Diving to the bottom...

This water is surprisingly transparent...

The water permeates the prince's entire body...

He tries to float up and emerge from the pond.

However, his body itself seems to "betray" him.

His body is frozen in some strange paralysis and slowly sinks to the bottom of the pond.

Jason sees exotic spiky algae that wriggle like a living creature and that emit a glow.

A school of small fish swims nearby, which have frightening faceted insect eyes instead of normal eyes, and on their sides several appendages pulsating with purple light.

Among the algae, a pair of skeletons are visible, on which only the pitiful rusty remains of battle armor have been preserved.

The underwater space of the pond looks unusually vast.

The size of this space significantly exceeds the size of the pond itself, which the prince saw when approaching this place.

"Everything here is permeated with strange magic..." - the prince manages to think before his body begins to feel the increasing pressure of the water.

Jason dives lower and lower into the water depths...

Closer to the bottom, the prince's gaze sees many large stones that are located next to each other (forming a circle).

On each stone there are many symbols pulsating with magical energy.

In the center of the circle of stones is a large stone slab.

The prince's body falls onto this stone slab...

At this moment, a powerful stream of magical energy bursts out from each stone, which rushes to the chest of Jason.

The prince's body is pierced by terrible pain...

The need to scream is so strong that the prince forgot for a second that he is under water.

Water fills his lungs...

Inside the prince's body, a flame seems to flare up, burning every tiny particle of the organism.

The epicenter of the pain is... an amulet!

Shimmering amulet on a silver chain…

A gift from Jason's father.

The metal of the amulet is under **** magical influence.

It's as if the metal "bites" into the flesh and fuses with the flesh into a single whole…

It all looks like a sophisticated ****.

The prince's consciousness can't withstand such a huge concentration of pain…

Darkness…

Absolute darkness…

A whirlpool of darkness, absorbing everything…

However, suddenly, something appears in this darkness…

Some kind of sphere…

This sphere approaches with frightening lightning speed.

Vivid visions of nature, unfamiliar and alien to the ordinary world.

This is a whole world inhabited by strange and frightening creatures.

A world that is completely covered in forests, whose appearance is so strange that for an ordinary human it is simply an absurd delirious nightmare.

A world of constant change, where trees are like predators, where rivers and lakes have intelligence, where mountains soar in the sky...

The inhabitants of this world are diverse and not at all like humans.

Satyrs, dryads, fairies, fauns...

The rulers of this world are constantly overcome by chaotic passions...

They do not restrain their aspirations and enjoy the all-consuming waves of chaos, regardless of the consequences.

Nothing restrains the thirst for pleasure, the thirst for fun, the thirst for ****...

The powerful archfeys constantly wage cruel wars with each other, regardless of losses.

And not once has anyone been able to achieve a final victory in this war and completely subjugate this volatile and chaotic world to their rule.

A war without pity.

A war without a chance for the loser.

The winner takes all.

However, several of the most cunning archfeys who were defeated in the bloody war - were able to find a way to survive.

There were four of them...

Four fugitives from the wrath of a powerful fairy union which led by the Sovereign of Mirror Citadel...

They found a way to another world.

They, along with their followers, escaped to this new world.

But they did not abandon their ambitions.

In the new world, the four fugitive archfey began to concentrate the forces of their followers.

They also began to subjugate the local inhabitants.

Humans…

This long process of mastering the new world lasted for many millennia…

And the energy of faith of these humans helped each of the four archfey to gain divine status.

Among the vast forest expanses, the savages-humans brought bloody sacrifices in temples and offered prayers to these four entities.

The power of the Four grew with each century…

And their ambitions also grew…

They continued to compete with each other - after all, none of them was ready to tame their unbridled passions and compromise…

Any compromise and any agreement between such entities is nothing more than an insidious trick aimed at betraying the one who trusted.

So, over the many millennia of the dominance of these deities, the endless forest expanses of the continent were irrigated with the blood of numerous battles.

The tribes of savages-humans constantly waged bloody wars with each other.

And each of the Four enjoyed their divine dominance and tried to strengthen themselves even more at the expense of their competitors.

However, after many centuries, something began to change...

At first, the expansion of these ambitious and cruel deities encountered a powerful obstacle in the form of the forces of the mighty elven empire.

The elven pantheon of deities was a stronghold of strict order and civilization...

All this was extremely disgusting to the Four.

Then, in the following centuries, against the backdrop of the weakening of the elves, some tribes of savages-humans began to gradually develop and become more civilized.

The old way of life in the endless forest expanses began to undergo changes.

Young and furious kingdoms of humans began to worship other deities.

The power of the Four was undermined...

Century after century, their followers became fewer and fewer...

Their faithful were **** to hide in the dense forest thickets, like wild beasts...

The Four once again knew the bitterness of defeat...

However, this time they did not flee.

They harbored a thirst for **** and began to plan their own triumphant return to dominance over the humans ethnic groups.

Century after century, insidious secret plans are woven in the depths of the dark forests...

Century after century, hidden anger and lust for power prepare the chains of domination for the world...

The Four...

And one of them exudes a sparkling orange flame of guile...

His name is The Grinning Fox.