Therapy Bits

As the clock struck midnight, a chilling breeze swept through the trees, carrying with it a faint scent of wildflowers and a promise of adventure.

Lila tightened her cloak and stepped out from the crumbling stone archway. The moon hung low, a silver coin in the sky, its light catching on the mist that drifted above the forest floor. The old legends said the forest of Ellanor awoke only once every hundred years — when the stars aligned and the wind carried the scent of the forgotten blossoms.

She’d been waiting for this night since she was a child, since she’d found the map tucked inside her grandmother’s journal. “Follow the light that hums,” the note had said, though it made little sense. Still, here she was — guided by something deeper than reason, something that whispered through her blood.

A faint hum rose from the darkness, almost like music carried on the wind. Lila followed it, her boots crunching softly against frost-dusted leaves. The forest seemed to breathe around her — the branches shifting, shadows darting at the edge of her vision. Then she saw it: a small orb of golden light drifting between the trees.

It pulsed gently, waiting. When she reached for it, it darted away, playful as a firefly. She laughed despite herself and chased it deeper into the woods. The air grew warmer, the hum stronger, until she stumbled into a clearing.

In its center stood a stone pedestal covered in moss, and on it lay a key — slender and strange, carved from crystal and glowing faintly from within. The orb circled it once, then vanished into the key’s core.

Lila hesitated. “A key to what?” she murmured.

As if in answer, the ground trembled. The pedestal split open, revealing a spiral staircase descending into the earth. The scent of wildflowers grew overwhelming — not of decay or age, but of life bursting through time itself.

She took one last look at the moonlit forest, then grasped the glowing key and began her descent.

Somewhere below, a door waited — one that had not been opened in a century. And as the last echo of the clock’s chime faded into the night, the forest of Ellanor whispered her name, welcoming its new explorer home.

Missy’s MAD Challenge # 066 – M.A.D. Works