Written by: Samip Aryal - 25014, Grade X
Posted on: 10 February, 2023
Once upon a time there was a village named Warlington which was surrounded by a dense and large forest. Fog surrounded the forest at all times so it was hard for people to travel through it. The villagers who lived in the village would go in a team of people to go through the forest. There was a rumor that if you went inside the forest alone you would get lost in it.
Warlington was a peaceful village, everyone in that village helped each other. The whole village was a big family. There lived a family of three which included a father, a mother and a son. The name of the son was Aquila. Aquila was an adventurous boy, he was also good at running and playing different sports. People of Warlington specialized in selling animal products, wood etc. Aquila’s father was a lumberjack. He used to always go inside the forest with his coworkers and used to cut down trees and sell them to wood buyers who used to buy it and then export it to other parts of the world. The village sold the best quality of wood in the whole kingdom; even the building in the capital is made from that wood. One day when Aquila was 10 years old his father got lost in the forest because he was separated from his coworker and never returned. Days and nights passed they waited and multiple search parties were sent but to no avail. At a young age Aquila started to cut wood. At first it was hard for him but over the years he started being perfect at it. In this kingdom women are not allowed to work outside the domestic premises. They were only there to do some minor tasks which include working at home and staying safe from danger while men of that kingdom are trained from a young age to be a soldier and they needed to take part in military forces at the age of 16 and need to serve in the military for at least 2 years. Aquila was about to turn 16. At first he was not interested in joining the military but when he turned 16 he was forced to be a part of it. The day he turned 16, a knight came to the village and told him and other kids who turned 16 to come to the capital city with the knight. The knight was a royal soldier of the Noxus kingdom. After saying goodbye to his mom Aquila and other kids went through the forest towards the capital. The name of the capital city was Magior. Magior was a magical place that was surrounded by mountains. It is a dream place to live in and many people want to live there but they don’t get an opportunity to live there.
On the way to Magior, Aquila and his group were ambushed by bandits and in an effort of fighting the bandits Aquila was separated from the royal soldier. After knowing he was alone to save his life he ran away inside the forest. He ran as fast as he could and on the way he tripped and fell unconscious. News spread about Aquila being lost, his mother who was already sad about losing her husband and sending her son off to the military was now driven to madness hearing that her son too was nowhere to be found. The village shunned and ostracized her for they believed that she carried bad luck. The hurt and sadness of having lost both her husband and son and the loneliness she felt due to the villagers, to silence the voices she used the same axe which the men in her family had used to sustain themselves to end her own life. Warlington only seemed to be a happy and joyous place where everyone was accepted but alas, it was not.
