Avalon, the Forsaken 

Authors: Elena Ppeli and Spiros Efrem

TALIS Project: Tales from Cyprus, Nigeria and Kenia

This is the story about how the events that have reshaped my life, fell into place. It all starts in a village far far to the north, where nothing adventurous really ever happened. I had just turned 18 and i could finally leave that god forsaken orphanage i grew up in. I thought that i would finally be able to find who i really am but i guess that wasn’t really the plan fate had for me.

The little village i grew up was part of an empire, Serendia. They had lost the war that took place with the surrounding countries 20 years ago and they had grown into a poor and depraved place to be. The golden age of Serendia had ended. The continent of  Valencia had a period of silence and supposedly peace. The reason for the war, still to this day remains unknown but one thing is sure. The world has been constantly changing after the war. Strange powers had appeared in ordinary people, creatures of fantasy were suddenly an everyday reality. Nightmare fuel monsters were terrorizing the once peaceful forests. But i was living in the secluded village of Velia since the time i remember. The thing is in the village no one knew about the war, the powers appearing or anything about fantasy tales coming to reality. It was kept a secret from the village elders, in order to keep us safe from all these dangers. For a particular reason, we all had to wear a pendant made from a strange rock named, vanadium, that supposedly gave us protection and good luck.

“Finally”, i screamed at the top of my lungs, when i got out of the door of the orphanage once and for all. I had been thinking for so long what i was going to do once i got out of that place. I was listening to rumours about a hidden cave just at the outskirts of our village that had some sort of treasure in it that no one had ever found. I wanted to find that treasure so bad, in order to have enough money to support myself so i could leave this place. I would wait till night time so i could sneak without anyone spotting me and maximizing the chances of not being spotted. Reason for that being was, that we had a curfew and a rule about not going out of a certain point around the village.

I sneaked around carefully and i had made it to the cave that everyone was talking about. I was wearing some old leather and cloth that i had found in the orphanage closets, and a scarf that i’ve had since i was a baby. Leather boots decorated my feet and kept me safe from stepping on anything dangerous. I had a small rusty dagger with me, in case any animal attacked me, but i really didn’t worry that much. The time was nigh and i had taken my first step in the cave! The air felt so strange, it was like i could hear strange voices. There were torches hanging from the cave walls and they provided some light. I picked up one of them, so i would have some back up light if there was a point with no luminance. Periodically i could feel the ground shaking and i could have sworn that someone or something was watching me. At some point in the cave, i spotted some red liquid on the ground. I crouched to see what it was, and i focused the torch at that area. My blood went cold, a feeling of fear overwhelmed me for a moment. It was blood. With a swift movement of the torch i lit the place a bit more and i saw bodies. There were pretty new. Something happened hours ago. The thing is that they didn’t have any sword or arrow wounds. Instead they had huge bite or claw marks. I could spot some limbs all over the place, some of them were torn in pieces.

While i was analyzing the scene, i heard a heavy breathing sound. I froze up, and started trembling. I turned around slowly while trying not to make any sudden moves. I see 2 huge red eyes. “What in the world…” i say while shaking. I fall down to my knees. I see with my own two eyes a huge bat like creature with wings that could cover a whole house. Its claw and teeth are as big as swords and daggers. It was unbelievable but it was real. “Am i dreaming..?” , thoughts like that kept popping up my head. The creature starting moving towards me! I fell down to my knees, i couldn’t move. “YOU IDIOT, RUN”, i head a female voice shouting. She was hiding under the rubble around the cave as it seemed. I froze up, i couldn’t move! The woman started to run towards me. The creature attacked me with its claws, but it didn’t even scratch me. The woman pushed me away before the claws could reach me. She was lying on top of me. She asked me if i was ok. I started to feel better and i said yes with a shaky manner. ‘Thank god,” she said. I smiled in this messy situation but then i felt something dripping on me. Blood was pouring from her back. She saved me but got struck instead. “ARE YOU ALRIGHT?”, i screamed to her. She said it was nothing. Out of nowhere my pendant suddenly slips out of my scarf and reveals itself to her. “You are wearing that dreaded thing this whole time?!”, she says in an angry manner. I see her in a weird look and i ask her why she saying that. While chit chatting the monster starts walking towards us. “Take it off, NOW, quickly”, she is yelling loudly. With a freaked out look a look her and ask why she is so obsessed with it. “It doesn’t matter now, just take. IT . OFF”, she yells once again. I take it off with a sense of worry. Suddenly, a tattoo shows up out of nowhere on my torso area. A rush of blood comes to my head, a surge of power coming from deep inside me. A feeling that i have never felt before. Dark matter comes out of my limbs and i feel like i’m invisible. “Quickly”, use it on the abomination! Feeling like in a state of trance, i reach out my hand and i focus on firing whatever is what coming out my limbs. I close my eyes for a second, and as i open them a feeling of malice and dark intention overwhelms my thoughts. A loud booming sound is heard while the monster that was once in front of me, vaporizes. A dark flame had engulfed it and nothing remains than ashes.

I fall down to my knees, feeling so tired all over a sudden. “You did it!”, the woman tells me in a happy and somewhat sad way. “What just happened?”, i look at her and ask in a freaky manner. “I’ll explain everything, once we get out of this freaking cave.But first i’m Eucliwood, what is your name?” she asks me while reaching out her hand waiting for a handshake.

“Oh, my name? I’m Avalon”, i tell her while giving out my hand and smiling for this weird first encounter. That is the beginning of this tale, as for what happened next, well that’s a story for another time….