Fantasy Into the Forest

[Capricornus]

"Nice to meet you... Fenris. My name's Aora. Aora DeWitt. I'm a normal human and yes, I'm from outside, a small village, not too far from the forest entrance.


... About the other people of my kind understanding you... If I can, the other humans should also be able too... Right?", she answered.


Fenris seemed to know a lot about this forest, so she couldn't hold herself back and had to ask.


"Hey,... Are those rumors, about the dead, about the curses and demos, are they... true?"

 

[AnimusLight]

Fenris huffs similar to a laugh. "They are rumors on the outside?" he asks a bit baffled. "There are demons of some sort in areas of the forest that are corrupted by malicious spirits. All the plants have lost their color and black haze appears at random times. My pack has avoid those area for years and I also suggest never to set foot there too. Curses... I believe are usually from the witches that have odd wooden shelter as their homes and magical-beings who wish to harm another with the usage of less magic and more dark practices."


He thinks for a while then continues, "The dead you speak of, most carcasses are returned to be part of the forest but if still attached to the living the dead will turn into malicious spirits. The elders always told us that we all must die without regrets or be stuck here forever in the afterlife."


"By the way, are there more of your kind?" asks the wolf.

 

[Capricornus]

"Well yes, there are actually a lot of humans in this world" she said jokingly. "But yes there are others here in this forest. I've followed them to the entrance. I had almost fallen asleep when I suddendly heard someone running into the forest. I thought the whole group had moved forward, but when I walked deeper into the forest, I was lost... I don't know where they are and if they actually went into the forest or if I was wrong and mistook the sound for something different.", Aora answered.

 

[AnimusLight]

"Hmmm..." Fenris lists his priorities before saying, "Aora, the trees tricks you into entering the forest deeper to its heart. This isn't the best place to stay now that I know there are still trees like that around here. We should head to the pond I discovered not too far from here. Can you stand?" he asks while he gets up.

 

[Capricornus]

Aora slowly stood up, testing if her foot didn't hurt too much. "It's okay, I guess. I think that I can handle walking", she answered. "A pond, you said?", Aora asked, sounding quite interested. "Do such things actually exist in this weird forest? Or are they also cursed?"


She picked up her bag, ready to follow the wolf.

 

[AnimusLight]

"Don't worry. It is only a pond," smiles Fenris. The wolf makes sure to slow down his pace so Aora doesn't loose him. The forest is harder to navigate now that it is dark but streams of light from the moon above help guide there way. The pond is closer indicated by small pixies lighting up the path. Fenris is reminded of the lake he once used to hang around.


The feel of the mud against his paws relaxes the wolf. The trees seem to open up only a bit for the pound to glow under the moon's light. A high cliff curves slightly on the other side of the body of water. Fenris motions to the rock structure; the mud under its shelter turning into soft patches of green grass. The wolf lays down to the side of the rock and says, "It is best to rest here until dawn. The forest is never safe at night."


The forest always tricks the unfortunate creatures into following the path to its heart. This place is alive, making the heart a place for it to consume the life directly from the unlucky who stubble upon it without knowing.


"Best wish that the others of your 'human' kind survive the night. If they do, I can help reunite you with them."

 

[Capricornus]

Aora slowly followed Fenris. The forest was dark, the path barely illuminated by the little bit of moonlight that passed through the trees' foliage. She knew that they were getting closer to the pond when she saw some pixies on the way.


As they arrived at the pond, she gasped. The surface of the small pond, reflecting the moonlight, seemed like it was glittering.


She opened her backpack and took out the camera to take some shots.


It was weird. This place seemed so familiar, yet she has never been there before.


She sat down near Fenris, leankng against a stone and looked up to the moon. "Yes... It would be great if we'd find them tomorrow...", she replied. But, would that really be that great? Of course, she hoped the other kids would be doing okay, but she wasn't part of that group. What would they think if suddenly an unknown person would join them, what if they'd find out that she followed them?


She closed her eyes, trying to forget all those silly thoughts and trying to at least get a little bit of sleep.

 

[AnimusLight]

Fenris hears the soft breathing coming from Aora. She must have feel asleep; probably tired from exploring. He moves closer to her and pushes her body slightly with his tail causing for her form to land on his. 'This should help her from getting cold,' thought Fenris.


He scans the pond one last time before he falls asleep.


(will have to wait for the others to end their day now)

 

[Cosmilk]

Asta smiled excitedly, the nervousness and guilt of disobeying her parents melting away. She dug around in her bag and pulled out a small red and black box, decorated with little diamonds and stripes with the word 'SALMIAKKI' in bold letters across the front. She opened it and shook out a little, coal looking, candy, quickly popping it into her mouth, she smiled and held out the box, "I brought candy, anyone wanna try some?" mumbling past the piece currently occupying her tongue. Though she remains unawear that the horribly salty candy isn't exactly common in anywhere other than north-weastern Europe and widely disliked amung (I assume this takes place in America?) Americans.

 

[viska]

Annette couldn't help but laugh, Bubble's sweet demeanor was infectious and made her feel some better.


"You know little miss, your pretty smart.." She sighed almost in relief.


She could feel a cold wind blowing towards the deeper woods.


as she looked in the same direction, she could feel an uneasy call.


Like something wicked was trying to draw her deeper into the woods.


*It would be my luck to have my dream turn into a nightmare* She thought to herself as she tried to dismiss it.


Plucking a leaf from a near by bush, she casually asked "By the way, I never asked your name. you gotta have one. even dream animals should"


Her fragile question an attempt to distract herself from the beckoning winds.

 

[April82]

Bubble ignored the term "dream animals". 'I'm Bubble. I live in these woods, along with all my demo- woops.' Bubble wasn't supposed to say that. Well, she wasn't sure, but something told her not to tell the human about the ghosts and demons. But why? Would it NOT be safe for the human to know? The ghosts and demons here would probably harm her... but still... 'Along with my dear friends. That's Billy, Opal, er-er... Jamie! And er... um... TED! Yes, Ted. How could I forget Ted? HaHAhAHAHhahHhAHha!' Not even Bubble knew what she was talking about.

 

[viska]

Annette had never had such a vivid dream before.


It shocked her to find that not only did Bubble had a name, but had all kinds of friends.


Stranger still, she felt like she was hiding something from her.


still, she was sure that this all had to be a dream, it was too absurd not to be.


She also found herself acting uncharacteristically nice.


Another sign that this had to be a figment of her imagination.


"well...Bubble. It's nice to see something, sorry..some one, in these woods that aren't scary and dark."


Reaching to pet her like some teddy bear she asked "Will you and the other what-cha-mi-call-its keep the nightmares away?"


it had gotten very late and she did't realize that she was indeed starting to doze off for real.

 

[April82]

Bubble enjoyed petted like this. She again ignored what she really meant. 'Again, that depends on you. Just try and and make your life... not a nightmare, just try and make the best choices, and find out your interest. I heard that comes in handy.' She gave a wink, then stood up straight, tail high. 'It was nice to meet you, but I have to go. I haven't got any bugs yet.' And with that, she walked off.


Then she ran back to the girl, for she forgot to ask something important. 'Your name. What's your name?'

 

[ScarySketch]

Jake looked over at Asta, who had offered the others and him some candy from her bag. Jake didn't care much for whatever she had so he just shook his head as they continued on their way. Jake reached back and grabbed a flashlight that was hanging out of one of the outer pockets and switched it on. The light from it illuminated the barely noticeable path that lay out in front of them as they all began walking further and further away from the entrance to the forest. Jake had forgotten to bring a map but it didn't really matter, they were just walking straight, if they wanted to leave they could just turn back. Bushes and leaves rustled as Jake pushed some branches and twigs coming out of shrubs and trees out of their way, still trying to stay on the almost nonexistent trail in front of them.

 

[viska]

At this point Annette was barely awake.


Struggling to keep her eyes open, she smiled to see bubble who she didn't realize that she had even left.


She was so tired and so convinced that this was her dream, she didn't hear her say she was leaving.


With a smile and a deep yawn, she softly let out " You can call me Annette.." and almost as soon as she finished she dozed off to sleep.


She seemed content with her sleeping, maybe now she was truly having a sweet dream.


But was she really safe like this?


The wind seemed to pick up, and howl angrily picking up the cigarette she had dropped, and carried it towards the other group who had just began to search the woods.

 

[ScarySketch]

Jake and the rest of the group continued walking through the woods, the path they were now walking on wasn't even a path anymore, the trail that they had been walking on had disappeared a while ago. The trees around them seemed to be growing much taller in these parts of the forest, and the plants and underbrush had become much more dense. A strong, gust of wind suddenly blew through the woods. Just as the winds began to die down, Jake heard the sound of footsteps and bushes and leaves rustling, the noise seemed to be coming from in front of him. He stopped and he and the rest of the group looked forward in silence.

 

[neerios]

Lillium had been following the larger group for a while now, watching their movements and deciding whether or not they were a threat to her home in the trees.


She was nestled in the leaves of one of the taller trees, her skin blending in with the branches and keeping her hidden from these visitors.


The forest was surely filled with creatures like herself, but it never usually had humans in it.


She sighed and moved along the trees as a strong gust of wind rushed past and in between the trees.


Lillium spotted something fiery. Glowing.


It was picked up by the wind and gushing towards the group she'd been following.


It looked man-made, and man-made things never did good in this forest.

 

[ScarySketch]

Jake could hear the rustling of leaves and branches coming from somewhere above him, he pointed his flashlight up at a huge tree that stood in front of them. The light from his flashlight illuminated the top of the tree where he expected to see an owl or some kind of bird or animal sitting up there but there was nothing. Maybe the thing that was up there had already gone or maybe it was just the wind. Jake still continued to scan the trees up above them, watching closely for any signs of movement.

 

[neerios]

Lillium hissed under her breath as the light came closer to where she was seated.


She couldn't move, she couldn't leave the tree.


If she moved, she would be spotted, but if she didn't, she'd still be spotted.


And as the light shined over her grey eyes, they reflected the light back at the people.


Lillium braced one hand against the trunk of the tree, the other clamped onto the branch she was crouched on.


Great job.

 

[ScarySketch]

As the light illuminated the branches of the trees, Jake could see other lights reflecting back at him, not from his flashlight but from something else. They were eyes, a pair of two bright grey eyes staring down at the group from up high in the tree. They were just two eyes, but Jake could not see the body of a human nor an animal that they belonged to. He kept the light of his flashlight on whatever was sitting in the tree and watched closely, waiting for it to move. Jake wasn't scared or anything, it was probably just an animal, but his hand that was holding the flashlight was shaking.

 

[neerios]

With a firm grip, Lillium lowered her body, hanging from the branch like some sort of cocoon.


Her eyes were on them the whole time, reflecting the bright light.


And then she was on the earth. And she was seemingly gone.


Lillium dropped herself from the tree and was suddenly on the ground, crouched down and assessing her situation.


A demon nymph had a very handy skill, which was manipulation of sight.


So to the people, she was nowhere in sight, to herself, she was right where she was.

 

[ScarySketch]

Suddenly, the eyes that were staring back at them from the tree were gone, Jake looked around pointing his flashlight in different directions looking for wherever that thing might have gone. He scanned the branches of the tree and looked up at other trees that surrounded them, whatever it was, it had completely disappeared. Jake shook his head, maybe he had just imagined it, he wasn't sure. He wasn't freaked out or scared though, that much he was sure of. If it was something that he had just imagined, then there was nothing to be scared of. He kept walking forward into the forest, forgetting that it had ever happened.

 

[neerios]

Lillium's head was turned on its side as the person walked past. She followed him, silently falling into step behind him.


What a strange person. No screams of fear, no sour remarks and violence. Only cloaked in confidence.


She inspected him, looking him up and down and even going as far as tugging the back of his clothing to see what reaction she would get.

 

[ScarySketch]

As Jake began walking forward, he began to get the strange feeling that he was being watched. He kept walking, trying to ignore it, but the moment he did, he could feel someone pulling on the back of his jacket. He immediately turned and began shining his flashlight around, but didn't see anyone or anything there. Jake hoped that whatever was pulling on his jacket was just maybe a branch that had gotten snagged on it or something like that, he was getting the weird feeling that maybe there was something strange here in this forest.


Jake suddenly realized something the moment that he turned around to look behind him, the small group that had been following him earlier had completely vanished. Did they fall behind, or did they just sneak away from him because they were pulling a prank on him? Whatever the reason, Jake did not want to be left alone in the middle of these woods, the only reason he came here was because he heard that a group of kids like him would be coming here to explore and he would at least have someone to watch his back. Jake decided to retrace his steps and head back to the entrance of the forest.

 

[neerios]

This is where the fun really began. He was alone now, alone in a place where he shouldn't be, surrounded by things he could never hope to imagine. He was alone in her forest, and with that thought, Lillium gave a small laugh. There was no real point to her being hidden from his sight now, was there? Her hands slowly came into view, and her form was now free of the coat she wore to hide from his eyes.


Lillium brought her hands forward in a purposely slow manner, reaching out to hold his shoulders. She gripped on, nails catching onto his clothing and pulling him back. "What is a little human like you doing in my forest?"