Alas, the time for talking has passed... It's too dangerous around. Jason tries to do a preemptive strike...

"Fuck all this shit! I was almost killed by this insidious cruel witch! I need to get to my goal quickly, before this monstrous forest swallows my life!" - the prince's thoughts are permeated with fear and terrible premonitions.

Therefore, he decides to act as quickly as possible and prevent a potential threat.

Tension of magical forces...

Blood continues to flow from numerous wounds...

The amulet again pulsates and burns the flesh...

The prince pronounces the words of a spell, which previously only repelled opponents with a strong gust of wind.

However, now, the prince puts his increased magical power and the power of the amulet into the structure of the spell.

The gust of wind does not simply throw away several dark silhouettes (which were hiding in the bushes) - the gust of wind has become stronger than usual and it began to carry strange flickering orange sparks in the air currents.

If even one such spark hits the flesh of a living creature…

This creature will be in great pain…

A second later, loud non-human screams filled with horror and pain were heard from the bushes.

Jason did not wait and continued running along the narrow, winding forest path.

Running past the likely ambush site, he heard the noise and cracking of tree branches.

Someone was running in fear from here…

Thanks to the spell that allowed him to temporarily see in the darkness of the night forest, the prince noticed among the thick grass only the evil gleam of strange dark purple eyes that had no pupils…

“Damn! How many strange and dangerous entities live in this demiplane?!” Jason thought, continuing to run and cautiously looking around.

The sounds of the night forest and the strange appearance of the local plants inspired only additional concerns in the prince’s mind…

“But why?! Why did my father send me to this sacred grove alone? Surely he knew about the terrible dangers... Does he have some ulterior motive and he preferred to make me risk my life?!" - the prince's head is a chaos of thoughts, some of which are moving in some paranoid direction.

After a couple of hours of grueling travel, Jason hears a loud sound from somewhere ahead...

This is where this path leads...

The prince stops to catch his breath a little.

Then (remembering the terrible events in the witch's house) he carefully moves forward, trying not to attract attention to himself.

Noise...

It is the sound of falling water!

The prince cautiously looks out from the thicket of bushes and sees...

The path led him to some special place.

The trees here are even stranger than those the prince had seen before.

The leaves of the trees emit tiny shining sparks, like pollen.

It is night now and in the darkness the colour of the trees cannot be seen – however the prince guesses that their colouring is extremely exotic and not like the usual.

Mushroom-shaped large growths on tree trunks.

This area, isolated from the rest of the forest, is not very large.

"Is this the sacred grove that my father was talking about? I hope so..." Jason thinks.

He carefully walks forward.

In the center of this grove is a large rock, from the top of which a waterfall erupts...

A stream of water falls as if from nowhere... As if from the sky...

It is impossible to explain it otherwise than by magic.

The water falls into a small pond.

The water in this pond emits a strange fog...

The prince also notices that around this pond there are large (above average human height) stone structures of unknown purpose. These structures look like ancient stone megalithic structures of religious purpose...

It seems that something like this is called the term "dolmens".

More than a dozen of these dolmens surround the pond.

Approaching closer, Jason notices strange symbols of unclear meaning on large stone blocks.

"Is this writing? Or are these just some ritual patterns created in ancient times?" - Jason thinks that it is better not to get too close.

However, suddenly an inexplicable attraction arises in the prince's mind...

A pond and a waterfall.

A cool and invigorating touch of streams of water...

That's what is needed now...

Water will wash away fatigue...

Water is like a mirror...

The flow of these thoughts in the prince's mind grows with each passing second.

Jason takes a couple of steps forward (towards the pond).

Quiet sniggering.

The prince is in fright and looks around.

There is no one.

A couple more steps forward...

It was as if a strange, multi-voiced whisper was heard in the prince's head, urging him to continue moving forward.

"What the shit?! I feel as if my consciousness is being carried away by a powerful wave somewhere in an incomprehensible direction..." - the prince thoughtlessly said this out loud.

Whispers becomes more intrusive...

Pulsating pain in the head...

Jason grabs the head...

However, the body steps forward.

"This is how it should be… This is how it should be… This is how it should be… Don’t resist… Your blood is stronger than chains…" - the whisper now sounds in Jason's head, and as if from every tree in this grove.

The prince notices how the roots of the trees slowly crawl like snakes...

On each tree (if you look closely) you can see among the bark, moss and mushroom growths - a distorted and ugly semblance of the face of some creature.

The prince tries to take control of his body and move away from the pond...

Alas, it is too late...

Splash of water...

Fog envelops the prince's body...

Step...

Another step...

Cool water touches the body...

"I don't want to! I'm scared! Let me go, whoever you are!" - Jason screams in horror.

After that, in his head, in addition to the many-voiced whispers, he hears... laughter.

Strange-sounding, frightening non-human laughter.

"The blood of one of the Four... A drop of blood one of many... A drop of blood will pass along the path of Destiny... At any cost..." - the voices in his head seem to be... having fun.

The water is already reaching the prince's neck.

"Are you trying to drown me?!" - this is the last cry of horror that the prince managed to make before his body was completely submerged in water.