Dark forest. Gnarled trees. Dense fog.

All of Kyle's instincts were telling him to not so much as take one step into the forest, and were he not a competitor whose task it was to do just that, he absolutely would have listened to those instincts. Growing up No-Maj meant he had had a lot of exposure to horror movies, enough to bolster his sense of self-preservation and teach him exactly when an idea was beyond stupid, and when it was only a little bit stupid.

But following those instincts now would only lead to flat out losing the competition by forfeit, and Kyle wasn't about to be eliminated without even trying. Looking at the situation logically, he reasoned that 1. while the tasks had been described as dangerous (hence the age limit), he wholly doubted that his life would be in any lasting danger whilst in this forest, seeing as both Ilvermorny and Hogwarts would be held responsible for any student deaths. Also, 2. there must have been some kind of enchantment on the forest to enhance that sense of foreboding, make it all the more tense and dramatic.

Nevertheless, Kyle knew that to just start clumsily barrelling through the forest would be folly. He took his time in assessing the situation; the trees all around and overhead, the thickness of the fog. He could tell even from where he stood that any light would be difficult to come by, but other than that, any clues of what was to come were non-existent. Squinting through the dark did little to tell him what dangers and challenges lay ahead, but Kyle didn't really expect it to be easy to see what was coming. He didn't expect any of this to be easy.

Just standing there wasn't going to be very productive. Kyle already had his wand ready, and so held out his other hand, palm up. A moment later, he had conjured up a handful of Bluebell Flames. While he knew they would likely draw attention of anything waiting for him in the forest, Kyle was fairly certain that said attention would be drawn no matter what he did. At least this way, he had light, a small amount of warmth, and something to throw at anything that might jump out at him, not to mention his wand would be free to cast other spells, rather than having to maintain Lumos.

Without any kindling to burn, the noise of the flames was minimal, and so Kyle decided against his other initial idea of attempting to mute the flames with Silencio. He knew that it was primarily used on living things. Casting it would only risk looking like he didn't know how to use the spell properly, which might cost him points, especially if it ended up not working on non-living things at all. No, there was no point, and it wasn't like there wouldn't be plenty more opportunity for spell-casting in this challenge.

At last, he stepped forwards into the forest, holding his handful of flames in one hand, and his wand ready in the other. He kept his senses alert and his ears pricked, tried to step as carefully as possible, and not focus on the fact that it was just his luck that a challenge like this had to come first.

When he was only a few steps in, Kyle muttered an incantation under his breath, but maintained his slow and careful pace as he did so. "Homenum Revelio."

This was one he had learned and practiced specifically for the competition, since discovering he was an IMPS competitor. Though... it was a very tricky spell to pull off at the best of times, and he could only put his all into it and hope it would work now when he needed it... and try not to think about the fact that the spell telling him nobody was here and the spell not working at all would result in the exact same response.

Even if it was likely that no humans would be waiting to pounce, Kyle still felt it foolish to not even attempt the spell, given the situation he was in.