Hello people! I've been working on this story for a while and decided to publish it and see what you guys all think of it. :) Please R&R!
The young man cautiously walked through the cold forest with his oil lamp. He shivered every time he heard an unfamiliar sound or rustle of the leaves. It was a dark and scary place. Many stories he'd heard said that every time a man like him entered the forest, they were never seen again. Other tales had been told about why those men had never returned. It was all the fault of will-o-the-wisp. The mysterious blue orbs always hid and showed themselves at the most dangerous of times, and led travelers off the path and to their doom. But good stories had been told of this strange phenomenon too, like when a young girl lost her bow in a forest such as this one and was being chased by a vicious bear. The will-o-the-wisps had led the girl to her bow and led her out of the forest where the bear wouldn't attack.
They were odd creatures, and many people who traveled into places like these prayed that they would never see one. The man who was walking this trail tonight had done that very thing.
He kept walking the dirt path that was littered with debris, careful not to step on any sticks or trip over a stone for fear that an animal would come and attack. A sudden crash of a tree branch sounded behind the man. He froze and slowly turned around, frightened beyond belief. His heart raced a hundred miles an hour when he saw what was perched on the branch. A blue, floating wisp.
"No..." he whispered. "It can't be..."
The wisp made a flicker of blue to motion for the man to follow it. The wave was somehow hypnotizing, and after a minute the young man followed the blue orb. He found himself growing very tired, but the wisp continued on, keeping the man hooked in some sort of trance to keep going.
It seemed like ages until the wisp finally vanished. Oh no...the man thought. He collapsed to the ground as he broke out of the trance and silently cursed himself for following the wretched creature. "Oh, what have I done..." he mumbled, running a hand through his coal-black hair. He lifted the ever-fading lamp, the light barely cast any glow around him since the flame was so small. "Where in the world am I?" he said aloud. A rustle in the bushes made him immediately stand up and whirl around, his eyes filled with fear and anxiety. "Who-who's there?" he asked, his voice shaking as he bent down to find a stick. A low growl sounded from behind him, making him scream and start running. "Save me, will-o!" he cried, running in any direction and not caring if he got lost.
A breeze drifted towards him from his right, and a familiar looking blue wisp appeared on his left. It motioned for him to follow.
"Thank God!" he panted, swerving to his left and hopefully out of sight and smell of the animal.
After following the wisp through the swarm of trees—but not getting into some kind of trance like before—he returned home to his family with the terrifying story.
The man stumbled inside his door, and the blue wisp re-appeared beside one of the bushes. A ribbon of turquoise light swirled around the wisp with a whoosh and a tall girl seemingly in her teens appeared. She had a shirt with long sleeves that was turquoise blue and a skirt the same color. Her feet were bare, and her hair was pitch black. Her body seemed to be glowing a faint blue.
"That went well," she said in an airy, breezy voice. "One more traveler, tricked and saved."
The girl smirked before disappearing with a snap of her fingers.
Present day, Nighttime: North Pole
North had called the Guardians to the North Pole, as Man in Moon was about to choose a new Guardian.
"Who do you think it will be?" a winter spirit named Jack Frost asked, staring at the moonstone that was slowly rising out of the ground.
"Hopefully someone that doesn't have their brain frozen," a tall bunny—seemingly the Easter bunny—snickered.
"Oh, be quiet you two!" a fairy scolded. She had an outfit made of metallic green-blue feathers but a few gold and pink ones were mixed in as well. Her wings were flapping quite quickly, and she had an enthusiastic look on her face.
A man that seemed to be made out of sand made a sound like chimes and pictures of different people formed above his head, like he was guessing. He was the Sandman, but no one could really understand him since he didn't talk.
A stone that looked like it was made out of ice rose from the ground, and a beam of moonlight from the window shone on the crystal. A white flash of light that wasn't that bright filled the room then disappeared, and a person's body had formed and was floating above the see-through stone.
A man that looked a lot like Santa Claus—as a matter of fact, he was Santa—gasped.
"I don't recognize 'er, mate." the Easter Bunny crossed his arms and studied the picture.
"I don't recognize her either, North," the fairy said, confusion taking over her excited expression.
"Can you tell us who it is?" Jack Frost impatiently asked.
"She's from ancient folklore, I didn't even know she still existed!" Santa—or North, his real name—exclaimed.
"Spill, mate," the bunny said.
"It's Willow the Wisp," North said. The other's eyes widened in shock.
"You mean, the one who leads innocent people to their fate and kills them?" the fairy cried.
"She does not kill people on purpose, she saves them once in awhile but yes, she does lead people to their fate and destiny," North explained.
"I've heard stories about her before, though I never knew she was an actual person," Jack said, nodding.
"She was someone before she became Willow the Wisp...but that's not my story to tell anyways." North nodded to a couple of brown-haired yetis that were standing behind him. "Bring her here,"
The yetis nodded enthusiastically and one of them grabbed a sack before tossing a snow globe to the ground that exploded and turned into a magic portal. The yetis disappeared into the swirling white and purple.
"Let's hope she survives the ride," Jack snickered.
About midnight: in the same forest
Willow strolled through the forest as her human self; she hummed a folk song that she found very spooky. A white and purple vortex suddenly exploded to her right and she jumped back in surprise.
Three big furry animals lumbered out of the vortex and headed towards her. Willow eyed the animals, and started not to trust them when she spotted a dark red bag in one of their fists.
The big furballs edged closer and closer; Willow tensed up before one of them lunged out and grabbed her arm, tossing her into the sack. She struggled and tried to escape the bag, but nothing worked. She sighed and twiddled her thumbs before feeling the surge of a portal and then the impact of the sack being tossed to the floor.
"What the...?" Willow got to her knees and felt the bag open up and a stream of bright light shone in her eyes. She blinked one, two, three times before they adjusted. She climbed out of the bag and ran a hand through her black hair when she realized where she was.
"Willow! How good to see you again!" North boomed. Willow winced as the large man enveloped her in a huge hug.
"Uh, hi?" she said. When North let go, she saw three familiar faces and one new one. "Tooth, Sandy, and Bunny, but who're you?" She pointed towards the winter spirit.
"Jack Frost. Haven't you heard of me?" He smirked and folded his arms.
Willow recognized the name. "Yep, no worries about having to explain every little detail about yourself." She smirked back at him and knew that this guy liked to talk about himself. Only sometimes, though.
"Pity to say this, mate, but I forgot about ya," Bunny admitted.
The ecstatic Tooth Fairy nodded sheepishly.
"No harm done, friends." Willow kept smirking and then looked expectantly at North. "So why'd you need me?"
"Man in Moon chose you to become Guardian!" North exclaimed. Willow sighed and slapped a hand on her forehead.
"How many times do I have to tell you...?" she muttered.
"Wait." Jack narrowed his eyes at the wisp girl. "So you're saying that you've been chosen before, but you've never accepted?"
"You got that right, icy." Willow crossed her arms.
"Man, this girl is messed up," He muttered. "Who doesn't want to be a guardian?"
"I heard that." she glared at the spirit. "And, I wouldn't want to be one."
"Man in Moon chose you, Willow. You have to understand that if you don't accept, things could go wrong like last time." North looked at the girl with hope, rubbing his hands together.
"I—I don't know, North. I don't exactly like protecting people, I like to lead them into harm's way and then save them at the last minute," She protested.
"Come on, it's fun," Jack said.
"Whatever."
"Do you want things to go wrong like last time?" North sternly asked, his brows furrowed.
"Maybe, maybe not." She kept her voice flat so they couldn't tell her real answer.
"Oh, what am I going to do with you..." North fell deep into thought. Willow tapped her foot impatiently.
"What happened last time?" Jack asked curiously.
"I'd rather not say." Willow glared at Jack.
"Come on. Please?" he gave her his irresistible puppy dog eyes, but somehow, she resisted.
"No." Her voice sounded irritated and hinted that she wasn't gonna tell him no matter what.
"Fine!" he threw his hands up in defeat. Sandman caught her attention and made different symbols above his head. The pictures showed a scene of what had happened, so he could remind Willow.
"Sandy, please no?" she asked.
"Willow, I'm giving you five days to decide." North broke his train of thought and looked at her in the eye. "If you don't decide by then, I don't know about the disasters that may follow."
"Got it." Willow nodded, glancing at Sandy, who was frowning. "Can I go now?"
She looked at all the Guardians. Tooth was telling something to her fellow mini-fairies, Bunny was glaring at her, and Jack was looking at her curiously.
"Yes, but don't use a portal," North said, nodding.
"Okay! Bye!" Willow the Wisp left cheerfully, probably happy to go see if she could trick any other human on her way home.
She opened the doors that led out into the snow and jumped into the air, soaring into the starry night sky before turning into a blue streak of light and flying out of sight.
hehe how did you like it? And trust me, things will get way more interesting in the next chapter. :)