The three of them snapped back to reality, their bodies now on the floor.

'What was that?' Alice murmured as she sat up, looking down at her hands.

Oliver looked at her warily, then pinched his arm, checking that he was no longer dreaming. He squinted against the bright lights. 'That was... Really strange.'

'To say the least.' Julian said as he climbed to his feet. 'Could you hear anything? I couldn't hear anything...'

Before the others could say anything else, the old elf stepped forward. He held a deep frown on his face, and looked pointedly at the two who still sat on the floor. He didn't need to say anything, as they both jumped to their feet.

'Your memory had been tampered with. It must have been removed when you were younger. What you saw there were the only pieces we could find of that memory.'

'You mean someone used magic, reached inside of my head, and removed my memory?' He asked, wide eyed.

The old elf nodded silently, and turned away. 'Now get out.'

'What?' Oliver pulled an incredulous face. He wanted more answers, and he wanted to know what Julian had seen.

'Get out!' The elf repeated, his voice a lot harsher.

The three of them didn't waste any time, and quickly headed to the door. The elf followed shortly behind, ushering them outside.

'Ruven. You can come back in now.'

Ruven left his place and went back inside, leaving Jos standing awkwardly under the tree still. They had figured that he was actually quite nice, when you looked past the whole part of a secret cult thing. They had wanted to speak to him longer, but was now distracted by the disheveled looks on the faces of the others. A smile crossed their face, trying to ignore how unsettled they were.

'Went well I guess?'

Oliver scowled and already began to stalk off back into the forest.

'Went very well I guess...?'

'I think it was a dead end...' Julian said, watching Ruven as he went back inside. His head was in the clouds. 'But, who knows. Everything's... Scrambled.'

Alice nodded as she began following Oliver. 'Yeah, my head is hurting like hell.'

Julian shrugged and turned to follow the others. 'Well hopefully something good has come out of this...But for now, let's just go after Oliver. He must have a plan.'

Jos lingered for a moment, waiting for Oliver and Alice to be further away. Once they were out of earshot, they placed a hand on his shoulder.

'Are you alright?'

Julian paused, clutching his head. He could hear the difference in their voice, it was now full of sincerity.

'I... I am not sure. I saw my Dad and I, but... Well it was like watching one of my memories, except it was broken. The elf said that my head had been tampered with, so, I am probably not doing alright. Thanks though.'

Jos pursed their lips.

'When I came here for the first time, I had the same kind of feeling. It was different though, because my magic was messing with my head, not someone else's... But I found that a lot of the stuff I saw was like a puzzle. Not all the pieces were there, but after a while I could begin to see some kind of image, even if half of it was missing. Does that make sense?... I hope it does, because, ya know, people are trying to kill you and it would be great if we could get the upper hand, but... No pressure, man.'

Jos moved their hand from his shoulder, and slapped him on the back. They walked away from him quickly, catching up to the others. Julian stood still for a short moment, processing Jos' words. Though the words were almost as strange as the memory, he could make sense of about half of them. He just hoped that their advice was right, and later he would be able to figure something out.

Now as a group, the four of them trailed back to the main path. Oliver led the way, and the others followed him silently. Secretly, they were all hoping that something more came out of Julian's memory, and they weren't just left wandering aimlessly.