Darius's Pov

The drive to the witch's cottage took exactly one hour like Dante said it would. A witch was recommended to us, we left most of the team back at the mansion to keep preparing while Dante and I went ahead to secure help finding the fortress.

The roads got narrower as we drove and eventually we had to leave the car and walk the rest of the way on foot. The path through the woods was barely visible, I could feel something pushing against us the closer we got.

"You feel that?" Dante asked.

"Protective wards," I said. "Strong ones."

The cottage appeared suddenly like it materialized out...