The elusive dream

A young girl grows up dreaming of an elusive bird that seems to beckon her to follow it deeper into the woods shrouded in secrets.

No matter how hard she tries, however, the bird always disappears beyond the shadows and mist before she can reach it. The girl is haunted by the dream year after year, as it seems the bird always returns with a call so eerie and ominous that she cannot simply ignore it.

As the years pass and the girl ages from child to woman, she now finds herself a mother. Still, however, the bird returns as always, in her dreams. Then, one day when out in the woods with her own daughter, she finally sees the bird from her dreams and it calls out just as clear and eerily as the many times in her own dreams. But she now realizes that her dreams were not of her following after the bird, but perhaps her daughter!

Excitedly, she urges her daughter to see if the bird will let her follow it. She follows with her daughter into the woods and the bird strangely stops to let them catch up before it continues on a mysterious path.

Before long, they come to a beautiful meadow where the bird lands in an ancient oak tree that stands tall in the middle of the vast landscape. The bird has come to its nest and within the meticulously crafted nest are a clutch of eggs as brilliant as jewels. The bird sings a melody so haunting just before it lays on its eggs, leaving a chill to their bones.

Curious of the wonder before them, they look around the meadow and find a hidden treasure nestled in the grass just below the nest of the mysterious bird. 
After unlocking the treasure, they discover that it is the key to helping the bird and her babies. They offer this treasure to the bird and when it takes it to its nest, she offers it to her eggs. The eggs glow brightly and begin to hatch. Three beautiful birds emerge from the eggs which now become a dull glow, and sing so brightly that the mother bird replies with a most beautiful sound they never heard before. 

When the mother and her babies all sing in harmony, the old Oak begins to crack and reveal an enchanted city within it, full of magical creatures. It is in the magic city within the Oak that the bird and her babies truly belong, and the mother and daughter who have helped them get there are beckoned once more to travel with them into this amazing world where they can live as faerie helping the creatures thrive.

Word count: 452