The maidens dropped the baskets in their hands and quickly ran inside while Liam stood still at a spot, staring at the entrance of the cave.

Shortly after, the maidens returned, but this time around, they were not alone. With them was the most beautiful woman Liam had ever seen in his life, and looking at her made his jaw drop.

"She is a goddess!" Liam thought to himself as he couldn't stop admiring the Enchantress.

She had sunny hair that dazzled just like gold, cascading from her head down to her shoulders, and continuing until a few inches to her waist. Her eyes shun brightly like the sun, and her nose pointed straight like an arrow.

She was dressed in a white robe that revealed part of her ravishing skin and with her feet bare just like the maidens. Her curvaceous body stood fitted in her apparel, and she had lovely beads on her waist that glittered like diamonds.

"My love!" She gasped as soon as she saw Liam, and getting down from the step in front of the entrance to the cave, she hurried toward him at once.

"I thought I had lost you!" Circe embraced Liam tightly and held onto him for a while. Liam remained still, not sure if he was to wrap his arks around her or remain the way he was.

Circe pulled out from the embrace eventually, and then she touched Liam all over his face, looking very curious.

"What happened? I saw you, you were dead. The dark Lord killed you after he broke free." Circe asked anxiously, but Liam was still speechless.

"Come. You will tell me everything inside. I am so glad to have you back. I have met no happiness since you left me." Crice dragged Liam's muscular arm with both hands and led him into the cave, engulfed with so much elation.

"Prepare a feast at once! Gather all the maidens!" She ordered the maidens who bowed at her almost immediately and left with their baskets.

Liam walked deeper and deeper into the cave with Circe leading him, and he could see that the walls of the cave had crystals in them, shining brightly, but not as bright as the green light that shunned brightly with a soft hum.

Instantly, Liam's attention was drawn toward it, and he couldn't stop staring as they got closer to it.

"I kept it for myself as a reminder of the wonderful times we spent together," Circe said to Liam, and he smiled with a nod.

"How do I get that, pearl?" Liam thought to himself as he looked at the green pearl kept on top of a huge rock surrounded by several other rocks almost of the same size.

He took a glance, and he could see the candles lit at several corners of the cave, fixed into tall metal stands.

By a corner of the cave was a pool, bubbling with hot smoke evaporating from it.

"Come, my love. Come sit with me." Circe gestured to a large seat that could stand in for a throne, gently dragging Liam until they sat on the large seat covered with thick animal skin.

"My happiness has returned," Circe confessed with a smile on her face, and without warning, she leaned forward to Liam and planted a kiss on his lips, leaving his eyes wide open, and his brows arched.

Circe noticed the awkwardness between them, and withdrew from his lips, staring at him with several thoughts running through her mind.

"What is it, Phaunos?  Are you not happy to see me?"

"Of course, I am happy to see you, my love." Liam retorted at once, and Circe forced a smile to take over the gloom on her face.

"If you are happy to see me, then why have you been so quiet? Tell me what happened, I want to know everything." Circe adjusted herself and focused all of her attention on Liam.

Thinking of how to get the pearl, Liam turned to look at it, blinking severally as the rays from its bright light met his eyes.

"You want it?"

Liam nodded in response, and Circe slowly sat up from the seat they shared and gestured her right hand toward the pearl which moved toward her as she motioned.

She got hold of the pearl as soon as it got close to her, and leaning backward, she turned to look at Liam with a chuckle.

"Here, let me help you with it." Circe grabbed the Amulet hanging on Liam's neck with her left hand, and then she inserted the pearl into the hole with her right hand.

Instantly, Liam felt a sudden power like an electrical charge surging into his body. It felt like an enigmatic force streaming into his blood vessels with so much speed.

His green eyes began to glow as his body aligned with the magical sensation that crept into his body. He lifted his hands and looked at his palms, and he could feel a whirling energy surrounding them.

Memories of the life of the real owner of the body he was occupying flashed through his mind, and he could see the times he spent together with the enchantress.

"My muse." He said as he turned to look at Circe who chuckled excitedly with her face brightening up with a smile.

"It is truly you." Circe voiced out, and then she grabbed Liam's head with both hands and pulled him closer to herself until their lips met.

She continued kissing him while Liam gently wrapped his arms around her, and they remained that way until the sound of music was heard from a short distance.

Slowly, Circe pulled out from his lips and chuckled with excitement.

"Music is here, my love." She said, and grabbing Liam's black cloak, she pulled him up gently and led him toward the direction the music was coming from.

There were beautiful maidens dressed in similar apparel, sitting on the floor at different corners. Some of them had flutes, tambourines, and drums which they played skilfully to produce lovely rhythms.

Liam marveled at how beautiful they were, but none of them could match the beauty of the Enchantress whose pulchritude was enough to cause a war between nations.

Seeing them approach, two of the maidens stood up from the floor and hurried toward them. They grabbed Liam gently from both sides and led him to a well-decorated seat specially set aside for him.

Circe joined Liam in the seat almost immediately, while the maidens stood beside them, nodding to the harmony of the energetic music.

Circe looked at the maidens, and with a single motion of her hands, they all got up slowly almost at the same time, and danced to the sound of the music, swirling their hips as the beads on the ankles joined in the dance.

Liam watched as the maidens danced joyously with Circe nodding in satisfaction, but the excitement on his face vanished the moment he saw the maidens carrying baskets and jars, walking toward them.

They dropped the items on the floor in front of Circe, and she quickly signaled to one of the maidens with long raven hair who poured some wine into a goblet and handed it over to her.

Circe drank some of the wine in the goblet with a smack of her lips just before she picked up an apple from one of the baskets, and ate from it.

"Have a bite, my love." She pushed the apple to Liam's mouth, waiting for him to eat from it.

Liam's heart sunk deep into his stomach as he remembered the words that the guardian said to him. He stared at the apple, and all he could see was an entrapping poison, even though the fruit seemed really tasty and its red color made his mouth watery.

"No, my love. I think I will pass."

"Are you rejecting this from me? This is a token of my love for you, look, it's an apple, a symbol of the passion that we share." Circe persisted, pushing the apple closer until it touched Liam's lips.

"Go on, have a bit." She persisted with a smile that soon faded, looking like she was about to get angry if he refused to eat from the apple.

Liam stared at her for a while, and he could even see that the rest of the maidens standing at several corners had their eyes on him, waiting to see if he was going to reject a gift from their Mistress.

"Everyone is watching, my love. Are you going to lead me to a ridicule?" Circe smirked at Liam, her eyes dazzling but in am impending rage.

"Alright. Just one bite." Liam succumbed to fate, struggling to hold on to the bravery that he wasn't used to.

Circe chuckled, and the smirk vanished slowly, giving way to a bright smile that flashed across her jaws.

"Go on, I planted it myself in my garden of eternity. My father Helios the sun god was benevolent in blessing my hands with a bountiful harvest."

Slowly, Liam opened his mouth widely, and took a bite from the apple, looking at Circe who nodded in satisfaction.

"There you go, Phaunos my love. Savor in the sweetness of my seeds, for, later on, we shall make sweet love just like we have always done." Curve basked in the euphoria of their previous moments of gratification, and even Liam could sense some of the moments of pleasure flashing inside his head.

After biting for a while, Liam held onto the apple inside his mouth, making sure that not even a drop of its juice got close to his throat.

"Come, my love. Dance with me." Circe dragged the reincarnate up, and wrapped his arms around her waist, swirling to the rhythm of the fast-paced music.

Liam could feel a sudden sensation gripping his nerves, but it soon disappeared when he realized he could no longer hold onto the chopped apple inside his mouth.

Giving in to the idea that came to his mind, he held Circe who stood a few inches below his hair by her arms and turned her around like in a tango.

Before Circe could return to him, he spat the apple into his left hand and dropped it on the floor. He stepped on it with his right foot and grabbed her waist at once.

Circe chuckled as soon as she wrapped her arms around his neck, and they continued dancing amidst the cheers from the maidens.

Suddenly, Circe pulled out a golden dagger from her apparel, and stabbed Liam on the chaste, causing an uproar of awe from the maidens around them.

The music stopped, and all attention was focused on Liam amidst the sudden silence that engulfed the entire corners of the cave.

Liam felt the sharp sting, but it was not as painful as a stab should be, and when he let go of Circe's waist and looked at the dagger pierced into his chaste, he could see that it penetrated deep, but there was no blood.

"Who are you? You are not Phaunos! You are not my love!" Circe growled with intense rage, her eyes glazing with displeasure at Liam who grabbed the dagger with his left hand and effortlessly dragged it away from his chest. He looked at it, and he could see that it had a sharp edge but no blood.

"Who are you, mortal? Where are you from? How are you in his body?" Circe quickly grabbed a sword concealed beside the seat behind her. Seeing the action of their Mistress, the rest of the maidens grabbed their weapons as well, and Liam could see swords, arrows, and spears pointed at him.

"Answer me, mortal! Who are you? And..." Circe looked at the spot where she had stabbed Liam on his chaste as a gasp erupted from her mouth.

"Why are you not bleeding?" She concluded, pointing her Khopesh sword at him.

Liam stepped backward slowly, holding onto the golden dagger while he looked at the maidens who were enclosing him.

"Speak, mortal!" Circe ordered with a hoarse tone, closing in on Liam with her sword directed at his head.

Just like their mistress, the maidens growled at Liam, ready to attack or seize him at any moment, with their weapons tightly gripped in their hands.

Liam looked around him, and seeing that the numerous maidens getting closer, and ready to attack, he turned around at once and fled from them.

"After him! Get him at once!" Circe's voice roared as soon as Liam fled, and the numerous maidens went in pursuit of him, making cries of war as they thudded the hard floor.

Grateful for the enormous speed and strength that came along with his new body, Liam soon found himself outside the cave, giving the maidens a lot of distance while they continued with their pursuit.

"Dragon! I think this is the right time to show up!" Liam was anxious, and his eyes went up to the sky in full apprehension, but Tiamat was out of sight.

He looked in front of him, and all he could see was water surging at the force of the heavy wind.

"I can't swim!" Liam got a reminder in his mind, and just when he was about to give up with the maidens howling as they marched angrily at him, he heard the sound of a loud screech from the sky.

Tiamat soared down from the heavens and blew blazing fire on the space between Liam and the maidens who halted in terror as they saw the creature.

Tiamat landed on the ground with a heavy thud, and as soon as Liam removed his hands from his face, he quickly climbed onto the dragon, and it flew away.

"This is not the end, mortal! I will find you, and I will annihilate you!" Circe's voice echoed from the ground as she stood in front of the blazing fire that burned the sand, producing glasses. She looked at Liam and Tiamat as they flew further into the sky, and she grunted in deep rage.

"You should have shown up earlier. Those women like Amazons didn't look like they were going to be merciful." Liam held onto Tiamat as it flew back to the infinite forest, and landed on the floor.

Liam climbed down from the dragon at once and sighed with his left hand on his chest, and his right hand holding onto the golden dagger.

Tiamat flew away at once, blowing air on the surface of the green land.

"Thank you!" Liam waved at the creature, and a whooshing sound was heard behind him.

"I see that you returned with the golden dagger as well. Well done, Emrys! You have completed your first quest! You are now the true heir of the Divine and the Almighty Warlord of the Forest!"