Whispering Woods

Oakwood had always boast of its historical and cultural attachment in the most exquisite way possible. Located in the centre of Whispering Woods, it was an establishment which applied both traditions and the newest tendencies. However, the craze started wearing off as years advanced while the ties of the town with the old world seemed to be loosening up gradually. The tales were suppressed, the rites performed were seen as conventional and the places of worship and sanctuaries were abandoned.

This was until the end credit scene in the summer of 2024, when a group of enthusiasts chanced upon an ancient manuscript in the town’s Records Office. They learned that the manuscript contained the remembrance of the lost solstice ceremony which their ancestors of the town used to perform on the day of summer solstice. The event commonly referred to as the ‘Dance of the Golden Light’ was believed to capture sun at its highest and bring in wealth, balance, and shield to the town and its inhabitants.

Curiosity overpowered them and as a result the group chose to continue with the ritual much as the townspeople looked at them with a lot of disbelief. For several weeks they rehearse until the choreography of dance movements, manage to sew the costumes by hand in the traditional way, and collecting herbs and flowers for the ceremony.

And lastly on the morning of the solstice; the people of the town assemble at the pagan site, a small glade encircled by great oaks. The atmosphere was filled with suspense on what would follow as soon as the group started dancing, in what could be described as a choreographed one. The sun also rose high in the sky as the heat intensify the outcome of the occasions.

At the moment the dance was at its merry peak there was this curious development of the situation. Gradually a faint golden light appeared initially from the center of the circle which gradually became intense. Heel by heel, it raged and sorted out the dancers and covered the whole town. Windows were opened and they shone like if candles were lit inside, flowers opened up and there was the smell of honey and lavender in the air.

The townspeople which saw the beauty of the play, have a feeling that they are closely united. People greeted each other despite not knowing one another and hatred that was once present between families of Oakwood was left in the past. The golden light stayed around for hours giving the town the somewhat supernatural feel.

Looking at the matters that unfolded in the following days, one can suss out that there were changes, however minor, but crucial in the same degree. That’s why crops were growing as if it were a weed, the river was ‘transparent’ and the sky appeared to be a darker shade of blue. The animals in the town were also not spared; birds sang in the same tune and predator slept right next to their food sources.

Word went round that Oakwood was the place to be for the miraculous ritual worked by the men of God and, people went from nearby towns and cities to come and be blessed by the group. The once deserted and forgotten town became the new living hope and symbolic representation of unity and togetherness.

The reenactment of the ancient solstice ritual had been revealed a force, a force that was not of this world, science, and logic. It recalled to the people of Oakwood that there are some things that cannot be understood and that indeed all that was needed was a sprinkling of belief and a twirl in the golden beams for a change.

Ever since that day the Dance of the Golden Light was performed at Oakwood and it was a symbol of the traditions, people’s unity, as well as the enchantment of life found beyond the veil of mundane existence.