A thick, nearly impassable highland forest stretched all the way to the northernmost extremity of the Great Ravine, which was only three days south as the bird flies.

  Tall, gargantuan pines standing over a hundred feet in the air towered up from the rocky terrain. The trunks were so massive that a full-grown man could stand with his arms stretched wide and never be able to curl his fingers to the other side. Adventurers could spend days weaving through such a forest and never be able see more than a trickle of sunlight to lift their spirits. Many had tried and eventually found themselves hopelessly lost within, never to be seen again.

  Vast multitudes of living things could be found throughout, but not along the forest floor. Only the types of creatures weary travelers could never hope to survive were found there. Most creatures lived a slow, meager existence in the canopies above, or flit from branch to branch with the utmost care, for a single mistake would send them plummeting to the abyss below, where those starving scavengers in the dark would slink from shadow to shadow, desperately trying not to attract attention from any of the truly terrifying monstrosities that thrived there.

  #

  “Kalos, could ya help the missus by gathering some water for us?”

  The ancient, soft-spoken man always addressed him with the utmost respect and humility. In truth, fetching water was far too easy a task for him, but no matter how much he insisted, it was never requested of him to do anything more strenuous. Even such a simple task as fishing had been a difficult privilege to earn, and the old man’s wife rarely allowed it either.

  The old man and his wife took great pride in completing hard work despite their exceedingly great age. In truth, Kalos didn’t know how old they actually were, but he was convinced they were at least as old as the trees themselves, judging by their exceedingly wrinkled appearance and slow manner of speech.

  After returning from the well with a bucket of delicious, clear water in-hand before carefully setting it beside the hearth. A sweet, elderly lady who was beginning to grind wheat into flour for dinner thanked him profusely.

  Kalos' eyes lit up, “Shall I fetch some fish for dinner, then?”

  “Oh, it’s alright. We’ll have crisp fowl and valley greens tonight. You go rest-up by the creek, now,” she gently replied as she continued persistently working the grains into finely ground powder with her large pestle at a steady, methodical pace. She watched him with that signature, motherly smile of hers that always made him yield without another word.

  Kalos took a step back, nearly wincing as he twisted too far the wrong way. He was still injured and covered in bruises even after letting his body heal for weeks. Being run through with a sword was something he never wanted to experience again. He turned so that his overly protective hostess wouldn’t catch sight of the perspiration suddenly shimmering across his forehead as he slowly made his way outside.

  Kalos gazed out over a large field that surrounded the couple’s peaceful home by the forest and tried to make sense of a few more of the jumbled thoughts that had been haunting him for the past several days. He looked up curiously, drawn once again by a sight that he always seemed to come back to even when lost in his deepest thoughts.

  This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

  In the distance, a vast expanse of unnaturally tall trees and unfamiliar mountains peaked over the canopy. The small cottage he had been staying in rested near the edge of a forest so dark that it looked like dusk all day long. He'd often imagined just how dark the forest might get at night and what it would be like wandering through it, but he often felt uneasy thinking about it for too long. He decided it was a good idea to think about something else that'd been troubling him. So far he’d been unable to figure out exactly where he was in relation to home, but he had at least learned the name of the nearest village from the old man several days earlier.

  Memories from the very first day he had arrived began to flood his mind as he stood basking in the sunlight and admiring the view of the forestry around him. He remembered lying in the middle of a frozen field at least a hundred paces from the cottage, beside a small knoll. If he’d been there much longer, he would’ve surely died from the cold, especially with how much blood he lost the night before he was found. The old man assumed that he was attacked while traveling through the “Great Norwood,” as he called it. Perhaps some wild beast had nearly torn him to shreds, but he somehow managed to escape with his life before collapsing in their field. The old man’s theory made sense, but he couldn’t remember much before that, so there was no way for him to be sure about what happened.

  All that seemed to matter to the old couple was that he had survived and that he would need to heal for many days. They’d gone to great lengths to take care of him without asking for anything in return other than the occasional pail of water on a daily basis after the first week.

  Kalos slowly walked to his favorite spot beside the brook before taking a seat in the cool, soft grass. To his left was a white-stone path leading across the water by an old, stone bridge nearly as ancient-looking as the couple, which turned into a small forest trail at the end of the meadow they resided in. He wasn’t sure where the trail led, but the old man had once told him that it eventually merged with a path that would take him all the way to the nearby village of “Nortress” when he was ready. For them, “nearby” translated to nearly a three days’ journey by foot.

  Only recently had he grown strong enough to walk from the house to the water and back without feeling completely drained in the process, so making it to the village had simply remained an impossible goal.

  After trying logically to assess how much longer he would have to stay with the old man and his wife before becoming strong enough to leave for Nortress, he decided that taking a nap near the brook was a better idea for the time being. Within seconds he fell into a deep sleep while his body soaked up as many nutrients as it could from the sun's rays. For the first time in days, dreams about some of the things he had gone through grew more vivid and clear in his mind. Unfortunately, very little of it made any sense in his mind.

  A strangely familiar girl held an expression of deep sorrow right in front of him as tears glistened down her cheeks for several seconds before she disappeared entirely. A man watched with joy while a fierce battle raged on in front of him into the night. Finally, an old dwarf stared blankly into a small campfire, never looking toward Kalos at all even though they sat right beside one other like close comrades.

  Suddenly he was in a different place altogether, lying on the ground in the meadow near the old couple’s house again, but somehow the weather seemed more pleasant than he remembered. A moment later he noticed a tall, bright figure staring at him from the bridge. The sun made it difficult to see the stranger’s face, but goodness and light seemed to emanate from him like heat from a blazing furnace.

  “Soon you will know who I am. Arise, for darkness falls. True biding alone shall stand. Hearken, for glory calls."

  ?2024, K. M. Plum, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

  IMPORTANT TO NOTE:

  I do want to let everyone know that the frequency of releases for book 2 will fall to once a week as of August 10, 2024...

  be able to continue building this adventure at all! Please tell your friends and acquaintances about Draguntome, so they can start reading the series with you, as well! This is the perfect time to invite others to read along with us, and it'll help me out more than you realize!!!