The Blood Forest

#(1)

As creepy the name of the forest sounded , the tells about it were more creepier & hard to believe for a 21st centurian girl . Which is a reason she completely ignored not only the native's saying about the existence of supernatural beings in the jungle but also the big sign board at the very beginning edge of the jungle saying "Do not enter " with bold red letters .

Ignoring all the cautions & warnings , Aera kept going deeper in the forest. But her  determined footsteps come to an hault when the forest turned quite all of a sudden & a magical tune reached her ears.  'Who'll play a flute in this dark forest at this time !?'  she thought as her eyes kept searching for the origin of the tune. Suddenly a gush of cold air engulfed her surroundings & the tune got louder . As if the person who was playing the flute was now  standing near her . She turned around following the tune & saw a silhouette of a person standing behind the trees  near by. As she went closer with slow steps avoiding any unwanted noise , she saw a handsome man standing there playing a strange flute. His eyes were closed & he looked like he was so engulfed in his job that didn't even notice the curious girls presence there.

The tune was so mesmerizing specially in the calm atmosphere. But then some messy footsteps were heard. ' Animals' thought Aera . As the footsteps got louder she understood that a folck of animals were coming towards their direction. She decided to be silent & observe the situation.  But maybe her fate want it in another way. Suddenly she felt something cold on her left leg. When she looked down a black mamba was wrapped on her leg crawling upwards. All of a sudden fear conjumed her & she started shivering. She couldn't help but to scream at the sudden appearance of the deadly creature gaining the flute man's attention. He stopped playing his flute & looked around only to find a girl standing strangly looking at her legs. He frowned & went near her & saw her shivering with closed eyes & fear written all over her face. He looked at her leg & saw the deadly snake. In a swift moment he grabbed near the head of the snake & threw it far away.

" Are you alright ? " He asked the girl who had her eyes closed tightly. It took her few moments to get out of the trence & realize that the snake was no longer on her leg . She quickly bowed to the man standing beside her & thanked him .

" Thank you so much for saving my life . And I'm sorry for the inconvenience. " She said politely. In her mind, she was thinking if she could ask him about the way of the palace.

" No problem but what are you doing here ? Didn't you read the warnings outside ? " Asked the unknown man with his velvety voice . A little frown still visible on his handsome face . Aera had to admit this man's voice was as soothing as his flute's tune .

" Um... Actually I heard that there is an abandoned Palace with ancient architectural designs somewhere in between this forest . I'm an architect & want to research about it. I was searching the palace when I heard your magical tune. So I stopped to see the person behind such a beautiful tune. But then the snake appeared " Aera said to the man who was now staring at her wide eyed.

" You - You heard the tune ? " He asked still shocked.

" Yeah ! Why won't I ? You were standing nearby my path. " Aera simply replied but the man's face was still showing confusion . He backed away 2 steps & observed the girl from head to toe.

" Um...may I ask what are you doing here in this deep forest at this time ? It's clearly dangerous to play a flute at this time specially when deadly animals are around. I even heard animal footsteps coming towards this area ! " She said to the strange man.

The man gulped & said , " I- uh ... I actually come here since I was a toddler so I'm used to it , ya know. " He said looking a bit uneasy which didn't escape Aera's sharp eyes.

"I wonder what's wrong with him ! " Aera whispered to her self but without her knowing the man beside her heard it.

" You were talking about some sort of palace right ? " The man asked .

" Oh yeah . I don't know much but the people around here calls it 'The blood castle' . Do you know where it is ? " she asked in a hope he'll know the way . It was getting really dark that she couldn't even see the man's face properly let along the other things. 🥀