Hey everyone! So this is my new Epic plot bunny that I just had to get out because I was inspired by a twist of events and couldn't resist writing this. I hope you guys enjoy this and tell me what you think! Listen to:

Warning - Incubus

I remembered it was a storm.

A fierce one.

With howling winds, pelting rain- it resembled a hailstorm more than a thunder storm.

I remembered playing in the fields when it rained, not caring that it was almost time for dinner and that my mother would be worried.

I was chasing after my pet puppy Ozzie who was tearing through the forest like a bulldozer and had nearly caught up with him when I felt the first gush of wind that nearly lifted me of my feet.

As scary as it was, I found this side of Nature very interesting as I stayed and observed the gathering storm with wide eyes.

My father would always tell me that this forests' were full of magic- of a different life that we humans would never comprehend, much less notice.

His stories of little men and a magical fortress always enthralled me to no end and I often would beg me more of their tales.

Dad would always tell me that there was magic in everything- everything, if I would only just open my heart to feel it.

Not with my eyes, but my heart, for magic is best believed rather than seen.

It was with my father's words in mind that I first felt it- the first spark of magic.

The very whole forest seemed to be reverberating with it.

With magic.

The wind was picking up, howling fiercely as I waited patiently.

A flash of thunder made me quall in shock but it did nothing to quench the burning desire in me- to finally see pure, undulated magic happening right in front of me.

What happened was the complete opposite.

The wind picked me up and tossed me around like a ragged doll as suddenly, my vision went all tunnel-like.

It seemed as if the trees were getting bigger, the drops falling down feeling more like buckets of water being splashed on my head.

Vaguely, I heard a voice- my mother's voice, screaming for me as the echoing of her voice grew softer and farther away, as if she was shrinking away from me.

The storm ended and the first weak rays of the sun shone down on my wet form as I shook the last remnants of unconsciousness away.

It was funny; the grass here seemed longer, as if they had grown a few meters taller than what I remembered.

I gingerly got up as I waited for my mum to call me.

The day passed and night came as I stayed up, vigilantly awaiting my mother's call or father's laugh.

They never came.

I was tired, hungry and felt a flu coming on as I sniffed and wiped away the tears that were falling.

But I never moved for mum always told me- when you get lost, wait for help to find you.

So I did.

I waited and waited and waited.

But no one ever came.

I then decided that I couldn't take it anymore, that I had to find them before I went sick with flu or even worse- hunger.

But my plans were futile when I first laid eyes on him.

The first thing I noticed was his skin was grey- and he had the scariest set of sharp teeth on him as they glittered menacingly when he grinned at me.

"What's your name?" he asked in his surprisingly child-like voice as I stared at him in fear and apprehension.

"M-Mary Katherine," I replied tentatively after a few moments.

"Huh," he said, cocking his head to one side. "I've never heard of that name- or even seen you before," he said as he appeared to be thinking.

"My name's Dagda, by the way, and you're going to come and meet my dad," he said, his tone firm. He smiled at me once again and I gave him a shy smile in return.

Dagda.

What a very strange name.

He then led me to what appeared to be a field of dying trees- only, they were like huge and scary as they looked wilted and dried.

The smell of stench and rot greeted my nostrils as I tried not to gag.

Part of me knew that I should have just continued to wait for mum but the other part just was just curious to know this strange grey… Boy?

It was when his people saw me- the Boggans- that they muttered among themselves that I was a Leafmen and therefore had to be killed.

By then I was afraid, and wanted nothing more than to tell Dagda to make them stop their horrible words.

And then, destiny took its turn as I met Dagda's dad.

Mandrake.

The King of the Boggans.

He scrutinized me as he narrowed his dangerous looking eyes.

"This is not a Leafmen- this is a Stomper," he boomed in his too loud voice as he glanced at all his minions.

His minions immediately went rowdy as they shouted and hooted their excitement.

"Hmm… Must be that storm that came from the Heart of Change… The full moon, maybe?" he muttered to himself as he stalked around me.

I shivered under his glare.

"You, Stomper, will now be our fellow Boggan man and will be raised here with us," he said in a triumphant voice.

"Maybe I will have use of you when you're bigger," he said as narrowed his eyes in evil contemplation.

And with those words, I was whisked away and raised by those scary beings that I call family, all the while being treated as something akin to a slave- to be pushed around.

The only friend I had there was Dagda but he too became warped in the Boggan's prejudice and started treating me the same way his friends and dad did.

My whole life there was filled with stench, decay and evil- but I learned not to let it get to me.

After all, 14 years living in hell was enough to make a person as solid as steel.

I was convinced that this world held no meaning- no life and no light except for cruelty, hostility and rot.

But that all changed when the Leafmen from Moonhaven attacked us.