Day Thirteen - The Forbidden Forest

SpaceWizards
(Another SpaceWizards Action/Adventure Mystery)

Every planet in the universe that has a population has at least one forbidden zone. Most of them have several. Some of them are a forest. But a lot are within cities, towns, communities, villages, etc. too. Several are in caves, islands, deserts, etc. too. Of course, The Forbidden Forest(s) aren’t called forests on most planets. Most of them are called Wooded Areas or Trees. Some are called Tree Groups or Groups of Tree. But most of them are called Wooded Areas. There are several thousand planets that do call them forest, though. The planet of Avist is one of those planets. That’s where this story takes place.

“The Forbidden Forest”

A Short Story

Remembered By

Mairon

     Jacci leaned over as an electrical string passed over her head by inches. She quickly straightened up and returned fire with a Fire Ball. The ball exploded when it hit the tree the dead ducked behind. That explosion sent bits of that destroyed tree into the dead. Beware, the dead are a lot more powerful on this planet. Horrald has been doing that a lot lately.

     “We were wondering when he was going to start doing that.” Jacci slowly scanned the Wooded Area she was walking through. There’s no one else here. Just another lone dead is trying to kill me. That makes six in the last half hour.

     If they keep fighting me one at a time it’s going to take me forever to save them from being part of Horrald’s Army. Jacci did one more scan.

     Jacci started walking through the Wooded area, darting her head in all directions constantly. I still don’t understand why this is a forbidden area. It sure doesn’t look like it should be to me.

     I know that’s one of the reasons why I’m here. But the main one is to find the missing Avistans and saving them from Horrald.

     Suddenly, Jacci stopped. “I think I just saw another dead. In fact, I’m sure that I did.”

     Jacci slowly started walking toward whatever or whoever she saw. She continued darting her head all around her as she did it. I just saw something. But I don’t think it was one of the dead. They might be the reason this Wooded Area is forbidden. I’m checking it out now.

     A few seconds later she continued. Of course, I’m going to be careful. I’m disconnecting myself from the rest of you now. I’ll think to you later.

     Ducking behind a tree a few minutes later, Jacci peeked around it. “I might not know if Horrald is here or any more of the dead. But I just saw why this place is forbidden.”

     Jacci closed her eyes and mumbled something. She smiled a few seconds later. These creatures don’t want to live like this. Jacci stepped out from behind her tree and fired four Fire Balls at about twenty creatures. They all got blown away from existence when the Fire Balls exploded.

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     “What makes you think we have a problem here we can’t fix ourself?” Inog asked Mairon and the other SpaceWizards standing in front of his desk.

     “We don’t. And even if we did we wouldn’t want it from you.”

     Mairon stood in front of the others. They were three deep on both sides of him. “While we were passing this planet we got an alarm that Horrald was in the area. We checked this planet first because it was the closest one.”

     Yena continued a few seconds later. “When we did that we knew he was here.”

     “How do you know he’s here? Is he human or is he an alien like you all are?

     Pacill answered Inog's questions. “Horrald is an Alien like us. So, what if he is.”

     “It’s bad enough that you are here. Now you are telling me there’s another one of you on my planet.”

     Angoria spoke next. “It sounds like you don’t like Aliens.”

     “No, I don’t. I also don’t like talking to children.”

     Borrele had spoken before Angoria did. “I wouldn’t call her a child if I were you, which I am very happy that I’m not. She doesn’t like being called one. She’s not a child. In fact, she’s older than. All of us, especially you.”

     Mairon looked mad at Borrele and Angoria. “That’s enough fighting. We’re not here to talk about Alienation. We are here to help.”

     “like I already said, we don’t need or want your help. We don’t have any problems that need helping with, especially from you.”

     “Oh, really!” Stavon spoke next. “You haven’t had over five thousand human die mysteriously in the last couple of months. Randomly from all over Avist. Only Then disappear a few days later.”

     “How do you know that? Are you responsible for what’s going on here?”

     Now Mairon looked mad at Inog. “We know about it because Horrald is the one behind it, not us. We’re here to stop it from happening to anymore Avistans.”

     “Why would he be doing that?” Inog asked.

     Jacci spoke next. “Horrald is constantly creating an army to fight against us. We also don’t why he’s here. And we don’t know he’s doing it random yet.”

     “Do you have any forbidden Wooded Areas?” Stavon corrected himself a few seconds later. “Oh, I forgot that you call them forests on this planet. Do you have any of them? Horrald likes to use them to hide the dead until he’s finished collecting them.”

     Inog looked shocked. “The Forbidden Forest! We have one of them in this community.”

     Now Mairon looked shocked. “One of them! How many forbidden Wooded Areas do you have on this planet?”

     For about a minute, Inog didn’t say anything. “We have eleven of them on Avist.”

     “All the deaths have happened near one of these forbidden Wooded Areas, hasn’t it?” Yena asked.

     Mairon looked at the other SpaceWizards. “We will check out the one in this community first. Then we can do the ones nearest here.”

     “You’re not going to check out anything. If the forbidden forests need to be checked out, we will do it ourselves.”

     “Despite, how you feel about us being Aliens it’s best if we deal with Horrald personally. After all, he’s a SpaceWizard.”

     “You’re wizards too, aren’t you? So, why is he here? We don’t have any wizards here. There haven’t been any wizards here in over seven thousand years since we killed them all.”

     “So, that’s why he’s here.” Mairon looked at the other SpaceWizards. “We still don’t know why he’s doing it randomly. But we do know why he’s here. It’s revenge.”

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     Stavon ducked under a low branch as he walked his Wooded Area. We checked that communities’ forbidden Wooded Area together. Then we did the three that were nearby too. And we did find out why they were forbidden. But we didn’t find Horrald or the missing humans.

     All we found were a few of the dead at each one. And they were probably left behind after the others left. So, we decided to check out the other seven individually. That way one of us is sure to find them.

     That someone isn’t going to be me. I have only been here a few hours. So far, I’ve only saved about ten humans. And I don’t think there are going to be any more of them to save.

     Stavon didn’t say anything for several minutes. He just kept walking around that Wooded Area. I know I’m talking to myself a lot. But I do that when I’m nervous or scared. I’m both. I just know that something big is about to happen.

     It’s not why this place is forbidden. I figured out that as soon as I walked in here. This place was destroyed by a fire of some kind. And whatever that fire was it had some effect on the humans that it doesn’t have on us.

     Walking in silence for a few minutes, stavon stopped suddenly. I just saw one of the dead.

     Maybe I’m wrong about this not being the place where Horrald has them hidden. Stavon started walking toward whoever he saw. A few minutes later he saw them again. It was one the dead. There were three of them. The one he saw, and two others.

     What are they doing? Stavon got a little closer but remained in the Wooded Area.

     It looks like they are about to enter that water hole. Maybe that’s an entrance into an underground complex.

     Just then the three dead turned toward Stavon and threw Long Blades at him. With a little twisting and turning, Stavon easily avoided them. Stavon returned the attack with two Fire Balls that sent them into the water after they exploded.

     Stavon looked up at the sky. It’s almost dark here. I think I will sleep here tonight just case that is an entrance and check it out tomorrow.

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     Borrele shook too as the ground around here started shaking. She quickly mumbled something as a large tree started falling toward her. That tree fell on her. But she went right through it.

     It’s obvious why this island is forbidden. That’s the ninth quake that has happened in the last three hours since I got here.

     I don’t think Horrald is here, ever was here, or ever will be here. Especially, since I haven’t seen Horrald or any of the dead.

     This place is just too shaky. How much longer do I have to stay here?

     A few seconds later and Borrele continued. Okay, I’ll stay here for a few more days just in case he gets desperate enough to use it.

     I doubt Horrald will ever get that desperate. But I’ll stay here. It will give me a chance to explore the rest of this island.

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     Mairon took a deep breath and started coughing. At first, it was only a little bit. Then suddenly a few seconds later it was a lot more. “I’m not going to do that again.”

     “Of course, that’s about the hundredth time I’ve said it. And I keep doing it again. Then saying I’m not going to do it anymore.” Mairon wrinkled his nose. “It’s obvious why this place was classified as being forbidden. It smells like a chemical explosion took place here.”

     “It was probably a bomb. I don’t know if it was being tested here or sent here. Might have also been an accident.”

     Mairon had been walking through his Wooded Area. Now, he suddenly stopped just at the edge of a large clearing. In the center of that clearing stood a fallen building. All the top part of it was gone. And only one and a half sides of the bottom part remained.

     “That was where whatever happened here happened probably. It’s also a good place for the dead to be. Especially, if there is an underground complex.”

     “If this was a test site the entrance wouldn’t be here.” Mairon started to look around slowly. After a few seconds, he saw the top of a large hill.

     “That’s probably where the entrance is at if there is an underground.” Mairon turned and only took a few steps before he returned to the building. He saw two dead pop their heads above the building wall. They lowered them a few seconds later.

     Mairon closed his eyes and mumbled something. When he opened them, he could see behind that wall. He counted off each dead that he pointed at. “There are fifteen in there.”

     One after another Mairon fired a Fire Ball at that wall. Within seconds that wall was gone and so were the dead. “I wonder if there are any more of them. And if there are, how many.”

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     Yena kept her eyes on the ground in front of her as she continued to walk down a bumpy pathway. The pathway had trees lining both sides of it. Small twigs and branches cluttered that pathway. A lot of small grass poked itself out of the ground in that pathway too.

     There hasn’t been anyone in this Wooded Area in years. Especially, in the pathway that’s here.

     A few seconds later Yena continued. No, I don’t know where it leads to yet. There’s a bend in the pathway not too far from here. I’ll let you know what I find at the end of it when I get there.

     “If I get there alive.” Yena didn’t think that to anyone. Every few steps, Yena would stop and look among the trees. After checking both sides for a few seconds, each Yena faced forward and continued on.

     Yena took a few steps and stopped. But she didn’t look at the trees. She was looking down as she mumbled something. A second later a Foot Bomb appeared an inch or two in front of her feet.

     After mumbling something, a clear dome half appeared over it. A few seconds later after Yena mumbled something else the Foot Bomb blew itself up leaving a small hole in the pathway. Yena looked over her shoulder at about fifteen other holes. Then she looked up and saw about twice that many pointers sticking out of the trees.

     There’s no way the dead have been here or are coming here. Not unless Horrald was with then. Even then, I doubt it. There were no holes before I started down this pathway.

     Yena stepped over the hole and started walking again. She only took another few steps before she fell to the ground, using her stiff hands from touching it. A few seconds later about twenty Pointers shot over her where her head and the side of her body would have been if she still stood.

     No, wonder this place was forbidden. This place is a Death Trap. There are traps all along this pathway and among the trees that line it. The trees themselves are too thick to walk through. So, the pathway is the only way to get anywhere.

     The only reason I’m still alive is because I’m a SpaceWizard. There’s no way any of the dead humans are here.

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     Pacill carefully stepped over a fallen baby tree before he continued walking through his Wooded Area. I have checked about half of this Wooded Area. And so far I have saved six, seven, maybe eight Avistans. It can’t be seven. So, it must be six or eight because they have attacked in pairs. I think it’s probably eight.{\i}

     After a few more minutes of not thinking anything, Pacill stepped over a large tree trunk extension. Pacill didn’t quite make it. He tripped over it. His stiff outstretched arms stopped him from falling to the ground. But his hands did hit another small fallen tree in front of him. It crumbled in his hands.

     I think I know why this Wooded Area is forbidden; it’s because the trees are so old. They are falling apart with just a touch.

     Pacill got up very carefully and continued walking. I’m sure that Horrald isn’t here. And I doubt there are too many more dead humans either. There might be four, maybe six at the most. But there could be a few.

     Just then six dead stepped in front of him. They weren’t that far away. Three on one side of him, and three on the other. But they were close enough to throw their Long Blades at him. Pacill mumbled something, and the Long Blades disappeared. He countered-attacked with six electrical strings. Each one got hit in their empty heads. A small hole their heads showed that.

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     Angoria walked through her Wooded Area very slowly. Every weird sound that she heard made her jump a little. And she did that every few seconds. Why did I get the spooky old Wooded Area. It better not is because I look like a child. If that’s why watch out, you don’t want me to find out that’s why.

     I can understand why this Wooded Area is forbidden. It looks like a place that we would call home. At least the wizards that these humans believe wizards to be. I wonder if this was one of the places that the wizards were when they were killed off?

     A howling sound made Angoria jump twice as high as she had been. Angoria mumbled something as she spun around toward the sound. And a few seconds later the dark night sky became day again. She slowly scanned the area behind her. But she saw nothing. After scanning it a third time, she turned and started walking through that Wooded Area.

     Angoria sighed as she looked around the Wooded Area she was walking in. She mumbled something. And a few seconds later it was night again. “It looks less spooky in the dark.”

     I don’t agree with what Horrald is doing here. But I can understand why he’s doing it. The way these Avistans have treated us, I’m furious at them for what they did to their wizards. Maybe I should think ‘these Avistans’ since we only talked to the Leader of this world. After all, maybe not all the Avistans think like him. At least I hope they don’t.

     After walking in silence for several minutes, Angoria started thinking again. I think I know why Horrald is killing these humans randomly and making them part of his army. Looking at this spookiness made me think about the wizards that lived here. and that’s when I thought of the reason. If you compare the humans took now with their relatives from their past you will see that those were the humans that killed us off back then.

     Angoria took a deep breath. I also think I know why we haven’t found Horrald or most of the humans he’s taken into his army. It’s because he’s no longer here. He probably left once he heard or knew that we were here. After all, I haven’t encountered any humans yet. And I don’t think that I’m going to either.

Word Count = 2,875