Home after the great war was a fleeting word. Town of the forgotten was more like a forbidden forest holding all the damned species banished from the rest of the world. Although the term land of the forgotten contained many secrets the world was yet to know. A witch's hut wasn't left out.

A room which was all dark except from a single yellow light illuminating from one of the windows and rats squeaking on the gaps in the floorboards was a scarily scared woman with nasty scars of burn marks on one side of her face right down to her arm who sat and jolted the couch's chair to and fro. She listened to the scritch of tree branches scraping at the windows as tobacco smoke lingered in the air, a shadow flickered out of the corner of her eye but there was no sound of footsteps on the old warped stairs. After few seconds, she stood and faced her daughter who froze after her mother had slammed the door as simple as flinging her finger to the right.

"Sweetheart, you should try doing better than that next time" she said ghoulishly, she took care as she proceeded step by step to her daughter.

"And you should try being a better mum than reliving your days as an honorable familia" blurted the young lady right in front of the door, still backing her mother. Although she felt a flick of regret spark in her but her frustrations seemed to overwhelm it.

Aerwyna, dressed in a black tight pants that exposed her curves perfectly and a blue tank handless top along. Which her mother highly despises. She finally turned but didn't dare glare at her mother instead she diverted her eyes right down to the floor. The woman's fear began to play out as she sensed a small ray of defiance beginning to take form in her daughter.

Her face immediately concorted to one of immense sadness and dreainess . "You were once small and timid but now look at you! And Remember all those times I spent just to take care of you... of us." she cried, her body was shaking, her face already lined with fast gushing tears. "I had made a conscious choice in favor of your safety by destroying all ties I had with your father. I knew it was the only choice I could make but it grieved me to make it" she spoke through her tears. Her daughter immediately felt a full hit of regret as she watched her mother with her innocent heart breaking. She fell on her knees and silently uttered "I'm sorry mother, I should not have disobeyed you. I promise to always thrive to be your perfect daughter." Their eyes met and Aerwyna ran to her with heaviness and with a tingling in her heart hugged her deceptive mother who seized to cry after she uttered "mother, always knows best"

"And that reminds me, I need some clay Effigy, so go get some for me and please don't keep me waiting" her mum commanded and finally broke the jarring silence. She was walking through the enchanted forest as the deep, haunting ballad of its ancient song called out to her. The forest's smell was fresh and serene. Mushrooms grew under the shady root of the forest. Every sprawling tree she passed under reminded her of how she made her mum grief-stricken. She decided to venture deeper into the tangled heart of this primeval forbidden forest in search of clay Effigy. She hoped that it would reveal what she needed so she could return fast to her mother although the reverse was the case.

The further she went, the more mystical and spellbinding it became getting her completely lost in her thoughts. Nothing stirred, nothing shone, nothing sang. "Rwyna!!" She heard, followed by a hollow echoing, like the hushed tones of a great, slabbed cathedral, entombed the wood. The elf shouting her name snapped her out of her reverie. Though she was glad she saw her best friend, her facial expression told a different story. The elf's solemn black-hair matched along with his remarkable dark skin color perfectly. He was extraordinarily handsome and although his kind were being outcasted, his merciless dark skin proved how brave, sweet and honorable he had being towards Aerwyna.

"It seems you're the one disturbing my poor trees Aren't you?" Eldric uttered jokingly. Elves are known to be oppressed slaves to be pitied because people thought they were the originators of the apocalypse (white cold) as well as the makers of apocalyptic genetic weapons during the war between the three tribes. Meanwhile Rwyna tried to hide her unmindfulness but her best friend was too smart to know she was being disturbed and absentminded.

Then Eldric questioned and she finally opened up. "Rwyna I know you don't want to hear this but i've known you too well to lie to you or hurt your feelings, but something doesn't seem right about your mother. Why haven't she showed you any picture or item concerning your dad and concerning events before your birth. Or maybe..." Eldric spoke with an undying boldness and thoughtfulness but he was soon cut short by his best friend who started to sweat with irritation.

"Eldric! Please stop letting your imagination run wild and I'm glad you showed up just at the right time I needed you, so please get me clay Effigy because I know you're very familiar with this forest more than I" she interrupted, Eldric listened and within the spur of the moment brought out the clay Effigy from under the root of a tree with the help of his magic.

"Here you go" said Eldric as he handed her with what she needed. "Eldric you're indeed the best! I have to go back home now. See you later" she said and hugged him without even letting Eldric reply goodbye because she was uncontrollably joyful knowing she'll impress her mother and she didn't waste time in hurrying back home.

Tired, Aerwyna sucked in a deep breath and pushed the door of her room wide. Being a test subject of her mother's spells always left her weak and drained. Not to talk of her mother's weird anger that follows afterwards. She hurridly got rid of her clothes and shoes as her limbs strutted through the cold and gritty floor to find her bed. Bumping into the furniture, she crept closer, trying to not gag on the overwhelming nauseousness that enveloped her and as she was about to fall asleep, her ears suddenly heard the sound of an unfamiliar voice echoing her name twice but she was too tired to focus on the undivulged voice.

~~~
AUTHOR'S NOTE

Hey guys! First of all, Thank you so much for choosing to read this book out of the millions of books in this app.

If you find any grammatical mistakes, please forgive me for that as this book is unedited. I will be editing it once it's completed. I know this chapter was a little bit small but this is just the start and I didn't want to bore you with unnecessary stuffs.

See you in the next chapter:)