The Lost Quest

The wind was rushing as the men headed towards the pond. The shimmering light of the pool had brightened up the whole forest. The men could see lights through the passes of the tree.

“So, that’s the holy pond.” said Yannic as they approached the middle part. At the center, was a huge circle without a smallest patch of grass on the ground. It had some cracks on the floor. The blue pool of water on that droughty brown floor, looked like an oasis in the desert. However, the pool was not lesser than any oasis, to these two travelers who had their long journey to quench the thirst of quest for their long lost land.

“Finally! Here we are. To the holy pond, gate way to the magical land, Peninha!” said Yannic with a big sigh “How do we enter the pool?”

“The pond opens its way to Peninha, during the early hours of the day. At the time of sunrise, only for few instances. That’s when we’ll enter.”

“We will have to wait until then.” Said Zohar and sat at the side of the pool. Yannic stood next to him. He could clearly see his reflection on the pond under the light of moon and stars. He felt the immense peace and yet some kind of anxiety in his gut, the fear of what would happen next? Suddenly, they heard a scream far inside the wood.

“What was that?”

“Aaaaaahhh!” The sound like someone’s rolled over the dried leaves on the forest, they heard as the scream grew louder.

“Someone’s inside the forest,” Zohar got up and looked towards the forest.

“Should we go there?” said Yannic. “What if it’s a trick?”

They saw a flame of fire moving through the forest, towards the pond.

“Help!” “Help!!”

Yannic and Zohar saw a boy running towards them with a flame on his hand. Behind him were demons in black cloak ready to feast his body. The boy reached them, he was terrified, he tried running away but the beasts were heading towards him. He wept as he knelt before Zohar.

“Please don’t kill me. Let me go!”

“I’ll never tell anyone, about this. Please let me go.” Zohar picked him up. The boy got scared, at the beginning. Zohar moved the boy behind him and stepped ahead. Then he raised a hand and mumbled some chants .Yannic saw something in crystal red light immersing from his hand, he threw it towards the demons. The red crystal made a bubble like shield around the men, the circle which demons couldn’t walk past. The bubble started growing bigger and bigger trying to cover the demons. They saw those demons running away but the bubble got one. The one that was got by the bubble, started shivering. They could see tiny flames arising from several corners of his body and soon turning him into ashes. Watching their friend burn into ashes, other demons fled away. The bubble exploded after reaching few distance in the woods. It was a large explosion.

All three men closed their ears. They felt a kind of pitch silence after that huge explosion.

“Zohar! You made them run away,” Smirked Yannic. “Why didn’t you do that before?”

“Your power alone can kill all the demons in the Peninha. They all are done now.”

“No, my lord!” “Never think these demons are weak. These demons who fled away by my power are only the little minions of the master demons who guard the surrounding of the pond and feast on the human corpse. There are so many powerful demons in Peninha, who feed on the powers of good souls each day weakening them. Those demons cannot be touched by my powers. Only the rightful heir with all the blessings of good spirits to his side can destroy them.”

“Who are you? Where did you come from?” asked Yannic, as he turned towards the boy. He saw the similar bag pack on his back. The boy was still terrified with all

that had happened, he wiped the sweats off

his forehead and spoke.

“I am Sijal. I came to this forest with three of my friends. We didn’t know how we got this far. We didn’t find the way out. And these weird people in cloak attacked us. They took my friends. I was running to myself from them.”

“Did you come with Aiden?”

“Yes. But, how did you know him?”

“I am Yannic, his older brother. I was informed that you guys got lost in the forest of Tilaurai.”

“Yes, we had arrived here for camping but there always had been a rumor about a secret part and trees in there being haunted. Some said, a different kind of magical entity guard the secret part of the forest and some sad spirits haunt the forest. Very few had been able to enter it. So, we came here to ascertain the rumor and communicate with the spirits.”

“And when you called the spirits on your board something else arrived.” Zohar turned and completed his sentence.

“Yes! Those beasts in black cloak.” The young man stared at the floor. “They killed Denis. Took away Aiden and they had been chasing Beth and me. I heard him scream late at night, yesterday. They must have killed him too.” He started weeping as he fell down on the ground.

“Look! He’s bleeding.” Said Yannic. Blood was running through is legs.

“They almost got him.” Said Zohar, as he gently stroked the boy on his hair. “There must be some medical herbs in the forest. I’ll go get that, you stay with him.”

Zohar went away to get the herbs. Yannic sat next to the boy. “Where did they take Aiden?”

“I don’t know, as soon as we started connecting the spirit, they appeared. One of them captured Aiden and one of them disappeared into fog, the others started attacking us to feed on us.” The boy started crying loud. Yannic got near and put his arms around him.

“You’re safe now,” said Yannic and wrapped him.

Suddenly, they saw something moving past the bushes.

“They have arrived again!”

The boy held Yannic tighter.

“You stay here.”

“No!” said the boy, and he pulled Yannic to his hand.

“You stay! I will go see what’s in there.” Yannic left him there and moved towards the tree behind the bushes. He heard someone’s sobbing as he approached near. He looked beside the bush. He saw a young woman weeping, covering her face to her knees, looking down. Her arms all covered by her long brown hair. Yannic got closer and tapped her on the shoulder. Then she looked up and said

“Yannic!”

Yannic saw his beloved in that forest.

“Tiara!”

Yannic could not believe his eyes. He pulled her up and hugged her tight.

“You’re alive! I thought you were gone.” said Yannic and he kissed her on the forehead.

“They are very powerful. Yannic! You cannot win them.”

“What you’re talking about, Tiara?”

“How did you come here?”

She pointed towards a tree in the forest.

“What’s there?”

She pulled his hand and led him towards the tree. He saw a man hanging by a branch of that slender tallest tree.

“The curse has been broken. How come this man on tree?”

He moved near the man to see his face.

The man opened his bloody red eyes as he said “Go away Yannic! They will kill you too.”

“Paa!” Behind the face painted with blood, he recognized the person. It was his long dead father hanging on the tree.

“How did you?”

“Go away! You can do nothing about it. You’re attach to it.”

“Yannic!” this time a female voice struck his ear. He moved towards the next tree.

“Child! Go away. You cannot win him. You’re attached to it.” His mom, he saw hanging in the next tree.

“Brother! Brother!” Yannic moved to the next tree. “Go away! You cannot win them

There’s nothing for you in Peninha.”

“Aiden!” exclaimed Yannic.

“Yannic!” the voice came from another tree.

“Sijal!” he saw the boy hanging.

“They will kill you too. Go away.”

“The curse was broken, how is all this happening?” Yannic looked back to Tiara. She was hanging on the next tree and saying “Go away Yannic! He’s going to kill you too. You cannot harm the evil.” Yannic had reached far from the pond following Tiara. “I must go save him.” he started running recklessly towards the pond through the woods. But soon, he again bumped to a pair of feet. He rolled his eyes up. He saw a white cloak and over the cloak he saw an old man with white beard.

“Zohar!”

“Go away Yannic, he’s much stronger than we thought. You can never win him.”

The hanging wizard slowly pointed his hands towards the tree next to him. He saw another man hanging there too. He slowly moved towards the tree. A pair of feet with black leather shoes swinging in the air, rusty brown pant with white shirt tucked inside he could see as he rolled his eyes. His head titled to his shoulder, struggling to breathe, he saw himself hanging there. “You’re going to die!!” he said as the body fell down to the ground and stood right in front of him with his fierce eyes open crying the tears of blood. Yannic was terrified, he looked back. On each tree he saw his loved ones hanging and everyone scream.

“RUN AWAY!!RUN AWAY!! SAVE YOUR LIFE!”

Yannic started running towards the pond through the wood as he shouted “Zohar! Zohar!”

As he got out of the wood to the circle with the pond, he saw the boy lying dead on the ground. The boy’s stomach torn brutally as if his vital organs were snatched out. Beside him sat Zohar with herbs in his hand which were now of no use.

“We’ve lost him.” Said Zohar wiping his tears. “The battle in Peninha ain’t going to be easy, curse is not over yet.”

They could see the dawn approaching with sunbeam slowly spreading all over the woods.

“My lord! It’s the time to enter the pool.” Said Zohar. Yannic followed him as Zohar dived into the pool.