About the Past
Long ago, there was a vast expanse of forest surrounding a bustling village. This village enjoyed a safer trade route, a booming textile industry, and many friendly merchants passing through to sell their wares. Many men sat in the taverns after a hard day's work in the farmfields, enjoying company, warm brew and loud banter.
The women of the village would keep watch of the house, doing the laundry and minding the children. Most everything went according to the normal flow of life - hardly any conflict arose, and the village was left very happy. The seasons passed and years flew by with little consequence. If the crop failed, nearby villages would lend a hand and the village would survive another year.
Some passing travellers would tell stories for gold, and the children loved these travellers. They would beg their mothers for a gold piece with which to pay these dreamweavers, and the children would run to the village square for the latest tales. One such tale, though, sparked their imagination...
Quote:
There once was a sorcerer who lived in a tower. He was a horrible person, who hated all youth and happiness. Using his mighty magic, the sorcerer created a Guide, one who would lure children into his tower. When the children followed the light of the lantern would end up in the tower, where the sorcerer would drain their youth and vitality to keep himself alive for another year.
The Guide was a tall man, whose lantern swung ten feet from the ground. It had piercing black eyes that could see into your soul and hypnotize you to whisk you away to the tower. Giant wings were on the Guide's head, and you knew it was near when you could hear the flapping of a giant eagle.
And to this day, the light of the lantern lures children away from their beds, away from their families. Children best not wander from their families, lest they be drained dry of their youth!
This story terrified most children enough to keep them coming back for more each month. However, some children were not so terrified. In fact, they were intruiged. Mostly boys, these were, and they plotted and planned behind their houses to wander into the forest at night to find the Guide. Their fathers killed many things with swords and guns, and they would be strong like their fathers and bring home the head of the Guide!
So, in the dead of night, several boys snuck out of their houses carrying a single torch and wooden swords. They thought they knew where the Guide would be, but soon the boys found themselves hopelessly lost. They spun around in a panic, the places they'd been and the places they'd not looking identical. They were about to scream in hopes their parents would hear them, but suddenly, in the pitch black of night, there was another light.
One of the children thought it was their parent and began to run towards the light. Another stopped him, saying he heard the wings of a giant eagle. It was the Guide! The boys began to run in terror, shrieking as their toy swords fell to the ground. As they ran, the flapping became stronger. Sooner, it was practically on top of them. Just before they reached the edge of the forest, one boy turned around to look at the hideous beast come to take them away... but it was nothing more than an owl carrying a lantern in its claws. It didn't seem so bad.
It hooted, and with an inkling of understanding, one boy came to find that the owl was not a guide to lead them to some dreadful tower. It meant to lead them home.
But before he could let the others of the group know, a knife hissed through the air, hitting the owl in the middle of the face. It fell to the ground, dead instantly, and its light faded from view. The proud fathers grabbed their children by the scruff of the neck and dragged them home, leaving the dead body of the owl to return to the earth.
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