Jac placed the glass oval stone in the center of the hollow. Just being near this cursed snag made the hair on her skin crawl uncontrollably; the rancorous aura still oozed strong, but had dwindled greatly thanks to the fresh cinders that continued to flare up between the crevices of the wood. With no further delay, the young woman stepped back and stood just a few feet away from the tree, as her three friends watched on from a distance.

"You can do it Jac!" Jillian said, "I believe in you!"

Richard and Aiden shared in her sentiment. Jac took one more look at them with a quaint smile. She then took a deep breath, sat upon the earth, and began to concentrate. She mentally called for The Witch of the Dawn to assist her with the final spell. The glowing butterfly manifested itself within the confines of the jewel, and with its arrival a voice as vibrant as sunshine echoed in Jac's mind.

"You must repeat this incantation exactly the way I tell it, and you mustn't stop until I deem it safe to do so. Now, are you ready?"

Jac affirmed her commitment and vowed to do whatever it takes. And with that, the light of her eyes glowed a bright yellow momentarily, before she closed them shut and began her chant. The words were intangible to anyone including the one who spoke it aloud; the lyrics carried with it a divine meaning that felt like a reflection from a far distant past. Jac continuously looped the spell, and with every passing minute, the miasma that had been blown to the edge of the field had slowly parted.

A strange sensation washed over Jac as time went on- she began to feel almost lighter than air. Nonetheless she carried on without ceasing, voicing the purification hymn until the voice in her head had come to a complete stop.

When she finally opened her eyes, Jac found herself in a strange, misty forest. Everything that surrounded her, from the trees off the distance to the grass beneath her feet, were colored a dusty white. The only object that seemed as natural as she could discern was the full moon that lit up the night sky, its light being the one source able to cut through this thick blanket of fog.

"W-Where am I...?" Jac gasped lightly.

"I wish I knew..." Said a familiar voice from behind.

Jac twirled her head back to find, as she had been expecting at this point, Aiden standing with his hand behind his neck.

"Where's Richard and Jill?" Jac cried out.

"I think we left them at the yard..." Aiden spoke in a dampened mood. "It's always something, isn't it..."

"Yeah..."

Jac raised an eyebrow. Even she was starting to grow suspicious about Aiden's sudden appearance basically everywhere that involved the supernatural.

"I guess we have no choice but to look for a way out. Notice anything strange?"

"Of course! Everything is..."

"That's reassuring." Jac sighed.

The two friends decided to walk down a path in hopes of finding something, anything, that could send them back. After trekking past the leafy groves in silence for some time, Jac decided that it was about time that she had a little talk.

"Aiden, I..." Jac hesitated. She steeled herself before saying the next words. "I think you know more than you're letting on."

"How so?" The shrunken Wile had a slight unevenness to his voice.

"About ghosts and all kinds of weird stuff! You don't need to hide any of that from us, especially if you think it could help in any way. So tell me, is there anything else you know about all of this that you haven't told us yet?"

"I, honestly... wish I had an answer to that." Aiden gave a deep, long sigh through his nose before he had the courage to continue. "It's not like I understand entirely what's going on, but I know that since a certain point in my life, I've been able to see and affect stuff that others can't. To me it's like the normal things you witness every day, so it surprises me... and sucks, when I find out that others don't... and are afraid of me for it."

"...I'm sorry."

"Don't sweat it okay? That's how it is when you're a Phoebe Wile."

"Is that why Jillian...?"

Aiden's demeanor changed when he heard her name, and he stopped walking momentarily was he took a deep breath. "I did something the other day that scared the living daylights out of her."

"What the heck did you do?!"

"I- -"

Suddenly, a burst of wind left the two friends with a bitter chill. The two raced in search of shelter, using the moon as their guide. They eventually made their way towards the center of the forest, where they found rows of white stags that stood in an aligned circle. What they witnessed at that exact moment left Jac in a state of shock.. for the first time since this ordeal began, Jac was quivering throughout her entire skin. Near breathless, she finally spoke.

"What the hell... is that?"

Aiden meanwhile was cowering down on his knees. All the visions from those sleepless nights had manifested themselves in the form he saw before him- it was all of his worst nightmares come true. The Wile was desperately holding back the ferality that was screaming to claw its way out, although he was running on paper-thin restraint at this point.

Before them was the titanic Portuguese man-of-war-like monster… the swarm of evil spirits that have merged to form a single entity, confined with strange otherworldly chains to the hollowed tree that the two friends were all too familiar with. And standing right in front of this catastrophe of a creature was The Witch of the Dawn, who was looking upon it with content in her eyes.

Not even a moment later, Aiden felt a gut wrenching sensation in his body that caused him to wince even further. He then coughed up a strange, smoky blob that floated up like a magnet to fuse with the rest of the spirits. While helpless to do anything about their situation, the combined entity were seething with infernal rage.

"Thank you for bringing me the last of the spirits," The witch said with a calm, gentle voice, "As well as for completing the task, Jac. No one else would have accomplished this so spectacularly. You are deserving of a gift worthy of a god."

She turned back to the multi-eyed fiends and added. "It appears that there are only 107 of them left. One of them was completely eliminated from existence, or so I've heard. Which, I won't lie, makes my job easier."

'He was a natural born leader!' A female voice cried.

'When we get out of these chains, Phoebe,' shouted a male voice, 'mark our words, we will burn you to a crisp as you did so mercilessly to our comrade! We'll make sure you'll suffer!'

"Oh pipe down, you ingrates." The Witch huffed. "You all will get what you want, so there's no need to complain."

"Wait, WHAT?!" Aiden screeched.

"W- What's going on?" Jac was quaking, "What are you talking about? What even is this place? And why is...?"

"So many questions, Jac! But I suppose you of all people should know." The Witch walked up to the young woman and held a hand to her cheek. The witch spoke these next words with a sweet, almost motherly tone.

"I will need a new body to complete my resurrection, but to do this I must have a powerful source of energy that would sustain me for a long time, as well as a sacrifice." She then extended an arm towards the collected evil spirits, as if showing off a grand display. "This demon will provide that energy source. They will get what they want in the end with an immortal host, but rest assured they will have no control over us. Their influential powers will be no more, for my divine essence will eventually eat away at them bit by bit. Poetic, don't you agree?”

The foul spirits struggled against their chains wanting nothing more than to charge at the holy woman, but that was all they were really able to do.

"And what is this... sacrifice?" Jac was near petrified.

What she didn't realize was that her being frozen in place was not of her own doing, and without warning an unseen force slowly lifted the young woman into the air with a tight grip between her chest and neck. Jac's airway was obstructed and she struggled to utter a word, let alone breathe. All the while the witch looked at her with a blank, expressionless face.

"JAAAAAC!!" Aiden rushed to her aid, but it was no use. In that very instance white tree roots exploded from the earth and latched onto the shrunken Wile giant, wrapping themselves like a snake's coils around his entire body. He let out an obscene, bone curling scream as he realized that he was reliving his prolific night terrors in real time. The tree roots drew him closer to the evil spirits, who wasted no time swallowing him whole into the massive blob of their gaseous form.

"A...A...id... en..."

Jac stuttered as hot streams of tears began to roll down her cheeks.

"Don't worry..." The Witch remarked. "He'll just regenerate like his kind are known for. This makes him the perfect scapegoat. That lucky bastard."

Try as she might, Jac's efforts to escape from her position were fruitless. Every lash, each jostle resulted in her body being squeezed tighter and tighter. And with this came a recollection- she went through this very same feeling that fateful night.. when the vengeful spirit in white rags covered her mouth.

“I…It was you... that night. You… processed me…”

The witch was chuffed to finally be acknowledged. “Caught on at last.” She whispered.

“You… lied to me…”

“I did what I had to to free myself, and by ridding ourselves of the wicked spirits, I'd say I'm well beyond redeemed at this point!”

As those very words were spoken, the 107 spirits all wailed in otherworldly fashion as they were slowly being vacuumed into the glass jewel that was still wrapped around Jac's neck. The Witch then approached her with a radiance that pierced through her mind.

"The task is complete. As soon as you awaken, you will be immortal, for I will be reborn… as you."

Jac's eyes shot open as she heard that statement, yet the witch tried to lessen the blow by wrapping her arms around her. Jac struggled ferociously, but this gentle hug has sealed her fate.

"I'm sorry for keeping this from you before, but I knew you would object to it. Do not fret, I will let your soul have control over our body frequently. We shall take turns! I made a promise to the Bean that I wouldn't harm you, and I'll keep my word, especially after all you've done for me."

Despite everything, Jac was able to gather as much strength as she could to shout as loud as possible, all while hyperventilating between words.

"YOU... YOU USED ME!!"

"Immortality is a blessing. You should be honored."

"YOU USED ME!!"

"I can't thank you enough for everything you've done for me."

"ENOUGH WITH THAT BULLSHIT!! YOU'RE NOT EVEN LISTENING!! YOU!...USED!...ME!!! YOU USED ALL OF US!!!"

At that precise point in time a dazzling white light engulfed the two, completely overtaking the entire witch's domain in its wake. Reality was calling for their return together, and Jac was screaming to the top of her lungs all the while.