[h1][color=red]The Crimson Man[/color][/h1]

A soft breath of relief escaped the Crimson Man as the children started to follow him through the darkness. If he was lucky, they would stick together through the whole forest and he wouldn't have to wear himself out trying to find them. When they caught up with [color=6ecff6]Seiji[/color] he stopped and began flying around the children, just glad they were all safe for the moment. He would give them a moment to introduce themselves and feel a little bit safer with each other before pestering them about moving on. It was important that they trusted each other enough to stick together before moving on. If they all decided to take separate paths he most certainly wouldn't be able to protect them at all.

After they introduced themselves, [color=6ecff6]Seiji[/color] came over, reached out a finger and touched one of his wings. Casually he just fluttered a bit of a ways away, just out of the boy's reach. He was fine with landing on people, but his wings were sensitive, he wasn't a big fan of them being touched. Instead of focusing on that, he started fluttering around [color=f7941d]Erin's[/color] head to get everybody's attention. They couldn't stay on the path for too long, it wasn't entirely safe, even if it looked like it was.

[h1]The Next Clearing[/h1]

The next clearing was about the same size as the last one. In fact it was identical in appearance save for two features. This clearing only had two paths to continue along. One was narrow and small, though well lit, they'd have to crawl through it. But it was the safe path, other than the scraped up knees and elbows that they were sure to get. The other was pretty looking, the trees were covered in bright, colorful flowers. Unfortunately, like many things in nature, those pretty colors meant poisonous. The toxins the flowers gave off would have slowly killed the children, if not for the protection of the Crimson Man. It would still not be a pleasant experience for them.

The second different was the tree stump resting directly in the middle. On the stump were four pieces of paper. The birth certificates of each child. Giving them their names, birthdays, parents, maybe things they were dying to know. Even if they knew their names, it was completely confirmed now. This was the first step into them discovering their pasts and the truth about why they were stuck in this forest between life and death.