Undómiel and Connor walked in silence as they traveled side by side, their hooves padding on the morning’s dewy earth. The pair of unicorns had been traveling all night, and when daybreak came, a layer of fog slowly began crept among the heavily wooded forest floor. Undómiel, had a beautiful white coat, the second unicorn and her companion for this trip, Connor, was a midnight black coat. The unicorns met and formed a friendship bond during an excursion last year, and since then they continued to accompany each other on explorations. For this expedition, they decided to investigate the recent stories that were circulating about an ancient cast iron gate appearing in the middle of the Humbled Forest. Though not everyone that goes looking for the gate can find it, and the rumor was that the gate itself emitted magic. “Something has changed,” said Undómiel, breaking the silence. “The woods feel different, can you feel it?” “Yes, I can. Tread lightly Undómiel,” replied Connor. No more than 5 more steps forward, the top of a vine-laden iron gate came into view through the fog. The unicorns looked at each other as they slowed their pace, and cautiously continued forward. There was now a buzzing of magic in the air, surrounding them entirely. The entirety of the gate came into view, and the fog lessened as they stood in front of the archway to the gate. The iron gate had vines covering almost every inch of it, twining between the hinges and bars. The black cast iron was barely visible through the foliage. Covering the vines were tiny pale flowers that gave off a sweet scent. As they stepped underneath the gate’s entrance, a crane came into view on the backside of the gate, pacing in a small circle. At first the bird did not notice them, so Connor cleared his throat. The crane, who was obviously caught offguard, finally halted its pacing when it noticed the unicorns. The crane cautiously let out a highpitch squawk, followed by a clucking from its throat. Now that the crane was standing still, the unicorns observed a small piece of rolled parchment attached to the birds leg by a string. “Um, hello?” Undómiel said to the crane. The bird was emitting a soft sound, before resuming its pacing. “Er, are you waiting for something or someone?” Connor asked as he looked over at Undómiel. “Do you need help?” The bird ignored his questions and continued to pace. The unicorns looked at each other again, which urged Undómiel to ask, “Can you tell us what you know of this gate?” At that question, the crane stopped pacing again, and lowered its beak to the scroll tied to its leg. The crane removed the parchment, and held the paper in its beak for a moment. It softly stepped forward and set the scroll on the ground in front of the unicorns. After a moment the crane screeched again, and then took flight. The bird was out of sight before either of the unicorns could respond. “What in this world was that about?” Connor asked. Without replying, Undómiel stepped forward and sniffed at the scroll, her nostrils flared as she took in the scent. “It smells like the flowers on this gate, but nothing else. There is definitely magic radiating from this scroll though” she said. “Was the crane a messenger of sorts?” Connor asked. “From where and whom, though? How is it tied to this gate?” Undómiel whispered to Connor with excitement as she stared into the fog where the bird took flight. “I am not sure, but let’s open the scroll!”