This story is of long ago, when the lands of the earth were not quite as tamed as they are today. The story takes place in a little town known as Endelhiam. Our story is of two brave young boys out to save a town and its people. Their names were Zach and Jake.

Endelhiam was in a valley in the mountain range of Halloosha. This mountain range was forbidden to all the people of the village by the elders, for whoever had tried to enter this mountain range had never returned. Last year, the villagers were very happy and having their annual harvest festival. The people were dancing and singing in the streets of the little village. The time was getting very late, so the parents had sent the children to their cottages to go to sleep. When the children had awakened in the morning, the elders and most of the parents were gone. Just a few mothers and fathers were left, and only the children remained to fend for themselves. Zach and Jake looked all around the village for their mother and father, but there was no sign of anyone's parents.

"What has happened to all the parents in the village, Zach?" asked Jake in wonderment. "Do you think that they are just playing a little game with us? You know, like hide-and-seek?"

"I would not think that all the parents would go for an all-out hide-and-seek game from their children," said Zach.

"Then where are they?" questioned Jake, with a little quiver in his voice.

The two boys were very good boys; they always helped their mother and father as much as they could. Zach, being the older of the two brothers, said, "Jake, we must go and see the other children or whoever is left in the village." As the boys went from house to house, they found that all the children were still in their houses. They were afraid to come out without their parents. At four of the houses, there were four of the mothers that had left the festival early to tend to their children. As Zach and Jake talked to the mothers, not one of them knew what could have happened to the rest of the parents.

"It's getting cool outside, Jake. We must go to the forest and gather some firewood to keep the other children and the mothers warm," said Zach. In the forest, Zach and Jake were busy gathering firewood when all of a sudden, Zach said, "Jake, I have a great idea!"

"So tell me what this great idea that you have is?" Jake said with a bit of wonderment in his voice.

"We will go see the oldest man in our village, Halamar," said Zach.

"Halamar! Have you lost your mind?" Jake said with a quivering voice.

When the two boys had finished gathering the wood in large bundles, they made their way back to the village and toward the other end of the village to where Halamar's cottage stood. Jake began to slow down.

"Come on, slowpoke. You aren't getting cold feet, are you?" yelled Zach.

"I'm not afraid of anything or anyone!" cried Jake.

At this, Jake began to run as fast as he could go toward the door of Halamar's cottage. Just as Jake began to knock on the door, the door flew wide open. There stood Halamar, a wrinkled old man, with his eyes closed and his hands over his eyes.

"Come in! Come in!" hollered Halamar.

As Zach and Jake entered into the room, they could barely see. The windows were covered tightly with flour sacks, so not one speck of daylight could be seen. When their eyes had adjusted to the very little light that was coming from a candle that was sitting in the middle of the room, they saw the old man, a goat, a cat, and a parrot.

"I have been expecting you boys," said Halamar.

"Expecting us?" asked Jake. "How did you even know we were coming? We have been looking for our mother and father and the rest of the villagers."

"I know. I know," said Halamar. "I, the great Halamar, know everything."

"Well, let us know where they are so we may go to them," said Jake.

"Well, it is not that easy, my boy!" Halamar exclaimed. "First, you must take the time to listen to me, and then you two boys will have to work out a plan. It will be very dangerous."

"Why should we trust you, old man? Everyone in the village says you are crazy or possessed," said Zach.

"That's because no one has seen me out and around in the daylight for over twenty-five years," Halamar explained. "I am going to tell you boys a secret that you must keep to yourselves and promise never to reveal to anyone, not even to your parents. That's if we are going to be able to save them."

"What! To save them? Old man, what are you talking about?" said Zach.

"Well, let me start from the beginning. About twenty-five years ago, the mean Wizards of Tylonia came to see me. These wizards are a large group of mean and evil sorcerers that had scattered over the lands in small groups, trying to take over for their own greed and personal gains. They had come to see me to join their evil group, for I am the last of the good Wizards of Sylonia. I had told them that I was not interested in any such nonsense and that they should depart from my cottage. For in small groups, all the magic that they have cannot stand up to the great power and magic that has been bestowed on me and all that I have learned in the last one hundred and seventy-three years. You see, as a Sylonian Wizard dies, his power is passed down to the rest, and by now, I am the last. Then all the Tylonians came to see me with their entire coven and demanded that I join their cult. I refused, so they combined all their powers to force me into accepting their offer. But my magic was too strong, and they could not bend my will. This made them very angry. So together they put a spell on me that if I should ever step outside of my cottage in the daylight, I would be blinded forever."

"So that's why you answered the door with your eyes closed and covered up," said Jake.

"Yes, that's right. I work my garden after everyone else has gone to bed, and all the rest of the villagers think I'm crazy or mean and evil. I am the one who put the signs at the base of the mountains to warn others to stay away. For you see, the Tylonian Wizards have taken control of the entire mountain range to do their evil. I fear that they have taken all the older villagers to be their slaves. They left the younger people to grow up to take the places of the slaves who will die."

"Jake and I are not going to stand around and see our parents and friends be turned into slaves for anyone!" exclaimed Zach. "But is there not a magic spell that will help you to break the evil spell that they have put on you?"

"There is only one way that the spell that possesses me can be broken, and that is the juice of the purple Candenberry, which only grows on the high mountain range. I could go to get the berries myself, but once I step foot on their mountain, I will lose all my powers until I am home again. The catch to this is it takes at least two days to get there, and by sunlight, I will have already gone blind and be at the mercy of the Tylonians."

The boys sat quietly and listened to Halamar as he explained the right paths that the two boys must take to get at least a fighting chance to get to their parents, let alone rescue them. As Halamar talked, the sun began to go down beyond the mountains.

"First, you must take the highland road to the three-point road and then veer to the right, looking only for a square-shaped rock. At this rock, you must start looking for a very large needle plant," explained Halamar.

"A needle plant?" yelled Jake. "How are we supposed...