A/N: Hello readers!

This is my second story and is completely mine/original. The characters are mine, the setting, idea, everything. It is also my first story like this. I wrote a pretty successful LoTR fic called "From Dreams to Reality" that you all might like if you are reading this. I've taken a break from that story because I just couldn't find words for it anymore after 38 chapters. I'll try to get it back up and running at some point but I have been busy with this story and I am working on a novel (which is very time consuming). Not to mention, I am now in college and it is difficult to find time to write as it is. I am doing my best though, and promise this story will be regularly updated as I already have a big head start on it. Well, I won't waste anymore time here. The first chapter is short though. Here is "The Woods of Dresdin".

-A

The Woods of Dresdin

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Dew hung in the early morning air as a child with long caramel colored hair tiptoed through the quiet village of Anberly. Any normal day, the small settlement would be alive with women tending the animals and men going to the fields to start a new day of work. But, this was no ordinary day, and it was the child's only chance to sneak into the forest during the daytime, which was normally off-limits to everyone. But no rule would be broken with no one to witness it.

Today was a day of rest for the people of Anberly, and then the night would bring festivities that only occurred once every ten years to celebrate the everlasting peace the elders created between the three villages and the forest. They had been preparing for a year now. The people of Black Horn and Durn have been there helping set up for the past week and were still without a doubt lazily sleeping in their traveling wagons just as Anberly's people were in their homes. Tonight they would feast and be merry.

This was her first Accord Day, being only eight years old the last one occurred two years before she was born. She wondered what would come of tonight, if there would be men and woman dancing and falling in love, or if the men would drink that vile smelling, sticky drink that turns them into loud, sloppy animals. All the older girls of the village would talk about was their dresses and the men they were eyeing. From what she understood, marriages were often announced this night. She still didn't understand what the girls they liked about boys. They're cruel and smelly, especially Bran.

The girl peeked around the corner of a home and found no sign of movement. She darted across the village's center and did not stop until she reached it's end. In front of her lay the prairie. She had often snuck away to the prairie before and watched the forest, but this time was different. She was going to cross it.

She took a deep breath and took off into the chest-high grass. The edge of the forest was near now. She slowed down to a walk and stopped. The little girl gazed up at the tall, ancient trees. They looked completely different up close. In fact, she was closer to the forest than anyone in the village dared to wander, something the eight year old was strangely proud of. Though her pride would be short lived, for none would know about her little adventure, bar the birds and the trees.

A chill breeze nipped at her skin, sending a shiver up her spine. The leaves of the trees shook and hissed like a nest of snakes warning an unwanted guest that they were in dangerous territory. About every fifth tree a red boundary symbol was painted at about adult eye level. She peered into the forest and waited. She didn't really know what she was waiting for, maybe to see one of them. After all, she was on the village's side of the boundary, the safe side.

Suddenly, the wind died and the forest grew eerily still. She stood there and watched, doing her best not to run that very instant. She called timidly, "Hello?" There was no reply. After a moment or two she took a step towards the trees. An unnaturally large gust of wind howled from within the forest and met her head on. As she fled to the village she could've sworn she heard someone whisper to her.

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A/N: Please review! Feedback is extremely important! Thanks for picking my story! :)