With her mighty wings, Holvell had been able to soar the skies ever since she was a young girl. Her heart was pure and kind and she would fly around to help those who needed it the most in this sad little world, hoping that by lifting the crushing weight on their souls she could light a spark of hope in their hearts as well, so the world wouldn't feel so cold and miserable anymore, and that there still existed things to cherish. She brought warmth and grace and taught other people how to seek their own wings so they could fly to freedom as well. She was a light and the helping hand reaching down for you when you saw nothing but your pit of darkness. Many considered her as an angel who would come and help you when you needed it the most. She never expected anything in return, she just wanted to make the world a bit better with her deeds, and maybe those she aided would pay it forward.
But deep are the roots of evil in this world, impossible to eradicate. And when they see a radiant light, they want to extinguish it completely, smother it, making it disappear. They watched Holvell's flight with hungry eyes like a pack of starving beasts, their strongest desire to see her fall. But they were in no hurry, they waited, observed, stayed in the background, crawling a little bit forward every day until they would reach her all the way. And Holvell was blind to it all, her eyes were set on forward so she couldn't see the palm of darkness that was behind her, wanting to grasp her, until finally, it managed to do so.
Holvell had soared the bright skies, dancing with the clouds, being blissfully unaware of the looming danger. Her heart was so full of hopes and dreams, it was like nothing would make it shatter. She flew with her radiant wings so high in the sky when she got tangled with darkness. From the depths, ropes of blackness shot upwards and captured her. Holvell tried her best to struggle, but too powerful was the force of darkness that was pulling her down from heaven. She didn't go down without a fight, but in the end, she was too exhausted, her power drained and she couldn't fly anymore. From the beautiful sky she was then dropped on the ground, succumbing to the realm of shadows. She was dragged down to a dark forest, so dismal that she wasn't able to see her beloved sky anymore. The darkness took away her wings, condemning her to stay in the forest.
She fell on her knees on the barren ground and cried the tears of a helpless one. Holvell was alone and abandoned, seeing no escape. The vile shadows around her gathered and mocked her, laughed at her misery, pointing at her with their black claws. It only deepened her anguish and she cried some more, and her tears left tiny flowers on the dry ground, but they withered just as fast as they had bloomed. In the end Holvell had no more tears to shed and she would look up at the branches of the trees, desperately trying to see a piece of the sky. But there was only darkness. She just had to admit it now, she was in the world of shades where even your own shadow wasn't your friend. Feeling so weak, so powerless, she just stayed there kneeling, not knowing what to do. Even the mocking shadows faded eventually, leaving her totally alone.
And sneakily the darkness tiptoed into her heart, like black veins on the ground the darkness climbed on her body and targeted her chest. The black veins invaded the center of her being and they rooted inside her, tainting her heart that was now filled with blackness. Holvell's once so radiant heart was now nothing but a dark chunk that was unable to feel hope, joy, love or determination. It was like she had completely forgot how to feel positive emotions or how to find them, even though she had aided so many others with that during her life. But maybe that was the key, that somebody else had to come with the helping hand. But who could possibly wander into this dismal land to help her and guide her back to the path of light?
In this realm of shadows Holvell was unable to tell the passage of time – or maybe time had completely frozen in place in this land. She stayed at the same spot for a long time, lamenting her crestfallen fate. She had neither desire or strength to stand up and seek a way out, her mind was clouded by disheartened thoughts and nothing else. She simply couldn't take the first step to break out of the darkness, she didn't know how to do it. Shadows were enchanting her miserable thoughts out loud, tormenting her even more. Black vines with sharp thorns on them began to slither around her, eventually embracing her, but she did nothing. They formed a prison around her, but she just sat there, her head hanging low, feeling utterly helpless.
Maybe time kept marching on, maybe it didn't, since Holvell had entirely lost her sense of time and shades of madness continued to come and go around her. There wasn't a clear pattern and things just happened around her that would surely make the darkness stay within her. Sometimes it was the mocking shadows that loved to utter the exact words that would make her feel miserable, sometimes a freezing wind would blow through the area and cast coldness so frigid that Holvell would feel it in her bones. Sometimes there were other critters around that would stare at her from their hideouts which they had made in the bushes. Their constant gaze made Holvell uncomfortable, especially when their eyes were glowing red; it was like she would look at the realm of insanity itself. She learned to avoid their stare when the eyes were red, but she still couldn't shed the unnerving feeling.
Although she had stayed in the same place ever since she had landed in the forest, at some point she finally lifted her head and decided that she should get moving. The vines with thorns had withered away a while ago – perhaps even they didn't have strength to thrive in a place like this – and were now so weak that when Holvell touched them, they turned to dust. She looked around her with dull eyes before she raised her body from the dry ground and slowly stood up for the first time. Holvell let her gaze wander through the surrounding area, from the black leaves of the trees to the bushes where white spots could be seen – they were little eyes aimed at her. She was so clueless, not knowing where to go from here. But in the end she had to choose a direction, although haphazardly. She took her first steps in the forest and began her journey, even though she felt numb and had no hope that she would find anything that would help her to escape – now she just wanted to have something to do.
Holvell was like that little girl from fairy tales who had gone lost in the forest, unable to find her way back. And like a lost soul, she wandered into the darkest depths of the woods, finding nothing but more darkness. Aimlessly she kept going forward and it didn't take long before her journey around the forest started to feel rather monotonous. Shadows slithering around her, dark flowers blooming and withering, birds singing with sinister notes and a cruel wind whispering discouraging words into her ears. Even though she acknowledged that there were these beings around her, she felt lonelier than ever before. Her walk through the endless forest felt pointless, but she was afraid that if she stopped now, her body would get rooted on the ground and she would become one of the trees and be condemned to stay here forever, watching over all the wretched souls that would end up in here.
But she wasn't aware that she had already taken the crucial first steps that are needed in order to break free from the darkness – and those are the hardest ones to make.
Her mind was still clouded by all the bad things this place wanted her to remember. She had carried a black heart for a while now and thus, she had been incapable of bringing hope or will to carry on to her soul. At this point, she had almost forgotten what a light looked like, but then she was unexpectedly reminded of that. Holvell had been doing the only thing she could, wandering without a purpose or destination, when something had piqued her interest. She saw something that was very different from anything else she had seen in the forest and that's why she was able to feel mild curiosity even in her state of despair.
Somewhere in the distance, there was light. A pure, silvery light that was shining even through all the plants. It was strong, not hindered at all by the hostile darkness around it. Although it was far away, Holvell could already tell it was comforting somehow. She wanted to get closer, even though part of her mind was telling her that it was a trap. But at that moment, she didn't care. She had no clue if it was a good or bad idea to go towards the light, but she just had to find out. Through all the black vegetation she kept pushing forward, even though the plants seemed to get in her way, almost like they wanted to prevent her from reaching the light. But with new found energy, which surprised even her, she was able to get close to that magical light.
Before Holvell managed to get to the mysterious light, she could hear a faint noise that sounded like a subtle chime of bells. It soothed her soul and for the first time in a long time, she could feel peaceful emotions. Another sound made its way into her ears as well, it was a clattering of hooves – and it seemed like it was getting closer. And before she even realized, a magnificent creature had appeared before her, shining in the darkness like a guiding star, and Holvell was frozen in place by the stunning beauty of this entity that was now standing in front of her.
It was a unicorn, radiant like the moon itself, bringing light into perpetual darkness that dominated the forest. It was such a majestic sight, its mane flowing in the faint breeze like waves of a calm sea. The spiral horn that crowned its head looked like something that would pierce the darkness and exorcize the shadows that wanted to take hold of the hearts of those who had got lost in the forest. The unicorn's eyes were like a pair of sapphires and Holvell could see both intelligence and kindness in them. This majestic creature was staring at her with tenderness in its eyes as if wanting to tell her something important. Holvell raised her hand very carefully and slowly she reached for the unicorn. But she was hesitating, she was afraid that when she would touch the creature, it would shatter into thousands of stars, leaving her again alone in the darkness. She kept her hand raised for a good while, too fearful to make contact. The unicorn just looked at her gently; it was in no hurry, it would stay there as long as was needed.
And finally, Holvell managed to gather the courage and let her hand touch the unicorn. It didn't vanish, it didn't break. Its form was solid, it was still standing there with her. Holvell was fascinated by the softness of the unicorn's fur, it was so smooth, like the finest silk. She let her hand run around the majestic being's body, doing that brought comfort into her tormented soul. The unicorn was a reminder to her that a world without darkness existed out there and she could make it there if she so desired. This was the sign that a path to the light was awaiting. A newly found determination coursed through her body and Holvell climbed on the unicorn's back because she knew that it would help her to find the light. Once she was ready to get going, the unicorn started to gallop, dashing through the forest like a shooting star, its radiance cutting the darkness.
But the forest got angry because of this, it wanted to keep Holvell in its dark clutches. It didn't take long before the woods began its attempt to take back Holvell's soul which it had claimed as its property. From the corner of her eye, Holvell could see how shadows were shifting around them like waves of a black ocean. She had a firm grasp of the unicorn's mane as it kept galloping forward, but her grip became even tighter as soon as she noticed the shades moving in an unnerving way. Her heart went racing, she was afraid of her surroundings, her hope was on the unicorn, in her mind she was begging it to go faster – and strangely, it was like it had heard her thoughts and it hastened its pace. Holvell wished that it would be enough.
Suddenly a terrifying sound made its way into her ears as something huge began to rumble like thunder behind them. Holvell turned her head just to take a quick glance behind and she could see a mass of something utterly black, filled with white eyes, trundling among the trees, chasing her and the unicorn. Its harrowing cries pleaded her to stop and come back, the mass sounded so miserable that it almost did fool Holvell. But she turned her head and looked forward again, trying to ignore the whimpers of the huge entity behind them. She focused only on grasping the unicorn's mane, for now a new fear had arisen: what would happen if she would fall from the unicorn's back? Would the black mass devour her completely and she would be lost forever, becoming one with the mass? Such a grim fate, she didn't want to suffer that, so she continued to hang on the mane, her entire trust was on the unicorn, her fate depended on it.
The horrible wailing just increased in volume, filling Holvell's heart with a fear so intense that she hadn't experienced anything like that ever before. The mass was getting closer, Holvell could see black tentacle-like appendages swinging around, trying to reach for her. She closed her eyes, she didn't want to see them, and she kept holding on the unicorn's mane with a tight grip. The unicorn snorted and somehow this sound calmed down Holvell's nerves, it was like the creature was saying that they could make it, that everything will be alright. And she wanted to believe it, but she couldn't ignore the cries torturing her ears. They were haunting her, sounding increasingly more desperate as Holvell and the unicorn were rushing through the forest. For a moment Holvell thought that they would get caught, and be trapped in the woods forever…
But the unicorn never showed signs of getting discouraged. With might and grace it galloped through the darkest paths and no matter how strongly the forest wanted it to stop, it couldn't contain the creature's strength. Shadowy hands would rise from the ground in order to prevent the unicorn from going any further, but its light destroyed them by the moment they touched the majestic being, torn apart like paper. One more horrible shriek could be heard from behind, resonating through the forest and it struck fear into Holvell's heart.
And then everything calmed down. The heated moment was over.
The unicorn slowed down its pace a little bit. Holvell was still grasping its mane like her life depended on it, but she had a feeling that the worst part was over; she could finally breathe. Suddenly, the forest had gone silent, not in an eerie way, but more like a pause that was needed before the transition. Carefully Holvell looked behind her, but saw nothing; the black mass was gone. There was nothing but a calm forest around her. And now that she paid attention to it, her surroundings seemed less dismal now. Could it be that she was really getting out of here? A little bit perplexed, she turned her head to look forward again. The unicorn continued to gallop and little by little, the forest began to shift from dusk to dawn. Soon Holvell could hear birds singing their songs, but in a beautiful tone this time; it was something she hadn't heard for a long time and she was so moved by this that tears of joy started to form in her eyes.
She had made it. She really had escaped from the dark forest. And it was all thanks to the unicorn.
When Holvell saw the first rays of golden sunshine peeking through the branches of the trees, it felt like her heart would burst from the happiness she experienced at that moment. The unicorn had carried her to safety, saved her from the deepest darkness. How could she ever repay such a kind deed?
The gallop started to eventually slow down until the unicorn finally stopped. They were at the border of a forest now, Holvell could see a meadow basking in the sun spreading out in front of her. She couldn't wait to get to it and just run among the grass and flowers. She descended from the unicorn's back and gave it the tightest, most sincere hug she could muster. Without it, she would still live the worst period of her life, she would still be held captive by the darkness. When she released the creature from her hug, she took a few steps back, looking unicorn at its sapphire eyes and whispered her faint thanks.
The unicorn swung its head a little and slowly it turned around, heading back into the forest. Holvell knew that it would seek another lost soul that wandered in the darkness, heart filled with despair, and it would bring them back to light. She watched how the radiant form of the unicorn receded until it disappeared from sight completely and even then, she continued to stare after it for a while. But finally she turned around, heading to the sunshine that she had yearned more than she even realized.
Holvell would grow new wings and then she would soar the skies once more. She was back to light, back to life full of possibilities, and she would aid people once again, help them through their darkest times, just like how the unicorn had helped her.
