The Enchanted Forest: A Quest for the Lost Kingdom

Once upon a time, there were rumours of a lost kingdom in the Enchanted Forest in the middle of the Kingdom of Eldoria, held back in time by ancient evil magic, brimming with unimaginable riches and buried treasure, said to contain wonders and relics beyond definition… Needless to say, the rumours were wrong. Many had tried to find it over the following centuries, braving the dangerous mysterious forest, and no one was ever heard of again. Over time, it grew into more of a local legend, a story told to children and anyone else who might be interested by the elderly in the village, a convenient fantasy to shut up bored travellers who hung around the inn. However, recent events have changed all that. The young woman, Elara, lived in a tiny village on the edge of Eldoria. It was a small they had never heard of, and they wondered where she could be from. Twenty summers she had been in this world when she came to live with them. Kanar didn’t know the full story, only that Elara was orphaned at age 8. The boy scratched the back of his neck and wrinkled his nose. The Lost Kingdom? They had stories of that, sure, but the child was fickle. She had listened spellbound as the old woman told of her flights and magic, and the bridges of wine. Elara always wished that it was her… Kanar crossed his arms. She was different, that was for sure. Elara liked to ask why about everything, and she was not afraid to explore. Her grandmother often said that she had the soul of an explorer. One night when the sun was down over the hillocks, Elara opened the lid of her grandmother’s long chest and found the old map of the Enchanted Forest, or drawn on it, and that the Lost Kingdom was in the Mountains, and the mark to take you in by, and all of a tremble to see what she found, she was. Her grandmother, already very old, had come into the room. At the sight of the map, with its overlapping parts and pretentious name, the old woman smiled wanly. ‘It was Hussein’s,’ she said, in a low voice. ‘He searched the world over for the Lost Kingdom. But he never found it, no matter where he went. He believed the map would lead him to it. But all the time it was hiding something.’ Determination sparkled in Elara’s eyes. ‘I will find it, Grandmother. I will finish Grandfather’s quest and find the Lost Kingdom.’ With my grandmother’s blessing, I gathered my supplies, a sturdy cape, and the only treasure I held dear, my mother’s locket, and set off on the road. I well understood the road’s dangers, for the village elders had warned of brigands, wild beasts and witches.