Once upon a time, there was a land called Octavia. Our stories are all
based out of this magical land filled with interesting characters,
creatures, wizards, fairies, queens, kings and of course there is
always a beautiful princess …. So let's get on with our first story.
The Evil Wizard – Samara
Once upon a time, in Octavia, deep inside the dark forest lived the
wizard Samara. White hair, wispy white beard, shuffling as he walked
half bent, with a staff to support him; legend was it that he could
cast spells just by looking at someone. Could turn anything living to
stone, some said he could conjure up gold out of stacks of hay. He was
wicked & as he grow old, stories of his evil spread throughout the
land. Travellers would walk around the forest to avoid any altercation
with this mad wizard.
But today was different, Samara was troubled, with age his magical
powers were waning and he was looking for the one spell that has
eluded him all his life. The spell that would give him everlasting
youth, he could feel he was dying and he like any of his kind did not
ever want to die. There was still so much evil, he wanted to unleash
on Octavia, his dream of ruling the kingdom seemed to be fading. For
years he had been collecting the ingredients for this spell – the wand
of a fairy, the teardrop of an unicorn, a whiff of love amongst others
but there was still one key element missing, a goblin. Goblins are
powerful creatures, famous for their cunning and magical power. Rumor
had it, they could live for 300 years or more. If a wizard such as
Samara could tap into this energy source, his spell could work,
harnessing the goblin's age & creating a perfect concoction giving him
everlasting youth.
Now Goblins are smart creatures. Everyone has seen a goblin, but few
had ever seen where a goblin lives. You need to be invited to the
Goblin's house, by the goblin himself before you could capture him and
Samara knew just where a goblin lived, and he had just thought of the
perfect plan to get invited into the creature's dwelling.
Goblins have a sweet tooth. They love that mysterious sweet delicacy
called Sikren. Sikren, are twig like herbs, yellow in color, to a
normal person they would taste horrible but to a goblin, these twigs
are like heaven on earth. They are hard to find and a Goblin would
nearly kill to get hold of this delicacy. Samara, with all his cunning
over the years amongst other things had managed to get hold of a sack
filled with Sikren; stolen from one of the poor travellers who made
the unlucky decision of crossing his forest. With the sack, over his
shoulder and dressed as a country peasant, Samara made his way deep
into the cave land where this Goblin resided to put his plan into
place.
Toggles the goblin, with knobby ears and gnarled hands was home,
boiling water for his evening tea, when there was a knock on the door.
"Who is it?" Toggles shouted from inside. "A traveller, kind sir,
looking for shelter from the impending rain", Samara replied. "Go
away, I don't give shelter to strangers" shouted Toggles. The kettle
started to whistle. Toggles was annoyed. He hated visitors and
specially visitors who disturbed his evening tea.
Samara, knocked hard. "Please open the door, kind sir. Let me show you
what I have in exchange for a night's stay in your humble dwelling".
The greedy goblin couldn't resist the sound of that and in a jiffy
opened the door. "And what do you have stranger? What could you
possibly have for me to invite you in my house and share my humble
abode with you on this dark and dreadful night?"
"I have nothing but a sack full of Sikren which I thought I would sell
in the town, I can give you half of it" Replied Samara, with a wicked
smile inside his heart, knowing that the bait was set, all he needed
was to be invited into the house and that would be the end of this
greedy goblin.
"Show it to me" with a quiver in his voice said Toggles. Samara opened
the sack and showed the yellow twigs gleaming in the dark. Toggles
could barely conceal his excitement. "Let me taste one. How do I know
it's for real", Toggles whispered softly. His eyes, filled with greed.
Samara broke off half a twig and gave it to the sniffling Goblin.
Toggles grabbed the twig in both his hands and munched on it, letting
out a sigh as he inhaled the sweet smell of Sikren. His sixth sense
was telling him there was something wrong, yet his mind clouded by his
greed couldn't resist. He shouted, "Come on in my dear friend, you
must be tired, my home is your home." Samara stepped into the house,
took of his cape, threw the sack on the floor and shouted "Quostro,
Monstro, Perpetuoto". The goblin trembled with fear as he realized
what he had done. But it was too late, his body shook and transformed
into a small white snowy ball of cotton. Samara, picked it up calmly,
pulled out his flask containing the rest of the potion & mixed it with
this last missing ingredient.
Poof! It started to rain, lightning struck, and a dark mist started to
settle as if Octavia knew what was to come. The evil wizard gulped
down the potion, feeling the energy return to his old broken bones,
like a child re – born. He was ready now, his evil powers restored. He
started laughing; his wicked snickering filled the forest sending a
dark message of impending doom. He had preyed on the greed of Toggles
and was now ready to unleash his evil on Octavia.