The Trees Of Everfall

1. The Forest of Everfall

It was unclear as to where I was going, I had gotten lost miles earlier when I had been walking about the campsite that my family and I had occupied for the weekend. My parents had been almost nervous to take us to this place and I was beginning to see why. The trees stood tall and long, stretching high above the low clouds that hung around in the cold afternoon. The sky itself was grey and bleak, giving no light to the dark environment below.

With every step I took, the sound of my feet crunched against moist moss and grass. I should have been scared, I truly should have but I held my breath with every step in an attempt to keep as quiet as possible.

No one really knew of this forest, it spanned for miles and miles as it was hidden out past the country. It took us almost 8 hours to arrive from the suburbs that accompanied the outskirts of Switzerland; the place I called home. I was the first born to my family, my parents were simple people who worked simple lives. My mother worked at a small cafe in Lauterbrunnen and my father, built houses. It was hard labour for both of them but I especially sympathised my father as he spent hours setting stone after stone, to form the walls of a sturdy and safe house. I remember vividly that he'd come home aching and my mother had to rub his muscles with her homemade balm that treated him specifically.

It was not until I was ten when I had been given siblings, the first was Zena, she was always a bright spark as a child. She gave my parents more laughter as she was clumsier than a fish out of water. Two years on and that's when Eldoris came into the world, a spitfire, he was a great difference to our family in comparison to Zena's clumsiness and strong mind, to my wishful and free spirit and my parent's calm and collective natures. Eldoris was a vision of strength even at a young age, he never cried as a baby. And now being eight, Zena prides herself with being knowledgeable and helping mother as much as she can in the house. She is much more of a woman than I'll ever be and she's only a young girl. Eldoris, however, remains headstrong although being only six, he has a mind of a warrior and a heart of a lion.

Although my siblings are much younger than I, I felt that at the age of eighteen, I had little unique qualities in comparison to them. My parents named me Amari, promising that their firstborn was going to be the most special. However, my spirit only yearns for wishful adventure and beckons the call of fresh air. Exactly like any other ordinary person would wish for. My parents always told me that no matter what I thought, I was indeed someone they'd always be proud of because to them I truly was special.

I had been walking for more than half an hour now and had begun to give up hope when suddenly I reached a large lake in the middle of the forest. It was silent and almost deadly as if it was quiet with a silent warning to stay away. It was truly a beautiful sight, the trees that towered around it gave the lake a dark tinge of green which complimented the lily pads and other sorts of moss that floated within the lake's surface.

Looking to my left I notice an old oak tree, much like the others that surrounded the forest but this one was enormous in size and towered high above the other trees. Its wood was so strong at the base yet seemed so smooth to touch, it was an odd looking tree; different from the rest and that's what made it beautiful.

I found myself reaching out to touch its surface and my fingers pressed softly against the cold trunk. It certainly was smooth as if someone had come and sanded the rough bits of the wood that usually was an element to a normal oak tree.

"Amari." A soft voice called in the distance, my head snapped in the direction behind me and stared into the shadow with wide eyes.

Slowly turning around I wait for someone to come out of the shadows. Hoping and praying that this person was either my mother or father, yet the voice itself told me otherwise, I had never heard this voice before. The silence was excruciating as I felt my heart pump furiously in my chest, it felt like it was ringing throughout the entire forest.