The old King tries to hold back the tears as he sends another young man out to find his dear daughter. He knows like so many others the poor lad may parish or be brutally wounded. A wizard gives him a magic shield, pendent and a bag full of crystals.

The young man is also given the Black Sword of Shadows to be used when he has exhausted everything else, for it has a tendency to feed off the one wields it.

The Queen gives him a ring. Not just any ring. This one holds a stone that will shine when all other lights go out, and it should lead him to their daughter.

The young noble man allows her to place it upon his right ring finger and now he was ready for the off. He mounts a white horse and rides off across the land.

The young man had a long journey ahead of him, his thoughts begin to think how the Princess of Peace was captured. How she was betrayed by someone she knew and for what? So they could claim all the glory for themselves. As he crosses the land it is clear the world is beginning to die, which gives him more incentive and more drive to find her.

When night begins fall the young man sets up camp by a rippling stream and once he has eaten settles down for the night.

The next morning he awakens to discover large leaves have been put in place to prevent him from getting wet. The lad cannot see any creature or other being. He decides to leave a bowl of rice as a thank you, then continues on his journey. Soon he reaches his destination, the Dark Forest. An ancient place that has been told for centuries. It is a place no dares to tread for strange things happen here. Things that are not of this world.

Even the horse is a little reluctant to continue, the young man has to keep stroking him in order to get him to move.

"Good boy, Snow. Let's take it nice and slowly. We are here to find the Princess," he says in a calming voice.

The horse slowly walks the worn path between the large trees and as the light begins to fade the ring starts to glow

"Lead me to her, the Princess of Peace," he whispers over the stone.

The young man watches it shoot out a white beam of light to his right, so they turn and carry on.

The large trees creek and moan, even though there is no wind to be heard or felt. It was almost like they were alive and watching him.

All the young man can do is press on and try to ignore the creepy atmosphere building up around him.

The beam of light from the ring shifts to the left, he quickly pulls on the reins to follow it. Through the darkness, he begins to see bright white light is shining through the gaps of the wide tree trunks. As he gets closer the young man has to shield his eyes for a moment. Once they grow use to the bright light he sees it is emanating from a rock, with blue butterflies frying around it. He dismounts to take a closer look and all the butterflies fly up to form a mass.

"Follow my butterflies, son," comes a man's deep rough voice. It seemed to echo all around him.

"Follow my butterflies," comes the same voice.

The young lad leads his horse through the forest as he watches the blue butterflies. Even the beam of light from the ring is pointing the same way.

Soon the trees begin to thin and a shaft of light is shining upon small cottage. The entire structure has been made out of a ginormous tree, not a single window is straight, even the front door is on a slight slant.

"Welcome, son," comes again that rough deep voice, from his left.

The young man watches a tall cloaked man emerge from the shadows of the trees. He is holding a bucket in one hand and in the other is hovering a glowing stone.

Chapter Two Ray of light

I am Midnight, former wizard to King Hughes. I see he

has sent another man to his death. I told him a thousand times, no mortal man can save his daughter. Daisy was taken by a dark creature. A creature that does not sleep, does not eat. It is living off the girl's energy. Everything they have given you is meaningless. Apart from my ring... Who gave you that?"

"The Queen. I was told it will lead me to their daughter."

The hooded man shakes his head. "You see now where it has led you."

"T-to you," answers the young man watching him step closer.

"Yes. You see I have grown tired of the amount of lives that have been lost over this endless quest... Where are my manners, come in, son. Make yourself at home. I will attend to your fine steed."

The young lad welcomes the wizard's kindness, for the Dark Forest was beginning to get to him. He hands the reins to him and heads inside the house.

The rooms are immaculate, everything is in its place, except for the one at the back. It appears to filled with books and scrolls, have been piled waist high. There are even dirty cups, that have been left on top of sone of the stacks of books, along with plates.

Suddenly a curtain is pulled across the doorway making him flinch.

"Sorry, son. I did not mean to frighten you. That room is not for you."

The young man nods and takes a seat at a highly polished table.

"So, what's your name, lad?"

"Wish. Might I ask, how long has this been going on?"

Midnight sighs, he places a hand inside the deep hood.

"Too long time... I am going to make sure you are the last."

A teapot comes floating over to the table along with a couple of cups and a plate of biscuits.

"Sounds like you have a plan?" Wish questions watching the cloaked man look right at him.

"A plan? No! No, plan. I just want you to be the last. Only if you are willing to learn."

The young man frowns. "Lean what exactly."

The wizard takes a seat at the foot of the table, points his hand at the plate of biscuits.

"Take one lad. Trust me, by the time you have finished it, you will understand everything. That's if you are going to listen to an elder."

Wish takes one of the crumbly oak cakes. "I will listen and learn, whatever you are wanting to teach me."

"Good," says Midnight and takes a sip of tea. "The Princess is no ordinary young lady. She is in fact not their daughter. She was found by the King floating in a basket, and with them not able to have any more children, they adopt her. The little girl grew quickly, for she is a Child of Light. A child that can defeat the darkness... You have noticed the world is dying, right?"

"Yes. The closer I got to this place, the worse it had become."

"It has nothing to do with Daisy being missing... Or being held. It is him," states Midnight pointing his hand to a painting.

Wish sees it is a portrait of young man, with untimed jet- black hair. It seems to frame his serious, thin face and appears to make his purple eyes shine. He is dressed in a fine red robe, the left side of which is tucked around a sword.

"That is the lost Prince. He is responsible for the darkness and the kidnap of his own sister. It was him who betrayed her. Storm wind is his name. I am afraid, lad, you have no chance against him."

Wish is a little reluctant to ask why, when the wizard sets a book down front of him.

"D-Dark Spells.... Oh, now I understand he uses magic."

"Yes, the likes of which has not been seen in centuries. You have to understand son, in the past everyone could perform magic. One day people just stopped using it and people like Storm Wind and Daisy became rare. To be born with magic, with the power already activate is quite rare indeed. The Princess is unaware of what she is capable of. Unaware of her power. Yet her brother does and this is why he locked her away. I am going to teach you, if you are willing, spells that Storm wind does not know about."

The young man hurriedly eats the last of the biscuit and quickly replies, "I am willing to learn."

Midnight rises. "In that case, lad, we will begin your training tomorrow."

Wish is all confused and questions, "Tomorrow? Why not now? The Princess has been locked away for far too long and her brother is just allowing the world to die."

"I like your enthusiasm, lad. I so wish I was like you, so much energy. I'm afraid, son, I need to rest... we can always start later."

Before the young man can say anything the wizard vanishes and a small gust of wind crosses the room. Wish decides to go on to have another cup of tea and begins to take a look at the spell book. He starts to wonder how any of this is possible and will he be able to learn it?

"My, you are full of questions. The answer is, yes, you can learn," insists Midnight taking a seat.

"I thought you were going for a rest."

"Your mind is too erratic... Too noisy. So I need you to learn first how to calm it, otherwise you will not be able to do anything."

Wish bows his head and apologises, "Sorry. You are right, I am full of questions. Please tech me."

The wizard rises, he walks around to him and places his hand to the back of the young man's head.

"Focus your thoughts on the goal, the rescue of Daisy and everything else should begin to fall into place."

The young man nods, he does just that and closes his eyes. Wish slowly becomes aware he is beginning to feel very relaxed.

"That's better," says Midnight a moment later. "Nice and quiet. Now I will teach you your first sp-"

The young man turns around to see the wizard is yawning and he is beginning to sound really tired.

"It's all right, we can start tomorrow. Please go to bed." Midnight pats him on the shoulder and again vanishes. Wish decides to go for a walk outside. The sunlight feels so warm upon his skin.

"This is a nice spot," he whispers.

The young man remains outside until it grows dark and stats to rain. Inside the hut there is nothing much to do other than wash the pots. Whilst he is in the small kitchen Wish wonders what he could make for the evening meal. He finds rice, a pepper, an onion, a glove of garlic and a small white cabbage. The young man goes on to wash the peppers and cabbage. This is when he discovers there is not a single sharp knife to be found. So all he can do is prepare the rice.

"What? There is no way I can light a fire? Ha, good job I have my fire lighter on me." It is not long before the hut is fulled with the smell of a fresh fire, the wood crackles as the deep orange flames dance around it. The next thing he sees is a small knife appear.

"Really, son, you did not have to prepare a meal," says Midnight walking over to him.

"I do not mind. Besides it gave me something to do. Also, thank you for helping me."

"You're welcome."

They carry on preparing the dish and for afters the wizard gives the young man green tea mochi. Then he goes on to teach the lad his first spell.