The trail to the Ghastly Stag's, or Wraith Stag's depending on who you were talking to, was a simply dirt path towards some large fields of what looked like to most a field of pure white with no visible vegetation, with forests of many various trees, large gems, and odd structures of onyx, stone, or obsidian. And then the group of Lisbeth on her Bronze Metal, fiery horse, Sinon's Ghostly Horse, the Prince of Darkness's Shadow Horse, and the cart the handmaidens were riding in soon began to enter the looming forests as they lost sight of those fields.

Inside the forest, it was frankly dark and just a bit creepy as ghostly fog and random motes of light danced along the ground of the forest while the group continued to move their rides along but as Sinon rode next to the Prince's horse, she suddenly saw something flash out from behind a tree but too fast to be seen. She almost automatically got closer to the prince as she asked him, "So... what else is in here?"

"Nothing you need to fear, to be honest. I'm here." said the Prince as he continued along unabated.

Sinon slowly dropped back and as she did so, she came along side of Lisbeth as he was now leading and the maidens were bringing up the rear as she saw Lisbeth give her a almost glaring look as she asked her, "What?"

"Couldn't you try and get some info out of him? Like where we are maybe?" asked Lisbeth. "As well as what exactly he can take on here we may find?"

"Fine." said Sinon as she snapped her reigns.

Kommando293 heard all of it and simply made it look like he did not hear but as Sinon came alongside of him, he gave her a sideways glance as she then asked, "Could you please be more specific about where we are or what we could see? My friend in the back there is a bit scared."

Kommando293 snickered as Lisbeth then said, "Shut up!"

"To let you know, we are currently riding to the hunting grounds deep within the Forest of Dreams... although, to be fairly honest its more of a nightmare some days..." Kommando293 tried to chuckle but as he noticed her grim look he then gave a cough before adding, "And to answer you're initial query is that though we shall be hunting Stag, Wolves, Dragons, demons, and other beings also inhabit this forest... though the dragons and demons are found deeper in the forest where I will not be bringing you into... not yet anyway..."

Sinon felt a little bit better at that, but only barely the minimum, but as she watched the Prince looked all around them, he seemed nervous about something.

"Is there something you're afraid of in here?" asked Sinon.

"If you're asking why I'm nervous, its not because of the monsters..." said Kommando293, the first time he let on he was nervous about this whole date thing.

If whoever was reading this hadn't noticed, Kommando had never been on a date of any form or on either side with a girl. He was nervous, rightly so since this girl not only unknowingly hated him most likely but also just so happened be to skilled enough to make him cautious facing her with a bow.

But then he looked up and as he slowly trotted his horse into the small hunting camp, it was pretty basic stuff laid out. There was a large tent for sleeping in what may have been a corner, a firepit in the middle, some chests nearby to store items, a post to tie horses on, and then a small field of flowers that Kommando293 knew to be Dream Flowers.

As they all slowly began to stop in the midst of the hunting camp, Sinon and Lisbeth dismounted as the handmaidens got off their cart and began to tie down the horses, the Prince of Darkness walked his horse to the field as Sinon watched him look down into the flowers as if studying them.

In reality, Kommando293 was using the small mirror capability of the flowers to look out over his province and the portal itself. He quickly looked over his province and castle and seeing it was alright enough soon switched the view over to the portal and the fortifications around it. And that's probably when he saw what Kirito an his small raiding party had done to the units around as he could see where the lightning and fire had hit as well as the remains of the World Tree Guardians amongst what seemed like a sea of the Bone princes.

Now... who would send them... and why is there what looks like the aftermaths of spells around as well... Kommando293 could only think of who as he hoped this was not the beginning of another invasion before more Bone Princes were brought up to reinforce the losses.

And then he heard Sinon ask, "What are you looking at?"

He smiled as he then said, "Nothing really.. after all, none of them look as lovely as you, my dear.."

For some reason, this made Sinon's heart race slightly and made her face go a bit red as she looked away but as she did so she then heard him say, "Well, I think I should getting going to scout the grounds... hopefully not too may bucks are roaming about amongst the herds..."

And with that, Sanginium was given the reigns to the Shadow horse as the prince slowly began to walk into the forest by himself and as Sinon watched him, Sanginium then said next to her, "You totally want that booty don't you."

"NO!" said Sinon with a huff as she then went over to the nearby tent to stay within it.

About 30 minutes later, the Prince was back covered almost head-to-toe in blood of something.

Sinon and Lisbeth had simply sat in the tent and had done so in silence for the majority of the time but now the Prince was back, hopefully something would happen. But as they came out of the tent to see the handmaidens all simply take a step back, they looked over to see the Prince of Darkness covered completely in red blood.

"What happened?" asked Lisbeth as she held her Siege Hammer in one hand as it was pressed against her hip.

"Well... apparently some Demons were preying on some Ghastly Stag herds within the forest... I took care of them swiftly." said the Prince as he flicked blood off him.

"Nonetheless, it looks like the herds are slightly scattered so this shall be an interesting hunt to say the least... so, with that, I think I'll be taking both the blacksmith and my bride and you handmaidens can handle yourself can't you?" said the Prince.

The handmaidens nodded and as they immediately went away for their hunt but as Kommando293 looked at the two girls left with him, he almost half-expected them to run away completely. But to his surprise for once, they simply begin walking past him as he then said, "Well, alrighty then... I hope neither of you is afraid of water then.."

"What is that suppose to mean?" asked Lisbeth.

"You'll see."

 Both girls watched the Prince follow them from a slight distance but they simply assumed he was not trying to get them killed for once. And so, the group walked into the forest to find themselves a herd of stags to hunt and hopefully not get ambushed by demons.

They soon came upon a small river running through the forest about 10 minutes after walking from the camp but as they looked down, they saw the river was completely made up of blood and chunks of meat that made both girls want to vomit. But then the Prince appeared and as he looked down, Sinon asked him as nicely as she could, "So... is there a bridge we can us?"

"No.. but worry not my dear." he said as he took a hand and put it on her chin gently. "I'll carry to the other side... you and your friend."

"You're gonna carry us both across that river of blood and guts?" asked Lisbeth in shock.

"Well... this will lead us to possibly some of the bigger herds and thus some of the better game..." said Kommando293 as he then began to walk into the river. He knew the river wasn't even that deep, going only up to his stomach at the deepest point but he was kinda keeping that away for his enjoyment in the hopes the nervousness would go away.

"Well... no way we can go around is there?" asked Sinon.

"Nope... so climb on..." said Kommando293 as he then bent his back over to piggy-back her across the river.

Sinon felt some deja vu hit her but she shook it off as she then slowly mounted his back and as he hoisted her up, he kept her as high above the blood as Kommando293 made his first trip. The water was warm and it did make Kommando a bit uncomfortable going through it however it was not as bad as it seemed and soon, as he passed through the river, he was on the other side as he put Sinon down before going through the river again to get Lisbeth.

As soon as he came to the other side, she quickly clambered onto his shoulders and as he began again, it seemed everything was going well enough. But then, just as he reached the halfway point-

"EEEK!" He suddenly lurched from Lisbeth sudden movement and as he managed to right himself, she was scrambling all over him as she shouted, "Something tried to grab me!!"

"Probably isn't the first time..." he muttered but as she began lurching around, he was barely holding onto her and keeping her on his shoulders as she moved around.

He managed to quickly get out of the deeper end and just as he reached the end, she suddenly lost her grip on him and began to fall forward and he launched her into the air away from him as he then landed in some mud of dirt and blood.

As Lisbeth managed to get up and dust herself off, Sinon watched as the Prince push himself from the mud and begin to fling it off as he shook himself before he then said, "Well.... at least you guys are fine and it was only I who got dirty..."

Suddenly, he summoned up a ball of water and as Sinon and Lisbeth watched him, he then sent it one himself as the mud and dust was washed off and as she shook the excess off, he then said, "That should keep the stink off and allow stealthing to be a bit easier..."

And with hat, he continued past them as both of them looked to the river before following him, not wanting to risk the waters if there actually was something in it.

The trio of Sinon, Lisbeth, and the Prince eventually came across a small clearing but just before they reached it, Kommando293 got onto his belly and began to crawl forward as he then said in a hush tone, "Follow me slowly and quietly..."

Both girls looked at one another before they soon followed suit and as the trio began to crawl slowly through dirt and the dead grass, the mud from the morning dew was making their clothes dirty as imaginable.

But as they came to the clearings edge, they then saw them and both Sinon and Lisbeth were in awe of the Wraith Stags.

The European-style stags of mostly bone and emitting a bit of fog from their antlers milled around the field as they fed on the grass. The females, from what Sinon could only assume for the moment, had the smallest of horns that looked like spikes while the males seemed to have tree branches attached to their heads. And as Sinon and Lisbeth did a mental head count of how many there were, there seemed roughly 50 of the Wraith Stag in total.

And as they watched the stag move about, Sinon could tell why they could tear them apart. The stags horns looked sharp as steel and as one opened its mouth, it had canine teeth and she gulped before wondering why it was eating grass.

"Eating grass to stave off starvation... smart..." muttered the Prince. Ah, so that what its doing.

"So... how are we going to handle this one?" asked Lisbeth.

"I'll begin with taking them on.. you two simply take out any of the stragglers not attacking me... try and get at least one." said Kommando293 as they watched him take his two swords out. "Be careful.. being Wraiths they can dissipate and reappear elsewhere..."

Both girls nodded and as Sinon took her bow out and notched an arrow, Lisbeth took her siege hammer out along with a recent shield she had made. Kommando293 smiled at them both and as he did so, he then suddenly blinked right before them and appeared in the middle of the herd.

"Let's do this then!" Shouted Kommando and as he swung with his blades, gashes appeared along flanks as suddenly the whole herd rushed towards him in a huge frenzy of misty trails.

Lisbeth and Sinon stood up and as Sinon fired a few shots, the stags were fast as they seemingly dodged around the arrows as they mainly went after the Prince. Lisbeth watched the stags run about and as she did so, there seemed to be no form of pattern to it all as if  they simply were running around to run around.

Meanwhile, Kommando293 was fighting for his dear life as the Ghastly Stag were swarming him relentlessly and the fact they were Wraiths made it no short feet to physically hit them. They danced and twirled around them as they tried to trample him or gore him upon their horns but he managing to nimbly dodge them as he hit another one with a slash but as it bucked at him, it soon "wraithed" and danced away as another managed to stab his side with its horns.

As Kommando293 grabbed its neck, he hen stabbed its chest with his free arm as he then shouted to the girls, "A little help now would be a bit appreciated!"

"Okay, I'm coming!!!" shouted Lisbeth as she then ran in with her Siege Hammer swinging all around her in an attempt to hit one of the stags.

Sinon fired more shots from her bow but as she seemed to hit nothing, she then sighed in frustration as she sighted a single one, lead it, and then fired her bow.

Thunk!

To her surprise, the Ghastly Stag Buck hit the ground hard as her shot hit its head and as the others looked over, they then watched as the herd scattered into the forwind as they soon were all by themselves. Kommando293 was decently hurt but thankfully he could tank the minimal damage attacks as he had grabbed their agro and as he sheathed both of his longswords, he then grabbed the stags neck as he then said, "Alright... now time for dinner if none of you mind..."