As the day wore on the forest around Sparrow began to grow denser and denser, until at times he had to burn his way through.

The problem with burning is it used up some of his energy and the forest was so thick that the whole time he wasn't able to find anything to eat, the roots in the trees and the plants were unfamiliar to him so he couldn’t eat them. There were no animals in the thickness of the forest other than bright red dart frogs that looked far more trouble than they were worth.

Sparrow's stomach grumbled and his mood slowly changed from excitement to a morbid waiting around for a meal to show up.

Eventually, Sparrow lost the river and sight of any of the mountains. He was wandering blind. Trying to push forward and unable to fly through the thick forest canopy.

Darkness hit, he wrapped his robe around him and slipped into a fitful sleep accompanied by the croaks of the poison dart frogs.

In the morning, feeling weak, he continued to worm his way through the forest until he pushed aside a couple of vines and fell forwards into a heavenly green valley with the sun shining on it.

Grass, vegetables and fruit trees were growing in the centre. It was like a little heaven on earth. He ran over to an apple, ripped it from the tree and started eating it in big chunky gulps. The sweet juice dribbled down his chin. Next was a baby turnip pulled straight from an immaculate vegetable garden. He chowed down on it and was instantly reminded of his grandma back at home.

His brain only got a moment or two for reflection before his stomach took over again. He grabbed some carrots and brushed the dirt off, then munched them down. There were mandarins that he didn't even bother peeling, just split in two and drank down the juice and pulp.

The sugars pushed up his energy levels. He repeated the process only this time with passionfruit and breadfruit and all manner of berries until he was so stuffed that he laid back in the grass and had a little sleep in the sun.

He woke to a man's voice, 'So... our little valley has a visitor.'

Sparrow shot up to a sitting position. His stomach gave a rumble - it hadn't enjoyed the fruit overdose. In front of him stood a tall man with long hair and a girl about Sparrow's age with burn marks across the right side of her face. They both wore bandannas around their necks.

‘Looks like you've been enjoying a bit of our produce,’ the man said.

'More like a lot,' the girl added.

Sparrow rubbed his eyes, his stomach gave another rumble,

'Sorry,' Sparrow said, ‘I just came out of...' he gestured to the wilderness behind them '...out of the whatever the hell that was and I hadn't eaten for days and I was just super hungry and if I knew this was someone's place, I wouldn't have but...' Sparrow patted his pockets. 'If you've got some more food, some real food, like bread I'd be happy to trade a coin or two for it.'

The man raised an eyebrow, 'How old are you kid?'

Sparrow frowned, 'I don't know.' He tried to think back to when he'd been taken to the Academy. Back home birthdays weren't particularly celebrated. 'I don't know.'

‘Well,’ the man said, 'We get almost no visitors here - that's part of the reason we chose this place.' The man glanced at the girl and then back at Sparrow 'How does someone as young as my daughter end up in these parts alone?’

Sparrow just shrugged. 'It's a long story and a kind of boring one. It involves an alarm clock, a mountain...' he waved his hands in the air, 'Anyway, it's a long story. If you've got some food, I'm happy to make a trade and then I'll keep going on my way.'

The girl laughed. 'You're awfully confident aren't you? The forest on the other side is almost as bad as the one you came through.'

Sparrow swallowed. ‘Well, I guess I'll fly then.’

The father and the daughter laughed. But the father looked a little uneasy. 'Maddie, put that soup on, maybe some bread. The man held out a hand to Sparrow, 'I'm Don.'

'Sparrow.' Sparrow grabbed the man's hand and the man pulled him to his feet.

They walked down the small valley together and toward a small, wooden house.

‘After my wife died Maddie and I moved here to escape the world.’

‘Right…’ Sparrow said.

Don stared at him, 'You were joking about the flying thing right?’

Spare shrugged. 'Sure.'

The man pulled a diamond-shaped medallion from around his neck, ‘Are you a follower of the Lord Kolja?’

Sparrow shook his head, he wondered about leaving, but then his stomach gave another rumble. This lunch better be good. He thought.

Don stopped - laid the medallion on the ground face up and did a little dance around it.

‘Kolja be praised!” he yelled, ‘May your pasta simmer evermore. May your sauce be thick, thank you for bringing this wanderer to us. We will show him that your spaghetti is eternal.’

Sparrow laughed and Don grinned back at him, ‘See! You like the Kolja dance!’

Don picked up his medallion and patted Sparrow on the back, ‘Let’s go get some soup.’

The soup and bread were steaming hot and filled Sparrow’s belly. Maddie and Don were interesting company - they wore colanders on their heads the entire time they ate, and they discussed economics, art, and the world outside the mountains.

After the meal, they got up and did another dance around the medallion.

Maddie held out her hand to Sparrow as they danced, she had a big, toothy smile. Sparrow just shook his head, ‘I don't really dance.’

Both Maddie and Don stopped dancing.

‘Now that is a shame,’ Don said.

‘A damn shame,’ Maddie added.

The pair of them stared at each other, then reached down and grabbed Sparrow, pulling him to his feet. Sparrow started to laugh as Don spun him around and Maddie linked her arm in his.

The dance finished and Maddie and Don bowed, ‘Kolja be praised!’

Sparrow just laughed again. The food was good, and the people were crazy.

‘You’re welcome to stay as long as you like Sparrow,’ Don said, ‘Anyone who dances before Kolja is automatically a friend!’

Sparrow smiled, ‘Thanks…’ He thought about the valley, how small it was. There’s not much to learn here. ‘Thanks, but I think I’ll keep travelling.’

The smile fell from Don’s face, and Maddie fidgeted with her bandanna.

‘Okay,’ Don said and held out his hand, ‘Thanks for stopping by. Maddie will take you to a path that will lead you from the valley.’

Sparrow nodded. They walked out of the hut in silence. Maddie kept her eyes on the ground as they walked.

She led Sparrow to a thick weave of trees, she gently bent them apart, revealing a tiny pathway between the trees.

They walked through the trees for a while, then she turned to him, eyes still on the ground.

‘Sorry.’

Sparrow folded his arms, ‘For what?’

‘That we’re so weird.’

‘No - you’re not that weird. Besides, that’s not the reason I’m leaving.’

‘Why then?’

He stared past her, on the side of the path was a large, dark cave with vines and branches weaved across the entrance.

‘Hold on a moment,’ Sparrow said, ‘What’s that?’

He pushed past her and stared up at it.

‘It’s nothing,’ she said, ‘just an old cave.’

‘It looks cool.’

‘Dad put those branches and vines there. We’re not allowed to go in.’

‘Huh?’ Sparrow pulled a branch away from the entrance, ‘Have you ever wondered why?’

She looked both ways, checking to see if anyone was around, ‘Magic.’

‘Magic? What’s wrong with magic?’

She frowned, ‘It’s banned, the only one with real power is our god Kolja. Anything else is black magic.’

Sparrow snorted and ripped away some vines that someone had tied onto the branches with rope, ‘What a load of rubbish.’

She gasped and grabbed his arm, ‘I’m serious. Sparrow, please. Please don’t go in there. Dad hates magic - if he finds out you went in…’

The side of her face, where her burn marks were, grew redder and redder. Sparrow stopped pulling at the branches, ‘Okay… okay… I won’t go in.’

Sparrow stared at the cave, there was something inside that made his hair stand up, ‘Although… maybe I’ll stay a night in the valley.’

****

It was night in the hut when Sparrow quietly shifted his blanket aside and got to his feet. He glanced at the rooms next to him - there were no doors. He spotted Don snoring softly in his room, and Maddie curled up in her bed.

He carefully opened the front door and slipped out into the dew-covered grass of the valley. After navigating the path he found the cave, shifted a few of the pieces of vine and branches that Don had weaved in front of it and then clambered in on his hands and knees through the hole.

Inside, the runes on the wall were shining. He ran his fingers over them. They were stone runes. Some master had carved them straight into the side of the cave.

The runes gave the practitioner the ability to use stone skin, which made the cultivator's skin as strong and as impenetrable as stone. Sparrow grinned - he'd been shot with arrows far too many times in his young life. It was time that all came to an end.

He cleared away rocks from a spot in the middle of the cave, lowered his hands to his waist and bent into a mountain pose. A small grin played over his face. He spent the entire night practising the stone runes and slipped into bed just as the sun started to rise.