Jimmy Stickman

Chapter 23: The Sword

Squirps' prediction was almost spot-on; they finally reached the edge of the Legendary National Forest in about an hour and 15 minutes after Jimmy had to sit down and rest. The forest was enormous, and spanned approximately 40 miles in each direction. It was a mixed forest, with large amounts of both coniferous and deciduous trees making it up. However, it was Spring, so everything was green.

"Well Jimmy, I guess this is it." Squirps said as he began to read a small tourist sign. "It says 'This is the Legendary National Forest. Thought to have grown thousands of years ago in this quiet region of the mountain range, many myths and rumors radiate from this place.

The most famous legend is one that describes the resting place of a sword belonging to a legendary family that possesses the power to save entire cities from destruction. According to these same legends, it has rested here underneath an ancient statue located somewhere within the trees for millennia, awaiting the next time where evil forces appear on Earth. Unfortunately, though, the statue has disappeared after being taken over by moss and shrubbery, so nobody knows if the statue itself even exists, so it is merely a legend, but it definitely pretty cool to know.'"

Jimmy sighed as he sat down on a fallen log. "Well now what do we do? The book never said anything about the statue being covered in moss."

"There is more, Jimmy. Listen to this: 'However, the same legends indicate that the statue would be located somewhere near the central waterfall, which is about 10 miles West from where this sign is standing.' Well that is reassuring. Even though its supposed location is quite vague, at least we don't need to survey the entire forest."

The two of them walked right passed the sign and into the forest. There was no set trail for them to follow, so they had to traverse through the intense shrubbery and vegetation. Luckily, it was still daytime, so seeing was no problem.

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The forest was very quiet. There were trees everywhere, so they had to walk very slowly and carefully to ensure that they did not run into anything. Some spots were more open than others, while some were so tight that they needed to crawl underneath branches and logs in order to get through.

The only thing that they could do now was make their way through the trees and hope that they soon found the waterfall.

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After a couple more miles of travelling, Jimmy and Squirps finally arrived at the waterfall. It was even more tranquil and soothing there than any other part of the forest.

"Well then, shall we begin searching for the statue?" Jimmy asked.

"Yep." Squirps replied back as he looked diagonally upward to a tall rock formation. "I would imagine that it would look something like this: tall and humanoidish." He said as he pointed to it.

Jimmy then walked closer to inspect the odd formation of rock, which was approximately 20 meters away from the edge of the water that the waterfall fed into.

When he got close to it, he touched it; it was very smooth, despite being taken-over by moss and vines in most areas. Upon even closer inspection, he was able to make out what appeared to be "legs" on the bottom half of the formation. "Squirps, feel this!"

Squirps touched it with his right hand and also noticed the oddity of the region. "This feels like legs to me. Could this perhaps be the statue?"