The Spirit of the Woods

The sun was no longer in the sky. The stars started to blink in the dark blue plane above the earth, and the moon looked like a smile. A beautiful voice filled the still air. The voice was magic. The voice was enchanting. It came from a young girl who was lost in the woods. She had no idea where she was going. She wandered in the woods trying to find her way out, but she was only going deeper and deeper into it instead. Since darkness had painted the skies and her surroundings, everything looked different from what it looked like when the sun was high in the sky. The girl felt fear creep into her skin. She felt a shiver run down her spine. She clutched her cloak tightly, and began to sing to keep her mind away from fear.

Her voice had awoken the Spirit of the Woods. It heard the song of the maiden and danced with slow movements. It closed its eyes. Its ears were mesmerized by the soft music. It longed to see who sang the song. It danced away with creaking and snapping of wood slowly in the woods’ floors. And there in a small opening in the woods it saw her. Dressed in a fawn coloured dress, holding a thin blanket of cloth to keep her warm, she stood alone in the middle of the opening, singing her beautiful enchanting song.

The girl suddenly stopped as she heard a twig crack. It echoed louder in the dark. Her heartbeat sped. She turned around slowly. Fear grabbed her tightly this time. She could not move. She was stiff as a tree in the woods. In front of her towered a huge tree; she knew it was not there before. She had just passed through that very spot where it stood.

Its branch like arm slowly moved. She could see a face in the trunk. It looked old and weary. She released a gasp of surprise.

“Be mine,” it croaked.

The girl did not know what to say. How could a tree move and talk? This was not natural for her. She took a step backwards and tripped over the roots behind her. She felt her whole body shake hysterically. That was fear. She gasped and closed her eyes hoping the thing was just a figment of her fearful imagination. “Be mine,” it croaked again.

“No!” she shouted as her eyelids’ tightened.

There was creaking of wood and then silence. She slowly opened her eyes thinking the talking tree had left. But it was still there. It looked straight into her eyes. “Be mine, and sing for me forever,” it said. Its branch that acted like his hand was hanging over her head. It wanted her to take it.

The girl gasped again. “No!” she quickly got to her feet and ran away.

“Stop!” the tree cried. “I am the Spirit of the Woods! You will not deny me from my requests!”

“Leave me alone!” she shouted, hoping screaming at the thing would scare it away. But nothing happened. She ran deeper into the woods, deeper and deeper into the heart of the woods. “Go away!” she screamed.

Hanging twigs from trees scraped her skin and her clothes as she ran. Creaking of dry wood and snapping of twigs began to sing in her ears. They became louder and louder. She would not dare look back. She was frightened like never before. Suddenly the noise of creaking and snapping died. She slowed down. She turned around. A sigh of relief escaped her lungs to her mouth. She fell to her knees to rest. She felt her heartbeat slow down. Relief was climbing back as it fought with fear to take over her. Suddenly the dried leaves on the ground began to quiver.

Her eyes darted around to see what was going on. Suddenly vines and roots shot towards her. She screamed as she climbed back to her feet to run.

The ground underneath her feet softened. She tried to shake free as she began to sink into the ground. Five vines shot towards her arms and wrapped themselves around her arms and wrists. She struggled to get free. “Help me!” she screamed. But no one was going to hear her scream in the heart of the dark wood in the middle of the night.

“Do not struggle,” the voice grumbled. The Spirit of the Woods slowly crept towards her. The roots wrapped themselves around her thin legs and ankles. Tears flushed into her eyes as they fell like waterfalls. She struggled and struggled until she got free. She threw herself backwards as far as she could. The vines and roots let go, scratching her soft skin, and she fell on the ground. “Stay away from me!” she gasped.

She got up and a vine wrapped her waist and her arms, pinning her arms to her sides. “Help!” she screamed. But no one was coming.

“I gave you a chance to come peacefully, you did not comply. Now I will force you to be mine,” the Spirit of the Woods said; the girl could feel anger in his voice. His voice was a low rumble of thunder. “You shall now be with me forever in these woods. You shall be a beautiful tree, Ebony.”

The girl stopped moving. She was shocked to hear her name. “How do you know my name?”

“I know everything in these woods. I know who or what walks across my territory. Do not question me much. You will now be my servant. Sing for me forever,” it replied.

“No! I won’t!” she cried.

“Hush little sapling,” it said in a soft concerned voice. “Screaming will hurt your voice.”

He crept slowly towards her. He raised his branch like hand and touched her forehead with one twig like finger as the roots entwined around her legs. She tried to shake them off, but no amount of wriggling, no amount of struggling and no amount of squirming was going to help her now.

Her skin began to harden like the bark of a tree. It started from her feet. They became stiff as a tree trunk. They linked themselves to the ground below her feet as the roots began to merge with her skin. It slowly came up to her waist. She watched in horror as her body slowly became a tree. Slowly her arms began to stiffen, as her soft, smooth and fair skin turned hard, flaky and brown like a tree. Her hair slowly turned hard, and leaves began to sprout out of the tips. “Stop!” she screamed. But nothing was going to stop. She let out a scream before her entire body became a tree.

“Now you shall sing for me forever…” the Spirit of the Woods’ voice trailed as he went back to his abode.

“It is said that when one passes through the dark woods one can hear a beautiful voice of a maiden singing. Travellers compared the voice to a Siren’s voice in the seas. Sometimes one can also hear the voice cry; it was sad. Villagers nearby believed it was the lovely maiden who had lost her way in the woods one unfortunate day. Her village people had given up hope searching for her when the first of the searchers went to the heart of the woods to find at least her body found nothing but her cloak. They only heard her enchanting voice, and that was all. They knew they had lost her forever…”

Author's Note

This is first draft, I'm currently working on something else, so I will work on this later, however, I would love to hear about what you like about this, and what you hate, but please don't be mean, be constructive.

Reviews

[Mary Evans]

Very nice for a first draft. It sounds pretty much finished. Again nice intro to an interesting story.

Couple of suggestions, feel free to look through them and follow or dismiss whatever you wish:

"different from" In this case it should be "different than"

"It danced away with creaking and snapping of wood slowly in the woods’ floors." I don't think the structure is right. At least not with "slowly" in there. Either put it before "away" or remove it.

"it was not there " - "Had not been there before" since its about something that had happened before the moment of speaking.

"me from my requests" - "From" is out of place in there.

"She ran deeper into the woods, deeper and deeper into the heart of the woods." Woods is repetition i suggest you use a synonym to substitute one of them.

"her arms and wrapped themselves around her arms " Again a minor repetition. I don't think you need the first "arms" at all.

"and her arms, pinning her arms" Again repetitions. Use "pinning them" instead.

"his voice. His voice " Again repetitions. I think the second time you can substitute it with "it."

"entwined around her legs" You don't need "around."

"body slowly became a tree. Slowly her" Again a repetition. Maybe you can say: "as her body was becoming a tree" to evade the first slowly?

"Her hair slowly turned hard," Too many slowlys i suggest you remove this one.

"She let out a scream" Since she keeps screaming this one you can mark as "a last scream."

Again really nice first chapter. Keep up the good work.