The lone girl’s footsteps echoed as she walked through another tunnel, hoping that this time it would be different; that the scenery in front of her eyes would finally change. A sigh escaped her lips as she walked out of the tunnel and was met with the same sight she had probably seen at least a hundred times by now.

The same verdant grass with nothing else on its surface besides…grass.

The same four identical tunnels that spread out in all four directions: north, south, east, and west.

The same feeling of disappointment.

Everything was the same.

There Seulgi was, walking through the Lost Woods even though she was explicitly told not to go there. She should have heeded the warnings. That’s what a responsible person would have done, but how could Seulgi do that when she could hear the whispers of the forest call out to her? There was something inside her bones that told her to leave the confines of her treehouse, to go beyond the boundaries she was told to respect all throughout her life, and explore.

There was something about being told to not do something that made her want to do it even more.

It wasn’t like Seulgi consciously enjoyed doing what she was told not to do; she was just a curious girl that wanted to know more about the world around her. It was bad enough that she, along with the other Kokiri, weren’t allowed to venture beyond the boundaries of their village. The least she could do was take advantage of every opportunity to explore her home and the areas around it.

But that same adventurous spirit sometimes got Seulgi into sticky situations: like the time she was wandering through the village and lifted up a rock, only to almost get bit by a bug. Or the time she was playing hero and was hitting a bush with a deku stick, pretending she was fighting against some imaginary enemy, but found out that the bush wasn’t a bush at all; it was an angry deku scrub. (She went home with many fresh bruises that day.)

But those times were nothing like what she was experiencing in the Lost Woods. She had been walking for who know’s how long, going through tunnels and seemingly walking around in circles. It seemed like no matter which direction she walked, she still was stuck in the same place. But the ache in her legs told her that she had indeed walked a great distance despite not really going anywhere.

The Lost Woods were called the Lost Woods for a reason it seemed.

Seulgi wiped the sweat off her brow with the back of her hand and groaned in frustration. How could she have been so stupid? She should’ve just listened to the others and stayed away, but no, she just had to be curious about the world. And that curious nature led to her current predicament.

She was lost. Hopelessly, utterly lost. And it seemed like that wasn't going to change anytime soon.

The girl in green slowly walked out of the tunnel, dragging her boots along the ground the whole way until she made it towards the middle of the patch of grass and before unceremoniously plopping herself on the ground.  She sat up, legs spread out in front of her for few moments before deciding that she would rather lie on her back. Her body was screaming at her to rest and she obliged. Thankfully there was a light breeze that was flowing. It wasn’t much, but a weak breeze was better than no breeze in her opinion.

The young Kokiri stayed lying on the ground, allowing her body to rest for a few moments. Her once neat and properly tied ponytail became undone after walking forever and was reduced to a mess. She could feel the blades of grass prickling against her exposed legs which were only covered up to just above her thighs by her skirt. Her arms were beginning to feel itchy too due to her sleeves only reaching to just above her elbow. Normally she would’ve tried to do something about it, but she was too exhausted to do that. She wasn’t at her full strength; not after all the walking she did.

Her eyelids were feeling heavy and threatened to fall down at any moment. To say that Seulgi was tired would have been an understatement; she was absolutely exhausted. But she couldn’t allow herself to fall asleep. Not in this unfamiliar place.

Oh how she wished she was in her bed. Her soft, comfortable bed that always carried her off to dreamland and made her feel safe. To think she left it all behind just to go on an adventure…

Going on adventures sounded easier in the stories that the Guardian of the Forest , the Great Deku Tree, told. Stories of courageous heroes who fought against the forces of evil and sealed it away with the help of the sword of legend. Seulgi didn’t think that going adventures would be so hard to accomplish in reality.

Right when both of her eyelids were starting to close, Seulgi slapped herself and they immediately snapped open. She didn’t usually slap herself out of the blue like that, but if she didn’t, she would’ve fell asleep. She couldn’t risk it, especially being in the Lost Woods of all places. It was unknown territory.

I better get up before I fall asleep…

Seulgi lifted herself up off the ground and got into a cross-legged sitting position on the grass. She reached behind her head and lightly tugged at her long green cap before taking it off altogether. It was too hot for her to be wearing it.

“Way to go, Seulgi. You got yourself lost,” she sighed while fanning herself with her cap. “What do I do now…?”

Seulgi took a moment to take a breath, pause and look at her surroundings. There were four tunnels in each direction around her. It didn’t help at all that each tunnel looked exactly the same as the other ones: large hollowed out tree stumps that were mysteriously held together by walls of stone and dirt.

She wondered how they were made and made a mental note to ask the Great Deku Tree about it later. Whether he would actually answer or not was a different thing altogether.

She looked upwards, view partially blocked by numerous tree branches and leaves, but even so Seulgi could see that the sky was still blue as ever. At least it was still daylight. The lone adventurer didn’t even want to think about the possibility of having to spend the night in the woods. They may have been connected to her home, but they were still foreign to her, and probably the rest of the other Kokiri as well.

Then it hit her. What if she really got lost and could never find her way back home? Tales of those who got lost said they roamed the woods forever and turned into monsters or got eaten by monsters. She didn’t know what was worse: getting eaten by a monster or turning into one. Both options didn’t sound appealing.

Fear creeped into her heart. Seulgi didn’t want to meet any monsters, much less turn into one. She very much liked being herself. A normal Kokiri girl. Well almost normal…she still didn’t have a fairy, a lifelong companion and teacher, like everyone else in the village after all.

But if Seulgi got lost….that would mean she’d never see her again. The mere thought of it made her want to cry. She could feel her eyes get watery, threatening to spill any moment.

Yeri…

But the young girl shook it off; she didn’t have time to cry. That wasn’t going to help her get back home. If anything, it would be a waste of time and energy. She needed to do something productive. Seulgi was not going to let herself stay stuck in the forest. She was going to get back home or die trying.

“Well I won’t get anywhere by just sitting here. I have to do something.”

With renewed strength and hope, Seulgi got up off the ground and wiped off some dirt that managed to get on her legs. She did some stretches before walking confidently into the tunnel ahead of her, entering another cross-tunnel path that looked the same as the last and the one before that.

Seulgi went right, left, forwards, and right again, but to no avail. It seemed like she was always sent back to the same place no matter what direction she went.

She clenched her fists. There was no point in denying reality: she was still lost. No progress was made. She just ended up right where she started. 

Right when she was going to scream in frustration, her ears perked up and she turned her head towards the tunnel on her right.

Sounds that she never heard before were coming from it. They sounded close yet far away at the same time.

An echo...?

They weren’t bad sounds; they sounded strangely…pleasant. Similar to the sounds of those grass flutes Seulgi sometimes made for fun, but they sounded different. Not a bad kind of different, but a good type. They sounded richer.

Seulgi didn’t know why, but she felt like she needed to investigate and figure out what was creating those sounds. Something was telling her to go to where those sounds were coming from.

It wouldn't have hurt to look. It wasn't like she had anything better to do anyways besides continue to be lost in woods. What was the worst that could happen? Nothing came to her mind.

She took a few steps forward towards the tunnel to her right, but stopped herself from taking another one. There was one thing that could be an issue.

What if the stories were true and there were monsters lurking around the forest? What would she do? Yell at it to go away and hope it does what its told nicely? The young Kokiri had never encountered a monster before, but from what she heard from the stories, they were not friendly.

Seulgi reached into the side pocket in her skirt and pulled out the closest thing she had to weapon in her possession: a small slingshot. That was it. There was nothing particularly special about the slingshot save for the messily carved “Seulgi” on the handle. It was just a regular slingshot anyone could buy from the local shopkeeper if they possessed enough rupees to do so.

It was good for shooting objects from a distance. Granted, it was limited in how far it could hit targets, but it was still useful. Seulgi has used it time and time again whenever she wanted a fruit that was far up in a tree and had no way of getting it down by climbing.

But just because she had her trusty slingshot didn’t mean everything was okay. She didn’t have any deku seeds, or even rocks, in her possession to throw at whatever monster lurked about. What good was a slingshot if it didn’t have any ammunition? The most she could do with it would maybe use it to poke the monster in the eyes, but even then that was a bit of a stretch.

She should have thought about preparing herself better before rushing into the Lost Woods without any sort of plan besides to see why the Great Deku Tree didn’t want anyone to go there. But it was too late to start cursing at herself for blinding running into the woods. Seulgi needed to take action: starting with finding something she could use to defend herself if needed.

She was not going to be some monster’s dinner. Not without a fight.

“I need something else…”

Seulgi scanned her surroundings, taking great care to look for anything that could potentially be used a weapon (at least one better than the tiny slingshot she carried with her.)

There was a rock on the ground next to one of the tunnels that was about the size of her fist, but she shook her head. That wouldn’t do.

Carrying a bunch of rocks around wouldn’t have been feasible. They’d tear right through the pockets in her tunic. Not only that, they’d weigh her down. The bear was tired enough as it was; she didn’t need to feel more exhausted hauling around a bunch of rocks with her.

She turned around and looked more closely until her eyes found a stray deku stick on the ground. Curious, Seulgi walked up to it and picked it up, shaking it in case there were any stray bugs on it. When she saw that the deku stick was clear of any insect life, she swung it around the air a few times, hearing the wind crack with each slash. The stick itself wasn’t much, but it was better than nothing. Honestly if she hit the stick on a rock with all of her strength, it’d probably break in half, but that was beside the point. At least if she encountered a monster, she’d have some kind of weapon to fight back with. Anything was better than not having any weapon at all in her opinion.

If only she had a sword just like the great heroes of legend….

She gripped the deku stick tightly with both hands and held it in front of her similar to how the swordsman in the stories she heard about would carry a sword. The young warrior did a few practice swings before walking cautiously towards the direction where the sounds were coming from.

With sweaty palms and a loudly thumping heart, she treaded forward, preparing herself mentally and physically for what she might encounter.

Bring it on, monsters.

As soon as the thought passed through her head, Seulgi suddenly felt something crawl up her arm. Was it a stray leaf? She turned her head to see what was touching her and her blood ran cold.

Nope. It wasn’t a leaf. It was something far, far worse even if it was tinier than her.

The creature that always appeared in her nightmares and caused her to wake upin a cold sweat everytime. 

It was a Skulltula, a common type of spider that she had encountered numerous times throughout her life and still hated to see every time. The spider was easily recognizable by it’s body which looked like an angry skull; except it was a skull with fangs, eight legs, and liked to pop out at random times.

Seulgi screamed as she ran around in circles while wildly shaking her arm up and down, trying her best to get the disgusting spider off of her as fast as she could. But the spider was being stubborn and clung on for dear life.

At least until Seulgi remembered that she had a stick in her hand. She raised the stick up high before giving a hard whack on her arm, fully intending to squash the disgusting creature. She winced in pain after striking; she didn’t intend on hitting herself as well, but it happened.

Seulgi may not have killed the spider on her arm, but she was able to hit the Skulltula off of her and caused it to fall on the ground. The small Skulltula scurried away quickly, vanishing into one of the tunnels.

Seulgi breathed a sigh of relief after seeing the spider disappear and off of her arm. She hated those things with a passion. They grossed her out.

Good thing it didn’t bite me…I think.

She didn't feel anything sharp bite into her skin. The only pain she felt was from when she inadvertedly hit herself with the deku stick. But even so, she couldn’t help but rub the red spot on her forearm. It hurt.

Seulgi didn't even want to imagine what would have happened if she was waving around a real sword instead of a stick. That would have been very....messy to say the least. She made a mental note to practice swinging more in the future and improve her accuracy.

After taking a deep breath to calm herself down, Seulgi walked through the tunnel. And she continued walking through mor