Jake looked out the window, at the wind toying with the trees, and the rain slowly falling. He had been anxious to get out of the basement. His parents and little sister were still asleep. The tornado had taken parts of the other houses in the neighborhood. His good friends were probably fast asleep in their basements, unaware. He knew that at any moment, another tornado could materialize out of the sky and rip the houses apart.

He turned around for a few minutes and looked around his room, knowing that he would not be able to see it in the same way again.

The tornado hit, and the elapsed time was four seconds. The tornado hit the wall, causing debris and rubble to spin about what remained of the room. Glass shards fell across the room. A swirling piece of wood hit him in the head. He saw the room spin, saw the tornado advance, and  faded out. His parents ran up the stairs, and watched in horror as their only, oldest son was thrown into the tornado.  

Jake woke up with a terrible headache, and a heartbeat in his chest. He was thankful to be alive but, where was he? The grim grey fog swirled about him. There were dark, withered trees that loomed above him. Underneath his feet was dark, black mud. Jake looked around him and saw shadows circling about him.

They hovered over the ground, and moved closer in. Then somebody broke through the shadows, and the shadows cowered. The clouds turned black, and tumultus.  He was dressed majestically in shades of black, and grey. He had various weapons about his person, and he looked like he wouldn’t hesitate to use them.

His face revealed a sharp nose, grey eyes, and a pale face. One of the shadows stepped up.

“ All hail the Shadow king.”

The rest of the shadows followed suit.

“All hail the Shadow king.”

Jake didn’t know what to do. He just stood, sedentary  waiting. All of a sudden, he felt a pressing feeling in his brain. He knelt down in the mud. He didn’t realize what he was doing, when the wet, cold mud began to seep through his jeans.

Then he muttered the words that he never thought he would ever say.

“All hail the Shadow king.”

Jake was thrown into a dirty, dank cell at the palace. He was reviled. This king, this lord was so cruel. Every day, they would ask him what he really wanted. One day, he had the courage to tell them.

The conversation started out like every other day.

“What do you really want? I know that I wouldn’t want to sit here in a dirty cell to waste away,” The shadow king smirked.

“I want to see my family again,” Jake answered.

“ Well, I know how you can see them again, in fact, you can stay with them forever,” said the Shadow King, a plot forming in his mind. He wanted to castigate this prisoner.

“ How?” Jake was desperate. He stood up and pulled against his chains to hear the Shadow King’s answer.

“You can go to the Desolate lands and get the only vial of water left from the Lake of the Dead. You will have to get past the Shadow guards though.”

Jake agreed to do whatever it took to find his family again.  

 

He started his quest in the morning of the next day. He left before the sun broke over the horizon. He had been given whatever he needed for his journey. He walked until he reached a forest. Jake blinked at the sight of such a lush, green forest so close to the Desolate lands. When he opened his eyes, the forest was dead, and one spark would set the whole thing ablaze. When he saw the smoke drifting up into the air, he blinked and his whole world was set on fire.

When he looked around he saw hills covered in moss. There was a well in the middle of it. There were flags and symbols hung all about the clearing. The floor was made out of mossy limestone. There was a boy standing in front of him. He was dripping water, and his skin had a blueish tinge. He had been drowned.

“Farewell, and do not fail me for I have helped you in your hour of need, You will live.”

The boy spread out his arms and he went up into a cloud of smoke. Jake caught a symbol on his wrist. The symbol of the druids.

The boy had disappeared, but even walking to the Desolate lands, he heard the drip, drip, drip of the water.

When Jake got to the Desolate lands, he looked in awe of the lands. It was one large desert, with bracken and remainders of trees. Night was falling, and Jake had to start his journey. At night, the searing sands of the Desolate lands cooled down. This was the best time to travel. Jake was navigating through some scrub when he saw the tower. It loomed over the desert.

Jake felt a piercing pain in his leg. There was a large gash in the side of his thigh. Scarlet blood ran down his leg and pooled on the sand. The blood smeared over all the scrub and tree branches, leaving a path behind. When he got to the tower, he looked about. He came across a courtyard. The courtyard was old and the spires of stone loomed above him. In the middle of the courtyard, there was a block of limestone, grey from age. There was grass on the ground, and nobody was there.

 

Then somebody appeared. A beautiful woman wearing a tattered red dress. She had blue eyes and fluid black hair, twisting and weaving about her shoulders. She had an austere demeanor, even though she looked delicate.  

“Why are you here?” She asked in a distinctive voice. It reminded Jake of the waters of the Desolate lands. Few and far between, but a sight to behold.

“I am here to get the last vial of the Lake of the Dead’s water, for anyone who drinks it shall be immortal,” replied Jake.

“ Well, If you can prove that you are worthy of it, I will give it to you,” she smirked, and her otherworldly features turned into a grotesque mask.

Shadows slipped into the corners of the building, and lightning crashed. It began to rain, and the enchantress, Nimwe set out a vial. The vial held water.

The water from the lake of the Dead

Jake rushed for it.

The shadows slid into a circle about him, and began to dance. It was a beautiful, fluid dance. Jake was mesmerized. He began to dance too. Nimwe had left, and as he passed the vial, he grabbed it. The shadows couldn’t stop him now, he thought. Nimwe appeared. She could not encumber her feelings. Jake noticed that her calm disposure left her and she seemed disconcerted.

Nimwe almost seemed to have lost her power. She fell to the ground, and stayed there. The shadows kept on dancing. Jake was pulled into the dance. He began to sweat. His lungs felt light, and he was out of breath. Finally, his heart stopped beating. He was dead.

 

When Jake opened his eyes at first, the lights were too bright. He sat up and fell back down. More accurately, he was pushed. There were candles hanging down from the ceiling, and when he became aware of his surroundings, he closed his eyes again.

“Is the human boy alright?” A voice rang out in the fuzzy gray of his brain.

Jake struggled to open his eyes again, and saw a face hovering over his. All he saw was a large blob of purple, and an angular shape surrounded by the purple.

He closed his eyes and opened them again. The face had come better into focus. The woman had purple, layered hair that was tightly braided into a french braid, and a pale, angular face with blue eyes, and sharp cheekbones.

She introduced herself as Leadrith Dawnwhisper, Queen of the elves. She spoke in an exciting voice, contrary to the weary look in her eyes. Hers was the kind of voice that the ear follows up and down, eager to catch every word. She knew the power of Nimwe. That night, Jake asked Leadrith if he would tell him about Nimwe.

“Who is Nimwe, and what business does she have with the lake of the dead?” Jake asked.

Leadrith shivered, despite the heat of the fire.

“Nimwe is a very powerful sorceress. She guards the lake of the Dead’s last vial of water. She could have done much worse to you when she was guarding. You see, the Shadow Lord came into possession of it years ago. He didn’t know what to do with it, so he trusted Nimwe to guard it with her life,” Leadrith broke off as Jake interrupted her.

“I thought it was the Shadow King, and who is the Shadow Lord?” Jake blurt out.

Leadrith calmly answered. “ The Shadow King had a son. He stole the vial when his father just had ascended to the throne. He became the Shadow Lord. They still sparr today,” Leadrith explained.

Jake was quietly thinking. “Who did that to your face?”

There was a scar reaching from the top of her head to her eyebrow, splitting her face almost in half.

“Nimwe.”

 

Jake went to sleep that night, knowing that Nimwe was gone, and he would be safe. But, he still had to get back to the Shadow Kingdom, and back home. He would have to go through the Desolate lands, and through the Forest of the Forgotten.

He started to walk, early in the morning, before the sun even rose. The heat of the Desolate lands began to cut through his leather boots. He was tiring out faster than he had on the walk there.

 

He felt a pull on his mind. There was a pond full of murky water in his way, and he fell. He looked at the bracelet that he had been given. A strange elf girl looked at him, and had pressed it into his hand. She had said that it was a healing bracelet, and he had believed it. Now that he thought about it, she had looked a lot like Nimwe.

She had the same bright blue eyes, red dress and long, flowing black hair. She had been so convincing, Jake believed that she wanted the best for him, and put the bracelet on his wrist.

 

Jake took the bracelet off of his wrist. A sudden thought compelled him not to take it off.

 

. . .

 

Nimwe took the little corn doll out of a drawer. She took the engraved box out and opened it. Her eyes glowed and the sand was set on fire. She dipped the little doll into the fire, watching it slowly catch on fire.

 

. . .

 

Jake hadn’t taken the bracelet off, and a sudden wave of fatigue washed over him. His chest felt tight, and the bracelets amber stone glowed. He began to sink into the murky water. The bracelet stopped glowing, and Jake started to struggle against the water that was closing over his head. He grabbed a branch and struggled up the small embankment. He started to walk, but he was to tired. He sat down against the first tree he found and fell asleep.

 

When Jake woke up, it was twilight, and the sun was starting to set. He walked through the Forgotten Forest, and found the shadow palace.

The king greeted Jake, and demanded to see that Jake had successfully brought it to him.

Jake took it out of his bag, and the King eagerly grabbed it out of his hand.

 

Nimwe watched this happen through a crystal she had enchanted to tell her what was going on with certain people. Jake was alive, and the bracelet was gone.

She wailed and sunk to the floor. Her soul floated through the room and into the body of a blond woman who was her half sister.

“Hello Sister.”