Children of the Forest

[Kaine]

This is an original short story I've recently started based on several of the One/Two Word Prompts posted here. It won't be very long, maybe up to 10 chapters, and the chapters won't be quite as long or detail heavy either. Regardless, I do hope you enjoy Children of the Forest. ;D

***Small Warning***

This story gets pretty creepy. If you don't like creepy things, you'd better not read this, lol.

Children of the Forest

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Chapter 1[/b][/center][/size]


Eons ago, when our world was young, the Creator formed our world with his bare hands. He planted the trees of the forests and laid the foundations of the mountains. He poured the oceans into their basins and set the clouds in the heavens to water the earth. He spoke the beasts of the fields and the leviathans of the sea into being. He breathed his very life into the world and bound himself to it, for he saw that his creation was good. He set the laws of nature in motion and watched as life grew. As time passed, the animals matured and grew, showing rudimentary intelligence. The Creator mused, and longed to create sentient life that would take dominion and create things and tools. He took dust in his hands and delicately formed man. He breathed his life into man and smiled as man took his first breath. Man became the Creator’s most favored creation.

Many years passed, and man was alone. He watched as the beasts and birds all had mates of their own, for companionship and love. He begged his Creator to fashion him such a mate, so that he may no longer be alone. The Creator heard and acknowledged this wish. Again, he took a small portion of dust and delicately fashioned it. From this dust came woman. When man met woman he was instantly smitten. He knew he had found his mate. Man and woman fell madly in love. So in love were they that no such love has since been seen in all the earth. After a time, man and woman gave each other names. Man was named Vaelon and woman was named Valencia. Vaelon built them a mighty dwelling, and they had many, many children.

The Creator smiled down upon Vaelon, Valencia, and their children. He watched as their children grew and had children of their own. Before long, the human population became quite large.

So intently did the Creator watch that he neglected his angels. The angels, the divine servants of the Creator, kept his paradise in order. However, many became discontent when the Creator paid them no attention. Some even whispered among them that they should rule paradise instead of the Creator. The angels began secretly creating weapons of war, always being careful to hide them from the Creator. The archangel Falaszar became their unholy leader, filling their ears with dreadful lies of the Creator’s betrayal.

One night, as Vaelon and Valencia slept peacefully in their beds, Falaszar and his angels struck out against the Creator. The Creator cried out in pain and lamentation as his beloved servants struck him. Vaelon jerked awake and felt a deep pain, unlike any he had ever felt before. He cried out to his Creator, but the Creator did not answer. For the Creator and Falaszar had begun a struggle, a battle of the most incredible proportions. For days on end they fought, master against creation. In the end, the Creator struck down Falaszar and bade he and his followers leave paradise. Falaszar spat and fled, leading half the remaining angels with him from paradise. They fell to the earth and assumed new, dreadful forms. Falaszar then proclaimed them to be demons, the evil counterpart to the Creator’s angels. Any follower of the Creator was their sworn enemy.



There was a certain night many years after these events, when Vaelon was very old. As he was the oldest man alive, the children living near his house always came to hear stories. Vaelon was a very gifted storyteller and magician. He led the children behind his house and into the great forest. Once inside the forest, he led them to a small, secluded glade. He built a small fire and told the children to sit all around it, so they would have light and could hear him clearly. Once the fire was crackling away, he began to weave tales for the children, marvelous tales of wondrous things from the past. Tiny lights danced in the forest as Vaelon spoke, and the Creator was pleased.

Falaszar and his demons had recently taken a residence in that very forest and heard Vaelon’s voice. They crept within view of the glade and Falaszar’s heart burned with jealousy and anger. He knew he would never sway Vaelon’s heart from the Creator, but the children…he could steal the children. The demons watched and waited while Vaelon continued his storytelling. The children were enrapt, hanging on his every word.

Suddenly, the fire was put out and the dancing lights vanished. Malicious voices swirled in the wind and laughed menacingly. The children screamed in terror, and Vaelon cried out in anger and rage. Falaszar himself struck Vaelon soundly, and Vaelon fell to the forest floor. The demons cheered and laughed evilly in their triumph and carried the children off into the forest. Their screams echoed far and long into the night.



Not an hour had passed before Vaelon awoke. His head pounded and his body ached, but as he remembered where he was, his fears were not for himself. He thought of only the children. He called out to them time and time again but none of them answered him. He searched through the forest, frantically trying to find even one of the little ones. None could be found. All Vaelon could hear were the distant screams of small voices, and the mad whisperings of beings unseen.

[Kaine]

Chapter 2

Vaelon was unable to ever find any of those children again. His heart broke for their families as he relayed the events to them. Many of the parents became angry with Vaelon, saying he should never have taken them into the forest. Others felt as Vaelon did and supported him, saying Vaelon could have done nothing with more care, and it had always been safe before. Other still felt nothing but horrible grief and loss from losing their child. They stole away and hid themselves in their houses, sharing their grief with each other, but none else. In the cool of the evening, Vaelon returned to the glade and cried out to the Creator. He sobbed and begged to know where the children were. The Creator’s grief outmatched even Vaelon’s, but the Creator refused to tell Vaelon. He had not the heart to tell Vaelon the horrible truth.

Falaszar had taken the children far away from their homes, farther even than any man knew. No one save the demons knew this part of the forest. He dragged them into his home while they kicked and screamed and tried to escape. He laughed as he watched them suffer at the hands of his demons. They would pay the price for all those still loyal to the Creator. The children became twisted, deformed versions of the people they could have once been. Some had extra body parts or missing limbs thanks to the demons’ influence. Others were stretched too thin or squished too fat. All had evil, unblinking golden eyes that pierced through even absolute darkness. Falaszar was quite proud of his children.



Vaelon’s life continued on for many more years until he had seen one thousand summers. On the eve of his thousandth summer, he decided to return to the glade once more. Again he asked the Creator to give him the location of the lost children, and again the Creator refused. Vaelon became angry and demanded to know why. Rain began falling from the sky as black clouds covered the sun. In that instant, Vaelon knew the Creator’s grief as his own and fell to his knees and wept. Several hours passed as he wept in the pouring rain, and soon the light behind the clouds began to fade.

Vaelon never noticed the light fading in his immense grief. As complete darkness touched the forest, small pinpricks of golden light appeared in the trees beyond the glade. The children were watching him. They wondered why this decrepit old man would cry in the middle of the forest. They thought he was stupid. Their hearts turned cold towards the old man and they began encroaching on the glade. Soon, all thirteen children encircled him and glared at him. Vaelon slowly looked up to see thirteen sets of golden, malicious eyes staring at him. Fear began to grow in his mind. He studied the forms surrounding him and his fear increased. He knew these beings. The children.

The children slowly closed in on Vaelon and his limbs began to tremble. He tried to stand but his knees and legs would not obey. He frantically cried out to the Creator for help, but the Creator did not respond. Vaelon cried all the louder, yet as he cried louder, the children moved faster. They were soon upon him. Vaelon's cries were cut short.



About that same time, Valencia wondered why her husband had taken so long to return. He should only have been gone for a stroll. She called her sons to her and asked them to take her to the forest to find Vaelon. They knew exactly where to find him, but when they arrived in the glade, he was not there. No trace of Vaelon could be found, even though they searched with torches and fire. Trepidation began nagging at Valencia and she almost ordered her boys to search farther out in the forest when a glimmer of light caught her eye. She turned and the light was gone. She asked her sons if they had seen anything and they shook their heads. Valencia narrowed her eyes and looked out into the forest as her sons continued to search the glade. Again she saw a glimmer of golden light, yet when she turned there was no light. As she continued to scan the forest, more lights would catch her eye, however she could never see the lights clearly.

Valencia was about to speak again when the torches and fire went out. The men shouted their surprise but Valencia was struck silent. For out in the forest, in the very patch of trees she had been staring into, there now hovered thirteen pairs of golden eyes staring right back at her. She tried to scream her terror and warn her sons, but her voice had left her. The eyes began inching closer and her heart quickened even more. Finally, one of her sons saw the eyes and shouted again. The others whirled around and leapt to their mother’s defense. In a blur, all thirteen children suddenly batted Valencia’s sons to the side and surrounded her.

Valencia’s voice returned and she let loose a shriek of blind terror. She was cut off in mid-scream.

Her sons jumped up as soon as they could, but no sign of their mother could be found. Fearing their own safety, they fled the forest and began to spread the word that the forest was no longer safe.

Evil had come.

[Kaine]

Chapter 3

The word about the evil infecting the great forest spread very quickly. Many believed instantly, remembering the children who disappeared there many years before. Others however did not believe. They rallied together and tried to purge the forest. None were ever heard from again.

The reports that any attempts to purge the forest had failed helped to bolster the repute of Valencia’s sons, and the more the word spread about the evil spreading through the forest, the farther humans moved away from it. Some even moved cities hundreds of miles away from the forest to protect their children. Before a decade had passed, no humans lived within three hundred miles of the forest.



Centuries passed without much incident. Technologies had advanced enough to where men could fashion weapons of metal and fire. Swords, bows and arrows, spears, shields of metal, exploding items called bombs, they were now the way of war for men. As time had passed, the tales of the evil in the great forest far to the west of human civilization began to dwindle in the minds of adventurous youths. Surely by now the evils in the forest had died off.

Vaelon’s youngest son, now a very old man, heard these whisperings and cautioned heavily against any attempts to retake that forest. He professed that the evil there would never die. Many scoffed at him openly. How could he know? He was just a senile old man! Vaelon’s youngest son shook his head slowly and retreated to his abode. Better to let the youths find out for themselves, he thought darkly.



Late that night, while all mankind slept, Vaelon’s youngest son woke up. He felt cold wind on his face and heard soft whispers all around. His heart quickened. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes as quickly as he could and surveyed his surroundings. His heart nearly stopped then. He was in the great forest. In the cursed glade.

He gulped audibly and slowly scanned the surrounding trees. Golden lights danced at the edge of his vision, yet he could never focus on them. His blood chilled as he remembered his mother speaking about this same thing. Yet this time, a new chilling addition joined the dancing lights: the voices. Whispering voices of demented children swirled in the air and through his mind. He clapped his hands over his ears, trying to block out the sound. Once he blocked his ears however, the sound only increased in volume. He tried to scream but could not. The whispering blotted out all else, save the dancing golden light.

His world went black for a split second, and then he found himself gazing into thirteen pairs of golden eyes. His voice returned and he gave a blood-curdling scream. Such a scream had not been heard in that forest for many hundreds of years. Any shreds of remaining sanity were lost while he screamed, for the whispers became shrieking in his mind. The shrieking in his mind soon drowned out his own scream, and the golden eyes closed in. The scream was cut off suddenly, and silence returned to the forest. All of Vaelon’s children were now gone.



The next morning, word of the old man’s disappearance spread like a wildfire through the plains. Every human in civilization knew of this omen. Many elders proclaimed this to be a warning, that the time to reclaim the great forest had not yet come. However many young men preached that this was precisely the time to strike back. They professed that since the evil had claimed the old man, the evil thought it had already won. If they struck with numbers and force, they would be victorious.

To the dismay of the elders, popular opinion was swayed to believe the brash young men. Many men prepared themselves for battle. Before a year had passed, many hundreds of men had readied themselves for the long journey west.



Falaszar laughed loudly on his throne. These arrogant men, these blind servants of the Creator, wished to destroy his children? Oh, how his beloved children would prove them wrong!

In the centuries since Vaelon’s death, Falaszar had followed humanity away from the forest. Most of his demons resided with him. Those deemed too weak, he left to the mercy of his beloved children. He had full faith in his children and their abilities to keep the forest. These men were ignorant and weak. How they thought themselves able and ready for this task was beyond his comprehension. He continued to chuckle at the thought. Humans were his greatest enemies, yet now they would throw themselves to the slaughter. And who would do the slaughtering? Their own children, of course!



From his paradise, the Creator looked down on his creation. His grief and sorrow were beyond comprehension of any other being. As his angels attended him, he wept openly for his beloved children, specifically Vaelon and his family. They had been his chosen, his cherished. Falaszar the Corrupter had all but stolen them away from him. He was at a loss for what to do. His angels did comfort him, but nothing could replace that which was most cherished. He finally resolved to take action if the Corrupter went too far. If those cursed children who were lost in the forest claimed any more lives, the Creator would spill his wrath.

[Moonlight]

Once again, you never fail to impress me. It seems that your talent expands over many different genres, Sage Kaine. While this is slightly creepy, it holds my interest easily. I'll be looking forward to your next update. ^_^

[Kaine]

Thank you Moonlight. ;D
Honestly, when I first got the idea, I figured it'd be something suspenseful like I normally write, not... Not an almost horror story, lol.

I'm glad you like it though! ;D

It won't be much longer. Maybe up to 4 more chapters.

[Diamond]

*clinging to a tree trunk, tail fluffy*Oh...It's over? Wow. What a story! You got my blood to freeze in it's veins. Well done! Keep up he good work!

[Kaine]

Chapter 4

The men began their long trek westward to the great forest without delay. They had prepared as much as they thought necessary and set out within a year of the old man’s demise. A great host of men left civilization that day. None knew the exact way to the forest, yet all knew it lay to the west. Some told that it was so massive you could see it spanning the horizon from many miles away. Others said it was a small gathering of no more than fifty trees that had gained the reputation by being the only forest near. Regardless of its size, the men trekked on, confident that their superior numbers would overcome any evil held in the forest.

For all the stories of the great forest in the west, none were told about the incredible desert that separated the forest from mankind’s civilization. The dunes stretched on for hundreds of miles in any direction with hardly a pool of cool water for weary travelers to drink. The host of men wandered through the desert directionless for many months. Their provisions ran out three months into their desert excursion, and many men succumbed to the heat. Many more men went mad from a starving belly and thirst, opting for suicide or cannibalism to survive. Those who did not starve or die of thirst stood the chance of going raving mad. With the maddening heat, lack of fresh water for days on end, no food, and no possible way out, over half the remaining men went completely insane. Less than one hundred men survived long enough to catch a glimpse of the massive forest awaiting them.

Green dominated the western horizon one morning as the surviving men continued to trudge westward. As the sun tipped the desert dunes in the east, the sun’s rays lit up the trees, creating a vibrant green band in the distance. The sight filled the men with hope. Even if they were to meet their end in the forest, it would be a much more glorious end than to die at the mercy of the sun in the desert. Or so they thought.



As the sun’s light broke the eastern horizon, thirteen pairs of lidless, golden eyes peered into the desert from the protection of the dark trees. They had felt the presence of the host of men as soon as they entered the desert. They had tracked the host’s progress since, sensing them in everything they did. Now, as the stragglers made their way closer and closer to the forest, their curiosity had been piqued. What did the men want? Did they wish to find the old man they had taken so many months ago? They would find nothing, and the children snickered amongst themselves. Did they wish to purify this wood of the “evil” now inhabiting it? Malice shone clear in their golden eyes. They had guessed and speculated enough. When the men broke the border of the forest, they would go to work.



The Creator watched as the group of men left civilization with their weapons and food stores, and as they subsequently succumbed to the desert. His heart broke with every death, yet at the same time he was becoming numb. He had wished nothing like this on any of his creations, much less his favored. He attempted to find a man in the company who might listen to his wisdom. To this man, he would extend his full protection. Finally he found a man willing. Zalaban was his name. Zalaban listened well to the words of the Creator, and learned the truth about the forest they were marching forlornly into. His heart was filled with dread for the sake of his companions, but he knew not how to get home aside from many more months in the desert.



Zalaban deliberated for several days on end, barely noticing anything else. As they marched, the green haze on the horizon slowly became noticeable trees. The men gaped in wonder, as they had never seen such trees in their lives. Even Zalaban was amazed at how the trees looked. In their civilized world, only palm trees grew. These trees were tall and completely green, their branches and leaves reaching down nearly to the ground. They looked oddly inviting, almost as if the trees themselves wanted the men to come and purge the evil within. The men became empowered and marched towards the forest at a quicker pace. They knew their destination was not far away.

That night they found a small pool of water not a mile from the entrance to the forest. They drank their fill of the water and found small shrubs with sweet berries growing on them. They ate as many berries as they could. They fell into a deep sleep and slept soundly for three whole days. Zalaban alone did not sleep so deeply, and he thanked the Creator he did not. For as his companions slept and he kept a silent vigil, he watched in horror as the trees of the forest slowly slid across the desert to encompass the pool of water and the shrubs with berries.

They had entered the forest.

[Kaine]

Chapter 5

The men awoke sluggishly the next morning, though they all noticed one grave difference from when they had fallen asleep. The sun was no longer shining. Black rain clouds blocked the sun’s rays from the surface and sheets of rain poured down as the wind howled in rage. They also noticed they were surrounded by trees. The tips of the evergreens whipped back and forth in the wind and dripped massive drops of collected water to the ground. The men shivered in the cold and scrambled to find some shelter. Filling their water skins from the pool and grabbing as many handfuls of berries as they could carry, they crawled their way underneath the evergreens. They cursed their misfortune and asked aloud how they could have entered the forest while still sleeping.

Zalaban thought his time had arrived and stood, speaking out everything the Creator had told him and telling them about the moving trees. Many men became angry and cried out against Zalaban, shouting that he had held the truth from them for the entire march and had helped them reach their deaths. They cursed his name and that of his family, proclaiming him to be a traitor of the highest degree, blaming him for their early entry into the forest. Zalaban was horrified. How his companions had deduced those accusations from his statements he had no idea. Why would he have held this news back until entering the forest? He cared only for their survival!

The men overpowered Zalaban and bound his hands with thick vines from the forest floor. They dragged him behind them as they explored deeper into the forest, trying to find an area more sheltered from the rain. They found a sheltered, secluded glade deep in the forest and noticed that the grass in the glade was almost completely dry. They shrugged Zalaban to the ground and set about, making a warming fire in the midst of the glade and using some tools they brought to fell some trees and create a makeshift lodge. They worked for several hours and were able to build a small hut around the fire to shelter themselves from the storm for the night. They planned to expand the hut more after the storm had passed.

Zalaban was left in the rain. He wept and cried out to the Creator, yet the Creator answered him not. For once the men had turned on Zalaban, the Creator had turned his back on them. He would no longer care for any of the human race, not even Zalaban.



Thirteen sets of golden eyes peeked out through the trees at the small hut in the glade. They smiled evilly, knowing they had directed the men’s steps to this very glade. They laughed as they thought of the many things they would do to the men before they were taken away. Lightning crashed overhead and the children began whispering.



Inside the hut, as lightning rippled through the darkness and thunder crashed into the silence, the men shivered and huddled around the fire as best they could. A few of the men began twitching and following invisible beings around the walls. Mad whisperings entered their minds and tore at their sanity. Some whispered to kill their companions and take the glory for themselves. Other voices whispered to run out and explore the forest, for the evil here was long since dead. Others still whispered other opinions, all of which made sense when listened to, but when ignored sounded absurd.

The men could finally stand it no longer. They burst out of the hut and began frantically trying to either kill each other or escape another’s blade. Zalaban watched as the men tore into each other without so much as a second thought and wept even louder. As he watched though, he saw dancing golden lights just beyond the glade. He tried to focus on them, but they were always just ahead of him. Chills racked his body and fear assaulted his mind. Their doom was nigh.

Suddenly the weather stilled. The rain ceased and the wind became nothing more than a whispered breath. The tips of the trees still whipped violently and lightning still crashed, yet there was no outside noise in the glade. The men froze. Half their company was now dead, their blood soaking the grass of the glade a deep shade of crimson. The dancing golden lights had stopped dancing. Twenty-six orbs of gold stared at the men as they stared back. The men now realized Zalaban had been correct. The evil in the forest was very alive, and they were about to meet it face to face.

Fear gripped their hearts and they gripped their weapons. Now united against a common enemy, the men formed ranks and stood battle ready. A couple men broke off from the group to untie Zalaban as they needed every available man for the coming battle. Yet as they reached him, the fire in the hut was extinguished. All light in the glade disappeared except the menacing golden eyes.

Suddenly, as lightning crashed and thunder boomed, the children were there. As one, they let loose a blood-curdling screech and reality resumed. Rain pounded into the faces of the men, wind whipped their hair about, and the fire in the hut roared back to life. The men shouted and charged to fight. The children smiled and screeched again. All the men were flung across the glade. The children now stood on the opposite side of the glade and screeched a third time. The men were flung back again, and again the children were waiting for them. Zalaban could only watch in horror as the children had their way. He screamed and cried as loudly as he could for his Creator to turn back to them, to offer them some sort of escape.

The Creator looked back to the earth and his heart was shattered. He watched as the children took their sport from his favored. He knew what would happen but could not bear to turn away in these last moments.

The men were reeling. None had any sort of sense of direction or sanity. There was only pain and terror. The whispers had become screams, screams that could not be drowned out. One by one, the men fell to their knees. Whenever a man would fall, a child would separate from the group and gaze into the man’s eyes. The golden eyes of the child would widen and the child would screech again. As the child screeched, the man would disappear entirely, his life energy transferring to the child. When all the men had fallen, they turned their eyes to Zalaban.

The children had the look of ecstasy on their demented, deformed faces. Blood dripped from their mouths and they laughed maniacally. They walked slowly towards Zalaban and chirped and screeched with delight. None bothered to absorb his life force; they all tore into him mercilessly.

The Creator howled with sorrow and rage as his last loyal servant was torn asunder in that accursed forest.

[Kaine]

Epilogue

The Creator’s wrath could not be contained. His angels had rebelled against him. His favored creations did not want him. Their very children had been taken by demons and had become the agent of evil, causing humanity to forget him. His sorrow was unmatched by any.

As was his rage.

Fire rained from the sky to purge the evil from the world he had created. Not even Falaszar could escape the punishment the Creator had sent. His fortress was rent asunder by the Creator’s mighty fury. Fire rained, waves crashed, wind howled, the earth convulsed. Humanity was completely destroyed in the cataclysm. The great forest was swallowed by an incredible ocean of water and fire.

And the children. The children survived until the last. The Creator sent the moon on a collision course with the earth. As the moon dove and turned jet black, the golden eyes still watched. The moon shattered the earth completely, breaking it into millions of pieces. The Creator watched as the children were also shattered, their lidless golden eyes flying away into the oblivion of the void.

Falaszar had escaped his ruin, however. At the very last second, as the black moon crashed into the earth, he cast a powerful spell protecting himself from any harm. By sacrificing his demons, he ensured his own survival. He knew the Creator would grieve for a very, very long time. He also knew that after the Creator had finished, he would create again. And when he did, Falaszar would be there, to steal and destroy as much as he could.

And so did the Creator grieve in his paradise while his angels attended him as best they could, while Falaszar floated amongst the void, biding his time and creating his own loyal servants. But this would not be the end of their struggle.

The Creator would begin anew. He would indeed create again.

The End

[Moonlight]

I must say, Sage Kaine, that you have done a wonderful job with this tale. It may have been short and to the point, but it was skillfully crafted and an enjoyable read. I look forward to reading more work from you, my friend. *Huggles.*