Legendary: Darkness Awakes

Chapter 10- The Mysterious Kyoto Forest

This is another one of my favorite chapters to write, I hope you enjoy it and tell me what you think!

Instead of heading west to return to Shira and Yashakiro, they went back the way they came, simply because the region north of Arcanian Mountain has become too dangerous to pass. Before the Experiments were discovered, there have been numerous reports in both the Humanity Kingdoms and Geodia about another hostile presence in that region with devastating power that leaves craters where soldiers have had encounters and vanished. Even though it means going back through the Death Squad's territory, it was still safer. They rode back around Arcanian Mountain in eight days, on the end of the last day they stopped for the night on the edge of an enormous forest southwest of Shira. The Southern Yashakiro Military forces split from the Shirian soldiers earlier that day, so the Shirian soldiers camped out near the infamous and mysterious Kyoto Forest. Forests and woods in the Outlands were notorious for having a wide variety of unpredictable creatures, from friendly to hostile, dull to exotic to the mysterious, almost all ravenous carnivores constantly on the hunt for prey, not always for herbivores... "Tomorrow we finally return to Shira. Now listen to me when I say this, do not wander into the forest, the Kyoto Forest is dangerous and tends to make people become lost, so do not enter the forest." David announced to his soldiers as they ate their rations for dinner.

"So what's up with the Kyoto Forest to make General Ashdown warn us, the soldiers, not to enter? Isn't it like every other forest in the Outlands?" Cole asked the people around the campfire.

"The Kyoto Forest is an enigma of sorts; people who enter may be seen exiting a few minutes later or a few months later, even its origins are strange, it appeared out of nowhere, a single tree that produced a dark aura, it quickly spread and within a month it became the large forest you see here today." Tim explained, shedding his knowledge on the subject.

"How do you know all that, Tim?" Daniel asked curiously.

"My father and I make swords and armor, sometimes delivering them outside the walls, so I learned about many places outside of Shira and the human territory. I also sort of enjoy the topics." He answered "There are also legends, stories and rumors about the Kyoto Forest and its curses." Tim added.

"What kind of stories are they? Are they scary stories?" Nina asked with a slight grin, the fire shining under her face.

Well, there is one my father used to tell me a lot as a child, it's about an expert assassin known as Mister Simon." Tim said as he started the story. "Like all famous and infamous assassins, Mister Simon had a trademark; he cut off the index finger of his targets after he eliminated them. His signature look was a fedora and worn poncho that he wore all the time. He was also what people would call a risk-taker in the assassination world, for he would take any job, no matter the risk or danger." Tim drank from his canteen, and then continued. "Then one day, he was hired to assassinate the king of the demons, the king of Sanctum, Lord Detrain the First, I think the king was at the time. And Mister Simon fulfilled the contract the very same day, shooting Detrain in his own throne room with his signature weapon, a sawed-off shotgun, rushing out of Sanctum as half the demon military chased him along with what was left of Detrain's royal guards. He then tried to meet up with his employer but fell into a trap set by the demon military, which chased him all the way to the Kyoto Forest." Tim told them as the sun set and the moon rose.

"Simon lost the demons because even then, nobody was reckless enough to venture into the already infamous Kyoto Forest. Simon soon found himself lost, a couple of days later the demon soldiers were forced to enter the forest if they had any hope of making him pay for the death of their king. Nobody knows for sure what truly happened in the Kyoto Forest that month, only two things were ever confirmed, shots were fired and only one of the demons came out of the forest alive, just barely, at the end of the month. But he died before he was ever found, with broken ribs, bruises, cuts, claw gashes and one shotgun blow to the chest. That demon also held a prize, and that was Simon's nose." Tim went on, not done with the story just yet.