The Three Keys - The First Key

This book is titled "The Three Keys - the First". It is the story of a small girl by the name of Aiven and what when she is given three separate keys.

As Aiven woke up that morning, she felt the day would bring her all manner of exciting surprises. But this was a common feeling, her being a girl of only ten years. She had already learned that discoveries could be found anywhere if you just went looking. What she didn't know was that that today, those discoveries would come looking for her.

After she helped her mother around the farm for most of the morning, Aiven asked if she could go play. She listened patiently to all the warnings her mother recited to her, for she had heard them all before. With a final "I will, Mom", she sprinted off to explore, with not a second thought to what her mother said. After all, how dangerous could a troll actually be?

As Aiven engrossed herself in a rousing game of "What's Under This Rock?", she lost all track of time. Even though her mother had told her to be home well before sunset on penalty of the switch, she paid little attention to the lengthening shadows. Not until one stole over her rather quickly did she finally look up, only to see what - or who - was casting the shadow.

Standing in front of her was an old woman wearing odd robes. She asked Aiven, "What is it, little girl, that you are looking for?" Aiven instantly remembered all the warnings her mother gave her, especially the ones about little girls being sold to the dark elves. "Interesting things," she replied, at which time the old woman smiled.

"If you are seeking things of interest, then these will help you open the way to finding them," the old woman said, and handed Aiven a small pouch. Inside were three keys, one copper, one silver, and one gold. "But what doors do they unlock?" she asked. "Many exciting discoveries," the old woman said warmly. Aiven looked up to ask what the old woman meant, but she saw that she had vanished without a trace.

Aiven decided it was now a good time to go home. As she turned around, she was surprised to see a door standing right behind her. Not pausing to question how that was even possible, she quickly tried the keys, knowing this was no mere coincidence. The first one she tried opened the door right away. Looking inside, she saw the most interesting sights she had ever witnessed.

Entranced by what she saw, Aiven stepped inside the door. Floating all around her were oddly shaped rocks, straw-stuffed poppets, and bowls of flavored iced creams. Inside this enormous room was everything she could ever want! Just as she was about to start eating some of the iced creams, she noticed an adjoining room connected to this one. She thought, "If this room contains so many wonders, what does the next room hold?"

In the next room, she saw someone who looked like her older sister. If she had one, that is. The young maiden was locked in an embrace with a young man wearing a suit of shining armor. As they were about to kiss each other, Aiven exclaimed, "Ewww! Boys are icky!" At that moment, Aiven noticed that behind the couple was even another room. She sidestepped the two, let out another "ewww", and walked into the next room

In this room, she saw a smiling woman who looked a lot like her mother. Standing around the woman were several girls of different ages. The more she looked, the more she thought the girls looked a little like her. And though she couldn't exactly explain why, Aiven thought the room felt like "Happy". Aiven, feeling she was interrupting something, turned around to leave - at which point she smacked her face into a tree trunk.

As Aiven rubbed her bruised nose, she gave the tree a good pound with her fist. The tree then said, "No need to be rude." Aiven looked up and saw that is was not a tree after all, but rather a gigantic one-eyed man. He peered down at her with his one eye and said, "You unlocked the door to your heart. People usually never leave the first room they enter. Do you want to unlock the next door?"


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Source: Ingame book