Igor the Ogre boy is walking through the mystical Red-Night Forest.

  "What is darkness but not the beginning of the end of things?" Igor had once read in a book.

  The thought seemed very grandiose to him, fantastical and otherworldly in its content. He couldn’t help but think that to discuss such elemental things seemed pointless to him if not impractical yet it also intrigued him a great deal more than he cared to admit to anyone.

  "Could it be true?" Is what he wanted to know about this statement.

  He wanted a definite answer. A yardstick to measure against all situations. While he really wanted yet wasn’t fully aware of, was some measure of control and safety. This is why the “need” for an answer always persisted in him long after he finished reading a book, only to scour and devour another.

  Igor continued his walk in the forest only to discover a small silent stream which he followed without much examination. He slowly let it dissolve into the background of his walk and carried forward in this manner. A gentle peace reigned.

  As he walked he daydreamed more, inspired by the beauty all around him. Small stones covered in cotton-candy purple peat moss were frolicked over with easy jumps.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  The forest was truly a magical place. Creatures of all kinds entered the Red-Night Forest. Fairies and hobbits traveled about on their mercantile business. It’s said that Hippocampi, half-horse half-fish creatures migrated through the summer months in one of the larger streams that cut across the forest.

  Most of all what captured Igor’s eye and imagination were the floating forest-urchins and forest-weeds that shimmered in the air above the landscape. They were iridescent during the day, like the scattered light of a prism put into a washing machine – constantly churning and glimmering in all sorts of ways.

  It was enough to ensorcell any young Ogre boy let alone one as prone to daydream as Igor.

  The forest-urchins withdrew their tendrils for the night, becoming small balls of nothing. While the forest-weeds, like their water variant "seaweeds" in the stream, gave off a particularly bioluminescent glow at night. They were indeed very beautiful.

  It was at this juncture as Igor stood in awe of these little forest plants that he quickly realized he was lost!

  "Oh no, I'm going to be late again!"

  Last time Igor had been late his father, the house-husband, Earl the man ogre scolded the little Ogre boy for his tardiness. Earl complained he had spent the whole day cooking and his son rewarded the hard work with a hardy dose of lateness. The hot meal Earl had slaved away at had turned lukewarm the last time this had happened.

  Igor profusely apologized but to no avail.

  His father left him with two stern warnings:

  The first: "next time you're late I'm going to take away all your books!" It was rare for an Ogre boy such as Igor to attend The Mythical Academy in the city as it were, no books would be a great impediment.

  The second warning: "if you get lost in The Red-Night Forest after dusk you'll quickly find out it's namesake!!!" "