The Forest's Door

A little boy was in the forest. He loved the forest, and he had been coming there all his life. He had in fact come there so often, he could feel what the Forest was feeling. One day, on the day our story today focuses on, The Forest felt different. It felt like his Forest, of course, but it felt like a different version. It felt less benevolent. At this point, the little boy was starting to feel scared. That was nothing compared to when he found the Door. The Door stood alone, upright among the trees. As was the nature of the child, he felt curious. He opened the door, and passed through to the other side. It was his Forest, but darker, colder, and the Hum at this point was just barely audible. So he walked. He walked for days, he walked for months, and months turned into years. He was an old man when he stumbled upon the sign. It was in a tongue he knew he once understood, but couldn’t quite put his finger on it. He followed where the sign pointed him, and for the first time, the Hum was getting louder. He walked along the hard, wide, stone path that the sign was next to, and eventually he came across the City, that was where the Hum was coming from. He walked into the heart of the city, determined to discover where the Hum was coming from. He followed the noise until he found it. The Hum was coming from the door. It was the same door he came through ages ago, just on the edge of his memory. He went through it, and returned to the Forest. The same forest this time, A benevolent Forest, and the little boy returned to playing, as a young child should.