Men & Monsters

Another Day in the Life of...

Eira made it back to the village in one piece, a bit shaken up but in one piece no less. She clutched the handle to her satchel as she walked up her relatively quiet home. Green Folk dotted the village in tight groups. Small fires were left unattended and animals caught by hunters had yet to be skinned or sliced up for food. Goats and chickens were tended to in their pens, and of the small patches of vegetables growing only a few tended to them. Together they all wore green hoods and attire like Eira, concealing their faces from her as she approached. As she got closer, she could make out some of them sobbing as they consulted one another.

"Eira! You're safe!" From one of the groups a young woman turned and ran to her. With a joyful laugh she embraced Eira, spinning on her heels as she swung her friend around and about. "We all thought for sure the Coffin Spawn had you." Eira now understood why everyone else was so scared. Cecile backed away with a smile. "I saw it go after you when we all got away. Oh thank goodness. Thank goodness you're safe." Turning to the others, she announced Eira's return and brought her forward.

Relieved sighs and sniveling gasps filled the air. Some of the men returned to their business while the other gatherers who had accompanied Eira that morning surrounded her. Among them was her own mother, who tearfully hugged her daughter and confessed her deepest fears coming true for her. Eira brushed the attention off with a nervous snicker. She was never one for such attention.

"I-I'm quite alright. Really." Another collective sigh came from the Green Folk gathering party as many of them began to depart as well. "Was anyone else hurt?"

"No. Iseult and I were chased for some time, but once we saw you, it did too. I...we, thought it got you after we looked for you." Cecile replied.

"How did you escape?" Iseult asked as she appeared beside Cecile.

"Well...um..." Eira thought for a moment. Looking around at her peers, she wasn't sure if they would believe her story. Talking beasts? Like they would accept such a childish thing, she thought. "Something scared it off."

"Really? What? What was it Eira?" Questions poured from the Green Folk. They'd never heard of anything scaring off something like a Coffin Spawn before.

"I...I couldn't get a good look at it. It was in the fog." A sense of disappointment lingered as the Green Folk wished to know what drove their antagonist off.

"That's quite alright." Her mother, Myrtle, breathed. "Let's get you something to eat. Maybe a nap with a wet cloth on your forehead could help you relax. I don't think you should go back out there today."

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As the sun began to rise higher into the morning sky, shadows clung to the green forest floor, waiting for night to return and free them. Everything was still, with the only thing to break the silence being the birds above as they sang to one another. But as time passed, a heavy presence made itself known.

Grass shuffled loudly as something big made its way through the woods. Towering over any deer or Wildeboar, its long, muscle-packed tail occasionally struck a thick tree trunk by accident. It walked on its two legs, with its head held high and the hint of a smirk across the tip of its snout. As its front limbs mindlessly played with one another, Giant paused. With a deep breath, he enjoyed the morning air with a heavy sigh.

Despite the carelessness of it all, and his belly full from the morning hunt, his mind continued to return to his encounter with Eira. What an odd creature, he thought as he started off again. No tail, no snout, or claws for that matter. So timid and defenseless, the only word Giant could think to label her was pathetic. And yet, she only intrigued him. She lived in these woods? After all of these years and not a hint of their existence. Fascinating, he thought. In all his years there was still much to learn. A humbling revelation, he realized.