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I am committing this to memory, for I fear it all shall be forgotten soon enough, becoming
legend and not fact. Be warned, the Stilask Woods may be gone, but the potwory that lurked
within are still alive and well. I was merely a boy when this happened to me, but I will
never forget the Terror that lurked within the Stilask Woods.
My father always warned me of the Stilask Woods. “There is nothing but death in those
woods, only foolhardy traders cross through those woods.” Ever since I was a child I had been curious about the woods
that were like no other. The trees seemed to stretch endlessly into the sky, with sharp
brittle points covering almost every surface of the trees. As a boy I heard the rumors,
someone playing too close to the brittle trees and tripping, Impaling themselves on the tree
spikes. I don't think anyone had actually seen it happen, the Stilask Woods were feared.
The only path through those woods was Traders Trail, carved a long time ago from the trees.
On opposite ends of the Stilask Woods lay Ashford and Mila. The only two towns for miles
around. Most traders regretted taking traders trail when they came back. They came with
stories of creatures, their guards killed and supplies raided. Some barely escaped with
their lives. Unfortunately, I was destined to also cross the trail, fate had decided
I would experience horrors that few had survived. My father had worked at the local coal mine,
it was good money for what we needed and we never starved. The mine ended up running out.
Faced with starvation or moving towns to Mila’s coal mine my father chose latter. He packed
up what few belongings my mother and I owned and we gave a trader what was left of my father's
earnings for him to escort us through the Stilask Woods. His name was Davi, he was a
cruel man and forced my father to dance and beg before he finally allowed us to follow
behind his caravan. Davi had only two guards, Sagan and Gerian. They were huge men, towering
over my father's 5’10 height. We traveled only in the day time. Stopping every time
at 6 pm on the dot and beginning again at 7 am the next morning, making sure to have
two guard throughout the night. My mother was always scared of the darkness in those
woods, what lay behind them. With crawling teeth and dark red eyes. I tried to comfort
her, though I was merely a boy. “Mama" I'd call her “It will all be okay, Tata will
protect us” All she did was sob at my unrelenting optimism.
It would be a ten day trek through the woods. I will write every day, from the first to
the fateful last day when I made it out of those terrible, terrible woods.
The First Day: We set out beginning at a brisk pace. Trying
to warm our bodies for the incoming winter. The temperature in these lands had already
dropped below fifty degrees. It would snow in the coming days and Davi feared that if
we stayed unmoving when the snow came that we would be buried. It didn't help that the
woods that surrounded the crowded path were thick, covering what little sun had broken
through the clouds. Sounds seemed to echo from the trees, reverberating around in our
skulls. For a long time it seemed as if the first day would pass uneventful. Then the
voices started. It seemed to come at every direction at once, whispers, shouts, cries
for help, they all came. Even though the voices seemed to all overlap I could hear each one
individually crying out to me "Dlaczego to się dzieje?"
"To nie może być prawdziwe" "Pieprzyć was wszystkich!”
"Boże mój ojciec nie żyje” It had been a long time since I had heard
my native tongue spoken by anyone else other than my father. Something along the lines
of this can't be real/happening, *** you all. It seemed to me like the cries of past
travelers who had fallen. I was particularly disturbed by one small boys voiced who whispered
“My father is dead” It felt almost unbearable until Davi shouted
through the storm of voices: “We must keep going! We will never make it in nine days
if we stop now! This will only get worse, keep moving!” Even though I knew his speech
came from his desire to be payed for his goods, it was enough to compel my family to continue
onwards, albeit with our hands on our ears. We had been walking for what must of been
four hours before the voices suddenly and decisively stopped. It freaked me out more
than the voices themselves. One moment I had to keep my hands on my ears to avoid going
mad, the next it was completely quiet. We continued to walk in complete unease until
it was time to stop travelling. Davi gave the order and we all started to unpack our
sleeping sacks and prepare for night. Late into the night, both of my parents were fast
asleep. Only the two guards stood over our little camp. I had to pee badly and had but
little option but to approach the surrounding woodland and defile it. The two guards were
drunk and laughing at my timid approach to the brittle trees, as I stand there relieving
myself, I saw two red pin pricks seem to appear in front of the darkness. A pale white figure
emerged from the darkness, it's brown patchy fur seemed to grow and stop randomly, producing
some horrifying monstrosity, it stood barely shorter than me. It almost looked like some
kind of Monkey had it had a tail and not some half torn stub. It's face was another horror
all together, it's mouth seemed to stretch ear to ear, it's long teeth protruding out
of its heavily breathing mouth. We stood there, staring at each other. I, frozen in fear,
it, examining me. The two guards tried to whisper for me to come back quickly.
“Pitor!” they shouted in a whisper, “Come back!”. The monstrosity seemed to have heard
them and as soon as I had finally regained some control over my body it raised its long
arm, the arm with some kind of needle like fingers. It slashed me across the chest, a
gash that seemed to cover my entire chest. At the moment it happened I didn't feel the
pain, I just quickly fell over and scooted myself near the guards who were now shouting
and waving their weapons at the beast, trying to scare it. For hours afterwards my chest
felt like it was fire and I didn't recover for three days. For long afterwards my parents
were more protective over me, placing wards from our home country to protect me.