The Box in Dark Silence By: Lana Semakova Near the end of the forest, I stumbled upon a rock passageway that was tilted in a way that I could tell was leading deep underground. I wandered down this tunnel, downwards, downwards into a slim cave-like hallway. All that I could hear were water drops coming from an unseen corner of the rock ceilings and the occasional flurry of a bat, flying out into the light, where I had come from. I turned my flashlight on. The blue stream from my flashlight shone onto the jagged walls around me. It was […]

The Thawing Kingdom By: Lana Semakova The pastels of spring were beginning to spread across the forest as the patches of snow melted into streams. Nature’s orchestra simmered beneath the sound of my steps on fallen branches and leaves.  I’d always loved this time of year. It prompts rediscovery. Winter tends to cover things and waits silently for the arrival of more transparent days. Today, it was finally sunny again. In this light, the woods seemed more alive than ever before. I stood in a mystical kingdom. I looked up at a tall tree on the top of which something […]

The Pond of Antiques By Lana Semakova I was walking through the side trail of the forest, the one that has moss covered rocks and a wall of drowsy willows that touch passerbys’ foreheads. I wanted to see what was in the centre of it all, outside of the clean trail for typical hikes. I switched directions from time to time, going from one point to the other, in an attempt to get lost. The evergreen wall parted slightly to make way for a stage of sand. A bright blue pond stood in its centre. I found it funny how […]

Calcifer’s Cave By Lana Semakova I was on the hill, taking polaroids of the sea of tree tops below me to send to my friend back home. Before I left, she had asked me if I could take a photo of them right before winter started, while they were still that perfect shade of sunny, emerald green. I slipped the best one I managed to get on the back of her postcard. It was a long way down before the first mailbox I had spotted. As I walked down the curved and twisted path, the wind would brush the tightly […]

Foreward from the Author By Lana Semakova The exploration of the mind is the greatest journey we will ever set out on. It is the perfect combination of imagination and jagged truth. Many philosophers would argue that our psychology is  sterile and lawless.  On the contrary, I believe that our thoughts are tameable. They are meant to be befriended, not unlike the monsters that hide in the forest beside our home. We have the power to both control them and unchain these invisible creatures from ourselves. Folklore is embedded in our nature. It is the key to conceptualising the impossible […]