About the Author

Elena Lohsen is a fun loving pianist who loves to write made-up stories that are either funny or dramatic. She is home schooled and loves to call herself either Larry or Bob.

A tiny voice asked, “Is this the one?”  Two small lights were glistening in a clever man’s room.

“I’m sure of it. He’s the one who will defeat Madith, the wizard.”  Suddenly a loud boom of thunder sent the glistening lights away into the dark and cold december night.

The next morning, Wayne was thinking, that was a strange dream, the way I was in a land where magical creatures thrived.

Wayne’s days always felt repetitive. everyday he would make a cup of coffee and stare at a picture on his desk; the picture was of a woman that had gone missing.  This woman was his ex-girlfriend.  She had gone missing right after a big fight.

About 11:00pm, he heard small high voices – as if a mouse was talking. he couldn’t make out what the things were saying.  He grabbed his torch and quickly turned over and shined the light right into two small flying green faces. He stared at the things with a face so white you might think it was marble.

“Hello,” said one of the things. “We are pixies, guards of the forest.”

“No, I’m just dreaming. That’s all,”  and with a nervous heart, he went back to sleep.

Midnight struck with a boom of thunder.  Wayne jerked up and saw that outside was the largest storm he’d ever seen.  Suddenly a giant  crack of lightning flew through his window and struck him in the heart.  Most people would die from that, but this my friends is only the beginning of a epic journey.

Wayne woke up with a headache worse than the world ending.  Looking around, Wayne saw that he was in a forest, his shoes were gone, and his torch was lying next to him.

“Wait? Where am I?”

“What, you don’t know?” said a high girlish voice.

“Who’s there?”

“Don’t you know where you are?” said the girly voice again.

“No. Where am I?”

“Why your in the land of Lenova.”

“Were?” asked Wayne.

“Lenova.  It’s where all things are possible.”

“Where are you?” Wain shouted, starting to get annoyed.

“Here.”

Just then a lady with chocolate brown hair dropped down. Scared half to death, Wayne fell back and said, “Who… who are you?”

“I dont really know yet.  I’m still searching.”

“Searching for what?” Wayne asked.

“My other half.  When I was two years, old Madith stole half of my identity.”

“No one can steal half of someone identity.  It’s impossible.”

“In lanova anything is possible. Oh, by the way, my name is Lily.”  Starting to leave, she called back

“Well, hurry up then.”

“So, you’re the man who’s supposed to defeat Madith?” Lily asked.

“What?…  Who’s Madith?”

“You don’t know who Madith is?… Never mind.”

Lily and Wayne walked for three miles until they were in a plain.

“What are we doing here?”

“Well, you see, a month ago a vision appeared to me, and said that a man would come, and I would help him to defeat Madith.  Since then, I’ve found many men, but all were big fakes. They all gave up.”

“So, Where are we going?”

“We are going to see Empathy.”

“What’s empathy?” asked Wayne.

“Not what, who. Empathy is a wise fairy who will help us”

By then they were in a dense swamp. “Well, we’re here.” Lily said, trying to sound happy.  In front of them was a large lake. “Here. Give me your hand.” With those words, she took a knife and cut his hand. One drop of dark red blood fell into the lake. At once, a terrible shrieking came out of the swamp behind them. They turned around, scared, and beheld Euryale.

“Oh no! Euryale’s scream can kill!  Quickly, put this in your ears.” Lily threw a tiny tube of water at Wayne.

”What do I do with this?”

“Pour it in your ears.”

“What?”

“Just do it!” Wayne poured it in his ears.  It felt cold; it made things hard to hear.  The only thing he did hear was the terrible, muffled, shrieking sound of Euryale.  Scared, he looked back and saw Euryale hurtling towards them.  Before they knew what they were doing, it grabbed Lily and threw her in the water.  Wayne watched terrified. Becoming only more terrified as Euryale came ever closer to where Wayne stood. He began to run.

“No!” shouted Lily frantically.  “That will only make it mad.”

It ran after Wayne and, with a loud shriek, it stopped running and turn towards Lily.  She was dragging herself soaking out of the water.  A cut on her forehead sent blood down the side of her face.  Euryale ran to her, picked her up on its shoulders and vanished.

“No.” breathed Wayne in a desperate voice. He knew that now he was all alone.

The green dirty river became suddenly gleaming blue.  A flash of lightning and a woman in a green gown was standing on the water.  She started to walk towards them. “Am I too late?”

“If you mean missing a giant monster attack us, then yes. Who are you?”

“I am Empathy, the queen of Lenova. Where is Lily?”

“The monster took her. So, how do we get her back?”

“Its name is Euryale.  You will have to go to its lair. Here, take this.” Empathy handed Wayne a small silver wrist watch. It wasn’t like other wrist watches.  It didn’t have hands.  Instead it had dots floating in a gel.

“What is it?” asked Wayne.

“It’s a internuncio.”

“What’s that?”

“A transporter.  It will take you ten feet forward.

Let me tell you about Madith.  A long time ago, Madith worked for the King.  Tired of being pushed around, he declared that he would some day push the King around and make him bow down to Madith.”

“Wow, he sounds horrible.” squeaked Wayne.

“Well,” Empathy continued, “after that, he vanished.  A couple years later, a man found him in the caves of Onna.  You will go in the caves and destroy him, without destroying the world.  I will put you in the caves of Kimp. That should be where Lily is.”

Empathy started to fade into the wind.  “My time is up.” Fading, she threw Wayne a piece of gold paper.  On it were just two words:

 Your choice.

“My choice,” he said to himself.  He was still looking at the paper Wayne looked up. He was in a cave the size of a  small room. The cave had no exit. He went frantically around, but found nothing – just a grey wall.  He touched every knook and cranny.

Giving up, he leaned against a wall and released a small pebble that fell onto the floor.  As this happened, the wall he was leaning on lifted up. Falling in, Wayne landed on a soft thing.  This thing was squishy, but warm.  “Wait a minute. This thing is moving,” Wayne whispered to himself.  The shrieking he had heard before came loudly again. The thing got up, making Wayne fall hard on the stone ground. He looked up, but didn’t see Euryale.

He stood carefully and started to walk the long tunnel before him. He passed many disgusting things, like a arm rotting on the floor and piles of bones everywhere. In front of him was a hole no bigger than a large dog.  Trying, but failing to squeeze in, his wrist watch loosened and fell to the floor. Picking it up, he remembered what it was.  Turning it over and over, Wayne found a button. He pushed it and red sparks came out. Then, it started to glow a purple, blue color. The world around him started to go black. He felt light headed, like he was the in the underworld – Hades touching his cold dark hands to Wayne’s head – then, he found himself in a brightly lit room.

As he examined the room, Wayne felt as if he were being closely watched. Turning a corner, he saw Lily in an iron cage dangling from a rope over a boiling pit of melted copper. “Lily!” shouted Wayne. Lily looked as if all her hope had been taken ferociously out of her body.

Wayne ran to the edge of the pit. He reached his arm out as far as he could, but it only went half the distance. A fierce shrieking made Wayne almost fall in. He turn around and beheld Euryale, mad at him for trying to take its treasure. “You are trying to take my only treasure, You will pay for that!”  

It charged at Wayne. He ducked and rolled out of the way. Running, he took off his watch and held it in his hand. “You will pay!” Wayne made a sharp turn and ran straight towards Lily in her iron cage.

“Catch!” He threw Lily his watch, and then made another sharp turn.

“How do I use this?”

“Push the button!”

“You will pay!” Euryale stopped running after Wayne, turned and started running fast towards Lily’s cage. It jumped over the pit on to the cage.  “You will pay!” Reaching in the cage, Euryale seized Lily’s ring and leaped off. The weight of Euryale had made the rope brake, one strand at a time, until it fell into the boiling copper, only to come up broken with nothing in it.

“No,” whispered Wayne.

“You have paid the price.” Laughing a devious laugh, Euryale picked up, out off the copper, the cage, then, threw it at Wayne. It got Wayne in the leg. Euryale walked to its next victim slowly. Wayne’s leg was badly cut, so he could only crawl to the edge of the pit and pray… Euryale shrieked, then looked at Wayne, ready to strike. Wayne, thinking this was it, closed his eyes and waited for the final blow.  He heard a shriek, then nothing. Wayne opened his eyes only to see Euryale dead by his feet, and Lily with a dagger in her hands.

“Thanks.” said Wayne, examining the beast.

“Here is you wrist watch,” Lily handed his small watch back to him.

“I thought you were dead. What happened?”

“I pressed the button right before Euryale cut the rope, then landed behind Euryale, and I saw it throw the cage at you. I then took my dagger out of my shoe and snuck up behind it, and, well, you know the rest.

We should get out of here before some more monsters come.”

Lily helped Wayne limp out of the caves and into the sun. They walked back to where Euryale had first attacked them. Lily then put Wayne’s leg into the water.  It stung for a minute, then felt there wasn’t ever a cut. When he lifted his leg, he saw that his leg was completely healed. Empathy appeared on the water with a happy expression. “You have succeeded in you first challenge, but there are going to be more. Come where you are safe.”

In the middle of the lake the water dipped down to the bottom showing a long tunnel. Lily started to walk on the water as if it were ground. She shouted back, “Are you coming or not?”  Wayne looked as if  he was watching a ghost go through a wall.  Petrified, he got up and slowly walked to the edge of the water. He put one foot on the water. It felt cold and slippery like ice, but beneath him he could see fish swimming.  Wayne slipped into the ice cold water. “Are you alright?” Empathy asked trying not to smile.

“Yeah,” he replied.  As soon as Empathy touched Wayne, he felt new strength. Standing, he walked, like he was born on the water, to the entrance of the tunnel, then slid to the dirt. The tunnel got darker as they went along. Wayne saw in the dim light that in front of them was a small door with a dagger in the middle.

“You two will enter this door. Inside there will be challenges that you will have to face.”

“What are the challenges?”

“I don’t know.”

Looking over to Lily and seeing her frightened face made Wayne stand up straight and go slowly to the door.  He stretched out his hand, but before he touched the door it swung open and with a bang, it hit a wall.  A gust of cold air flew on Wayne’s face.  It made him feel as if he were dead – being placed down into the grave, never to see the light again.

“This is where I must leave you. Goodbye and best of luck.” Empathy vanished with a flash of light.  Wayne stepped into the dark room and, walking slowly, hit something.  He jumped back and relaxed, for it was only a wall. Wayne remembered his torch, so, with quick hands, pulled it out of his pocket and shone it on a wall with tons of vines hanging down. He walked until the path split.

“Which way do we go?” asked Lily.

“Um, that way.” He pointed to the left.

“Are you sure?”

“No.”

They went to the left and found another split. This time, they went to the right. A faded green ball of light shone bright in Wayne’s face. “Agh, that’s bright.”

“What’s bright?”

“Can’t you see it?”

“See what?”

“The ball of light.”

“What ball of light?”

The ball started to move forwards. “Come on this way.” They followed the light to two great doors made purely of bones and gold.

“Well, we’re here, about to face Madith,” said Lily.

“What do you think he is like?”

“I don’t know – nasty probably.”

Lily stepped forwards and lightly touched the door made of skeletons and gold. It felt cold on lily’s soft, peach skin. She rubbed the door down the middle, then slowly pushed it open. Darkness seemed to swallow them; death seemed to hold them. It felt as if Madith were pulling them closer, closer, Wayne shone a light on a wall dripping black ooze: a black cat cocooned in a spider web dead with the spider sucking its blood, and a skeleton in bits of broken pieces along the floor. As they were walking, their torch suddenly burnt out leaving them in total darkness. Every once in a while, they would fall over either rocks, piles of dirt, or bones. Minutes passed by, but for them it felt like hours. Being forced to crawl over large rocks made their knees battered and bruised.

“I know why you are here. You can not defeat me.”

Lily, so surprised, fell to the ground dragging Wayne with her.  “Are you Madith?” asked Wayne.

“Yes, I’m the one who will have your lives in my hands in a few seconds.”

“What makes you so sure about that?” Lily said in a courteous tone.

“What makes me so sure is that I have something that one of you want badly, or did want badly.” After Madith said that, the floor started to open. It cracked straight between Wayne and Lily, then opened up, showing deep-down, molten lava bubbling. The crack spread wider apart every second, until it seemed as if it was a cauldron full of poison.

“Wayne, look out!” Lily shouted just as Madith appeared right behind him. Wayne turn to see none other than a woman in a black cloak with ivory hair and a hat just like a witches hat.

“I thought you said Madith was a man.”

“I thought she was.”

“Yes, everyone thought I was a man, because I wanted everyone to think I was a man. But now I will defeat you as easily as if I was a man!” With those words, she held out a hand and a ball of light hit Wayne in the chest. He fell to the ground, feeling as if he had been struck by a knife.

“I will talk, and you will listen. I have somthing you might want to have back. Of course, I’m not giving it back, but you might want to know that she is safe.”

“She?”

“Yes, she.” The wall in front of them opened up. Wayne’s eyes bulged out, and Lily’s heart pounded with fear.  In the middle was a woman on her knees, chained by her wrist to a large column. Her hair was in long tangled knots.  When she looked up, her face was stained was blood.

“Heather!” Wayne got up to run to the lady in chains, but only got shot back down by another ball of light. Heather lifted her stained face and immediately got up and ran as far as she could without hurting her arms.

“Let’s make a deal. I will let you have that thing,” Madith said, pointing to Heather, “if you let me have the girl.”

It struck Wayne then and there that he would have to choose either Lily or Heather. Waynes heart pounded, his head was in a whirl, which one, which one.

“I choose… Lily!” He said this, then caught a dagger thrown to him by Lily.  He ran at Madith and swung, but she caught his arm.

“Well?” asked Madith

“You must try harder than that! You have to have the element of surprise.” Madith disappeared only to appear again next to Heather.

“Like this!” Madith plunged a dagger into Heathers heart, leaving her breathless, hanging on chains.

Wayne stood with and threw his dagger at Madith with all his might, hitting her right in the heart. She screamed, but the scream slowly turned into a devilish laugh. She took the dagger out of her chest, and threw it to the ground.

She looked at Lily and said, “When you were little I took this from you.” Madith took out of her cloak a silver key.

“My other half, thats mine.”

Lily ran at Madith pushing her to the ground, sending the key spiraling to the edge of the crack. Lily got up and ran to the edge, grabbed the key and plunged it into her heart.

“No!” Madith lifted her arm up with murder in her eyes…

Lily grabbed around Madith’s waist and shouted, “for Lenova!” Lily shouted. Jumping off Lily and Madith plummeted down to their deaths. Leaving Wayne alone.

The End