Chapter 1

The Letter

“Long before time had a name, the goddess Galadrial created Galadris. She gave each tribe the magic of the universe, Lunar, the magic of the moon, Starfell; the magic of the stars, Plantarium; the magic of the planets, Galaxia; the magic of space, and Celestial; the magic of the sun.” Rhona glared at the children sitting on the wolf skin below her. It was clear that they weren’t listening, which was making her duty’s as future chieftain very difficult. Suddenly, Shang -chief Ryker’s most trusted adviser- burst through the heavy woven blanket covering the entrance to the tent, holding a piece of yellow, weather beaten paper. In the Celestial tribe, yellow was the colour of danger. “A l-letter for y-you m-ma’am.’’ Shang placed the crinkled letter on the wooden table and strode out of the tent, trying to retrieve his dignity. Rhona picked up the yellow paper and glanced at the blurry words.

The letter read;

‘’Dear Celestial Tribe of the East,

We have had word from our spies on Ran, the Fire Nation, that the people of Ran are beginning to become greedy. The elders on the island have decided that they will invade Galadris from the North East, and will enclose the island in a barricade of nearly 100,000,000 men. Our scientists and mathematicians on Galaxia have done some research and have decided that there is no possible way we can fight them, due to the damage from the last war and the lack of battle ready men and women. Our spies have found out that they have created a new boat design that can transport them to Galadris without getting them a single bit wet, however after the trip, the boat will only be able to float for a matter of minutes, which is why we have decided that the best place you can escape to is Saviour island, far into the sea of Octavion. We have not been able to send word to the rest of Galadris, due to the chance of the letters being intercepted. As the main tribe of Galadris, we have concluded that it is your job to gather the 5 tribes on saviour island and reunite Galadris.

Goodluck,

Galaxia, Tribe of the South.’’

Chapter 2

Departing

Rhona was in shock. She had never thought that the other nations could be so evil. She thought of Father, of the children, of the people of Celestial. She knew that, after the coming of the shadow, Galadris had fallen apart, and though the dark days of the shadow were many, many years ago, Galadris had not repaired itself. She knew that her nation was a dangerous place outside of the 5 tribes. There were bandits, thief’s, robbers, highway men, trolls, goblins and many, many more servants of darkness outside the tall, protective fences of their land. What could she do? She couldn’t take her people out into the perilous dangers that awaited outside the walls, but she couldn’t leave them to await their doom. Scared, frustrated and anxious, she paced up and down the tent, the children glancing at her and exchanging whispers as she walked. How could she save them?! Even if the servants of the shadow didn’t get them, then the  cold and the rain would! She was sweating now. Seeing that the children were confused and somewhat worried, she tried to pull herself together. ‘’I’m just going to go out fo a second,’’ she said to the children “stay here.’’ Rhona ran into her father’s tent. He was meditating by the spirit smoke. His face looked serious. He already knew. Slowly, Ryker (the chieftain of Celestial) opened one eye. ‘’Im guessing you’re as scared and confused as me.’’ He sighed in a deep voice. He stood up and slowly handed Rhona a woven bag. “I have chosen you to save the people of Galadris.” He said in a stern voice. Rhona stared at him in shock. “You will take the children. The rest of Celestial have decided to stay behind.’’ Rhona felt her heart drop. “What did the mean by ‘stay behind’?! If they stayed they would either be killed or be slaves of the Ran! Or worse…. They couldn’t stay!” Ryker knew what she was thinking. He gently took her hand and looked deep into her eyes. She could feel the tears build up. After a short pause, she slowly nodded. Her father smiled.

Within just an hour, the children, the baggage and the pony were ready to leave. Rhona took a deep breath and started to lead the pony away from the tribe. Tears began to form in her wide eyes. She would never see her father again?

Chapter 3

The Forest Of Lost Lives

They had been walking for 5 hours now. The children were asleep in the back of the cart, and the pony was weary and tired. Rhona looked behind her. There was a thick fog hanging in the humid air. She pulled her fur cloak closer to her shivering neck. She was beginning to doubt. To doubt herself. She had no experience in map reading, and didn’t even know if they would survive the night. She looked around. Nothing but rocks and  dead trees surrounded her. Half asleep on her feet, she trudged on. After walking for about a half-hour more, she came across a circle of trees. They were dead, but they still had most of their leaves on, wit would protect them from being seen by prying eyes. She decided to set up camp for the night. She pulled out a few sheets and skins and created a quick tent. It wasn’t the best looking, but it could be protective against the elements. She pulled out some blankets and carefully laid the small children down on a sheep skin that she had brought with them. She curled up in the corner of the shelter, as far away from the wind and the cold as she could, and slept silently for a good few hours. 

Suddenly a spine-chilling breeze swept past her feet, waking her up instantly. She sat up and gazed at the bright sunlight seeping in through the gaps in the skins. The light was dazzling, blinding nearly. She stared at the sun…..but then she realised……what she was looking  at wasn’t the sun…..but what was it?….  Rhona slowly crawled out of the makeshift tent and peered out into the circle. She gazed into the direction that the light was coming from and stared at it. She looked at the map. Where was she? If she knew it might explain the reason for that bright light. Still half asleep, she traced her finger across the map in the direction that they had travelled from Celestial. Then she realised. She had entered the Forest of Lost Lives. The forest of Lost Lives was the most evil place still left in Galadris, even more evil than the Ran! She looked around at the desolate landscape. But then she realised something….. Something she hadn’t realised before….. She gazed into the far edge of the circle. There was something there, she just didn’t know what. She decided to take a closer look, shading her eyes from the light, she walked towards the edge of the ring. Floods of yellow, pink, blue and green rushed towards her. She looked around. She was surrounded by thick, green bushes and flowers of yellow, pink and blue.

“How could something this beautiful be evil?” Trickling past a large rose bush was a little brook. After hearing the sound of its calming song, Rhona realised that she was quite thirsty and terribly hungry. Around her were rabbits, hares, deer and all sorts of birds. There were pheasants, peacocks, swans and many more. She was about to go further into the lush, green wonderland when she remembered that she had left the children ALONE in the most EVIL forest in Galadris! Scared and worried she rushed back to the shelter. Luckily, all the children were safe.

Chapter 4

Goblin attack!

After a short 10 minutes, they were ready to go again. Smaller children sat in the cart and the slightly older children carrying some of the baggage, they set off. They were only an hour into their journey when Rhona heard something…… In a blink of an eye, a flash of sickly green and metallic metal rushed past them, making the bushes quiver as it passed. What could that be? NO one EVER entered the Forest of Lost lives…….Other than-… She drew her sword. The only living creature that ever came here other than the creatures drawn to it by its beauty……….were….goblins….! Rhona looked around cautiously. The beautiful sunlight beating down on the metallic river and the pink roses suddenly began too dim. Dark, menacing clouds began too close in, causing the beauty around the group to seem dark and scary. The  crystal-clear brook began to churn and toss, The animals and birds fled out of sight and the ground shook beneath them. Goblin magic. Within just a few seconds, truck loads of Goblins surrounded the party, their bewitched swords glinting in the dim light. One cut from those swords could stop you in your tracks and kill you on the spot. They were not ordinary swords. They were the swords used to pillage and destroy the 7 nations in the time of the shadow, and were the last ones left that still had the black magic within them. Rhona was stuck. Her head was swirling and throbbing with thoughts of the children, the goblins and yet again, her father. She couldn’t risk starting a fight. One blow of those dreaded swords could kill the children straight away and make her own feet unable to support herself. But on the other hand, she couldn’t surrender, goblins were evil, evil creatures, and wouldn’t spare any human they could have the opportunity to kill. Realising that there was no other choice, she drew her sword and pointed it towards the wart ridden beasts. Taking a deep breath, she pulled off her wolf-skin cloak and dropped it beside the slender cart.  Rhona lunged forward at the hideous goblins, striking one right through the stomach. Sweat trickled down her determined face and dropped onto the sandy path. She pulled herself back up, right before a large goblin could hit her on the head with its glinting sword. Focused on making it out alive, she fought as best as she could. With one last, fatal blow, she knocked the Goblin general dead to the floor, causing the rest of the green-skinned monsters to retreat. After their disappearance, the beauty of the forest returned. The bright sun reflected of the steel-clad goblin swords and shone into Rhona’s eyes. She stared at the great lumps of dead goblins dotted around her on the dusty path. She felt special, like she had gotten rid of all the evil in the dreaded forest, but little did she know, it was not the end of her suffering in that horrid forest………