The Ways of the Forest

INTRODUCTION PART ONE: THE WAY OF THE FOREST

In a time of despair, when the world was crumbling, corrupt with war, and humankind was doomed, a species arose. This species became known as the salvis. Each creature had a different ability, but no one knew how they had gotten it or why.

If the creature had come to be any later or to a different person, the world would have crumbled. From the discovery of the creature, a warning was given to the finder of the first salvis.

As long as the righteous hold the power,

The savings of man shall endure through time.

But once the wicked need not to cower,

The savings of man will take the crime

To destroy all which the wicked could hold

And make a world of which they shall mold.

The rule was translated through many years and finally, a group of scholars found its true meaning, or so they had thought.

The first salvis was found by a young boy in the woods less than a decade ago. The boy was only five when he had found the salvis. He did not recognize the creature as something new. To him it was just a wolf... A wolf that could somehow communicate with him through telepathy... The boy was five. Cut him some slack.

The day the child had found the salvis was a cold spring day on a northern part of a continent. The boy lived with his mother who was pregnant, father, sister, brother, cousins, aunt, and grandfather in a cabin in a coniferous forest. The family was tightly packed into a house with only three bedrooms. The grandfather had to sleep on the couch. The brothers and their older cousin shared a room, the boy's parents shared a room, and the boy's aunt, younger cousin, and sister shared a room, too.

The boy's name was Abel. He was five at the beginning of this story. He is telling me not to say anything else about him. I can't argue since he gave me permission to write his story. So, I will just describe his family now.

Abel's parents had built the house in the forest with help from other family members, like his grandfather. The parents' names were Atticus and Rachel. They had been married for a little over sixteen years. They had three children, and one on the way.

The oldest brother's name was Peter. He was fifteen at the beginning of the story. Abel is telling me to say Peter was a jerk. (He was just a big brother.) Peter, being the oldest son, was expected to teach the younger kids to hunt, cook, and gather food. He had been taught by his grandfather and parents. Peter was an excellent hunter, fisher, and cook. Gathering, however, was not his forte; he was patient enough to hunt, but lacked the cautiousness to gather.

The only daughter's name was Leah. She was ten when this story begins. She was just beginning to learn to hunt using weapons. She was a great fisher, but she hated putting the live bait on the hook.

The oldest cousin's name was Bartholomew. He was twelve. He had already become a diligent hunter and was learning to use a spear, but he didn't seem to like hunting. He hated physical contact with people, though, and he refused to fight without a weapon. He was usually somewhat of a chicken but was always sweet. (He was really dorky, too, though.)

The younger cousin's name was Martha Elizabeth. She refused to just have her first name called. She needed her second, too. She was only five at the beginning of the book, but she was almost six. (She is my best friend.) She practically always played with her best friend (ME) and cousins, including Abel.

His only aunt's name is Joanna. She was younger than Abel's mom (their mom's were best friends and dad's were brothers) by two years. Her husband had died during war, but only two children of this family, Bartholomew and Peter, knew that he died at war. The younger ones were told he had gotten sick, as was I until Bartholomew and I became more like family.