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...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Art by James Fenner (@JMFenner91 on Twitter)
"The witch's gone!" The boy gasped, startled by the new apparition. "She's using magic! Making up illusions to trick us!" He tried to make sense of things, eyes darting back and forth, searching for a way out of this deadly nightmare.
"No, it's not a witch... " He tried to solve the mystery on his own since I wasn't saying anything to help. "You told us already what it was... We thought you were only trying to scare us, but you were telling the truth. You said you made a deal with a demon in this forest. It's a demon, not a witch." He concluded as he stepped closer to me. "And the demon won't kill you. That's why you ain't scared. That's why you aren't doing anything. That's why you're standing there, watching us die, one by one. We are the feast. And you are the devil's caterer." He accused me, pointing a trembling finger at my face.
His fist was shaking as he raged, blind with fear. "Well, let's see what the demon will do now that I have a knife at his servant's neck," he said, unsheathing a knife from his belt and grabbing me by the scruff of my shirt.
He was too damn quick, I didn't have time to react before his knife was already on my throat. He pressed the sharp blade close to my neck and dragged me towards the forest, stopping a few feet away from where Erebus was standing.
"Let's make a deal, forest demon!" The boy shouted, pressing the blade against my neck. Thunder rumbled loudly over our heads as if displeased by the boy's manners. "You will not kill me, and I won't kill him." He proposed, pressing the blade slightly harder until it began to draw blood. "What says you? Do we have a deal?"
Erebus dark eyes flickered to the blade and then back up to stare at the boy holding the knife. For a split second, it seemed like the boy's threat had gotten to him, but then, Erebus gave a small smile and it was laced with such malevolence, it shook me to the core. Even though his eyes remained cold and unforgiving, they also glinted with a light of their own.
The bracelet on my wrist constricted painfully, digging into my flesh until its thorns were drawing blood. I felt a prickling pressure at the back of my skull and realized that it was Erebus reaching out to me, using the bracelet's powers to link us. Words formed inside my head and I repeated them out loud as if he was speaking through my mouth.
"I've been trying to kill him for some time now," I said and my voice sounded foreign to my own ears. There was a gritty, ominous tone lacing every word that came out, and it was wrapped with a strange accent that I never had before. "I've tried all kinds of tricks on him, but... he's too smart for them. Smarter than you or all of your goons combined. Smarter than you will ever dare to be, child."
"W-who? W-what is h-happening?" The boy stammered nervously beside me. His voice shook with fear and confusion, the same as his hand that trembled dangerously out of control as he held the knife against my throat.
