Stories

It had been a few days since I started hanging out at the Red Forest with 'Cherry' if that was even her real name. We spent days talking and some other days we didn't say a word to each other. This particular evening, I was reading a romance novel while drinking my medicated water.

Just because I despised the thought of eating didn't mean it wasn't necessary for my survival. However, I found a way around it. There was a certain drug given to supernaturals in a coma to help them survive. I simply took the drug, modified it by adding a few more necessary nutrients and increased the concentration. I mixed it into my water about 4 times a day and I was fine.

"Do you know why this forest is red?"

Sherry asked out of the blue.

"Because it's the Red Forest." I replied sarcastically.

"Ugghhh, no. I meant the story behind it."

"There's a story?"

"Gosh. It's like you grew up in a barn in the middle of nowhere." Cherry rolled her eyes.

"No, I grew up in a mansion in a forest in the middle of nowhere." I corrected her.

"Really?" She asked and I shrugged.

"Anyway, the story goes like this. " She began. "The academy was just newly established about eight hundred years ago and supernaturals flocked to it from every corner of the nether realm. But back then, the hatred between races was so much worse than it is now. So much so that they were killing each other. They would kill one another and dump the bodies into that lake over there. For some reason, the school authorities didn't do anything about the killings no matter how bad it got. They claimed that they searched the lake but found no bodies and they sealed off the forest to stop people from trying to make the rumours true."

"Even with the forest sealed, supernaturals still found a way to continue killing and dumping bodies in the lake. This continued till lake water turned red from the blood of its victims. Angered at the immense defilement suffered by the lake, the spirits of the forest cursed the forest so that anyone who set foot in the would never leave. They say the forest turned red due to the anger of the spirits. Or so the story goes." She ended.

"The school really couldn't find anything to do about all those killings?"

"Yep." She responded popping the 'p'.

"You should get going. It's almost midnight." I reminded her.

"Yeah. I don't really like staying in my room that much. I'm not on good terms with my suitemates."

"Same. My suitemates hate my guts."

"Why did you kill their pet goldfish by accident?"

"No... Is that why they don't like you? Cause you killed their goldfish?"

"It was accident! They just wouldn't believe me." She said, annoyed. "What did you do?"

I told her the whole drama with Blake, Meira and my suitemates.

"Wow. That's a lot. Look, I get where you're coming from but don't you think you could have handled Blake's matter in a better way."

"I could have. I just didn't want to. No matter how I handled it what happened then was always going to repeat itself. I just wasn't up for all that stress and trouble. I know I may not seem like it since spend almost half of my day reading books on a tree in a cursed forest but I am going through a lot. I've got so much going on. I have so much on my hands right now and I can't deal with a bunch of kids and their raging hormones."

"You know y'all are like the same age, right? Sherry asked.

"Doesn't matter. Everyone loses their minds when it comes to their mates anyway."

"Aren't you excited? To find your mate that is." Sherry asked.

"Nope. I hope I never find him."

"I'm not sure about mine either. I just get this nagging feeling that he won't like me."

"He'd be an idiot not to." I assured her. "I like you and that means a lot considering the fact that I don't like a lot of people."

"Thanks. That means a lot." She replied.

"How about I tell you a story? The story of how this whole mate thing started in the first place."

"You have to start with 'Once upon a time'." She smiled.

I rolled my eyes and began

"Once upon a time, all the races of the nether realm lived together in harmony. Werewolves always had the mate bond.It was a gift from the Moon Goddess to the very first werewolf. All the drama began when a wizard fell in love with a human. He brought her to our realm to live with him but she didn't fit in. She was constantly bullied and belittled by others."

"In our society, where power and might is everything, the weak little human girl was less than an ant at the bottom of the food chain. According to ancient texts, the wizard was very powerful and his kind could not accept the fact that he had fallen in love with a weak and powerless human. They thought that if they treated the human harshly enough, she would return to her world on her own."

"One day, as she was scouring through the library in search of way to gain power, she happened upon an ancient book of Forbidden magic. The human took this book, kept it in her room and read it in secret every night. Human beings didn't have the ability to use magic but the book described a way that would allow even human to wield magic. This was through the power of blood and death."

"One night, while her lover was away, she was attacked. During the struggle of the attack, the girl killed one of the attackers by accident. In that moment, she felt power. Power against the beings who had tormented and oppressed her for so long. The human girl drew upon power through blood and death and used magic like never seen before. She was the first Blood Witch and the first person to use dark magic. The Dark Witch."

"The Council found out what she had done and demanded she be executed for her crimes. However, the wizard refused to hand her over and gave his life to protect her. Devastated by the death of her lover, she used her dark power to create monsters and forged a necklace from the fires of Peltar to control these monsters. The monsters were called Cursed Ones."

"They were what she used to wage war on the supernatural realm. The war was brutal. The Cursed Ones seemed infinite but our numbers were not. The Council came together and decided to strike at the source, after all, a puppet was nothing without its master. After much effort, they discovered the lair of the Dark Witch, created a team of the strongest supernaturals and attacked. When they reached her stronghold, they met the Dark Witch sitting on her throne as if waiting for them, she looked at them and laughed as she took her own life."

"And just like that, the war ended. People were slowly getting about their lives when the whole mate thing started. Fairies to Fairies, Vampires to Vampires and so on. People say it was a gift from the gods to ensure that our kind would not go into extinction after so many died in the war. Others say it was just evolution-our races trying to preserve themselves."

"That's dark. I always thought the story was much happier, at least. If the Dark Witch's goal was to destroy all supernaturals, why would she kill herself?" Cherry asked.

"Ancient scrolls speak of a prophecy found after she died. It said that a supernatural will take control of the Cursed Ones and use them to wreck havoc on the supernatural realm. But no one knows if that is true since no one has ever found the prophecy."

"What about the Council?"

"The Council can be described as a defense organization. They deal with threats they conclude are harmful to the realm. In my opinion, they're just old geezers with too much time and power on their hands."

"How come I've never heard of the war or this story or the Council?" Cherry asked confused.

"Everyone says history is written by our noble actions or by the victors but that's all crap. History is written by those in power. The only part of history we know is the part they want us to know. If you have enough power, altering history is a piece of cake."

"So they hid it from us."

"Yeah. War isn't a good thing. People were so eager to forget about the war and move on with their lives that they didn't care to look back and see what was being written."

"Wow. I just got my mind blown." Cherry giggled.

"You're a good person, Cherry. Any guy would be lucky to have you as a mate." I told her.

"You're a good person too, Kasha. You deserve to be loved." Cherry smiled.