There it was. The order to keep moving. Ghent grit his teeth and closed his eyes, inwardly cursing the knight for his diligence. 
	"Does [i]anything [/i]get past this guy?" Grumbling about the injustice of it all, Ghent resumed walking when he felt Elayra grab his wrist again. He glanced at the blonde skeptically, but didn't object. As much as he hated to admit it, he felt safer with her nearby.
	Frowning in discontentment, Ghent decided Drust was to blame for all of this. It was because of him that they were in such horrible place, their guardian should have listened to Elayra. To make matters worse, the knight became tight-lipped, offering no insight for the forest he insist they travel through.
	Thankfully, Elayra was willing to fill in the role of storyteller. Ghent followed her with more willingness than before, desperate to have the haunted forest explained to him. 
	The story started interestingly, but it didn't get far. When Elayra paused to look around, goosebumps rose up and down Ghent’s arms. He kept silent, but the look on his face spoke volumes for what went through his mind. Slowly but surely, he was succumbing to the fear the forest fed them. 
	“Kind of like us.” Ghent perked up more at the mention of the three joining forces. It excited him to imagine they were newest trio of heroes. The trees rustled ominously, silencing his foolishness. This was not something to celebrate. 
	"Whoa." Amazed to hear Hatter had competition, Ghent had half a dozen questions to ask about Edelia in particular. He sensed Elayra's reluctance when Zandon was mentioned, but he couldn't figure out where her hesitance stemmed from. Just as he started to ask for more details regarding the trio, Elayra leapt into action.
	Believing their first ghost had been spotted, Ghent yelped and got into a defensive stance. He tried to mentally prepare himself for a ghastly sight, but nothing was there.
	Exhaling shakily, he straightened after Elayra relaxed her sword hand. Hollow Forest was about the worst place possible for someone with a wild imagination. 
	When they started moving again, Ghent tagged along beside her, privately relieved when she brought up the negative emotions that came with the war. At least he wasn't the only one who felt the disturbance in the air.
	“You feel it too, right?” Ghent spoke softly, disturbed to think the earth beneath their feet was once host to a brutal war. Elayra didn’t give an estimated number to the lives lost, but he could feel the list of causalities was immense. 
	Ghent wasn't sure how to respond when Elayra brought up the helpful spirits. Friendly or not, he didn't want to be in a situation where he needed to accept help from the dead. Instead of commenting, he eyed her curiously, confused by her trailing off before the sentence was completed.
	"While others...what?" In order to see Elayra's expression, Ghent matched her pace and leaned in closer, watching her intently. "If they're ghosts...they shouldn't be able to touch us, right?" 
	As if to answer the question, a light breeze passed over them, a feeling Ghent mistook for a set of ghostly fingers combing through their hair. The sensation was sudden, cold, and completely unwelcome. A combination that sent him over the edge.
	"THEY CAN TOUCH US!" In his attempt to dodge what he believed was a hand, Ghent bumped into Elayra and swiped his arm through the air in order to knock away their invisible assailant. When his poor excuse of an attack didn't work, he froze in his tracks, unsure which action or direction to take. 
	Biting his lower lip, Ghent looked around wildly as he felt Elayra grip his arm, an action which gave him reason to believe she was frightened too. 
	"Elayra, I don't want you to panic, but I definitely felt something." Ghent was doing all of the panicking, but he liked to believe Elayra was more afraid than he was. "And I heard a voice!" He flexed his fingers before balling his hands into fists, seconds away from blurting out the first focus word that came to mind.