It's Still Life

Day 30. Write a short story about a hidden, enchanted forest where magical creatures dwell.

An Eternity of Green

In the depths of the forest, where ribbons of pale sunlight tease out shadows, enchantment lives.

Tree roots are chiselled, emerald mist floats luminescent, insects fly in trails of stardust singing in notes to please the ear. Just occasionally, white feathers blow from dandelions – a sprite’s breath.

It is a world that gnaws on the hearts of some mortals, it lurks unobserved like sparks around fire.

This forest is built of beauty, leaf on leaf, with dawn’s promise to heal the world with nature’s seed. And the only mortal who is allowed to enter the forest is a woodsman with a low and slow voice. He lives in the heart of a tree on a shadowy steep hillside. The morning sun warms him when he wakes and bluebells ring out when it’s time to sleep.

And while all around sleep, he watches the small stars through tangled branches, he plays charades with blackness, and he remembers his children and a woman of pleasing shape, but he’s never found his way out of this forest, and when he tries, the mist shivers and laughs at him, and the forest possesses the whole of him.

But he’s never really tried to find his way out. He’s happy enough dreaming of wind and shadows of what was once home.

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Words: 271. Written for The Wildness Challenge Day 30: Write a short story about a hidden, enchanted forest where magical creatures dwell. What adventures await those who discover it? Artwork is created using Midjourney. Imagery and poems ©Misky 2023.