I started writing this a while ago, it's only a small part of what i've done up to now, but this is the only part on my computer, the rest of it is hand written and i can't be bothered to type it all up just yet.
This part isn't perfect yet, i've still got alot of work to do on it but this is the general jist of what i want to do. there'll be lots more that i want to add to this section in the future.
I hope you people like it if you had the time to read it as it is quite long. Also, if there's anything that you think i can add or improve on, then please tell me.
Owain was standing at the edge of the forest, and in the near distance he could see the field he was told to go to. It was a rather narrow field (well, narrower than the other fields around it) with a small wooded area situated next to it. The fields that were before them were quite large with thick green grass and had slightly, walked-in, earthy paths going through the middle of them from one gate to the next. The gates were also quite large, for all of the animals to get through (although there were no animals in there at the time or in any other field surrounding).
As he was getting closer to the field, the wood that was next to it started to become clearer (as it was fairly dark, even for a small wood like it was). He could see further into the woods and as he did, he could see a shape moving towards the opening of the trees. The shape became more noticeable by the time the light was on it, and Owain had never seen anything like it before. He noticed that it was walking over towards the fence of the field that Owain was told to go to. Owain stopped, he was puzzled, and he was wondering who that person could be and what it wanted with him. He wasn’t quite close enough to make a positive I’d of what it was, but he could see it definitely wasn’t a human, but it was on two legs. Owain made half his way over to the field and he could now see that it was a female of whatever it was. As he got to the gate, the creature standing there seemed to have the legs of a goat with hoofed feet and the rest of her body was covered in short-thin hair with a little bit more on her head. As Owain looked at her he couldn’t ‘t believe his eyes, but as he looked into her eyes, he could see she was full of wisdom and that she had something important to tell him.
‘My name is Madryn’ Said the creature, then she opened the gate and waited for Owain to walk through before doing so herself. ‘Please follow me for I have something terribly important to tell you.’ They started walking, with Owain slightly behind her, through the narrow field which was just as green as the others, but it had a more walked-in path going through it. Madryns voice was softer than you would first think when meeting her, which made it easier to listen to.
‘There’s word going around the forests that a great evil is coming.’ Owain stopped, slightly scared of what Madryn had just told him.
‘A great evil?’ He called as this creature carried on walking. Owain ran and caught up with her, this time going in front of her and stopping her. ‘What do you mean of this? Where’s it coming from? What does it want with here?’
‘No one knows who he is or where he came from, all that people know is that he has already taken control over two villages up north from here, and it is only in time that the evil will find it’s way down here to these peaceful villages. As for what it wants, some people think it is looking for the staff of true power, which he is lead to believe is situated in a deep cave in evergreen mountain.’ Madryn turned and looked at the tallest mountain in the area which was covered in tall evergreen trees except for its peak, which stood out looking over the tops of the lower trees. Madryn carried on walking, with Owain, this time, by her side.
‘What would happen if this evil was to get that staff?’
‘If his evil hands were to get hold of the staff, then he would be able to summon an enormous army of his own and take over the land as we know it, then it would be full of corruption with nothing good or pure left. So we must get this staff for ourselves before he does and use it for our goodness and destroy him and his reign of terror. For this, I have chosen you, Owain, to go to Evergreen Mountain, retrieve this staff and destroy this evil that is coming.’ She put her hand on Owains’ shoulder, his eyes were wide in bewilderment, he didn’t’t know what to say, or what to think on that matter.
Madryn and Owain got to the gate on the other side. Madryn un-hooked the gate and opened it.
‘Think about what I have said, for if we are not successful in retrieving the staff of true power then we can say good bye to9 our land.’ She walked out and back up to the woods where she had come from. Owain leaned on the open fence and looked up towards the evergreen mountain but was still unsure why she wanted him to go up there and search for it.
After a few minutes, Owain, still puzzled, unintentionally left the gate open and turned back to the field and walked back up the grassy path. When he got back to the first gate, he looked into the woods, where Madryn came from, but couldn’t see anything, so he made his way up through the fields where he came from and into the entrance of his forest. As he got to his forest the sun had already begun to set, opposite the blue sunset, many stars began shining. As the sun went and there was no blue left in the sky, the moon, which was full and round shone down itself, into the tall evergreen trees, which reflected the silver glow of the moon and onto the ground, which made it possible to see where you were going.
The sound of the forests river broke through the opening of the trees, which Owain could clearly hear now. He then remembered that Sara-anne spent most of her time at the lake that the river ran through, especially at night time, because that was when it was at it’s most magical and mystical time. So Owain thought he would go and see her and ask if she knew anything of this staff of true power. He made his way over to the sound of the river, which got clearer and clearer as he got closer. As Owain got to the lake, he cold see Sara-anne sitting on a boulder looking across the water. He walked over to her slowly and softly called her name.
‘Sara-anne.’ She turned her head and instantly saw Owain coming from the trees. She climbed down from her boulder and stood watching him walk over. The moon light was bouncing off the water and reflecting onto her.
‘It’s beautiful isn’t it? How the moon and the stars light up the forest.’ Said Sara-anne as she looked up to the sky to look at the moon then looked over to see the lake and trees, which all had a silver glow tot hem. ‘Even the ground gives off a different energy at night.’ She knew this because she never wore anything on her feet, as she like to feel the warmth of the energy coming through.
Yes, it is beautiful.’ Replied Owain, as he looked around himself. ‘I’ve just been told something, something that I’ve never heard of before. I had just been talking to someone by the name of Madryn, and she was telling me about a staff. The staff of true power, she called it. I was wondering if you had ever heard of it. She said it was in a cave up the ever green mountain.’ Sara-anne had just as much a puzzled face as Owain did when he was told. ‘She had asked me to go up there and get it to bring it back down here.’
‘Why? Who is this Madryn person? She isn’t from our village.’ Said Sara-anne. As it was only a small village, everyone knew everyone.
‘Indeed she isn’t from our village.’ Owain replied with a tone of laughter in his voice. ‘I had never seen anyone like her before. She seemed to be more of a creature than a person. With goat-like legs and a hairy body.’ Sara-anne was more confused now than she was before.
‘I am sorry Owain, but I do not know of this staff you speak of, nor do I know this Madryn creature you talk about. But I suggest you talk to Helana for she knows more about the outside world than all of us.’
‘Yes, Helana, of course.’ Owain placed his hand of Sara-annes arm. ‘Thank you.’ Then he walked back into the wood, where the moon-highlighted trees lit up the path with the silver glow.
When the sound of the water was no longer in range, all Owain could hear was the slight rustling of the leaves on the trees as they blew in the gentle night breeze. He could just about make out the light from the fires that were lit in the village, and now hear the voices of the slightly nearer villagers. Owain could see someone else walking towards the village; it was Helana, who was just getting back from the field where they keep their horses. She walked over to Owain just before the entrance of the villages, and then he told her everything that Madryn had told him.
‘I had just seen and told Sara-anne about this, and she said I should be telling you.’ He added on as he noticed Helana had a look, not of confusion as he and Sara-anne had, but a look of understanding, as if she knew everything about this great evil and the staff of true power.
‘Yes. You are right to tell me, for I may have something in connection with this.’ Helana led Owain through the entrance of the village and to her home where the information was kept. Inside her home, which was just next to the village entrance, she went straight to her book case in her lounge, and pulled out a book. Opening it, Owain had just walked into the lounge, and Helana showed him a page in the book that had a picture drawing on it. ‘That is the staff of true power.’ She said as she turned to the next page which had another drawing of it. ‘Some people believe that this staff holds much power. If in the hands of evil, it could destroy many lands and turn every one in the land evil. But if someone with good intentions was to yield it, then all of the evil in the land would die. For now, the staff has been in the cave in the evergreen mountain, because the last time there was evil here the staff was used by the villages of then and killed the evil and all the different villages out and around the forests agreed to put it in a neutral spot where it can cover the whole of the land. But that was hundreds of years ago and now I think that everyone has forgotten about the staff and power it had, and it has begun to wither away. The new evil that is arriving has sensed that the staff is no longer protecting the villages and the land, and is now on it’s way down here to retrieve the staff for itself.’
‘Then I must get to this staff, before this new evil takes over the whole of the land. But the only thing is, I won’t know how to get there. Should I go on my own?’ Owain walked over to the window of the room and looked upon the village at night, noticing the odd villager walking from the trees into their own home.
‘I think what we must do is to get to the other villages just east and south of here, and see if there is anyone there who would help you on your journey.’ Helana placed the book back into its spot on the shelf.
‘Does this mean that you will be coming with me?’ Owain asked as he looked back at her.
‘I shall be coming with you to the first village and look for help, but I will not be coming with you to search for the staff, for I will be needed here - well, I am always needed here, but if the evil should pass before you are to get to the staff, then there should be someone here to do what they can to hold it back for as long as possible.’
‘But what could you do if it did get here? How would you hold it back?’
‘There aren’t that many people who know this now, but the trees in this forest hold special powers. The kind of powers that can withstand a certain amount of evil power, although, it will not hold it off for long as the evil gains more strength with all the villages and towns it takes over.’ After a few a moments of pause, Helana took a deep breath. ‘It’s getting late. You should go home and rest. In the morning we will make our way to the first village which is about twenty miles off the east side of the forest.’ Owain left Helana’s home and made his way to his own home where he went straight to bed.
The following morning when the sun rose above the mountains, broke through the trees and cleared the silver moons glow. Sara-anne was just coming back from the lake where she had spent most of her night. Owain had just got up and noticed Sara-anne through his bedroom window. He got dressed and left his home to go and see her.
‘Owain.’ Sara-anne called as she noticed him leaving his home. ‘Owain.’ She called again, making Owain go to her faster. ‘Something happened last night when I was by the lake.’
‘What was it? What happened?’ A look of concern came onto Owains face.
‘Well, just after you left me last night to go and see Helana, I saw something on the other side of the lake.’
‘Yeah, what was it?’
‘I couldn’t quite make it out from where I was standing, but I knew it wasn’t good, I could feel it in the ground. So I thought I’d get closer to see what it was. When I got closer, I could see there were three people.’
‘Who were they? Did you recognize them?’
‘No I did not. I believe that they are not from our village. One of them looked at me; I thought I could blend in with the trees so he wouldn’t see me. But I heard him tell the other person that he could see someone, so I made a run for it, but suddenly the third person appeared in front of me, he stopped me and grabbed hold of me while the other two came from behind and got hold of me.’
‘What did they do to you? Do you remember?’ Owain then went from a concerned look to a worried look.
‘After they got hold of me, I don’t remember anything. The next thing I knew, I woke up next to the lake in the spot I was in before.’
‘The evil must be getting closer. It’s no longer safe for you here, Sara-anne. Helana and I are both going over to the east village today to warn them about this evil and to find people who will accompany me on the journey to find the staff of power to destroy this evil that has come. Although I do not expect you to go on this journey with me. I advise you to stay at that village where you’ll be safer.’
Sara-anne looked back into the woods, thinking that she had heard someone come up behind her, but there was no one there. Helana then came over noticing that Sara-anne was in some sort of distress.
‘I’ve told her that she should come with us to the east village where she would be safer, because she had an incident in the woods last night where she was attacked, but she can’t remember anything else.’
‘I’m keep thinking I’m hearing them.’ Said Sara-anne as she stood there nervously watching into the trees.
‘We must leave now.’ Said Helana ‘I have two horses that we can use to get there. Sara-anne, you can ride with me.’ She then brought two horses over, and as they mounted them, they trotted slowly through the forest where the nearest exit was in the east.
As they got to the edge of the forest, Owain noticed, in the far distance, the field in which he met Madryn, and the woods that she had from.
‘It’s now about twenty miles from here. Are you okay Sara-anne?’ Helana asked as she could see she started to calm down a bit.
‘So when we get to this village, where will you go from there?’ Helana rode up next to him on her horse.
‘When we get to this village and warn them on this evil that is coming, then I will be coming back to the north side of our forest and do what needs to be done to prepare us for the possible evil that will come.’ Then they rode off to the east to the first village
The weather took a turn for the worst at around midday. There were thick black clouds covering the whole of the sky with heavy rain pouring down. There was no obvious sign of it stopping, nor was there any shelter to protect them.
‘Look! Over there, it’s a cave.’ We could go in there until the rain has subsided.’ so with Owain on his horse and Helana and Sara-anne sharing, they made their way over to the cave, which was just in the side of a small hill. It wasn’t a big hill; it even seemed to be as if it was man-made. When they got in there, the walls were in an arch shape, with smooth rock forming it. Because it wasn’t a big hill, the cave didn’t go in very deep, at the back of it, it was all curved off with no corners or edges.
‘What is this place?’ asked Sara-anne as she got down from the horse.
‘I don’t know.’ replied Helana with curiosity, as she also got down from the horse. She went up to the wall and started smoothing her hands over it, seeing if she could find anything that could explain the meaning of the cave.
‘Look at this.’ Sara-anne found a drawing on the wall a little further in. ‘What could this drawing be? It’s almost looks like…’ she turned to Helana then to Owain. ‘You... Owain.’
‘Let me have a look.’ Helana saw the drawing on the wall. ‘Yes Owain, it does look like you. Look what you’re holding.’ Owain couldn’t believe what he was seeing. It was a drawing of him, holding the staff of power.
‘What? What does this mean? Who could have done this?’ Owain looked at the rest of the wall. There were many other drawings, of people who seemed to be following behind him. ‘Look at all these other people, who are they?’
‘These drawings definitely mean something.’ Said Helana, as she looked for more markings. ‘This is probably why Madryn wanted you to go on this journey. She must have known about this cave and these pictures and thought you must be chosen to retrieve this staff.’
‘How long do you think these drawings have been here? They look to be pretty old as they seem to be wearing away slightly.’
‘I don’t know, as it’s hard to tell.’
‘Wait a minute.’ Sara-anne could feel something through the ground. ‘There is something coming, it feels as though there’s a few of them. They are coming from the north.’ Instantly Owain and Helana thought it could be the evil making its way from the north villages, so they both went to the entrance of the cave to see if they could see anything coming. Sara-anne came over and joined them at the entrance. ‘I can still feel them. They’re getting closer, there even seems to be more joining them from the north east.’
‘Are you sure you can feel something coming.’ As it was still raining quite heavily Owain figured that Sara-anne might be getting confused. ‘We can’t see anything. The rain is falling rather heavily; it’s that you might be feeling.’ On the dry land inside the cave, Sara-anne got down on her hands to feel the ground and make sure it wasn’t the rain that she was feeling.
‘No.’ she said ‘there is definitely something coming, and now there’s even more for them. I’m sure I can feel them coming. We should be able to see them from the north.’ Looking harder through the rain, they still couldn’t see anything.
‘There isn’t anything, Sara-anne.’ But as soon as Helana said that, there was a huge rumble in the ground. ‘Did you feel that then Owain?’
‘Yes I did.’
Sara-anne stood up. ‘That was them. I don’t understand why we can’t see them. They should be passing us right now.’ The rumbling that Owain and Helana could feel lasted several seconds. It got more and more, and at one point, they could even hear it through the rain, which sounded like horses running, but they still couldn’t see anything. It then passed and Sara-anne could no longer feel it. It went passed the cave and went south.
‘That wasn’t the evil.’ Said Helana, as she went back into the cave. ‘Because, if it was, it would have gone to our village and not to the south.’
‘What’s down the south then?’ Puzzled Owain.
‘There are many things down there that anyone would go to. But people on horses we couldn’t see, now that has even got me confused.’ A few minutes later, the rain stopped and the clouds cleared up. ‘Although the rain has stopped, the ground is far too wet and muddy to go riding on, even if it didn’t stop those invisible riders. The sun is out now, so it should start to dry it up a bit.’
Owain went back and looked at the drawings on the wall again. ‘What could they mean?’ He thought to himself. ‘Why does that person look like me?’ Owain stayed there looking at them, while Helana and Sara-anne sat on the ground.
‘How do you feel now then, Sara-anne?’ Asked Helana.
‘I’m feeling okay now ever since we left the forest. I wonder if those people that I saw that night have anything to do with this evil.’
‘Maybe, but why would they be here and not the Evil.
(this next part is a bit random. I got inspired to do this from seeing pictures from the Oddworld Art book, such as Ma'spa and River city. Again this is only rough, things will change. This part happens alot further into the story.)
The night sky started to loom on them as they entered the forest. The big, tall trees blocked any possible light from the moon. Many of the older trees had fallen to the ground where the bigger, younger ones had taken their place. The fallen trees made it difficult for them to follow the path. Owain was in front, following the paths best he could, Helana was behind him followed by Sara-anne. Climbing over the large tree trunks that were lying on the floor, they were venturing deeper in to the dark forest. The deeper they went, the bigger the trees became, some having a diameter of a couple of meters. The forest even became darker the eerie. They ere left with, what could be described as shuffling noises coming from every direction; some coming towards them, some going away from them, and some going straight passed them. Suddenly a different noise broke through the silence and shuffling, a kind of chanting noise, Owain stopped, stopping the other two behind him.
‘Can you hear that?’ Owain asked as he scanned the dark forest expecting to see something. ‘Where’s that coming from?’ The chanting surrounded them as it echoed through the woods. ‘Let’s keep going. Stay close to me.’ The chanting became louder, as the forest got even denser, then it stopped, once again they were surrounded by silence.
(I'm not planning on adding anymore to this thread, as i want to put this in a book that i can hopefully get published. I just wanted to see what you people think about it and give me some feed back. But if you'll like to read more, i can probably add a little extra.)
Thank you for taking the time to read it.
A part of my (hopefully) new book
