A dark fairy tale about traps, lures and falling for shadows.
When you see an eldritch dark horror made of shadows by the side of an old cursed trail that no one dares to go, you expect it to be less charming as it tries to trick you with deceitful...
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Art by James Fenner (@JMFenner91 on Twitter)
Erebus was laying on the grass, a few red wildflowers scattered all around him while I tended to the fire only a few feet away.
I had been setting up a small bonfire the closest I could get to the forest's border, and Erebus would lie down on the grass close by, leaning on his elbows while listening to me talk about my life and random silly things that happened in my village.
We'd been doing this routine for a couple of weeks now. It started slowly, I would only stop for a quick chat at first, then I wanted to be more comfortable and arranged a dry log so I could sit while we talked some more, soon there was a bonfire I had to arrange to give some light to our meetings and this is how things ended, like we were old friends chatting up by the bonfire, only one of us couldn't get past the forest's boundaries and the other trying to get as close as safety would allow.
I usually did most of the talking, and he did most of the listening. He asked questions occasionally but didn't like receiving them as much. He didn't get any better with the teasing, though, even after a few more lessons I attempted to give. But I have learned a few things about him in our many talks by the edge of the forest, like how dark his sense of humor could be sometimes and how he had an unsettling edge to his tone when he talked about things he didn't like.
I learned that he was the most passionate when he talked about the places he enjoyed the most in the forest. He knew every nook and cranny in Redwood and seemed to have learned to love the place he was imprisoned in, almost to the point of nearly calling it home.
Tonight the sky had been capturing his interest far more than any incredible tale I could spin on him. He was laying with his arms up and head nested over his hands, legs crossed lazily at the ankles, barefoot as usual. He only wore pants now, always dismissing shirts or his long mantle, as the weather became warmer and warmer with each passing night.
And with each passing night, he seemed more alluring, as if he was somehow tweaking and adjusting parts of himself and doing small subtle changes that were gradually resulting in the most stunning, beautiful sight to behold.
It was hard not to stare at his half-naked form laying so alluringly on the grass, only a few feet away from me. But I still tried. I tried every night, and every night I failed miserably. Tonight I had been staring for an embarrassing amount of time, I had to confess.
He seemed enthralled by the sky and paid me no heed, though. I couldn't tell if he was lost in troubled thoughts or if he was merely observing the sky absent-mindedly. Feeling a smidge of jealousy, since I was so used to his attention on me, I decided to leave the bonfire and join him in his stargazing.
I laid down a few feet away from him on the grass, after making sure the forest's shadow limit was at a safe distance between us, and then I took one quick peek at him before turning to watch the night sky like he had been doing so far.
