Steven and Connie sauntered down the hill leading into the woods. Neither of them had ever been down this lane, despite its serenity and calmness. Steven supposed they had forgotten about it for that very reason. Connie had never heard of the place, even when Steven had told her it was on the map. Connie's eyes simply kept sliding over the place, until Steven pointed it out to her. Then, and only then, did she see.
Steven followed the path down into the forest. The trail was not clearly defined, and Steven's eyes were always on the map. So far things were going well.
"What do you think we'll see, Steven?" asked Connie. "Should we have brought Garnet along?"
Steven paused. "Nah. Nothing bad ever happens in the sunlight! In all the horror movies, the bad things only happen in the night." He made a scary face.
"Then we should get a move on!" said Connie. She made her face scary and dropped her voice. "Otherwise, we'll be trapped here at night…"
"Wooo…" said Steven, lips forming an O.
Laughing, the two pranced further into the forest. Steven eagerly showed Connie the changing map. "See, Connie! For every couple steps forward we take, the map changes by that amount!" Indeed, the ink from that area of the map snaked out, rewriting the map as the adventurers proceeded.
"We're having our very own magical adventure!" gasped Connie. With fresh enthusiasm, the two proceeded deeper into the forest. The forest began to grow darker, the brilliant sunlight becoming muted.
At around noon, when Steven began to grow hungry, a dot grew on the map, followed by an elegant drawing of a bridge. Fine cursive print read, "Bridge". Underneath, Old English lettering flowed into existence. Steven ignored it.
"We're coming to a bridge," noted Connie. "We can eat lunch on the other side." Steven agreed with her, nodding cheerily.
Soon they reached the bridge. The river lethargically flowed in its bed. In the middle of the river, mud choked the water, with clear water nearer to the banks. Lilly pads floated serenely atop the water, most with creamy white flowers in various stages of blooming. The bridge itself arched across the river, constructed of wood painted brilliant white. Even though the forest was not too gloomy, the paint was so bright, it stood out plainly against the background. A sign stood in front of the bridge, with a word on it, "Forboden-Inwudu".
Steven stared at it. "I think they misspelled 'Foreboding'," he remarked to Connie.
As the two began to cross, a little water snake poked its head out at them, flicking its tongue.
Steven stared at it, as they walked over the bridge. "Cute," he murmured. The snake ducked its head, and retreated underneath the water. The snake was replaced by a massive hand the size of Garnet's head. It grabbed Steven before he had the time to do anything but scream.