It was a dark, stormy night, the sleet and cold wind tore through the forest. The banshee like howl chilled the bones and made even the fiercest of predators cower in burrows and crevices. His eyes easily pierced the night, the faint green glow oblivious to anything, seeking the red glow that would bring him...

home. He had been lost in these cursed woods for almost a week. He had always heard the stories about this part of the woods, but had never believed them. So when his friends had decided to go hiking here he was all for it.

It had not taken long for it to start.

As night fell the first night, everyone started to disapear. Nothing seemed to have stolen them away into the night, instead, it was as if they were all mindlessly lured away as soon as everyone elses back was turned. It went like this until he was the only one left, alone, in the dark.

Which brings us to the true beginning of his nightmare.

He stumbled in to nothingness, falling for what seemed like hours before suddenly stopping. Not really hitting anything, but he knew somehow he was not moving either. The blackness choked him, seeping in his eyes, ears, mouth and nose, until he was over whelmed. As his eyes gradually adjusted to the black of nothing, he saw a faint blueish glow off in the distance in front of him. He tried to walk towards it, but he found he couldn't move...

In frustration, he reached out towards the radiance, almost clawing at the air. he looked down and saw that there was an identical light coming from the ground beneath him. suprised, he...

stepped back right into something solid. !. Slowly he turned to find it was only a tree. He made the mistake of looking over his shoulder and saw that the light was bubbling out of the ground. But it was more than light. It was starting to take shape and looked more solid than light had any right to. He started to run again and knew without even looking that this light-thing was persuing him. How can you outrun light?! he thought. And as he started to see the light surround him he thought simply you can't. As the light closed in...

He opened his eyes to the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen. Her white hair flowed with a glittering glow that made him forget the world. Her thin hands touched his grizzled face and a soothing voice comforted him, the only thing he heard in his head.

"My son, you are the one, you will free us all from this" the pause in her words filled him with saddness and fear of her leaving him. Taking away the warmth that filled him now, and all he wanted to do was to cling to her beauty, the frangrance of honeysuckle and briar seducing his senses.

"The dark ones are free, they are taking your kind, and we need to find out how to trap them again. Only then will your world and ours be able to again coexist."

She kissed him softly on the lips and he felt his heart explode and then he felt himself falling, almost floating down and when he opened his eyes he was in a rich plush bed. The roots were decorative vines hung with flickering lights, he heard a soft laughter to the right, turning his head he saw a gathering of frail girls, each as beautiful and glowing as the other. He watched as the washed his clothes and passed around his possessions...

,studying them with care. 'w-where am I?' he managed to stammer. 'You are with us' the closest glowing figure answered, as if this would answer everything. As he let her slightly echoing voice wash over him and sink into his mind he realized it did answer everything because where, who, what, did not matter in this place.
'You are the one' she said, 'you are the one whose coming was fortold. You must rest now for you have many trials ahead of you.'
'Chosen one?' he asked, trying to shake the trance-like fuzz from him mind. He shook his head this must be a dream he thought.
'Yes' Another of the women answered. '.....

The women looked at his belongings carefully, folding his clothes neatly and laying them on the floor. He realized drowsily that he was naked, although he hadnt realized this earlier, he found it didn't bother him as it normally would have. He looked around him, his eyes slowly adjusting to the dim lighting, in contrast with the bright women, he could barely make out what looked like walls, or pictures behind them.
"What kind of trials?" he asked softly, not caring if he was answered.
"Many kinds." the woman at his right shoulder answered.
He was going to ask further, but somehow, her short answer made sense. And besides, he was starting to get tired. Soon, he drifted off to a deep sleep. When he woke...

He was not in the same place of his sleep. He looked around and saw that he was most definitly in a deep forest full of dark green trees and the forest floor was covered in a soft brown pine. What had happened to him? Why was he here of such places?

But that question was soon answered, when a dark shadow moved over him. He got up from the forest floor, ready to fight for his life if the need arouse.

"Who are you?" He asked of the figure. "I will ask the questions that need answering the women's voise spoke. Her voice was strong and deep. A chill fell though the air and he felt the air thicken fast, like a dust-cloud left behind by a stampede of horses, on a dusty track.

"Why do you come to this forest. I summoned forth a man that would fight to the death and have the strenght of four large bulls. I was expecting something in return." He looked at the women in the black clock.

"I am someone who fights my way though life. But as you can see I am not the size or strength of four bulls." With that he looked around and dusted himself off.

"Then we will have to teach you some magic tricks." She stated. He was almost taken aback by the whole deal.

"I have no magic abilities." He said, hoping to be sent back from where he came.

"We will fix that soon enough." The women's voice was dusturbing in the least. With that as a final word, she raised her hand up towards the sky and summoned forth two winged horses. The largest he had ever seen. And they could fly!