Library: The story of Nathaniel

A thousand years ago lived a young gnomish boy called Nathaniel. He was a bright lad, student in the School of Tinkering & Illusions. Being the best in both subjects and showing promise much beyond his years his skills were the envy of other students. But his nature was that of a a prankster. He lived in the secluded gnomish town of Woodshaven which had been established just a decade ago by gnomes fleeing from their old town which had been destroyed by hordes of goblins from nearby mountains. Combined effort of gnomish illusionists had managed to create an intricate web of illusions that diverted anyone from finding the new town deep inside a forest and also kept any dangerous animals away. One morning Nathaniel decided to go fishing. He grabbed his fishing pole and started his walk towards the river. Unlucky for him this also happened to be a day when his fellow students had decided to pay back some of his old pranks. So while he was preoccupied thinking what the weather would turn to and where would be the best place he failed to notice an illusion appear around his fishing hook designed to repel fish. This illusion was chosen because it would be sure to ruin his hopes of catching anything. Nathaniel spent the morning fishing but was growing quite annoyed with not getting any fish and all the animals were acting in weird and annoying ways. After hours of catching nothing he decided to head downstream, maybe he'd have more luck there. He walked to one of his favourite spots at a river fork, located next to the Web. But today, even this spot didn't produce any fish. Then he spotted a fish breaking the surface just a bit more upstream, then another and yet another one. Only problem was that to go upstream would mean leaving the protection of the Web. But surely there was no danger, it was only a short way and he could find his way back. His parents were strict on their opinion, no crossing the Web but how would they find out, they'd want to eat too and he had promised to bring fish. So the decision was made and Nathaniel walked to the spot he had seen the fish. Amazingly even here the fish eluded him but that thought left his mind when he heard a loud growl behind him. A huge bear had wandered to the same spot and what's worse, it was right between him and safety. Bears had always been a bad omen for Nathaniel, named after his great grandfather who had been killed by one. He couldn't think straight, even a quick illusion could help him but how, and now the bear was heading towards him. Nathaniel ran, he ran as fast as he could but gnomes aren't that fast and the bear was following. A cave, there has to be a cave ahead he though as he headed towards a cliffside with the bear behind him and obviously gaining ground on him. Then he saw what he had hoped to, a small opening in the cliffside, big enough for him but not the bear. He was breathing heavy and his legs felt like they were made of lead. The cave was just ahead, a few more feet and he was safe. Suddenly he felt an impact, numbness and was flying into the cave. The bear had caught him and swiped with a paw. Nathaniel lost consciousness. It was already getting dark when Nathaniel woke up, he was bleeding and couldn't feel his legs. He looked around, no bear in sight but it could still be waiting outside. Then he spotted something disturbing, a skeleton, not a gnome but a larger humanoid. Was this going to be his future, dying in this cave? He couldn't get back to town, all he could hope was people to get worried, find him and come to rescue. So he waited, writing into his journal what had happened to pass the time. It was getting too dark to write when he saw light, not from outside the cave but inside. The skeleton had a thin necklace on and it was emitting light. Not just any light but many different colours, dancing around it in a lifelike fashion. He crawled to the skeleton and removed the necklace and held it. He looked through the necklace but couldn't, there was his own reflection looking back at him reflected from seemingly nothing. Part of him watched in awe and wanted wear it, the other part of was scared to death. He dropped it and crawled further away from it. It was morning. Nathaniel could feel his life slipping away slowly but surely, help wasn't going to arrive in time. He wrote about the necklace, his feelings and thoughts in his journal to stay alert. Then curiosity took over, what if he wore the necklace. There wasn't anything else he could do and maybe, just maybe it would save him. No one knows what happened after that, Nathaniel's journal was found in the cave next to the skeleton two days later. Nathaniel wasn't anywhere to be seen and neither was the necklace. Trackers tried to find out what had happened but the only tracks went inside the cave, nothing came out and so his destiny was left in the dark.

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Library: The story of Nathaniel