Eternal Forest [Episode 2]
The 5th Compass | Book Two [1,865 words]
The Eternal Forest is the second book in The 5th Compass series. Daxton and his best friend, Barton, are looking for the other compasses while fending off an immortal foe. Nelle takes Adelaide under her wing, to help her develop her untapped power. Meanwhile, the most hated pirate in all of Stonehaven must decide whether to stand and fight or flee from the Paragon. This book delves into the life of the Paragon and the many lives it touches and destroys.
“Did you hear my question?” Woodvale sat on the ground beside Stephan and if not for his long graying hair, he could easily be mistaken for another student. All Stephan could do was blink back at Woodvale who waited patiently for an answer.
The other students, just a few feet in front of him, giggled at a joke Professor Engle made and the unexpected sound gave Stephan his voice back. “Yes, sir,” he said.
“Excellent,” Woodvale said, getting to his feet and brushing some dirt from his backside. He took two steps and turned back to see Stephan had not moved. “Are you coming?” he asked, showing his brilliant white teeth as he smiled.
Stephan quickly got to his feet and followed Woodvale away from the class. For a man of over a hundred years, he walked with great speed. Stephan panted as he tried to keep up. Woodvale grew got further and further away from him so that all he could see was his white hair and midnight blue cap blowing back with the force of his speed.
Woodvale Academy must remain hidden because of the classes and students it teaches. Everyone in attendance either can do magic or is gifted enough to learn how. But these are tenuous times and the Great Dragon War still weighs heavily on people’s minds even though it happened nearly five hundred years ago. Some wounds never truly heal. Those who don’t possess these abilities remember how their ancestors were treated when dragons roamed the earth and were the rulers among men. And although the Great Dragon War brought about their extinction, mankind inherited their magic, handed down generation to generation.
Anyone seen possessing magic, or showing even the slightest hint of it, were sentenced and immediately put to death.
Woodvale himself is not a descendant of Solara, the dragon Princess believed to have mated with a human near the end of the Great Dragon War which resulted in the birth of a human child. But his long-time best friend Tobias was and as they grew up together, Woodvale learned how to use magic.
It was not long before they formed a school to find others like themselves, both with magic inherently and gifted enough to learn how to wield it. After a while, their hidden school became known throughout Stonehaven, making it more and more difficult for them to find shelter.
After the assassination of Tobias, the academy’s hiding place was discovered, and they were driven into the Hollow Mountains. They separated Ebonthorn from Malithorn, but most importantly, they contained hundreds of caverns and tunnels, making them suitable for their needs. Woodvale remembered these mountains from his childhood, when he and Tobias were young and unaware of their differences. This would be where the school enjoyed many years free from harm, as none of the villagers would dare step foot on Hollow Mountain. Its name derived from the cave-ins that had taken many lives.
Now, Woodvale has led Stephan to a cliff near a such cave in. When he reached the cliff he stopped short, barely avoiding pitching himself over it. Woodvale looked back to find Stephan panting and out of breath, wiping sweat from his brow.
“What—is—this place?” Stephan barely got out, his chest heaving in pain with every breath he pulled in. Woodvale didn’t look like he had just scaled a mountain, while Stephan tried as best he could to calm his breathing.
“I brought you here because I need your help and I think you are ready to help me. I have paid close attention to you ever since the first day your uncle brought you here, insisting I let you in. Of all the students here, you possessed no magic ability, nor did you seem to have the gift I often see right away in students.”
As Stephan listened, his heart began to break. Ever since he attended the school he hoped the first time he spoke with Woodvale, it would be as equals. He knew he could never be as great or as powerful as Woodvale, but he thought, over time, he would prove everyone wrong. He knew what the other students said about him behind his back. That Stephan was allowed in the school angered many of them and their parents. His only saving grace was the name of Krayden that he carried, passed down to him over many generations. Woodvale Academy was probably the only place where that name would earn him any kind of respect. Though it did not stop the other students from completely ignoring and avoiding him.
“Don’t get me wrong,” Woodvale continued after seeing the look of devastation all over Stephan’s face. “I observed you closely. Any descendant of Krayden deserves at least that much. And by gum if you didn’t prove me wrong. Professor Engle, and the others, speak very highly of you.”
Stephan’s eyebrows raised to hear this. He would have expected high praise from Professor Engle, but not from the other professors who he thought all hated him as much as his peers.
“They all suggested to me that you are best suited for the mission and I agree with them. So, what do you think?”
Stephan’s head was spinning with everything he was hearing. First, he finds out that Woodvale has been observing him since he arrived many years ago. His professors have all expressed how good he is and now Woodvale is asking him to go on a mission…
“What mission, sir?” Stephan stumbled on his question. He hoped the mission was related to his hunt for the one who would unite the descendants of Solara with those who wanted to kill them all. He wanted to hear Woodvale say he is the one.
“Do you remember what I spoke about last night?”
Did he remember? Stephan beamed inside but remained calm as he answered, “Do you mean when you discussed a child that was born to save us all?”
Woodvale smiled. “I am glad to know at least one of you listened to my every word. Everyone thinks the child was recently born, but that just isn’t so. I believe him, or her, to be at least your age, perhaps older. I want you to find whoever it is. I know it’s what Tobias would want me to do.”
Woodvale lowered his head, saddened by the very mention of his best friend’s name. He walked to the edge of the cliff, and for a moment Stephan thought he might jump. But he did not.
“Do you know what’s out there?” he asked Stephan, is voice carrying on the wind.
Stephan walked over and stood beside him. All he could see was trees. Tall and thick and hundreds of them as far as the eyes could see. He was looking at the Eternal Forest and as far as he was concerned, the scariest place he’d ever heard of.
“Freedom is out there, Stephan. Freedom. And someday, with your help of course, we might live down there instead of hiding out like terrified knonn. Like us, they have been forced into darkness. But we have a way. We will make those who hate us, understand that we do not wish to hurt them.”
“But—what if they refuse to understand?” Stephan regretted the question the second it left his lips, but it was too late. He watched Woodvale clench his jaw in anger as he forced a smile.
“I am certain they will understand.” Stephan wanted to ask other, more probing questions, but remained silent. “Out with it, boy. I can see you have further questions of me. Ask me now while I am in such a giving mood.”
Stephan bit down on his lower lip until he could taste a blood on his tongue. He did this to calm his nerves whenever he was called on by a professor to answer a question with all eyes on him. It always worked then, but now all it did was make his stomach turn.
“How do you know—I mean, how did you find out about the child? I assume it was a recent discovery, otherwise, you would have been searching for it long ago. Why would Tobias not tell you he had a child?”
“It seems you are as smart and attentive as the professors have all said about you.” Woodvale stepped away from the cliff’s edge and sat on the ground with his back towards it. He beckoned Stephan to join him. “I would imagine by good-friend Tobias kept this child not only from me, but from everyone, to protect the identity of the mother.”
Hearing that word hit home to Stephan. He never got to know what having a mother was like as she died while giving birth to his sister when he was only three years old. And his father, hardly ever around, would barely speak about her, no matter how much Kira begged.
“But why would he need to protect her identity?”
“There is something you need to understand about Tobias, and certain men. When they have charm, good looks, and power, it is a lethal combination. Tobias had all of those things and more. He was known to…enjoy the company of many women. Some of whom were already spoken for. Do you understand?”
“Yes, I do.” Stephan had heard his father argue constantly with his mother, their grandmother. She wasted no time accusing his wife of meeting with other men while he was off fighting a senseless battle. Stephan had always resented her for it and blames her, to this day, for the death of his father. She drove him to leave and hand his children over to his brother to keep them safe while he returned to war, where he died on the battlefield.
Woodvale stared strangely at Stephan. He recognized the look on his face, a look of both sadness and embarrassment. It was a look he wore on his own face when he was young.
“Do not be disheartened. I am sure Tobias did not tell me of the child’s existence because he was unaware of it himself.”
“If he did not know of the child, how can you be so sure there is one?”
Woodvale was growing frustrated with Stephan’s constant questioning. He was hoping the boy would do whatever was asked of him because of who was asking. If only he had heeded Professor Engle’s warning, that although Stephan is bright he is also curious, and curiosity can often lead to mishaps.
“How I know is of no concern of yours. What I need from you is an oath that you will do what I ask?”
Stephan could not help himself. He enjoyed having Woodvale’s undivided attention and that he was needed so desperately. But deep down in the pit of his stomach, he felt something was not right.
“Can I think about it?”
“Fine.”
Stephen fully expected Woodvale to storm off in a huff as his response was harsh and cut the air like a knife. But he was known among the students to have a flair for the dramatic and instead left in a literal puff of smoke.