As a hunting party for Maleficent goes out, Alesana's father disappears. In an attempt to find him, she leaves her safe haven and finds a passage to the Moren, a place which turns out to be less evil than people always told her. Despite all the beau...
Smiling, a mother fed her one year old daughter. Zigzagging, her hand moved through the air while she imitated a duck. The child clapped her hands, opening her mouth to welcome the spoon.
Neither of them took note of the two eyes staring through the frosted glass of the window. The suspicious face was barely visible in the darkness, only the light of the flickering candles on the table gave its presence away.
The man stood there almost every night, hoping to see a sign that confirmed his suspicions. His attention was solely aimed at the events taking place between the four walls, so that he noticed the footsteps behind him too late. The moment he saw a reflection in the glass and wanted to turn around, something hard hit his forehead. He collapsed immediately and never saw the moon again.
That night, everything changed in the life of the little Alesana. Never again would she be fed by her mother, nor would there be suspicious eyes staring through the window.
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PRESENT DAY
Feeling tired, Alesana got up as she heard something tap against the window. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she looked around. Her glance was met by an orange glimmer flickering behind the glass.
Alarmed, she walked over to the window, afraid that something was on fire. She however flinched as the color of the glass changed. Porcelain tinkled as her behind bumped into a small table.
A shadow detached itself from the window. Alesana was frozen in fear; she could do nothing but stare. Was this her final hour?
The orange glow blazed and the shadow became smaller and more recognizable, until it was a bird she was seeing. It tilted its head, saying to her in a scratchy voice: "Follow me, Alesana, Guardian of the Inner Wood."
Alesana was so stunned by the fact that the bird was speaking to her that at first, she didn't even notice the colorful soap bubbles which suddenly floated through the air. The bubbles grew larger and larger, their color pattern brighter and alternating each moment. Yet, there was no source of light bringing forth the play of colors.
In the end, there were only bubbles. They lifted the stunned girl and took her outside. The raven spread its wings and circled around the bubbles. Some of them bumped into his beak, but not a single one snapped.
The partly wooden and partly stone houses became smaller and smaller until even the Royal Palace had the dimensions of a mushroom. Despite the great height, Alesana wasn't afraid to fall. She had left her fear in her room; she was calm and enjoyed the wind through her hair and the beautiful colors which were so bright that they couldn't have been drawn by a human hand.
They floated above grasslands, followed silver rivers and oversaw the rugged Moren, cloaked in shadows, dead and dark. The bubbles slowed down and very slowly, Alesana started to sink. The moment she realized where she would land, panic flared up. Clawing around, she hoped to find something to grab but she fell harder and harder. Her screams cut through the air, coming to an end as she landed in a bed of soft grass.
She didn't get up immediately, she felt too dazed. The raven however circled above her, impatiently repeating: "Follow me, Alesana, Guardian of the Inner Wood."
Alesana scrambled on her feet and followed the bird. They walked around an indigo blue lake, crawled under thorn wood and climbed a steep slope to ultimately reach a small cavern. Alesana had no sense of time and she felt odd, as if there were no emotions in this place.
The bird hopped into the cavern and Alesana followed it. Her footsteps echoed through the darkness, although it didn't take long before she saw a light. The light became brighter and brighter, so bright that it felt like she was looking directly at the sun. Her eyes burnt and she screamed in pain.
. . .
Bathing in sweat, Alesana woke up. She was slightly panting and it took a while before she realized that she wasn't in danger. It had been a dream.
But not an ordinary dream. Since she was a little girl, this dream visited her. It was so lifelike and unrealistic at the same time that it caused a lot of confusion. After waking up she was exhausted, as if she hadn't slept at all. A tiredness followed which lasted for days and the older she got, the more Alesana was convinced that it wasn't a dream at all, but something else. She didn't know what and she didn't dare to talk about it either. Because of her mother's death, she already had the feeling that people were pitying her and they might believe that she was crazy. That her loss had driven her mad.
Alesana didn't believe it. She had given her mother's death a place a long time ago. She was nothing but a vague memory, composed of other people's tales. She had no idea what her mother had looked like, how her voice had sounded. Yet, she wished there would have been a mother-like figure in this house, for her dreams made her father nervous and she was craving for an explanation.
She was sure there was one, but it remained to be seen if she would ever meet someone who could explain it to her, before she no longer woke up in sweat but was really consumed with a fiery light.
