I

The dark old trees were still. So still, you could almost hear their whispering. No sound in place, no wind, no birds. Almost as if they were too afraid of the tall oaks at the edge of the forest. The leaves seemed to shade the entire ground for miles, so thick. More than anything, the silence of The Bloodwood Forest gave you a feeling of a deep anguish, as if all your feelings and thoughts were on display, for the ears of the woods, and you had no choice but to let it hear them.

When your eyes fell on the border, the alluring feeling of welcoming made you wish to take more steps towards it, to touch it. But, when wondering eyes tried to see past the wide trees, the image was blurred, fogy, perhaps even blind to the mysteries beyond them.

No human has ever laid foot past the border. Well, at least not willingly. The old tales of the Cursed Lands were past down from generation to generation. They were the scary stories, the horror stories parents would tell their children in bed. Around the campfire, the elders would portray the woods as dark, enchanting and dangerous, so all would not dare take a step towards it. Wherever you go, everyone has heard about it, even if they did not see it. But why?

It was said that the woods would lure you in with its deep feeling of the unknown and once you enter, you never get out. The stories tell of dark creatures hiding beyond the oaks, troubling even for the bravest minds and souls. That is why, past the border, nobody has ever dared cross. The High Order has established the rule of no entry since the beginning of time, when the Bloodwood Forest was discovered. If you break it, you are on your own. No aid would come to you. That is why, the Banishment was considered to be the highest form of punishment to one soul. Condemning one to the poison of the woods was for sure worse than death, as no one ever came back. It was believed that they kept roaming the forest for all eternity, the goddesses' damnation to the most cruel and dark souls.

The Cursed Lands were placed in the middle of a grand, vast territory. You could not cross from east to west through it, nor from north to south, but go around it. Circling it, it was the invisible border. You could not see it with your own eyes, but you knew it was there, where the forest and the rest of the world would meet.

The territories around belonged to the Kingdom of Erebus, which was split in 9, each belonging to a pack. 3 to the west, 3 to the east, 2 in the south and one to the north. The north was the most grand, powerful of them all, led by the Alpha King. His position was not given, but earned through gruesome battles and his wisdom as a ruler. Because the dominance of alphas was so high and the want of power so strong, the High Order was established, as a means to peace and prosperity. The duty of the 5 elders was to make sure the rules were obeyed and that the alpha king was chosen based on leadership qualities, strength and fairness, not bloodline. The Kingdom of Erebus kept its name and traditions through the decades, even when the modern times arrived. It was a secluded area, where humans did not wonder.

However, what only the heart of the Bloodwood Forest knew, was that one living being was bestowed with the power of the nature, a gift given by the goddess Artemis to the purest, kindest and bravest soul on Earth. And her name is Selene.