1 Gallandwell Forest

When John was 9 he got lost in the Gallandwell Forest for three days. He remembers it vividly to this day. John was walking home from the bus stop when a woman ran past him and through the barrier formation. The barrier was closing quickly, and he only had this one chance to check out the legendary Gallandwell Forest!

You have to understand, John grew up being told tales of the mystical beings and powers that could be found in that forest. It's the forest of beasts and monsters, where only the most powerful and brave dare to venture. He was told so many times by my parents to never, ever, cross the border that he just had to! John is one of those people who when he's told that he can't do something, he'll do it. At least, he used to be before that fateful day...

Anyway, John took off running as fast as he could and just barely made it. The barrier shut behind him, and he gaped in shock as the scene of a modern city disappeared. Instead, the forest stretched to the horizon. The smell of car exhaust was gone, leaving behind only clear air and a potent energy that seemed to vibrate. Taking a deep breath, John wondered why people lived in the city and not the forest. It was so wonderful in there!

That's when the rabbits came. Until this point, he'd only ever seen a rabbit in school. His name was Mr. Jenkins and he was a cute little thing that the kids would let sit in their laps while they fed him carrots. Mike had always wanted a Mr. Jenkins of his own, but his parents didn't want a rabbit in the house. So, instead of freaking out John watched in fascination as first one, then two, and finally 8 of them hopped out of the forest surrounding me.

"I'm sorry Mr. Rabbit, I don't have any carrots today." John said in his cute 9 year old's falsetto voice.

"GRRR" Mr. Rabbit responded, and that's when John realized that these rabbits weren't like Mr. Jenkins. Instead of a cute, fluffy coat they were covered in scales and had a small horn growing on their temple's. As he watched, the rabbit's around him started to glow a pale-pink light and their horns elongated to nearly 5 inches long.

In the first smart thing he'd done all day, John climbed the tree he was standing under. Just as he reached the second branch and was nearly 6 feet off the ground one of the rabbits slammed headfirst into the tree trunk just below my foot. It's horn impaled the tree trunk, sticking and John watched as the rabbit slowly brought it's legs unto the trunk and struggled to pull it's head out.

John felt sad for the rabbit, and decided to help it out. Reaching down, he had just grabbed the rabbits rear legs when the second rabbit flashed past him and impaled the spot where his head had just been. That's when John truly got the memo, they rabbits wanted to kill him! Panicking, he climbed until he was nearly 20 feet off the ground and stayed there all alone for nearly three days. They were the longest, loneliest days of his life.

The rabbits managed to pull themselves out of the tree, but they didn't leave for long. Every time John looked at the ground he could see their beady little red eyes staring back up at him. Those eyes haunted his nightmares for months afterwards

Too scared and weak to do anything but lay there and cry, if it hadn't of been for the CCTV camera's surrounding the barrier he would've never been found.

Two weeks later, John was left alone with Mr. Jenkins in the classroom for a few minutes and when the teacher came back she found Mr. Jenkins had died of a sudden heart attack. It was tragic, most of the kids cried. From that day forth John learned a healthy respect of the beasts and monsters living in the world, it was that day that lead him down this path. For that he's grateful, even though it also left him with a serious case of bunnyphobia.