There was a bone chilling wind blowing through the dense forest that morning. It made every creature freeze and scurry back to wherever they had crawled out from, but not Lenore Thorne, she was determined this morning. More determined than she had ever been. She had easily skipped school to be in the forest, her father was rarely home, most of the time he wouldn’t know where she went. Lenore Thorne disliked school anyway, too many people, she had to sit still the whole day, and most definitely she was not the kind of child to sit still, nor the kind of child to simply do as she was told. In her mind she was an adventurer, an explorer. 

She knew the forest like the back of her own hand. Actually, she might have known the forest better than the back of her own hand. She spent every day out there in the wilderness, exploring ancient ruins and lost paths. Out there in the forest, she was in charge, she had friends in the crows that seemed to rule the forest. There was not a place in the world that she was more at home in than the forests of Everwood, yet she always dreamed of more, of real adventure beyond the usual ruins, and buried artefacts. 

Lenore Thorne, or Ellie as her mother had affectionately called her, had a real craving for adventure. Not just any adventure, but the kind you read about in books. She wanted to solve all the mysteries of the world, or rather the greatest mystery; how did The Cataclysm happen? Why did it happen? What happened to the buildings and people that went missing? School never taught you anything useful about it, at least according to her. 

Ellie stepped onto the mossy forest floor. The chill in the air didn’t disturb her one bit, she had a mission today. A crow cawed gently and swooped down to her shoulder where it landed elegantly, its claws dug into the strap of her bright yellow backpack. Her mother had loved yellow so she tried her best to love it too. 

Her lips formed a smile as she glanced at the crow now perched on her shoulder, “That’s it, Bartholomew, I’m gonna climb the highest branch today,” Ellie proclaimed all too loudly.

Her feet came to a halt as she stopped in front of a tall oak tree, it appeared massive next to her. Ellie grinned wide and tied back her long chestnut brown hair. It was quite a lonely old tree in the depths of Everwood, nothing much grew near it, yet it was the tallest, most lush tree in the forest. Its branches stretched toward the sky as if reaching for something it could not have. 

She had her sights set on that big old oak tree. If she climbed high enough, she could see Dawn from there; the biggest city in all of Lorelei. It always glittered brilliantly in the not too far distance from Everwood. It was so near, yet so far. Ellie dreamt of exploring the depths of the city, she had heard stories of underground paths, and the curiosity of Old Dawn drew her in. Old Dawn held all the mystery she could ever dream of, the one place in the world that had not been destroyed during The Cataclysm.

Bartholomew cawed loudly and flew up to the top of the old oak tree, waiting for her to follow. Ellie’s resolve strengthened as she grabbed the first branch, feeling the rough bark against her fingers. Her heart beat fast with excitement, she had never made it to the very top. She glanced back at the forest, it was dim, covered by a blanket of leaves, light rarely ever peeked through the canopy except for near the big old oak tree. 

Her long hair fluttered as she started climbing. One branch at a time. She was not scared, rather she was excited. So excited that her heart kept pounding in her chest. Ellie could see the dense forest from where she was, full of tall and proud trees. The crows cawed loudly as if cheering her on. 

“Bartholomew… One day I’ll go there, to Dawn. And I’ll see it, the oldest buildings in the world. Can you believe there are buildings there from before the Cataclysm happened?” She told the crow and grabbed another branch, and then another. “So close now, I’m starting to see Dawn.”

She squinted her eyes and looked back, the forest was too dense to see any of the ruins from there; the ruins of the old world, from before The Cataclysm that lay scattered in the forest. 

Ellie climbed higher, holding tightly onto each branch, and the skyscrapers of Dawn started to appear in the distance, a perfect city skyline that seemed to grasp for the clouds. Ellie huffed as she grabbed the next branch, keeping her balance. Hands held tightly onto the bark of the oak tree. She was going to make it. The next branch was within her reach, the crows cawed louder and louder, cheering her on. Ellie grabbed a hold of that last branch, pulling herself up, before hearing a snap. 

“Oh shoot,” Ellie froze before suddenly feeling herself fall backward, her hands trying to grasp for something. 

She hit one branch after another on her way down, grunting with each bump. Ellie might have had a high tolerance for pain, but she had never fallen from that high before. She hit the ground with a loud thud. Her yellow backpack braced some of her fall, though she was sure she heard her glass jars shatter in there. 

“Ow,” Ellie whimpered, her eyes fixed on that distant darkening sky, the pain shot through her limbs.  

She groaned, rolled around and she sat up, swiftly taking the backpack off. Her hair came undone, full of leaves and dirt, and as she scrambled to get onto her knees she saw Bartholomew on the ground, tilting his head and glaring at her. Something else caught her eye at that moment, something strange sticking out from the ground right next to him, right next to the roots of the oak tree. 

“What is that?” She asked herself and crawled closer, already forgetting about the pain.

The ground was covered in moss, dead leaves, and mushrooms, yet she saw something in a dull shade of white peek out from the dirt. Her hands reached out to brush away the leaves. Ellie’s eyes grew larger when she saw more of what was sticking out from the ground. Bartholomew flew up to the tree again, and the crows all cawed loudly, yet none of them seemed to want to come down.

“It can’t be? Can it?” Ellie whispered as she started digging her small fingers into the ground. 

She pulled out earth and moss, her hands full of dirt, though that was quite a normal thing for her. Faster she tugged at the moss, and shuffled more earth aside. In front of her a soil covered, sallow skull started emerging from the ground, Ellie had never come across a human skull before in the forest. 

“A skull? Is someone buried here? Could this be some awesome grave with fancy artefacts?” Ellie squealed and placed her hands on either side of the skull. 

With a tug she tore it loose from the ground and the oak tree. Her eyes widened even further as she noticed two long, pointy fangs on the skull. Her heart started racing and she squealed loudly. She heard the crows cawing with increasing volume. She recognized the caws; the crows were sounding the alarm as if danger was near. Yet she ignored their noise, in her hands was something far more important.

“A vampire skull? Could it be? Wait, are vampires real?” Ellie leaped up and twirled around with the skull above her head. 

She suddenly stopped and examined the skull closer. Her hands turned it around and looked at it from every angle with wonder. Was it real? 

A shadow shuffled behind the trees, creeping closer, and a cacophony of crows cawed louder and louder from the tree top. Ellie was too enthralled to pay them any more attention. The cold wind blew through the forest again, making her hair flutter about, sending a chill through her spine. 

Ellie ignored it all, entranced by the skull,“The fangs look so sharp,” she muttered before her finger poked one of the fangs, “Ow,” she groaned as blood started to drip from her index finger. 

The sound of a low hiss from the distant trees startled her and she almost dropped the skull, “Who’s there?” She glanced from side to side, before stepping back and carefully fishing up her backpack with her right hand. 

The crows cawed and swooped down toward the trees, igniting more hisses and snarls. The shadow stirred, Ellie saw it now; it appeared tall and slender between two trees. Her eyes widened with both wonder and fear; what could it be? An animal? A vampire like the skull? A part of her wanted to smile, but the other part of her was far too scared. 

“Who’s there?” She repeated with a quiver. 

Without warning a creature resembling a man with red eyes, tattered clothes, long sharp teeth, and long claw-like nails leaped out from the trees and hissed with malice as it made its way toward her. 

Ellie screamed and in her panic threw the skull straight at it. It hit its head with a thud, but didn’t stop it. The creature leaped at her, and she was entirely sure it was going to engulf her, when a sudden boom resounded like thunder through the bushes.