The Forgotten Land: The Return of the Giants

The Sorcerer and the Boy

There was once a time when life was still sublime that this lifeless village was a proud city that hosted tradings, festivities and feats. Now it is a town so unknown that it did not have a name to speak of. In that town lived a young sorcerer who was smart, cunning, powerful and yet… laziness flowed on his body as if it was his blood. 

And his parents were very upset with this fact. 

They tasked him to make this unnamed town great again. But a year has passed, nothing happened. They even gave him the task of safekeeping a dragon. A dragon which symbolizes the truce — rather, disappearance of their past ally. The giants. However, the young sorcerer wasn’t impressed by this. 

Yes, he guarded the dragon, feed it. Cleaned its wings and made sure that the chains around its neck would not rust… 

But it all did not inspire him. 

It could be said that his laziness was partially his parent’s fault, for they spoiled him and showed him the book of wonders at the age of five! After he learned everything he needed, and realized he was smarter and stronger than anyone else, he decided to spend his time dreaming rather than working. 

In the end his parents, the great sorcerer and sorceress of the West had left him with dismayed hearts, practically disowning him out of headache and heartache. 

Despite his lack of work ethic, he did own a small hut, and every day he would leave his modest home to go to the forest, where he would work as much or as little as he liked.

The forest outside of the village was very beautiful. It had trees that were broad and healthy, with life that scurried across their branches. The animals were also beautiful there, each creature more graceful than the last. It was his job to maintain the forest after all. 

For he never liked humans. He prefers a cat over a hot naked woman with D cups for breasts. 

"I wonder why the great creator created humans to begin with? They are such bores and brutes…” The young man said to himself as he traveled to the cave where the dragon was hidden from the eyes of men. “...not only are they worthless but they destroy everything they touch!” 

The sorcerer went on, not noticing that the forest was covered with mist. It’s not usually rainy in this part of the forest. It’s usually sunny, bright and pleasant for he made it that way. He placed a spell on the forest, making sure that the animals had shade, that thunder and lightning would never ruin the forest — mainly because forest fires can happen. 

But there was one loophole in the sorcerer’s spell. 

A boy had escaped from his burning home to this deep end of the forest where the Sorcerer dwells. 

A lightning strike, and it shocked the young sorcerer, making him jolt. But he paid no mind to it and threaded on. He paused to stop under a large tree and began to cast a spell. 

“Head made of metal, body made from a tree — hack away at trunk I hereby decree!” He enunciated the spell and a chainsaw appeared and began to cut the tree. The tree proved to be thicker than he imagined, and frowned before lifting his hands in the air and declaring, “Ah — why does that stupid dragon have to be vegetarian?! Why not a carnivore — so I can watch it devour humans for a change?!”

The man in his rage disdainfully threw his hat into the air, but to his surprise it did not come down. Rather, it hovered for a moment in the air before floating away deeper into the forest. “What the —” His eyes widened as he watched his hat disappear. “---what the hell is going on?” 

Never once did that happen to him. He may be lazy but he wasn’t stupid, so he followed his hat out of whim. He followed it hopelessly into the woods, deeper and deeper the sorcerer went, his face getting scratched and bruised from the thorns and branches he ran into. All the while, the mist became thicker.

“How odd.” He hissed. And yet when his core tried to sense magic, it simply wasn’t it. His heart was beating fast until he arrived at the cave where the dragon was sound sleeping, dreaming… and was just simply having a snooze.

Finally, the young sorcerer was able to relax. He looked around and searched for the stool he usually sits on to watch the dragon eat fresh leaves. He rubbed his eyes, for he suddenly felt sleepy from all that chasing and running. 

The dragon’s chains are still around his neck… that’s a good thing.” He said to no one as he tried to fight off his sleep. “But where is my hat?” He asked himself, still wondering why this is suddenly happening to his territory. 

“This is such a weird, weird day --- and that was my favorite hat!” He exasperatedly sighs after the dragon finished his meal. "Stupid wind!" 

He turned on his heel and decided he'll use a locator spell to find his favorite hat once he comes home. But the moment he returned to his humble home, he forgot about his hat and instead  instantly went to sleep, not noticing that there was a boy hiding on the books that he keeps. 

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Questioning everything he believed in, the moment little Kane woke up he gasped at what he saw. ‘What’s happening?!’ He thought to himself. 

The fire created by the lightning that came from his body avoided him. It formed a circle around him, as if the fire was protecting him. 

The little boy jumped off from the ash filled ground and onto his feet, not minding his throbbing and aching head. Little Kane looked around and tried to check everyone — anyone. 

He even remembered the bad men that came to his house, terrorized him, but he was alone. 

“Auntie Cindy!” He screamed. 

No answer. 

“Mommy — where are you?!” He cried. “Anyone?!” 

Not wanting to encounter the bad men again, little Kane ran as fast as he could out of his house, out of the building. When he got out of the building, he paused for a moment — watching as his neighbors ran out of the burning building, carrying what they could. Salvaging what they could save. 

Even his friends, his neighbor named Hanz, was crying. 

The firefighters were still trying to extinguish the fire that crawled to the other homes, but the fire only grew. The windows exploded and everyone outside of the building screamed. The immense heat caused by the fire caused an explosion. 

Kane gasped. “It’s my fault.” His small voice shuddered and tears flowed down his cheeks. The only thing he could think of was to run. Run away as far as he could. He ran towards the streets, avoiding the cars and the street vendors and the jaywalkers. He avoided the concerned looks of the old women and mothers.

The only thing that’s circling on his mind was to run. Disappear — to cease the pain and regret in his heart. He wished for it — begged for it and only stopped when he felt a cold, cold breeze touch his face. 

“AH —”

The little boy braced himself when he tripped into something and felt as if someone was pulling him down. Way down — deep down. He was falling as if he was being dragged down into an endless pit — until his body crashed down on the ground with a thud. 

“ —OOF!” 

Kane let out a cough, as he pushed himself off the ground. He came off the ground with small dried grass sticking to his shirt with small animal prints on it. And as he pats off the dried grass, he tries to check if he was hurt.  

“No broken bones.” Was his monotone monologue. Kane begins to look around wondering where he was. Instead his eyes widened with what he saw. A rich and luscious forest welcomed him — with the ground covered with thick grass that was trimmed to perfection. It’s as if someone took care of the forest and yet was able to maintain the wildness of it. 

The boy was bewildered and shocked, his mouth hanging open as he watched the butterflies fly out of the wild grass and fruit bearing trees. He noticed that the rocks seemed to glow like gemstones, and the trees that grew in the forest seemed bigger than the trees he usually sees in the park whenever he and his mom goes for a walk. 

The air was full of small, glowing insects that seemed to vanish when you looked at them directly. But what shocked him the most was when a soft voice spoke in his head. 

‘There’s a house at the deep end of the forest, where a young man loves to rest.’

“Huh?” His eyes widened, then he shook his head. “Who — who are you?” 

‘I am not a friend or a foe. But I am something that watched you grow.’ The voice answered. ‘Heed my words and listen well, little one. For you don’t want to stay in the forest and stay until the setting of the sun. There’s a house at the deep end of the forest, where a young man loves to rest. Stay there and stay silent. For if he realized your secret, he would become violent.’