Novel | Writing Challenge

Guardian Enchantress — Chapter 1

A Fantasy Getaway Novel by Faith Lew

🧡Non-members can read this for free through my friend link here🧡

Guardian Enchantress

Synopsis

Have you ever wanted to live forever? In Guardian Enchantress, you can. Guardian Enchantress is a hidden magical forest that can only be accessed through a secret portal. It is said that if you find this forest, you are considered to be very lucky.

People who have entered and left the forest recounted their experience as ethereal and out of the ordinary. However, when they tried to re-enter Guardian Enchantress the same way they initially did, they never found their way back and died.

You either choose to live forever or you die early. Once you leave the forest, you will age 5 times as prematurely as you normally would. If you stay in the forest, you will be granted an eternal life but you must be rooted to Guardian Enchantress forever.

When 21-year-old Adina attempted to leave an abusive relationship with her boyfriend, Matthew, he murdered her in a fit of rage.

When she thought she had met her demise, she found that she was given a second life at the forest. The secrets that this forest holds contains treasures worth more than what anyone could ever find in their lifetime.

Will she choose to risk her youth and leave the forest to reunite back with her family or stay in Guardian Enchantress forever?

Get ready to pack your bags for a thrilling and magical adventure of Guardian Enchantress.

Chapter 1 – The Fall

“Adina, please don’t break up with me. You don’t know how much I need you. I promise it won’t happen again. Please Adina!”

Matthew begged.

Adina had enough. This was already the second time she had caught her narcissistic manipulative boyfriend cheating on her. She didn’t want to stay with this man any longer. She ran up the overhead bridge and into the forest trail.

Matthew was trailing closely behind her. He doesn’t know how to give up.

Why won’t he stop? She wondered. It didn’t make sense. How could this man propose to her and still cheat on her after that?

Hot tears started streaming down her face.

The first time she forgave him, he begged and begged. He wouldn’t leave her alone. It didn’t help that they attended the same elective classes in university too. It was hard to avoid him.

He was incredibly persistent. One day, he approached her again after she exited the lecture hall. He grabbed her and said:

I know what I did was wrong. I am serious about you. You have to believe me, it was a mistake. I bought you the ring you always wanted. Marry me, Adina. Please, I’ll do anything.

He drew out a red velvet jewellery ring box from his pocket and opened up to reveal the ring they both had seen from the Cartier’s store display window. It was the ring that Adina had always wanted but Matthew said it doesn’t suit her and that it was too expensive.

The $20,000 ring was gleaming directly at her face. She looked at Matthew’s sincere and sad expression, then back to the ring. He hadn’t bought anything nice for her over the past year since they have been together. Does this mean he was going to change? She was unsure and before she could respond, Matthew hugged her and said:

Please, I need you.

He released his grip around her and she nodded.

They made plans to marry after graduation. However, 1 month later, today, she saw him at campus making out with another woman from the science faculty.

Now, running as fast as she could, Adina wiped off her tears. She reached a dead end in front with a shaky broken bridge ahead to the other side of the forest. The sign in bold red “OFF LIMITS” was bolted at the edge of where she stood. There was nowhere else to escape. All that was in front was a misty fog that covered a clear vision of what’s ahead.

Matthew caught up to Adina and immediately took her left arm and pulled her close to him.

Listen to me woman. You are not allowed to leave me. I spent half of my life savings on that ring for you and you are telling me that you are leaving me?!

Matthew shouted.

Let me go Matthew! Stop! You are hurting me. You are crazy!

exclaimed Adina.

She wrestled out of his grip and gave him a slap on the face.

Out of fury and shock, he slapped her back and hit her.

She was afraid but she had reached the end of this steep over-hanging cliff and Matthew was inching towards her. She shuffled back and looked down at the black abyss beneath her. She swallowed a gulp of air. Matthew forcefully pulled the ring out of her finger and said:

Alright then, you made your choice. You don’t deserve my expensive ring.

He pushed her down the cliff.

The cliff was more than 100 storeys high, there was no way anyone could see the bottom of it.

She watched her life flashed before her as gravity dragged her down to the core of the earth. She asked herself:

Life is so unfair. Why is this happening to me?

She closed her eyes in acceptance of her death, and everything blacked out.

The sunbeam prying through gaps of the trees hovering above woke her up. She opened her eyes and to her amazement, she saw that she was lying down on the forested ground covered with leaves. The sweet scent of the fallen leaves reminded her of jasmine flowers except they weren’t jasmine.

Was she dead? This must be the afterlife, she thought.

There was no way she survived the fall.

She got up, brushed off the dirt from her clothes and surveyed her surroundings.

She was bewildered.

What is this place? She thought. This looks nothing like the forest that connected above the cliff. If this was the afterlife, it looked better than what the books and media portrayed heaven to be.

There were gold flakes floating in the air, small exotic looking rodents scrambling across her feet that she had never seen before. The trees here could move its’ trunks as if the wind was pulling it but it didn’t feel windy. The air smelled different and fragrant, it awakened all of her senses. She could hear the sound of a waterfall nearby. She never felt so alive.

All of a sudden, the thick turquoise bushes around her rustled. Out came a gigantic majestic looking wolf about the height of a horse with the shiniest greyish blue fur coat she had ever seen. Its’ fur glistened like diamonds under the sun’s rays. It had glossy eyes as wild and as deep as the ocean that she could almost drown in them. It was beautiful, enchanting and hypnotic. This was definitely the most beautiful animal she had seen in her life. It was so beautiful that it took her breath away.

“Follow me.”

Her eyes widened in disbelief.

Did this wolf just talk to me? She thought.

“You can talk? Wait where am I? Am I dead?”

asked Adina.

“No. You have just entered the domain of the Guardian Enchantress.”

The wolf replied.

This must be a dream. Maybe she’s dreaming in the afterlife. Wait, is it even possible to have dreams in the afterlife?

There was no scientific explanation to how she could even be alive from a fall that treacherous.

Nothing in this place dies. You are at the life of the tree spirit realm.

Says the wolf.

This is my first attempt at writing a fiction novel story. I have no idea how this will turn out. Let me know your thoughts.

Click here to read the next chapter