Evangeline's Illusive Quest

I was born. I lived the first few years of my life. I went to school. I passed with flying colors. I did some stupid things that made me look bad in my dad’s eyes. And then, when I turned eighteen, I was given a choice: marry a man I had never met or be sent to live on my own, if you can call it living, on the outskirts of the town.

I chose the latter, and now here I am, walking down what is probably the darkest road I have ever been on. There are no street lights, no moon tonight. That’s why it’s so dark.

I don’t know where I am going; all I know is that there are rumors about this place and people who live here, and they say that they can do magic and stuff like that. No one knows where they came from, but they are not supposed to be seen by humans.

At least that’s what one of my teachers told me when he caught me talking about them in class a couple of weeks ago. He said that they belonged to a dangerous realm and that we should stay away from them at all cost. But then again, he also said that magic does not exist, so I suppose he wouldn’t know anything about it anyways.

There was an old woman in the village who called herself a witch, but she never did anything magical enough for me to believe her claims.

Magic doesn’t exist? How could he know something like that? You cannot disprove something simply because you have not seen it with your own eyes!

The wind howls past me as if hoping to convince me otherwise, and for a moment I feel like giving up and turning back around. But then again… What would be the point? If magic doesn’t exist, there is nothing left for me back home anyways! Dad would most likely kill me himself if he found out what happened today. What happened today? Oh right, after saying goodbye to my mother, who didn’t seem happy at all with my choice of living conditions, I told dad that I wasn’t going to marry some idiotic man whose only good qualities were his looks and money but just couldn’t keep his pants up whenever he stepped outside his house. Obviously dad did not take kindly to this comment of mine and started hitting me with his belt until mom stopped him. This led us into another fight between them which ended with mom leaving their house forever… (Again)

And now here I am without either of them… Alone… In the dark… On the outskirts of town… Going towards an unknown realm full of magic… All alone… In the middle of nowhere… Nearby nothingness… The ground beneath my feet seems to disappear into nothingness as well, making it difficult for me to walk straight forward without stumbling onto my knees or tripping over some unseen obstacle in front of me…

Frustrated, I ask myself, "Why did they even give us these heavy flashlights instead of letting us use our phones? At least we could check our phone maps every once in a while! But oh no! They want us to walk through this dangerous forest in complete darkness without being able to see anything ahead of us! What fool would send us off into this abyss without proper equipment?"

My mind continues to race with frustration and exhaustion as I try to navigate through the pitch black forest: "If we disappear out here, nobody is going to look for us. We're just insignificant girls to everyone else. Maybe we should just stop walking before we end up dead somewhere out here."

But amidst the whirlwind of negativity, there's still a glimmer of hope: "Maybe we'll actually make it! Maybe magic really exists! Or am I getting delusional from exhaustion? Why does everything have to start spinning inside my head all of a sudden?! Just keep moving forward! If you pass out here, you'll never wake up again!"

And in that moment of determination and resilience, I make it – I finally arrive at what seems like the magical realm! So many questions answered just by staying awake long enough! Exhausted but exhilarated, I wonder about this place: Where is everyone? Are there people living here? Why is everything glowing orange-red? Curiosity takes over as I decide to examine the strange carvings surrounding the area and try to find anyone who might live here in order to discover if magic really does exist in this world after all.