⇢ The Enchanted Forest ⇠
Genres: Fantasy/Romance/Comedy?
By: Murasaki Spring
-Chapters-
Chapter One – The Beginning of the Folktale
Chapter Two – "Encantado."
Summary:
Based in the 19th Century, every once in awhile, Nicholas's grandmother would always tell him the same folktale that she'd heard when she was young. It was about a beautiful water spirit that wishes she could experience the feeling of sentiment. After Nicholas's attachment to the legend, he decides to set out and look for the beautiful spirit that lives in the Enchanted Forest. However, Nicholas faces one challenge: his grandmother forbids him to leave home after 6pm.
"Music expresses for what cannot be said."
Chapter Two
"Encantado."
For so long, and as the years had passed by, stories about the mysterious faired-skinned woman had spread around the alleys of the town. The woman sat quietly by the clear lake, humming softly to a sorrowful harmony. Her reflection showing her golden locks of hair, and her glimmering sky blue eyes, she turns away. Her fingers brushed thoroughly through her curls in her hair, then letting go as she grabs hold of a wooden flute. Gently, and peacefully, she plays a soft tune.
Every night, when the sun goes down and the stars appear glittering in the most blackest nights, people that roam around the beach walk closer and closer to the angelic tune. But never have they seen the owner of the voice.
A man, no older than twenty, and no younger than seventeen passed through the beach every night, as a shortcut to get to his home. He was running late, so he rushed passed the streets where rich people roamed to the nearest famous pub. He worked night shifts at a bar where music would be played each night.
As he ran through the beach with his instrument case in his hand, he heard a voice. He stopped his movement and walked closer to the angelic tune that sung out in the cold air. Getting closer and closer, the notes get higher and clearer. He thought it was like hearing an angel, only there was no such thing. His doubtful mind turned blank. For a moment or two, he snapped out.
The tune was no more.
He looked around, forgetting what he was doing. From there, he looked out onto the sparkling surface of the sea where the ocean had casted the sunset. Orange, red, yellow. Such warm colours of the sunset brought him closer to the beach since that day. He wasn't sure what he'd just heard, but the tune was something he could never forget.
The very next day, he overworked himself again, cutting into his sleeping schedule. He left from the pub later than he usually had finished. On his way home, passing by the alleys of the streets, and through the shortcut of the beach, he heard the voice again while shuffling his feet onto the warm, soft, sand. His mind went blank again. He couldn't help it. The man's mind couldn't do anything but think about the angelic song that replayed in his head.
He snapped out of his thoughts when the sun rose up again.
In his mind, the lyrics of the tune were,
"Looking for the word,
Just a simple word,
To open up the closing door of my heart,"
Nothing else came to his mind more than the lyrics sung out by a mysterious owner.
Days had passed by, and every day, he'd go through the same phase every night. During his work at the pub, hearing the music being played and the drunkards of elite men chugging down wines and beers down their throats, the man couldn't think of anything but the song. His curiosity grew widely, to the point where he snuck out early from work to the spot where he waited for the owner of the voice to show up by the rocky side of the beach.
He waited there till the sun had fallen. His boredom developed as he stared out onto the waves, crashing onto the rocky side of the beach. He unclipped his case where his instrument was in and carefully picked it up. His fingers strutted the chords of his guitar, humming towards the song that'd been stuck in his head all week.
In a corner, he heard a rattle from the sea, but it didn't stop him from playing the song. The tune of the song took him awhile to figure out, but as soon as he found the chords that fitted to the lyrics, he began practicing it, hoping one day, he'd find out the angelic voice.
"That day is today." He thought quietly to himself.
The woman poked her head out from the side of the rock. The man could see her, but his hands were still on his guitar. The woman with golden locks of hair disappeared behind the rock, feeling somewhat, embarrassed.
"That's my song…" The woman quietly spoke. Her voice was really quiet, but it didn't stop the man from talking to her. The man didn't believe her at all. His face was full of doubt until she sung out the lyrics exactly the way he'd first heard it.
The hypnotizing voice repeated in his head, but it didn't affect the way he once was. He didn't freeze up and waited till the sun had risen up. It was the real thing. Caught by the man's surprise, he didn't say a word until the woman spoke.
"What're you doing here?"
The pause put both of them in an awkward situation. The woman was still behind the rock, hiding her blushing face away from the man.
"I came to look for the voice…" The man mumbled to himself. It sounded weirder than how he said it in his head. "But I found her…"
She blushed, but the man couldn't see. She'd liked the man since the day he'd stood and listen to her sing, even though the man had never seen what she looked like, till now. Even though that she had a secret, it was impossible for two beings to fall in love, in her case. But in her fantasies, she dreams of becoming a musician.
Throughout that day, they fell in love, and met up with each other every day. The man would sneak out of his shifts very early, and meet up with her by the rocky side of the beach. The manager of the pub that the man worked at grew curious of why he'd often leave so soon. The man hadn't told anyone, so the manager followed the man.
The woman and the man's mutual love grew stronger. That's when the woman decided to tell him the secret behind her background. No one knew it at all. That's until someone had overheard the conversation behind their backs. – The manager.
At the very next day, the manager told the whole press and the world about the spiritual creature living by the sea. The man hadn't realised till he left the pub during his shift to visit his beloved. He'd accepted her as part fish, and she accepted the love between them were strong.
When he got there, she wasn't. The water spirit was always waiting by the shallow part of the sea. But she wasn't there. Instead, a mob of humans with sharp knives and torches were by the beach. The man panicked, hoping that his beloved was alright. News reporters by the beach were even talking about the spirit.
But another week had passed during the incident, and not a word had been heard by his beloved spirit. He waited by the beach, hoping she'd drop by. Yet, she hadn't come. The man's feelings of the spirit moved on as time had passed by. Slowly, the man and everyone else looking for the water spirit had forgotten about her.
"Although, the truth is, people have claimed they've heard the voice coming from the forest, by the beach. The road that had been blocked out by a fence for a reason," The hoarse voice of Nicholas's grandmother had said, as he tucked Nicholas into bed. "And that's the folktale of 'Enchantado'."
"Why can't I go outside after dark?" Nicholas asked innocently. He was still a kid, and never did he disobey his orders.
"Bad things go on at this time of night. Don't ever leave after six at dark, alright?" Nicholas nodded his head as his grandmother slowly walked her way to the curtains to close it. "No more of this discussion." The lights flickered off.
Darkness filled the room. That's before Nicholas had pulled out his flashlight from under his pillow. He dragged the drawer out, and heaved up a small book. Inside it, it had a lot of folktales, especially the one his grandmother had told him about, but Nicholas couldn't read the squiggly handwriting imprinted inside the book of folktales.