the feywilds
.the feywilds are a... controversial topic to say the least.
every time i bring this up on this blog, or they get mentioned in some other form, the comments are always all over the place. believers who insist the wilds are real, along with a few who tell their experiences, and those who say that they're nothing more than a bedtime story to tell to kids.
and after years of these comments, i felt it time to tell my story.
i, as you've probably noticed, believe very strongly in the feywilds. to me, the wilds are always a plauisible theory, and even as a child they seemed like more than just a fairytale.
of course, i also started cryptid hunting at a young age. my father was an entomologist and always encouraged me to find the truth for myself. so when i expressed a want to investigate magic, he saw it as little more than child's play and took me out on trips with him. he looked for bugs and i, as young as six, looked for the fae.
the fae are some of the first creatures that teachers discredit.
overly excited five and six year olds want to know more about the tricksters and pranksters they've heard about every night before bed. their hopes are crushed. but i stayed hopeful.
it wasn't until the second grade that this hope paid off.
well, paid off is an odd term to use. that my hope was proven, perhaps?
not one to be told what was true by authority figures (after all, id grown up learning to verify everything i could) i kept looking. many weekends of my youth were spent in the forests around my house. recently, however, my father had trusted me enough to let me go further. in the second grade, i got a nice watch with a compass on it and the freedom to go a little further than i'd gone before. i knew how lucky i was. so i wasn't going to ruin that. so my cheap little phone and i went out further into the woods.
when you're young, you think you're fearless. so i kept walking. a straight line so i could always turn back.
i'd been told not to go out past the big oak tree and to never go off the path.
i mentioned i had an issue with authority, right?
i walked off the path just past the big oak tree. armed with my water bottle, my little backpack with bugspray, my watch with a compass, and a few packs of gummy fruit snacks in case i got hungry.
i'd probably been walking for two, maybe three hours at this point when i saw it. a little glimmer of light. i was a lot further than i should have been, but that shimmering purple light was enough to bring all the energy back into me. i ran towards it and saw a little crack in the ground. carefully (i wasn't trying to get hurt) i peeked over the edge.
the flash of light hurt. it stung my eyes and burned my face and i fell forward.
i fell into the feywilds. this might sound like a tall tale, but i came out of there with an appreciation for nature, an ability to do magic (seemingly random magic), and a stripe of bright color in my otherwise normal hair.
i came to sitting on the ground with my backpack just a few feet out of my backyard.
ask my dad, he'll tell you i was gone an hour. ask me? i was in there for days.
don't fall for the fey's tricks, i knew this one from a young age, and don't let them get to you.
one helped me out, but i might have been lucky. maybe one of these days i'll tell you the full story. but for now, and to make sure i stay safe, i'll close this blog entry here.
let me know if you've had a similar experience, we'll compare.
as always, stay safe and stay hidden readers
j.