Prologue.
Long before there were legends or heroes to protect the people there were the sages and the temples they protected but the temples had been a staple of the land for centuries before even the sages became known. This is the story of a temple lost deep within a forgotten forest where time is stolen and space is destroyed a place of confusion. A lost woods.
1.
There was once a great race, they lived in harmony with the land and loved the land in all its glory, and they wore green in deference to their protector and live near eternally. The source of their happiness was a grand castle built in the center of their land. The castle drew life from the land and breathed life back into it giving the people eternal health and a place of peace. Unfortunately peace could only last so long and a great war ravaged the land and its people pushing them into the deepest part of the castle up into a tall tower, which held a gallery. The queen of the people used all her power to do great things, first she grew a great forest to protect the people, second she took all of the surviving children and placed them in a deep slumber to avoid the horrors of the war, finally she gave her own life to grow a grand tree in the center of the forest who would care for the children as if they were his own. With the queen gone the people of the forest fled deep into the forest itself to become part of the spell to protect the children and their future. Only one remained, she stayed for hundreds of years almost as a statue until she was no longer alone.
2.
One came from a forgotten lake
One came from the deepest desert
One came from the darkest shadows
One came from a lost forest
Four women with different backgrounds and different reasons to be in the castle but all with one overriding need, a place to hide and a place to be safe. Sisters they called each other and friends they fast became. The forest, though protected, would open to those who meant no harm or those who deeply needed what it could offer. For many years the lived harboring people in the castle and guiding people to safety through the forest. They lived a long happy life and perhaps due to the residual effects of the castle the sisters never truly died just faded into spirits who continued their work just as happy as the had when they were alive. Eventually the children awoke from their slumber, young and innocent and never changing, the sisters visited the tree that so many years ago was born from the queens sacrifice and pleaded with him to separate the castle from the rest of the forest as it held many memories that the children need not experience again, the only way to do this though would be top have one who did know the tragedy and could bear it on their shoulders. One was chosen and she became the matriarch for the society, a leader for people to defer to but also someone they could go to as a friend. The sisters returned to the castle that they had known for so long as home, but something was felt wrong, they brushed it off as just a silly feeling and started their work, for with all the children they started wandering into the lost woods and due to the potency of the spells the woods would twist the children into odd scarecrow creatures who, though they could navigate the entire woods, were unable to leave its confines, the four sisters took up torches and as a poe would started guiding people, this peaceful if busy existence lasted for many more years before tragedy struck.
3.
A seed of darkness had been planted in both the castle and the grand tree; luckily the tree was able to give the gift of the forest before wilting away. Due to the queens sacrifice a new tree would soon be born but it would take power from the castle to bring something as strong as that into being. Unfortunately the corruption in the castle was eating it away from the inside out and the four sisters used what little power they had to push the evil back into the castle even if for only a few years. Eventually it was able to break free of its constraints and start destroying the forest. It was all the sisters could do to resist the pull but even with their strong will they were eventually forced to do evils bidding. A hero came and was able to release the sisters into freedom the sisters used the last of there power to give the children one last gift, the gift of life, they would finally be able to grow and have children of there own all under the protection of the great tree.