Prologue: James Lovell

    The forest on the other side of the window looked so beautiful and inviting. It was tranquil, even with the sight of dead grass spread throughout the small clearing outside my window. The sun was already setting along the mountains' horizon, shining with a beautiful glow on the warm ground below. It was so peaceful.

    With this type of image hanging over me, I could sit inside and read all day. I had a warm blanket wrapped around myself, along with the latest novel by James Lovell- the guy who lived on the other side of town from where I did- and the brilliantly bright sun shining outside my bedroom window. I felt idyllic like I was floating on a warm, fluffy cloud. The forest's inviting picture only served to strengthen the feeling of tranquil flying.

    When I read books by James Lovell, it felt like the whole world was flipping over like a container full of weightless space, and I was inside, pouring out with all of that weightlessness. These books weren’t about feeling trapped by the mountains and the forest. The stories were about the potential beauty of the world beyond the cage our civilization was living in, and the mysterious things that the outside world might have that we could not even comprehend because our imaginations are still so limited.

    It felt like being weightless at the top of the swings, which was a feeling I did not get to experience often because the old playground in our village was inaccessible due to rising water levels. That's why I treasured the feeling so much.

    “Kid!” Someone shouted from the other room, and my ears twitched at the sound of someone annoying,” It’s time for your thing!”

    “You mean Teaching?” I yelled back at the sound on the other side of my door. The doorknob twisted a little before pausing, and then the door sprang open. Standing in the doorway was the fat slob known as “Bob”, the man of the house ever since the other guardian passed away. He constantly reeked of wet fur, and he was always eating something. Right now, there were messy chunks of what looked like some fried bird all over his face and chins. He licked his grease-covered fingers as he addressed me.

     “Everyone else is already dressed . . .” He looked me up and down,” And you . . . aren’t.” He was right. I was curled up in my chair, wearing only my pajamas and a blanket. Bob, whose job was to take care of all the children in this house, was one of the only people (aside from the last guardian, Chuck) who has ever seen me this way. But who cared? It was Blob the slob, who couldn't care any less about anyone else as long as his ego was involved.

    “How much time do I have until we have to go?” I asked, stretching in my chair. Bob paused, chewed a little on his meat with wide eyes before anxiously glancing back into the hallways, which were missing the usual yelling of over-excited children.

    “Bob,” I repeated, forcing him to snap out of whatever daze he was in.

    “I think you shouldn’t bother today,” he assured me, looking out my window. I followed his gaze and realized that the yard outside was completely empty. Oh.

    Unlike most days, not a single child was playing in the flat fenced area, as they usually did before we had to head into The Caves for Teaching. Instead, Oliver was sulking around, as Oliver normally did while Teaching was proceeding.

    “How late am I?” I asked.

    Bob took a few seconds to respond,” About five ticks?” Teaching took ten ticks. I panicked, but only for a second, because then I realized what this meant.

    “So I don’t have to go?” I asked the slimy boar standing in the doorway, and he nodded. After a few moments of shifting his gaze from side to side quietly, he slipped back out into the hallway and closed the door.

    “What’s with him?” I thought to myself. He was unusually quiet, and the long pause before he left the room was more than a little unnerving. But that meant I had about five ticks to do whatever I wanted. In this case, it meant that I could do what I needed to do.

    The forest was forbidden, as all children and adults are reminded of every single time monsters were spat out into our village, which was almost daily. The monsters were gross and slimy, filled with oozing grease, and their skin was often leathery and stretched over horrifying expressions! But, the beasts were the only source of meat for this village, since no one could ever figure a way out of the mountain range because it was too steep to climb, and no one who made it into the forest ever made it back out.

    That’s why I hated this place, and that’s why I always loved stories of what could be outside the mountain range. What could be waiting on the other side of the forest? The mist above the thick trees always prohibited any view of what might await us on the other side. I didn’t even know whether the forest was uphill or downhill. It was so mysterious.

    Which was why I ventured into the place almost every single day. Of course, I never listened to the half of myself that said: "Be cautious". I wasn't going to ignore such opportunities of clarity or exploration, just because of a small gut feeling telling me that I would die! I wasn't like that.

    It started when I found an old barrel behind the baker's house one day while I was sneaking around, looking for a small passageway into the forest. It led to a large clearing, which was like a window into the forest that I'd never known! There, I found everything I needed to keep my curiosity satisfied.

    A few incomplete but mostly readable journals found in hiding places all over the clearing told me everything I needed to know about the strange place.

    At the moment, I was getting prepared for the journey into the clearing, and my special hideaway, where I could read, learn, and experiment.

    I took a set of bandages with me because it was the forest and injuries were likely. The animals in that specific area were relatively harmless compared to the ones deeper within. I also took my blade, my book, some food and water (stolen from the kitchens), and my most precious journal, where I would write down my on findings of the forest.

    And of course, I dressed up in a leather dress and boots, which was my normal outfit for going outside. I packed all of the smaller things into a satchel and headed out through the front door of the building.

    I was going into the forest now.

    Why did some place so dangerous leave me so satisfied?

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So this is the start to the big project, which is a story about this place. This is only the prologue and I might send the next part soon. The picture on the top will be posted separately soon, and I did it whilst watching a movie.
I having nothing else to say aside from the fact that I can't wait for the next chapter.