Chapter 1

The forest had a way of clearing her head. The English sunlight barely peaking through the dense trees that have been alive for centuries and generations, the quiet noise of nature and absence of urbanization, the peace and harmony of everything made it the perfect place for her to think. It was a simple place, yet so complex. At first glance, the colors of the forest are just green and brown, but if time and contemplation had been allowed to enter a person's life, the colors were emerald, hunter green, dark spring, and fern and forest green with hints of brown sepia and russet. There was also the occasional purple or red from a flower. It was the most beautiful place on earth to Alex Hunter.

The typical stress of university studies and life was getting to Alex, and the only thing that could calm her down was sitting in the forest outside of Nottingham and thinking, sometimes writing in her journal. She had never expected to be finding solace in a forest. She grew up in London and fell asleep to the comforting noise of cars speeding, honking, and ironically sirens. She could never imagine a forest being this big and old. All she had ever known was tall buildings, skyscrapers, concrete roads with pot holes, crowded sidewalks, and constant noise until she went away to her quaint university town. That was six months ago, and Alex had discovered a different part of herself in that short time. She expected university to be a constant motion of classes, socializing, parties, and making new memories, but it wasn't.

Alex realized the second day of being away from home and in a university that her expectations were not going to remotely be fulfilled. Classes were much harder than she expected, but still manageable, it was harder to make friends than she thought, but though she did not have many, she had bonded with her roommate and some other people she met and had become best friends with them. It was the first week of school when she discovered the forest. She had of course heard about the famed Sherwood Forest along with stories of Robin Hood and his Merry Men stealing from the cruel sheriff of Nottingham and giving to the poor. Every child grew up hearing the timeless legend about fighting against corruption and injustice and helping others that could not help themselves. During that first week, Alex got extremely lost in the town looking for a friend's house and stumbled into the large forest thinking it was a simple small park, but ended up being lost for hours. It was the last time she left her dorm without having a fully charged cell phone.

But those hours changed her. After one hour, she realized that the forest was huge and there was no chance that she was going to find her way out without a plan, so she sat down against a very large, ancient tree and tried to think of a way to navigate herself out. She then spent an unknown amount of time thinking and studying the forest around her. She was gravitated to this forest and the ancient tree. She knew that the string of fate tied around her finger brought her here, which oddly did not scare or concern her at all. She also knew that something important was going to happen, but it was not yet time.

After being in the forest and later rescued by her worried roommate, Lily, and Lily's long time boyfriend, Alex tried to forget that feeling of being so certain and at home and tried to focus at her new life at university. But she went back once to see if the feeling was real and agin and again to see if it faded. After the first night, she never got confused or lost finding the timeworn tree in the vast expansion of woods, yet she would get lost to and from her dorm on most days. It was a very odd thing to experience and she had no idea what would come of this feeling and this place, but for the time being she resigned herself to using it as a place of peace and quiet, something she never thought she would ever want.

After her meditation on the forest, Alex headed back to her dorm. As soon as she left the edge of the forest and crossed into the familiar, but cold modern, urban world she once loved and thrived in. Now she feels only out of place and disillusioned. Alex still loved the modern world and the things that came with it: brilliant music, great, sturdy clothing, accurate and advance medical knowledge, cell phones, indoor plumbing, and so many more things people take for granted. Alex loved listening to music or playing guitar or reading a modern novel or writing her own stories on her exceptional laptop, and she could not imagine a world where music wasn't within her reach or her favorite words weren't even a glimmer of a thought, but she felt that the modern world was lacking in something. Something important that had existed before, in simpler times, and had faded like the color dyed on a shirt.

Alex went back to her dorm and sat on her bed blasting some music. Lily wouldn't be back for twenty minutes and Alex had to finish some work before she did. She concentrated on the words she was typing on her laptop and the beat of the music in her ears and like always, time passed quickly. She had not realized her time was up until the interruption of hyper Lily jumping on her twin bed.

"Oi! I was working on something very important here!" Alex said grabbing her laptop to prevent Lily from jumping on it as she tends to jump on beds like a 5 year old and with a 5 year olds disregard for possessions and safety.

"Does it matter?! We are young and new. The world is ours and we are free, yet we trap ourselves in the rules of society" Lily yelled. The short, fiery ginger had an abundance of energy. Alex figured that she was the one stealing all her highly caffienated, black tea.

"Ya know, I think that your philosophy class was interesting today." Alex replied raising an eyebrow and smirking while typing on her laptop.

"Its brilliant. I am becoming a more enlightened person. Like the Buddha." Lily said as she flopped down on the bed. "But my point is still true. Its Friday night, We have to do something fun."

"Ya know, your definition of fun is very different than mine. And your definition scares me."

"Come on! Where is the crazy party girl from London I first met on Facebook awkwardly this summer. All your pictures were of crazy parties and amazing concerts and late night outs. I would like to awkwardly chat on the Facebook with that girl again for the night."

Alex rolled her eyes and shut her laptop. "I guess I am an enlightened being that has changed my ways. Like you and the Buddha." She shoved Lily smirking and put her laptop on her desk. "Fine I will go out tonight."

Lily immediately sat up and jumped off the bed and into her roommates' closet with her red hair flowing behind her. "Great! I am going to do you makeup and pick out your outfit."

"Great. I really do want to go for the drag queen look." Alex said exasperatedly as she down at her desk.

"That was a fancy dress and it was amazing. I promise you, that you will look hot, amazing, while it all remains practical. You could go off into the forest like you always do, and fight all the Robin Hood LARPers flawlessly."

"I couldn't imagine a more terrifying task. Ya know, some of them have real swords. Like actual pointy, stabbing, lethal swords."

"I promise you that you will never come across some one with a real sword or a bow and arrow in the forest. If you do, I will be your servant for the rest of term."

"I will hold you to that" Alex laughed as Lily started doing her hair.

Alex and Lily were walking along the dimly lit path to their friend's part. Lily was racing ahead in excitement and Alex was trying to keep up. Despite Alex's long legs, her strides were shorter due to the skirt Lily had made her wear. Lily had chosen a grungy, blue top, a black short skirt, black high knee socks paired with Docs, and a simple leather jacket for Alex to wear. Alex enjoyed the outfit and she could move in it, despite wearing a skirt on the shorter side. She wore a few rings, simple earrings with three in each ear, and her hair back in a head band making her bright aqua eyes stand out against her pale, porcelain skin. She clung to her all small backpack filled with her essentials: phone, headphones, phone battery, chap stick, her keys, some cash, and her meticulously written journal. She had a little red lipstick on and Lily told her that she looked like a fairy tale princess, but a badass one. That was the typical look Alex enjoyed.

She walked with Lily pulling her jacket tighter to fight the slight chill in the January air. Lily was fine wearing her short dress and heeled boots with only a simple cardigan over. Lily was never affected by anything: stress, cold, heat, and acne. As they entered the house, many heads turned to look at the stunning young women. Lily immediately socialized with her many friends and acquaintances. Alex, since she didn't know as many people, went off and got a drink.

Alex remembered the days of her years in London where she was the life of the party. She had just simply grown up and had lost the appeal of being the girl that knew everyone and everything. She spent the next few hours chatting absent mindingly, dancing a little to the few songs she liked, and avoided the drunk guys that always tried hitting on her. Eventually she became bored and found Lily flirting and chatting with her boyfriend, Harry, a footballer. She quickly gave her the nod that she was gonna go back to their room and Lily frowned at her for not staying longer and having fun. Alex replied with her smirk and made sure she had all of her things and strolled into the late night, mush to Lily's dismay.

Alex had the full intent on heading straight to her room and going to bed as soon as possible. But as she walked by the forest, she felt compelled that she had to go to her tree. She knew that she had to go. It was a feeling that she couldn't understand, but she knew that it was going to be an adventurous night. She quickly crossed the border of city and forest, modern and old, rational and mystical. She had no idea where she was going, but she knew she was not lost and that she would find her tree. It was only a few minutes of stumbling against the old roots of the trees and wandering blind into the darkness of the forest with only a few beams of moonlight giving her vision of the endless amount of trees and shrubbery, until she found the tree. Her tree.

She approached that tree, more hesitant than ever before. She lightly placed her long, slender hand against the wood; she felt a feeling of adventure, excitement, heroics, and something strange and unknown to her. Suddenly she felt the ground being ripped underneath her feet and her breathe being stolen. She saw a bright light and a ringing noise, then blackness.