I would only be able to use a few spells before reaching my burnout point" he sighed "When they took me to the Adeluna Academy of magic after my parents died I stuck to educating myself with knowledge but quickly found out as much skill as I could muster could not even reach the levels of Naturally born mages, I was put into a rank of Spirit Hunters, who track lost souls or rogue enities and then send them back to the Inferno below" the wraith beside him gave Randal a long look before frowning at his story "Of course thats how the kid met me, I was bound by a necromancer in his family home's basement, causing us to make a pact to defeat the evil wizard" the mage seemed to walk behind the group with his head down to the ground rummaging through his bag to try to keep his thoughts to himself before pulling a herb out and chewing out it, the action caused the wraith to frown and whisper to the Djinn "He does it to concentrate on the task at hand, to forget about the past…"

It didnt take long before Randal piped up "I'm slowly building a resistance to the cold, I can withstand normal cold temperatures and with Edgest's advice plus the longer we spend connected the more resistance I grow and the more our mana mixes together" finishing his sentance he almost walked into her hand with Edgest quickly telling him to look out and whispered "It looks amazing, I wonder what effects on the human body it has" he shook his head before muttering "How do we get through it if its like stepping on snakes in long grass?"