The forest was as dank and dark as it always was; the damp smell of moss and fungus permeated the air harshly, almost serving as a deterrent for any intruder unwelcome by the ecosystem of the woods.
But he didn't consider himself unwelcome as he walked briskly through the thick shrubbery stuck to the soft, mossy pavement of the woods.
The unseen path was all too familiar to him, and so was the destination at the end of it. The darkness became thicker and thicker the deeper he went; he recalled the way the locals used to call this part of the woods, and the deeper he thought about it, the more it made sense to him.
"The blind maiden forest" was the name he recalled, that and how the locals always said it was a place of misery and suffering, where the only forces at play were the primal and cruel rules of nature itself.
A faint snicker escaped his lips as he thought about the words of the locals; for him, this was not a place of darkness and cruelty but instead a path towards the place he used to call home.
Despite his joy at the prospect of returning, he still felt a pang of anxiety inside his very being, for it had been so long since he left.
Finally he felt it, the familiar electric feeling in the air and the almost impossible silence of the woods; he felt it all as he knew he was approaching the middle.
A heavy presence of untold energy wrapped around him almost as if it was judging him and sizing him up to see if he was worthy to even be near the center.
The forest didn't consider the boy a stranger; in fact, the boy felt as if the forest was happy that he was finally back, but that could've just been his mind trying to calm him down.
Finally the sun broke through the thick canopy of the woods, pleasantly showering the boy in its warmth as he walked into the clearing.
He adjusted his large hat ever so slightly to give himself a better sight of what's ahead, and as he did, his gaze finally fell upon his destination.
Standing there like a grand obelisk was the place he used to call home all those years ago; his smile widened as he reminisced about the memories of his childhood; the summer days he spent running around in this same clearing felt like they were just about to repeat.
Suddenly his reminiscing was interrupted by a suffocating presence in the air around him; the birds who were singing their tune a mere minute ago were now as quiet as the depths of the woods were.
His gaze met the familiar tall figure in front of him, and his smile widened even further, but before he could call out to it or even wave, he felt a familiarly cold hand wrap around his throat and lift him up so suddenly his mind couldn't even register what was happening.
There was a crushing pressure around his throat, and he struggled to even draw a single breath; the boy wanted to speak, but all that came out of his mouth was pathetic gasps not too dissimilar from an animal's death rattle.
He flailed his legs and firmly gripped the very hand that was crushing his throat, his mind too unfocused to try to even cast a spell or incantation to defend himself.
The more he struggled, the more the hand increased its grip, the long nails stabbing into his skin slowly.
Only when the boy's hat fell off of his head and his long, flowing, pale fuchsia-colored hair came spilling out did the figure loosen its grip, causing the boy to fall down to his feet and lean against the figure as he tried to catch his breath.
"My... My child..." he heard the familiar voice of his mother call out to him in a shaky and deeply regretful tone of voice.
He couldn't finish filling his lungs with air before it was knocked out of them again, this time not by a crushing pressure but by a tight embrace.
"Rene... It's... It's really you." Her embrace was tight, and the boy could feel how she was trembling, no doubt panicked after she realized who she had held in the air.
Rene breathed in deeply as he regained his composure and straightened himself up, trying to find the right words to say, but as he tried to speak, no words came out.
For hours before arriving, he had rehearsed over and over the exact words he would say to his mother when he saw her again.
But now that it was time to say them, he simply couldn't; instead, he simply reciprocated the familiarly warm embrace.
She lifted herself up from her kneeling stance and took a step back from him, now taking a moment to look down at her son.
Rene simply stood there slightly awkward, embarrassed that he failed to speak his mind and tell her what he had repeated to himself so many times. As their gazes met, he could see the joyfully surprised look in her eyes.
Rene cleared his throat as he finally managed to speak. "I... I knew I shouldn't have come unannounced." He let out a weak chuckle as he spoke and put his hat back on.
"My... Rene... I'm so sorry." She spoke with the same regretful tone as when she had let him go; if it were anyone else foolish enough to wander into her domain, let alone unannounced, she wouldn't have thought twice about simply maiming them.
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But her own child? The very thought of even accidentally doing that to him sickened her.
"Ah... Have no worry... I'm alright, really, Mother... I'm alright." Rene smiled softly as he tried to console her; he knew it was a dumb idea to not tell her when he was going to arrive, especially after not seeing her for such a long period of time.
But another part of Rene felt it would've cheapened the surprise of his arrival.
Smiling softly at him as she took in his appearance with a prideful look in her warmly orange-colored eyes, she cleared her throat once more as she tried to compose herself before speaking.
"Dear, you've grown so much. I... I simply couldn't recognize you." She said as she slowly inched her hand closer towards his face before she softly caressed it.
Suddenly she pulled at his cheek. "And yet you are still so tiny," she said with a mocking tone in her voice as she laughed.
Rene sighed as he didn't know if she was trying to be endearing or insult his stature; he tried to remain silent and laugh along, but his own wits got the better of him.
"At least I don't get confused for a tree." Rene shook his head ever so slightly, chuckling at his own jest.
His mother stood there unamused, her usual stoic demeanor and expression returning, "Really? Is that the best you could come up with? Oh, Rene... I see you're still the same rascal you used to be."
She shook her head as she put her hand to the top of his head, messing up his hair.
"Come along now, let's get you inside. No use prancing around in the grass all day." She turned her back to Rene and began walking towards the large pale brick-walled manor in the middle of the large clearing, obviously expecting him to follow.
Rene gave up on trying to find a way to snap back at her dismissal of his joke, but he couldn't find the right words; instead, he simply sighed in defeat and started walking towards her.
She walked through the large lacquered mahogany double door at the front of the manor as Rene was still a few meters behind her.
He stood there and basked in the familiar aura of the manor as he stood on its front steps looking upwards; it was almost as if the manor was staring back at Rene as if every segmented window had turned into a thousand pairs of eyes.
The door opened by itself with a low creaking, almost as if the house was inviting Rene to enter.
He smiled to himself as he stepped inside the familiarly warm entrance hall, a nice change from the cool air outside.
Slowly taking off his smoky blue infantry coat and ornately decorated coiled pointed hat, Rene took another good look at the inside, reminiscing about all the time he spent in these halls.
Rene hung up the hat in the same spot that had waited for it for all these years, right next to his mother's even larger hat.
His coat seemed out of place on the hanger, an outstanding blue among the sea of black and gray fabrics.
"Rene? Please come to the solar once you get comfortable." His mother's voice echoed through the manor's many halls as she called for him to join her.
He looked down at his boots, knowing that the shoes he used to wear around the house were now no doubt all but a few sizes too small for him.
Pulling out a short wooden stool and placing his foot on top of it, he began cleaning off the filth from his heeled boot with a handkerchief, letting the pieces of dirt and moss fall upon the stool.
Once he was done with the left and the right boot, Rene took the stool in hand and walked back onto the stairs outside, where he put it down.
Rene focused his mind and, with a practiced speed, made two movements of his hand before pointing at the filth on the stool.
Instantaneously the moss and dirt lit ablaze with a brilliant flame, disappearing into ash and blackened burned bits.
He smirked to himself with a slight hint of pride as he threw the filth off of the stool onto the grass.
Walking back inside and wiping off the ash from the stool before he placed it back into its place, he looked down onto his now spotless boots wondering if this would be acceptable to walk around in.
But that thought was interrupted as he remembered his mother was waiting for him upstairs; with a slow pace, Rene began his walk towards the large chamber on the second floor.
The manor kept creaking and making its noises as he walked up the grand stairwell, the only other sound being the soft thud of his footsteps on the hardened wood.
Rene reached the top of the stairs and once again took a second to look around and bask in the overwhelming feeling of nostalgia.
He could swear that he could hear the distant echoes of the past itself as he continued his walk, letting his hand trace the smooth railing; with slow and measured glances, he looked fondly at each door, seeing if he could recognize where they led after not opening them for years.
He felt the stillness of the air shift as he approached the grand chamber in the north end of the second floor; he forgot how pressing of an aura his mother had.
"Carmen Corbeau is a monster!"
"Beware the great witch that resides in the blind maiden forest..."
"Carmen? You mean the witch... Don't, don't speak of her. Lest you wish to invoke her."
The words he had heard from the townsfolk were still ringing heavily in his mind.
But to him those words meant nothing; to him, Carmen wasn't a monster or a benevolent witch, nor was she some demon that would be summoned with a mere mention of her name.
To Rene she had only one title, the highest title he could bestow upon anyone or anything: Carmen was his mother.
Tracing the intricate engravings on the chamber's heavy door, Rene's hand settled on the cold iron handle in the middle.
With a slow but forceful pull, he opened one of the large doors, instantly feeling the warm, soothing breeze emanating from the lit fireplace on the right side of the room. Carmen was sitting in her large armchair, looking out of the large stained glass window.
She turned her head to look at Rene, who was in the process of slowly closing the door behind him, with a slight smile now on her face. Carmen put down her glass of wine on the table in front of her.
"Come, we have so much to discuss, my child." She pointed at the smaller armchair to her right, inviting Rene to join her.