The Forest of The Living and The Death
Story
A few years ago there was a huge fight, well, you can call it a war, between my village and a neighboring village. Our village wasn't well-prepared for fighting, we were just a simple village, with no more than 500 residents. The other village had many more men, who all were very trained, and would be used in this countries army in case a huge war was going on.
We knew they would attack a fortnight that day, the 21st. I was only 16 at the time, and only child, which was very unusual, because everyone had huge families. We didn't, I only had my mom, and a horse which was mainly used for working the land.
Our villagers wouldn't be able to flee to another village, because the hostile village had made a lot of traps around our village. The only way to escape would be through the huge forest nearby, the forest of the Living and the Death. But the other village knew we wouldn't go there, we'd rather die fighting, than get lost, or even eaten by the monster of the forest. You see, there's this legend about the forest, that there once was a man, whose name has been forgotten, who has been living there for many years. Hundreds of years.
The only living things were the animals he chose to keep alive, in other to remain the forest and it's flora and fauna. But every other thing which wasn't supposed to be there, like people from any of the villages nearby, would be killed. No one who had ever gone past the little lake which was a maximum of 2 kilometers from the village has ever come back , sometimes blood, mortal remains, or personal belongings were found in the areas where surrounding the lake, but never a living human.
There of course were stories on what the monster would look like, the most common story was that it once was just a human, who decided to sell his soul to the devil in order to get wealth. The devil made him a monster, like how the man must have been on the inside, and that it now is a creature which looks worse than anyone could ever imagine, and that he is as evil as the devil himself. All stories tell that the monster supposedly lives in a haunted mansion in the middle of the forest, so he can look at everything the forest contains.
I hoped that I would be able to go there, meet the monster, and tell him what was going on, and that our enemies most likely would try to burn the forest down, because of course there would be a couple of people fleeing in there. And our enemies didn't want anyone to escape alive. I hoped that he would consider helping us, if I asked him, and even made sacrifices. If I was going to die, I might as well die trying to save my village in my way, since I'm not such a good fighter.
I took a bag and stuffed it with food, one other dress, and a couple of old books. I thought that he would like old books, because he was old himself, and maybe he would remember things if the books were old enough, at least a bit older than him. I left in the middle of the night, while my mom was still asleep, she wouldn't awake for at least another 5 hours, and then she would find my note on which I'd written what I was going to do. She would be hurt, but she'd understand.
When I entered the forest it felt as if many eyes were staring at me, the feeling you also get when someone has spread a nasty rumor about you, and everyone is talking about you. Except this time, there wasn't a rumor, and the eyes staring at me, very likely weren't human, and some might have not even been discovered by humans. I walked, followed several paths between the trees. They weren't real paths, but real enough to me. I didn't come across any corpses or violent animals that night, or the day after, or the night after that, or the day after that night. I came past a couple of small rivers where I would stop and drink a little, after which I continued.
I didn't sleep, afraid a creature that lived her would surprise me and kill me, without me being able to even meet the monster. If I could only tell him what was going on outside his forest, I could die without guilt, maybe a little guilt towards my mother for leaving her, but not the guilt I'd feel if I died now. For some reason I wasn't scared of the monster that was supposedly living in this forest, I actually felt sorry for him.
On the third day I ran out of food, and was very tired, but I refused to go to sleep, because I just had to find the monster. The weight of my bag was heavy and annoying, especially now I knew it only contained a couple of books, and that if I hadn't taken those with me, I would have been able to take more food than I had. The dress didn't take up a lot of space, and was mainly there to put the food in, so it wouldn't crumble and get stuck in between the books, that would have been such a waste.
Late in the afternoon on that day I saw a huge mansion loom up in the far distance. It was perfect timing, because I almost felt like giving up totally. Seeing the mansion gave me a little hope, and I started walking faster. When I reached it I saw how big it really was, it was bigger than any house I'd ever seen, and it was really old, probably older than any house in my village.
I knocked on the door, three times. There was no response. I knocked again, and again, and again, but there was no response at all. Had I gone here to find nothing? And had those other travellers just been less lucky and been eaten by wolves? My body weakened, and I fell against the door, which to my surprise, opened slowly. I pushed the heavy door open further, and was happy that it was so difficult to open, because otherwise I might have startled something in the house.
I knew there was something in the house, because I could hear someone, or something playing the piano. I looked around and saw some old furniture, a couple of chairs, a couch, a table. I saw a couple of doors and a staircase in the back of the room. The music seemed to come from upstairs, so that was where I had to go. I carefully walked up the stairs, but I knew my visit wasn't left unnoticed, because the sound of the piano stopped abruptly.
I stood still on the stairs for a few seconds, and music started playing again. I walked up the stairs even further, the steps made very loud noises whenever I stepped on them. Whoever was playing the piano, knew I was going over there. When I finally got there, I found another hall, with a couple of open doors. I decided to listen and walked to the room which the music came from.
It was a beautiful piece, it actually moved me. I could feel the emotion the piece carried flowing through my veins. When I walked into the room, I saw a man sitting on a stool behind the piano, his fingers only touched the keys very softly, very gentle. He looked up at me, nodded his head to a chair next to the piano, and continued playing. Assuming it meant that he wanted me to go and sit on the chair, I did.
He continued playing, and in the few minutes I had, I decided to check his features. Short brown hair, grey eyes, a pale, muscular face, a big but not ugly nose, perfect eyebrows. He was wearing old clothes, out-of-fashion, or just plain; not from this time.
'Why are you here?' he asked with a deep, seducing voice. 'I need your help, sir' I mumbled, staring at my own feet. He quit playing and laughed, like a maniac. 'You need my help, I can't see how a young woman like you would need the help of a killing monster like me' 'My village needs your help, and the forest needs your help' He raised an eyebrow 'The forest?'
I nodded 'There is a war going on, my village will be burned down, 500 people will die, but the hostile village will try to burn this forest down, just to make sure no one escapes' he smiled 'no one would survive going in here for to long anyway, what brings us to, how did you get here?' I stared at him, his eyes looked like the eyes of any other humans eyes would look when interested. 'I walked for three days, then I found your mansion' he nodded. 'Good sense of direction'
I smiled. 'But please sir, will you help me? I'll do anything' he flashed a smile in my direction 'what you have in your bag?' I had almost forgotten the bag I still had in my left hand. I opened it and took out the books. He took them, his hands touched mine while he did so. He looked at them for a few seconds, and then put all of them except for one back in my bag. 'I'll speak to you later' he said, and then left the room and I could hear him walk down the stairs.
I went downstairs as well, but couldn't find him. I just sat down on the couch, for what seemed like several hours, and probably were, because it was getting dark outside. I went out and saw a little river and a couple of trees with berries nearby. I recognized the berries; I had eaten them before when I was still in the village, so I decided to take some, and to drink some water. I then went back into the house and sat down on the couch once again.
I had probably fallen asleep, because it was light outside when I looked up. I spend two more days on the couch, eating only berries and drinking only water from the little river. The monster wasn't to be seen anywhere in those two days. He hadn't come back to eat, or to sleep. On the third day I found him whilst I was walking around the mansion. He was sitting on one of the highest branches in one of the tallest trees around.
He had almost finished the book; he was reading the final chapter. He didn't look up when I shouted at him. When he closed the book, about 10 minutes later, he changed his position, and just jumped down. He landed like a cat; it was just that he seemed even more elegant. The book was in his left hand, and he held it out to me. He didn't look up, and when I tried to see his expression I could see why; a tear was rolling down his cheek.
The story was about a girl, a princess, who met an ugly boy, ignored him at first, but in the end chose to be with him forever. A bit less easy than that, but that was the main story-line. It was a tale many parents told their children here to make them stop judging others for what they look like. I couldn't see how this story had made him cry though, since he wasn't ugly at all, and no princess would ever dare going too far or even coming close to this forest.
He wiped away the tear and looked at me. 'I'll help you; I'll be back in three days'
He suddenly ran off, and he didn't come back. Those three days I lived the same as I had done the two days he spend reading, except that I ate less berries, because after only eating berries, my stomach started to hurt, and it seemed better to eat a little less, than to eat something which might be venomous in to big quantities.
There was no sign of any other living creatures in or nearby the mansion, not even a rabbit or a mouse, not even a spider. It was death as can be. It scared me a little, but not enough to make me lose my sanity, I just had to wait patiently for the monster to come back. I wish I knew his name, which would make it much easier to think about him. And besides, 'hey monster' doesn't sound very nice.
On the third day he indeed came back, with a huge smile across his face. 'You can just go back, it's all over, and the forest will be safe' I nodded. I walked to the piano room to take my bag, in which all the books were. I took out the books, and put them on the chair on which he had made me sit when I first got here. I looked around the room once more and walked downstairs.
He was still in what seemed to be the living room 'Shall I bring you there?' he asked. I nodded 'That would be great, the trip is really tiring' I then realized he had gone there, done something, and returned in 3 days, the time which it had taken me to just get here. He walked away and a few minutes later came back with a horse. He jumped on top of it, and reached out for my hand, I took his hand and was surprised by his strength; he had just pulled me up, and he had only been using one arm.
We rode for a couple of hours; the horse was really fast, without speaking. 'What's your name?' I asked. 'You don't need to know' was his short answer; he clearly wasn't in the mood for a conversation. I looked down at the horse again, and he seemed to have realized I was sort of hurt by his short answer. 'And besides, I don't even remember it myself, after not having spoken to anyone in centuries, you forget unimportant things like that'
I nodded 'I see', we reached the lake near the village soon after. He jumped of the horse, and then pulled me down. 'I guess this is our goodbye' he smiled, but there was sadness in his voice. 'I guess it is…' I said, my voice reflected the same sort of sadness as his. He jumped on the horse again and waved, that was when I realized I had one more question 'How did you do it?' he turned his face so I only saw the side.
He smiled, and now for the first time I could clearly see his teeth. He had fangs. He was a vampire. 'Did you sell your soul to the devil?' I hadn't meant to say that out loud, I was just wondering, but I had actually said it, I felt so stupid. Instead of getting angry, he just kept smiling 'I didn't, my father was poor, so he did, that's it' I opened my mouth in shock, what kind of father would do such a thing? I'd rather die than sell anyone's soul to the devil.
Before I could say anything else, he left, and I went home as well. When I got back to the village I heard rumors about how a mysterious young man had attacked the enemies, and killed them all. All men of the hostile village were killed. The woman and children were left unharmed; after all they had done nothing wrong. Our village and the other village would become one. It was a happy ending for us, but I kept wondering about the monster.
That was a couple of years ago.
Now it was again the 21st, same month, just another year. It is 5 years later, I am 21. And the urge to go back to the mansion and visit the man who I owed more than my own life had become unbearable. In the past 5 years I had more started to think of him as just a man, because monsters didn't have hearts, and he clearly did, why else would he have helped me?
And here I am, once more, in front of a little, almost hidden path behind the lake. I know what I want to do, and I know what I'm going to do. I'll find him again, no matter what will happen.
I think I love him.
We knew they would attack a fortnight that day, the 21st. I was only 16 at the time, and only child, which was very unusual, because everyone had huge families. We didn't, I only had my mom, and a horse which was mainly used for working the land.
Our villagers wouldn't be able to flee to another village, because the hostile village had made a lot of traps around our village. The only way to escape would be through the huge forest nearby, the forest of the Living and the Death. But the other village knew we wouldn't go there, we'd rather die fighting, than get lost, or even eaten by the monster of the forest. You see, there's this legend about the forest, that there once was a man, whose name has been forgotten, who has been living there for many years. Hundreds of years.
The only living things were the animals he chose to keep alive, in other to remain the forest and it's flora and fauna. But every other thing which wasn't supposed to be there, like people from any of the villages nearby, would be killed. No one who had ever gone past the little lake which was a maximum of 2 kilometers from the village has ever come back , sometimes blood, mortal remains, or personal belongings were found in the areas where surrounding the lake, but never a living human.
There of course were stories on what the monster would look like, the most common story was that it once was just a human, who decided to sell his soul to the devil in order to get wealth. The devil made him a monster, like how the man must have been on the inside, and that it now is a creature which looks worse than anyone could ever imagine, and that he is as evil as the devil himself. All stories tell that the monster supposedly lives in a haunted mansion in the middle of the forest, so he can look at everything the forest contains.
I hoped that I would be able to go there, meet the monster, and tell him what was going on, and that our enemies most likely would try to burn the forest down, because of course there would be a couple of people fleeing in there. And our enemies didn't want anyone to escape alive. I hoped that he would consider helping us, if I asked him, and even made sacrifices. If I was going to die, I might as well die trying to save my village in my way, since I'm not such a good fighter.
I took a bag and stuffed it with food, one other dress, and a couple of old books. I thought that he would like old books, because he was old himself, and maybe he would remember things if the books were old enough, at least a bit older than him. I left in the middle of the night, while my mom was still asleep, she wouldn't awake for at least another 5 hours, and then she would find my note on which I'd written what I was going to do. She would be hurt, but she'd understand.
When I entered the forest it felt as if many eyes were staring at me, the feeling you also get when someone has spread a nasty rumor about you, and everyone is talking about you. Except this time, there wasn't a rumor, and the eyes staring at me, very likely weren't human, and some might have not even been discovered by humans. I walked, followed several paths between the trees. They weren't real paths, but real enough to me. I didn't come across any corpses or violent animals that night, or the day after, or the night after that, or the day after that night. I came past a couple of small rivers where I would stop and drink a little, after which I continued.
I didn't sleep, afraid a creature that lived her would surprise me and kill me, without me being able to even meet the monster. If I could only tell him what was going on outside his forest, I could die without guilt, maybe a little guilt towards my mother for leaving her, but not the guilt I'd feel if I died now. For some reason I wasn't scared of the monster that was supposedly living in this forest, I actually felt sorry for him.
On the third day I ran out of food, and was very tired, but I refused to go to sleep, because I just had to find the monster. The weight of my bag was heavy and annoying, especially now I knew it only contained a couple of books, and that if I hadn't taken those with me, I would have been able to take more food than I had. The dress didn't take up a lot of space, and was mainly there to put the food in, so it wouldn't crumble and get stuck in between the books, that would have been such a waste.
Late in the afternoon on that day I saw a huge mansion loom up in the far distance. It was perfect timing, because I almost felt like giving up totally. Seeing the mansion gave me a little hope, and I started walking faster. When I reached it I saw how big it really was, it was bigger than any house I'd ever seen, and it was really old, probably older than any house in my village.
I knocked on the door, three times. There was no response. I knocked again, and again, and again, but there was no response at all. Had I gone here to find nothing? And had those other travellers just been less lucky and been eaten by wolves? My body weakened, and I fell against the door, which to my surprise, opened slowly. I pushed the heavy door open further, and was happy that it was so difficult to open, because otherwise I might have startled something in the house.
I knew there was something in the house, because I could hear someone, or something playing the piano. I looked around and saw some old furniture, a couple of chairs, a couch, a table. I saw a couple of doors and a staircase in the back of the room. The music seemed to come from upstairs, so that was where I had to go. I carefully walked up the stairs, but I knew my visit wasn't left unnoticed, because the sound of the piano stopped abruptly.
I stood still on the stairs for a few seconds, and music started playing again. I walked up the stairs even further, the steps made very loud noises whenever I stepped on them. Whoever was playing the piano, knew I was going over there. When I finally got there, I found another hall, with a couple of open doors. I decided to listen and walked to the room which the music came from.
It was a beautiful piece, it actually moved me. I could feel the emotion the piece carried flowing through my veins. When I walked into the room, I saw a man sitting on a stool behind the piano, his fingers only touched the keys very softly, very gentle. He looked up at me, nodded his head to a chair next to the piano, and continued playing. Assuming it meant that he wanted me to go and sit on the chair, I did.
He continued playing, and in the few minutes I had, I decided to check his features. Short brown hair, grey eyes, a pale, muscular face, a big but not ugly nose, perfect eyebrows. He was wearing old clothes, out-of-fashion, or just plain; not from this time.
'Why are you here?' he asked with a deep, seducing voice. 'I need your help, sir' I mumbled, staring at my own feet. He quit playing and laughed, like a maniac. 'You need my help, I can't see how a young woman like you would need the help of a killing monster like me' 'My village needs your help, and the forest needs your help' He raised an eyebrow 'The forest?'
I nodded 'There is a war going on, my village will be burned down, 500 people will die, but the hostile village will try to burn this forest down, just to make sure no one escapes' he smiled 'no one would survive going in here for to long anyway, what brings us to, how did you get here?' I stared at him, his eyes looked like the eyes of any other humans eyes would look when interested. 'I walked for three days, then I found your mansion' he nodded. 'Good sense of direction'
I smiled. 'But please sir, will you help me? I'll do anything' he flashed a smile in my direction 'what you have in your bag?' I had almost forgotten the bag I still had in my left hand. I opened it and took out the books. He took them, his hands touched mine while he did so. He looked at them for a few seconds, and then put all of them except for one back in my bag. 'I'll speak to you later' he said, and then left the room and I could hear him walk down the stairs.
I went downstairs as well, but couldn't find him. I just sat down on the couch, for what seemed like several hours, and probably were, because it was getting dark outside. I went out and saw a little river and a couple of trees with berries nearby. I recognized the berries; I had eaten them before when I was still in the village, so I decided to take some, and to drink some water. I then went back into the house and sat down on the couch once again.
I had probably fallen asleep, because it was light outside when I looked up. I spend two more days on the couch, eating only berries and drinking only water from the little river. The monster wasn't to be seen anywhere in those two days. He hadn't come back to eat, or to sleep. On the third day I found him whilst I was walking around the mansion. He was sitting on one of the highest branches in one of the tallest trees around.
He had almost finished the book; he was reading the final chapter. He didn't look up when I shouted at him. When he closed the book, about 10 minutes later, he changed his position, and just jumped down. He landed like a cat; it was just that he seemed even more elegant. The book was in his left hand, and he held it out to me. He didn't look up, and when I tried to see his expression I could see why; a tear was rolling down his cheek.
The story was about a girl, a princess, who met an ugly boy, ignored him at first, but in the end chose to be with him forever. A bit less easy than that, but that was the main story-line. It was a tale many parents told their children here to make them stop judging others for what they look like. I couldn't see how this story had made him cry though, since he wasn't ugly at all, and no princess would ever dare going too far or even coming close to this forest.
He wiped away the tear and looked at me. 'I'll help you; I'll be back in three days'
He suddenly ran off, and he didn't come back. Those three days I lived the same as I had done the two days he spend reading, except that I ate less berries, because after only eating berries, my stomach started to hurt, and it seemed better to eat a little less, than to eat something which might be venomous in to big quantities.
There was no sign of any other living creatures in or nearby the mansion, not even a rabbit or a mouse, not even a spider. It was death as can be. It scared me a little, but not enough to make me lose my sanity, I just had to wait patiently for the monster to come back. I wish I knew his name, which would make it much easier to think about him. And besides, 'hey monster' doesn't sound very nice.
On the third day he indeed came back, with a huge smile across his face. 'You can just go back, it's all over, and the forest will be safe' I nodded. I walked to the piano room to take my bag, in which all the books were. I took out the books, and put them on the chair on which he had made me sit when I first got here. I looked around the room once more and walked downstairs.
He was still in what seemed to be the living room 'Shall I bring you there?' he asked. I nodded 'That would be great, the trip is really tiring' I then realized he had gone there, done something, and returned in 3 days, the time which it had taken me to just get here. He walked away and a few minutes later came back with a horse. He jumped on top of it, and reached out for my hand, I took his hand and was surprised by his strength; he had just pulled me up, and he had only been using one arm.
We rode for a couple of hours; the horse was really fast, without speaking. 'What's your name?' I asked. 'You don't need to know' was his short answer; he clearly wasn't in the mood for a conversation. I looked down at the horse again, and he seemed to have realized I was sort of hurt by his short answer. 'And besides, I don't even remember it myself, after not having spoken to anyone in centuries, you forget unimportant things like that'
I nodded 'I see', we reached the lake near the village soon after. He jumped of the horse, and then pulled me down. 'I guess this is our goodbye' he smiled, but there was sadness in his voice. 'I guess it is…' I said, my voice reflected the same sort of sadness as his. He jumped on the horse again and waved, that was when I realized I had one more question 'How did you do it?' he turned his face so I only saw the side.
He smiled, and now for the first time I could clearly see his teeth. He had fangs. He was a vampire. 'Did you sell your soul to the devil?' I hadn't meant to say that out loud, I was just wondering, but I had actually said it, I felt so stupid. Instead of getting angry, he just kept smiling 'I didn't, my father was poor, so he did, that's it' I opened my mouth in shock, what kind of father would do such a thing? I'd rather die than sell anyone's soul to the devil.
Before I could say anything else, he left, and I went home as well. When I got back to the village I heard rumors about how a mysterious young man had attacked the enemies, and killed them all. All men of the hostile village were killed. The woman and children were left unharmed; after all they had done nothing wrong. Our village and the other village would become one. It was a happy ending for us, but I kept wondering about the monster.
That was a couple of years ago.
Now it was again the 21st, same month, just another year. It is 5 years later, I am 21. And the urge to go back to the mansion and visit the man who I owed more than my own life had become unbearable. In the past 5 years I had more started to think of him as just a man, because monsters didn't have hearts, and he clearly did, why else would he have helped me?
And here I am, once more, in front of a little, almost hidden path behind the lake. I know what I want to do, and I know what I'm going to do. I'll find him again, no matter what will happen.
I think I love him.