THE EVER-NIGHT FOREST
691 Words
Being in the cave for too long the eyes of all three, especially the prince and the golem were so accustomed to darkness that they had to shield their eyes from the brightness when they emerged outside from the exit. It took a few minutes for their aching eyes to adjust to the light but when it did Grendale got the scare of his life on seeing the prince's face. For the first time in ( no clue on how much time had passed in the cave ) after meeting the prince, a thought bothered Grendale, " Is he really the prince?". And the reason for him to think so was, the (named) prince didn't have the exact shine and glow of royalty that people can usually see in any royal family member. Instead the boy had an ash colored face with sunken cheeks and his eyes stood out brightly in their sockets like gems. The poor guy had many bruises here and there and looked withered away due to lack of proper nourishment and sunlight. Despite all of his poor appearance he had a huge smile on his face and his cheeks were wet from the streaming of happy tears.
"Why are you crying?" enquirer Grendale. The prince shook his head and wiped his tears before replying, " When i was stuck inside th' cave, i had given up hope of ever escapin' that place and see daylight again. Somehow i had managed to survive so far with scavengin' on th' leftover meat of the animals that Goltimer had killed. But now seein' this beautiful forest again and feelin' th' breeze and sunlight on my face, i am feeling like there is still hope for me. There is still a chance for me to live life again. I couldn't hold back my tears." All three stood there for a few minutes lost in the flowing breeze and sunshine. Soon it was time to move on, the journey hadn't ended yet. The trio set off on the path that led to the ever-night forest.
The entrance to the forest was covered up by a veil of hanging creepers. Passing through the veil when they entered the forest, all were stunned breathless by its beauty. Nature was truly the best artist that there ever was. Lush green grasses, big and blooming trees filled with lots and lots of thick green leaves, heavenly smelling flowers, and whatnots. It was a true paradise, a sight for sore-eyes for all travelers. Grendale had heard lots of stories from pilgrims who had visited Inamorta that the ever-night forest was the most beautiful place on earth. Since it was built completely of nature with no other creature's hand in it, it's beauty was incomparable to anything and also held it's own strange magic of healing in itself. As soon as they crossed the veil-y threshold of the entrance a blow of air brushed against them and all three felt a little rejuvenated. Even the ash colored face of the prince gained a little color. Breathing in deeply, they ventured into the forest.
They came up to some big steps beyond which an elevated platform was visible with the similar looking portal.archway. "Ah!", exclaimed Grendale. " The portal archway is here. Good, now we'll be able to make an escape to safety in case anything goes wrong." The prince looked at him with a puzzled expression. Grendale quickly explained about the portals to him and told how it worked. The prince was mystified by it and quickly suggested that they use the portal to zap themselves to Florenum instead of travelling on land. " No your highness. It doesn't work like that." explained Grendale. "We can only zap between portals that have been activated. Since the portal in Florenum isn't activated, we can't zap to there. We have to travel by land". The prince nodded once and fell silent while they continued their climb up the steps in silence. On the top a surprise was waiting for them.
God, what now?.. What sort of surprise does the trio face now?
Find out in the next episode.
Stay tuned.
- Writer
