The Silver King

King In The Woods 4

I watched him as he walked to the middle of the trail. He stood waiting for me to nod and give him a small wave telling him I was ready to maybe die in the next few minutes. Not much else I could do about it. He gave me a nod back, then stomped down hard on the dirt packed ground. I thought I heard some sort of hollow echo and the faintest silver light coming from him when he stomped.

My body sensed the creature before I saw it. Every hair on the back of my neck stood on end and my hands started to shake. I had never been so scared in my life. I would honestly rather be thrown from a tree a hundred times then be sitting on the trail when the creature showed itself.

It was enormous black mass that flickered through the trees like a ghost. It's white glowing eyes and clawed black hands looked solid enough though. Wrapping one hand around a tree it looked so big it could easily rip that tree from the roots. Even though it was massive, its voice was barely a whisper. It was right in front of us and yet I could barely get a good look. It was like my eyes refused to focused on the thing and I was glad for that.

"What creature has wandered into my forest?"

It reached out a large claw towards Elly who stood firm. Even in my state I wanted to run out and protect him. The claw stopped right in front of his face when Elly started to speak.

"You have created for too many children. Your limit was two. You are taking too many humans to feed them, and I suspect you took this other human to create a new-"

Elly's strong words were cut off by a rasping laugh from the woods that made my skin crawl.

"This forest is mine. I can make as many children as I like. Now be gone."

The massive claw came down to crush poor little Elly and I shot to my feet. I was far too slow. But my concern was not needed. The moment the ghastly claw came down it exploded it a silver mist. The creature let out a shriek of pain and darted further back into the woods nursing it's wound. Elly had not moved and his back was turned to me but I could feel his was very angry.

"You cannot be!" The monster hissed with a voice full of hate. "The Silver King is dead!"

"I can never die. And you have insulted me beyond going pass your child limit. As a punishment you must kill the most recent ones you have created. You must also break the loops of the humans you have trapped. Humans that are most suited to be returned to their world adjusted to live peacefully. You'll go hungry for a while, but be thankful for your life."

The monster hissed more darted back and forth between the trees considering what to do. It clearly wanted to kill Elly but couldn't. I didn't believe that Elly, the small child before me was a scarier monster than the dark thing in the woods. But the proof was the thing not attacking. With more pacing and hateful hissing, it agreed.

"Oh, thank you my dear Silver King for sparing my life this night. I shall never forget it. Never."

I had never heard such pure hate before. It made me feel sick just listening to that dreadful voice I had no idea how Elly stood so still with them directed towards him. He was a tough kid it seemed.

I expected something special to happen. But I just blinked and everything returned to normal. It was dark meaning the sun had finally set. Elly stood in the same spot, the monster in the woods gone. I checked my phone finding it working but I didn't use it to call for help. I knew I was safe to walk to the end of the trail and out of the woods.

Elly looked at me with a hard to read look on his face. It lightened when I offered my hand to him so we could continue the way we had started. Even in the dark I saw his face flush a little. He was a big important figure among very scary creatures. I don't think he often was treated like the child he was and appreciated the gesture.

I wish I had spoken to him on our walk. I didn't know what to say after everything I had seen. I was going through ideas in my head when I saw something else on the trail on front of us. My throat closed and I felt tears come to my eyes. The missing children stood alone, holding hands and looking very scared. I let go of Elly's hand to run over to the poor lost kids. I checked them over finding them to be safe and perfectly fine. But when I looked back Elly was gone.

I was a bit suspicious bringing two of the missing kids out of the woods. Two kids that should have been dead and looked the same as they did when they had gone missing. But I had a solid alibi when they had been on the trails. One was me on camera buying gas, and the other was me with ten other volunteers when the little gone had gone missing. Some people thought I was working with the ones who had taken them but with no proof the matter dropped.

No one could explain what happened and I was not offering my strange tale. The kids said they had just been stuck in one spot for a long time and didn't get hungry. Since they were so young the police didn't know what to make of it. The case came to a standstill, but most people were just happy the kids were found.

Since then, I wondered about Elly. I can't help but think how he's doing out there and if he's safe. Of course, he's safe. He seems like a big deal. But I can't help myself. I've been looking trying to find any mention of him but so far nothing.

If you run into him out there, please trust him and treat him nicely. He has a tough job. And please tell him Hue say's hello and wants to know he's doing aright.