The Lost Woods

Authors Note: This is a creative piece I made to focus a lot on imagery, tone, and figurative language. It is greatly inspired by The Legend of Zelda video game series.

The green tree leaves were wet and damp. Clear water slowly tripped down the rough, brown bark of the giant, god like trees that scrapped the stormy sky. The rain had stopped but it left such a thick misty mass through the woods that you wouldn't even be able to see your own hand in front of your face.  The forest was endless. With every turn, everything looked exactly the same. This was diffidently no help for the young adventurer searching through the forest for his friend with his small fairy companion beside him over his shoulder.

His friend said she would be at the end of the woods waiting for him. What had his friend brought him there for?  Didn't she remember he was busy on his quest to help the royal family with their troubles? Didn't they just say goodbye a few days ago? The young adventurer had no time to waste and needed to be at the castle as soon as possible. He didn't even have anything other than his sword and shield for the quest and needed to find some magical item to help him aid the royal family. This was such a distraction. Though he admitted to himself he did indeed feel lonely from these long days of travel and missed her company, so he pressed on.

The warm steamy mist hissed at him as he walked through it, as if it didn't want to be touched.  There was just trees, trees, fog and more trees. There was a strange ominous feeling of hopelessness throughout the forest and he didn't like it at all. With what felt like hours of walking, the young adventurer finally spotted someone - or something faintly in the fog. It looked like a child -no a scarecrow but it wasn't tall or hanging on a stick. It was as small as a child and sat on a tree stump with its eyes buried in it's straw hands, panting. Crying. It was alive.

The sight of another living being, or just of something other than trees and fog made the young adventurer's heart skip a beat. Slowly and cautiously he walked towards the creature, ready to draw his sword if necessary. Nervously he asked the creature if it knew where the end of the woods was. The creature just sheepishly stared at him with no response with tears in its eyes.  The young adventurer's fairy explained to him what the creature was; a skull kid. When children get lost in these woods and never find a way out, this is what happens to them.

Suddenly the young adventurer felt  a strong pity for the poor skull kid, but then soon panicked and ran away from it as quickly as possible.  How long would it be until he turned into a skull kid himself if he didn't hurry up and find a way out? The dim light slipping through the branches of trees from the sky was slowly fading into darkness.  What was he going to do, everything still looked the same and it would get even worse at night. Maybe it was all inside his head but he thought he felt his hands changing, feeling hard and rough like tree bark. He was about to scream in fear and frustration but then suddenly noticed a faint sound in the distance. He paused, remaining completely silent, trying to block out the sounds of the forest night to hear what it was. It was a song. A beautiful, mesmerizing  song was coming from somewhere.

The young adventurer didn't know exactly why, but he had to follow it. He just had to. Almost as if in a trance, the young adventurer slowly followed the song through the dark misty woods, the song growing louder with every step. Before he knew it, he was standing at the very end of the woods with a maze of the grand trees standing behind him proudly. The song was now so loud he could practically hear it clearly booming through his ears. The young adventurer was so exhausted and sleepy (or just so deeply mesmerized), his eyes nearly closed. It took him a few moments to noticed where the beautiful music was coming from.  

There, sitting on an old dead log cross legged was his friend he had been searching hours for. The young adventurers eyes quickly shot open as he ran toward her, but then immediately  stopped in his tracks in awe. The music stopped and there in her hands was a small ocarina. She had been playing the music the whole time. His friend looked up and smiled. She then took the ocarina to the young adventurer and placed it in his hands. She explained that the ocarina was magical and she made it all by herself here at the end of the woods. Not only can it produce a loud, beautiful sound, it can also perform spells depending on the song that is played. She then taught the young adventurer how to play the song she had been playing. The song in particular was a communication spell.  If for whatever reason the young adventurer ever needed to talk to his friend, he could just play that song and instantly be able to no matter where he was.

The young adventurer's friend told him she thought the ocarina could come in handy for his quest, so she's letting him keep it. She originally was going to give him it before he left but she didn't finish it in time. That's why she brought him here. It was just the kind of item he needed for the quest! With a rush of joy, the young adventurer jumped in excitement feeling immensely grateful for his new gift. He thanked his friend and promised he would keep good care of it.

 The young adventurer stayed up all night with his friend, learning how to play new songs, playing games and having fun. When the orange sun finally began to rise at dawn, the young adventurer remembered that he still had a quest to do. After thanking his friend one last time, he played a teleportation spell and disappeared.