"Willow and The Teardrop Forest," written and illustrated by Andi Hayes, is a 242-page fantasy/fable with 9 color illustrations and a Cryptic Index. A fairy tale for the eternal child within us all, it has been called "A serious and substantial piec...
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The remainder of the season passed quickly then, with no significant occurrences other than the usual grousing of the Pines, until one morning, Willow awoke suddenly from a nightmare to discover himself quietly sobbing. Something in a dream had greatly upset him, but he couldn't quite remember the disturbing details. Just as he was attempting to recall any specifics, he heard an unfamiliar voice. It was one he'd either never heard before or at least did not immediately recognize. He looked around for its origin, but failed to find any creatures of the Forest close by from whom the voice might have emanated.
It was then that he was nearly blinded by a small, perfectly round ball of the most blazingly brilliant white light he had ever laid eyes upon. It appeared to hover in mid-air, illuminating that part of the Forest with its radiance, giving off a bedazzling luminous energy akin to that of the sun's.
And though it seemed to exude a red-hot intensity, it gave off no hint of smoke; neither could Willow detect the crackling of flames nor any scent of burning matter. In fact, the closer he peered at this intense Ball of White Light, the more it seemed to draw him in. And as he gazed, mesmerized, into the very center of it, he beheld a beating, red, fleshy heart entwined by a circlet of thorns from a prickled bush stem, pulsating and throbbing in a perfect rhythm with an enchanting, melodious hum.
When the voice spoke again, it had the ambrosial effect of the sweetest spun honey glistening on the microcosmic strands of an intricately woven web, enveloping him in a soothing cocoon of tranquility.
