Spellbound

Spellbound

         He had never seen such a sight before, never before seen such god-like beauty. He followed her aimlessly, wanting only to gaze in awe at her consummate splendour. She led him further into the ever-darkening forest, her long, sinuous blonde hair fluttering behind her as she ran.

         He tried desperately to keep up to her, always searching for her, and oblivious to the horrors that she was leading him through. The trees seemed to take on a life of their own as they glared evilly down at him. Great oak hands caressed him as he passed by dozens of sky-high trees and their very roots seemed to grab out at his feet. There was an eerie silence about this place, an eerie darkness that enveloped the forest and robbed it of its magnificence. Though he didn’t notice it, those horrors soon turned to something more extravagant as he stopped suddenly at the edge of a cliff; the drop seemed to continue forever into shadow… and perhaps worse.

         There she was, the elf-like woman walking on a cloud of autumn-shaded petals that appeared from nowhere under her feet with the last of the petals falling into the yawning darkness below. She stopped and turned to look at the human invitingly, whom did her gracefulness spellbind. She stared at him for a moment longer and then turned on her heel to continue to the opposite end, which lay more than a hundred yards away.
Like a mindless drone, the human stepped off the cliff, but never fell, as the petals quickly appeared to save him from a graceful plunge into shadow. He watched the nymph and started to move with more urgency as he noted her take to a slow run. The faster they ran, the faster did the petals appear perfectly under their every step, only to disappear a second later.

         The last few petals fell into darkness as he stepped onto the further end, now fully aware of those horrifying trees that now seemed to encircle him. He looked around, trying desperately to find the nymph that would be his salvation from this nightmarish tale. He began to run in no particular direction, running only to escape this weird place. He ran faster, turning from one danger only to run into the next one.

         The trees began to hang forebodingly like willows over him, their branches taking the shape of arms and hands and their trunks the forms of grimacing faces. They began to laugh at him, their deep, stomach-bellowing laughter resonating in his chest and head. He kept running though, wondering if he’d ever escape this terrifying place.

         But he found his salvation moments later, standing – almost waiting – in an open glade where sunlight beamed down from the sky and lit the area in all its golden glory. Beyond the trees outside the light was jarringly dark with shadows upon shadows that gave this place its name.

         The Shadowcloak Forest was a place of unrivalled mystery, a place where the world itself seemed to come to life and grab unsuspecting visitors, dragging them ever deeper into the realms of weighty darkness. This was a place where the uneducated where taken by the ever-present signs of madness, placing them in their own nightmarish world and making them see things that weren’t really there.

         Consumed by lunacy, they would all submit to the grandeur of this enchanting forest.
He moved ever slowly into the glade, taking one step after each cautious step, looking about nervously. He approached the nymph, closing his eyes and reaching out to grasp her fair-skinned hand.

         But he grabbed nothing but air and he opened his eyes to find himself alone, with only the surrounding trees and eerie sounds of children’s laughter slowly fading in the distance. A confused look found his already bewildered-looking face, but the human couldn’t begin to understand the mystery and magnificence of this unique place.

         This was the centre of everything but yet so far from anywhere, or so it seemed to most who were unlucky enough to find themselves here. He          began to believe that he was just dreaming, but what he didn’t know was that all those who came here before him also believed they were dreaming…

         … before their turn from sanity.

         He started to move to the point of the glade where golden light and black shadow met, but stopped suddenly at the sound of more laughter, the cheerful laughter of children that panned from left to right around him. The world around him began to spin, slowly at first but quickened uncontrollably that soon brought about the sense of nausea.

         Uncontrollably the world continued to spin, making his stomach churn and his thoughts seem to veer off the straight path called Reason. His world went dark for a second and a second later began to fade to black again. And so it went on for what seemed an eternity to the human, before he finally fell like a heavy sack of muscle to the leaf and twig-littered forest floor.

*  *  *  *  *

         When the human man came through, all was blurry and vague from the piercing light that his eyes had yet to get accustomed to. He looked through slit-eyes as though he had just awoken from a deserved slumber, now fully rejuvenated from what seemed to be hours of a sleep that washed over him to cleanse all aches and pains, all signs of weariness and fatigue.

         He could hear strange voices around him and began to see blurry images of what appeared to be men and women. As his eyes slowly grew accustomed to the light, he realised his mistake in believing they were men and women, for what he really saw wasn’t really there at all.
Ethereal images of men and women surrounded him, looking down at him with eyes of light and the wisdom of gods. A god-like voice boomed down upon him that sent an all too familiar resonating in his chest that shook him from any lingering drowsiness and silenced the crowds immediately. He couldn’t hear properly but he dared not speak in the presence of such power that could shake the land by merely speaking.

         "Why have you come?" came that powerful voice again, this time the human’s ears not failing him. But he didn’t know what to do, whether to speak aloud or just remain quiet. When graced by the beauty that his mortal eyes were not meant to see, his ability to speak seemed lessened and somewhat limited.