Pranav's Forbidden Forest

“Really?” I asked.

“Yes, really,” said Magister Orin in a tone that made me regret asking. “The last time the city was threatened by monsters was two hundred years ago. If a threat arises again, there is every chance we will be ready to meet it.” He leaned forward and looked at me intently. “You must always remember that the dark ages are not over yet. There are forces at work in this world that you cannot imagine, Pranav. You would do well to give our enemies due respect.”

I nodded, but I didn't believe him. It sounded so much like the tales my grandfather had told me when I was a child; how he would scare me with tales of vampires and werewolves and witches that could turn you into frogs if you didn't eat your vegetables.

Magister Orin sighed as though he'd heard my thoughts and he leaned back in his chair and shook his head slowly from side to side. He pushed some papers away from him on his desk and leaned on his hands with his chin in his hands and stared at nothing for a while, lost in thought. He glanced up suddenly and said: "Pranav?"

"Yes, Magister Orin?" I replied eagerly, relieved to be away from the uncomfortable silence of his reverie.

"What do you know about the ancient cities of Laurania?" He asked quietly. I blinked at him in surprise, but I knew better than to ask how he knew about my favourite subject.

"Well," I began slowly, "Laurania was the hub of trade between all the kingdoms..."

"A very good place to hide," Magister Orin interrupted, "and very useful for spies."

"Yes... But it was eventually sacked three hundred years ago by King Aravind of Amaresh."

"So they say," he mused, but before I could ask him what he meant by that he spoke again: "But why did Aravind sack Laurania?"

I hesitated because I remembered that it was considered bad form to ask questions in this class - Magister Orin didn't mind you asking questions outside of class, but you were supposed to have read everything beforehand so that you wouldn't have to ask any questions in class - but then decided that this was an exception because it wasn't like we could pretend we hadn't heard about it before anyway.

"Well, according to the Chronicler's of Amaresh," I said cautiously, "the people of Laurania had become corrupted through their dealings with evil creatures and they had turned against their own king."

* * *

I stared at Magister Orin who seemed lost again in thought and wondered if this story had something to do with our current situation here in Khodaia. But then he looked up at me sharply and asked: "So Aravind attacked them and destroyed them?"

* * *

"No.. That's where the story gets interesting," I said quickly as though wanting to get back to something more familiar than our current situation here in Khodaia: "The people of Laurania sent out messengers across all the kingdoms asking for their help against Aravind's attack."

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