In 1620, members of the Lenape, Susquehannock and Shawnee tribes were strictly forbidden from entering a vast expanse of forest located within their territory; a song passed down by the tribe's elders recounted the horrific events that befell any brave warrior who chose to violate their oral traditions and venture into that forest.
One wednesday, as the wind blew fiercely through the birch trees, fifty of the finest hunters and warriors from the three tribes, armed with bone-tipped spears and leather shields, broke the rules and entered, driven by the famine ravaging their villages.
Long Claw, the strongest of the assembled warriors, led this small army on a raid to rid the land of what they knew as the Horror of the Forest.
Riding his horse named Stain, the fifty warriors vanished into the mist surrounding the forest before the eyes of their families, friends and loved ones.
The bones and sunken cheeks were visible on every member of the group; the forests on which they depended for survival had dried up, and every edible animal, plant or seed had vanished.
The army never returned, however long they waited; they had disappeared, and soon the tribes met the same fate.
In the 17th century, with the disappearance of the indigenous tribes, new settlements were established throughout the region; the forests had recovered and were teeming with life.
The European settlers did not rely on gathering and hunting but on agriculture and livestock farming; their settlements flourished over the years, as did their legends.
It is estimated that over three hundred people, including woodcutters, gold prospectors and hunters, disappeared in the mist-shrouded forest before anyone dared to venture back in.
The forest, in which the mist never lifted regardless of the time of year or the weather, and the creature that inhabited it, were known by the same name to both very different groups:
The horror of the Forest of Mist
Two decades later, the inhabitants of the small villages were taken by surprise one morning by the arrival of 800 knights, riding Destrier warhorses—robust, heavy and muscular.
They were clad in full-body silver armour and white hooded tunics that concealed their faces.
The crest that marked each soldier and their standards was a complex design: a dagger piercing a blood-red head with no discernible features.
The men did not utter a word; they did not rest or eat, but simply continued on their way, riding until they vanished into the mist-shrouded forest.
Seventeen hours later, the mist that had enveloped the forest for centuries lifted with the light of dawn; fifty soldiers returned to the village, covered in blood and with a single horse that could barely walk.
They paid in gold and purchased a large tract of land from the chiefs of all the villages; as the months passed, extensive excavations and stone-built structures were erected by the dozens of workers who arrived later.
It took the clergy just one year to claim the land as their own and build what they considered essential for the villages: a church with a bell tower that would make use of the flat terrain and the stone foundations that those foreigners had built and abandoned without giving the people any reason.
- Currently - Millfinburd - Pennsylvania.
*Crash!!!*
Most of the small wooden church's walls burst into pieces, with large splinters of wood and plaster flying everywhere.
The cloud of dust quickly disappeared as it was washed away by the heavy rain.
The giant spider Saenathra scurried out in a hurry from the large hole she had torn open with her own legs.
The shadow of an enormous bear, covered in fur as black as night, was barely visible before it vanished.
The small church would now be nothing but a pile of rubble, were it not for the tower that served as a bell tower, which still stood.
"She sure can run fast, even with only five legs."
William also emerged from the hole, walking slowly; the cramped space inside the church restricted the Spider Queen's movements and allowed William to move freely beneath her before using his Kodiak form to try and crush Saenathra's head with a bite.
Sting's blade bounced a couple of times off Saenathra's armour, but Titan easily severed a second and third leg from the spider as easily as cutting paper.
(If she goes that way, she'll reach the village.)
William followed Saenathra's path with his eyes from the top of the church bell tower.
With a golden flash in the night, a beautiful black wooden bow appeared in William's hands.
The carvings and engravings on the wood evoked leaves and roots covering the body of the bow; they were made of gleaming silver that contrasted with the colour of the wood.
William had quickly shifted into a black eagle to reach the top of the bell tower and summon his bow and quiver.
Galadhrim was the name of the hunter's bow that William had taken from the lifeless hands of the corpse beneath the rotting oak.
Made of extremely rare Marlorn wood, which withstands the test of time, as it only grows where an elf's blood has fallen before.
(I must divert him from his path, without drawing too much attention.)
William took a deep breath and drew back the long, sturdy bow, which was almost as tall as he was.
*Whoosh!!!*
The arrow, made of carbon with a steel tip, cut through the wild storm-tossed air without veering a millimetre, flying unhindered until it struck its target.
*Argghhh!!!*
Saenathra let out a shrill scream as one of the sharp arrows pierced her lower abdomen and lodged itself in the muddy ground.
Like all his equipment, the arrows he fired from his bow were enchanted with runes of piercing, range, stability and lightness.
(The arrow pierced his exo-armour without a problem; is it softer on the back than on the legs?)
Without a moment's hesitation and with expert movements, the next arrow was nocked and fired.
"The brat has a bow!!!" – Click –
Saenathra clicked her fangs in annoyance as she felt the arrow pierce her body.
*Phew!!!*
*Thwack!!* *Thwack!!*
Two arrows pierced the Spider Queen's body before Saenathra began to dodge them, gradually diverting their trajectory until she reached a wide open field.
(Perfect, with no trees I don't have to worry about setting the whole place alight.)
William changed the arrow in his fingers and drew his bow as tight as he could; the silver string released the arrow with a click audible above the roar of the storm.
(Did it fail?)
Saenathra thought as she watched the arrow plunge into the ground right in front of her; it glowed brightly for a few seconds before bursting into searing flames that engulfed nearly half the Spider Queen's body. The raging flames vaporised the water over a wide area and scorched the grass.
The spider's screech was even louder and filled with intense pain; Saenathra could feel herself being burned alive.
(Is she dead?)
William lowered his longbow and looked at Saenathra's lifeless body, lying on the scorched grass. The flames had been extinguished by the strong wind and heavy rain; her screams of pain had also ceased entirely.
*Bam!!*
The large paws of an arctic wolf with fur as white as snow left deep tracks in the muddy ground; the trees swayed violently and the ghost-like figure raced at full speed through the forest.
(Trap!!)
William, transformed into a wolf, tried to brake in a hurry and avoid leaving the forest, but his enormous paws slipped on the damp ground.
His Imp King's ring, which detected danger for him, vibrated intensely the moment he set foot on the scorched grass of the clearing where Saenathra lay.Saenathra wondered as she watched the date stick into the ground right in front of her; it glowed intensely for a few seconds before bursting into searing flames that engulfed almost half of the Spider Queen's body. The raging flames vaporised the water over a wide area and scorched the grass.
(Is this fog? No, it's different from normal fog.)
William thought as he returned to his human form and looked around; the dense, thick, white mist completely filled his vision in the blink of an eye.
(Do Spider Queens have this ability, or is it unique to Saenathra?)
With a metallic clang, William summoned Titan.
(It's affecting my sight, smell and hearing—this is definitely a problem!!!)
"Well then, HERO!!!, you're FEELING FEAR now!!!"
Saenathra's words echoed through the mist, and William found it impossible to tell where they were coming from.
*Crack!!*
The jaw of the second silver skull on his bracelet snapped shut suddenly.
"You'll have to try harder," said William aloud as he felt the hair sticking to his neck and forehead from the cold rain. "A bit of fog isn't enough!"
(I can't feel the ground vibrating from her movements either.)
"How about this?!"
Saenathra shouted, and thousands of sharp, gleaming needles shot at full speed towards William,
Release of Stinging Hairs: thousands of the sharp hairs from the Spider Queen's abdomen detached as she rubbed her body with her hind legs and flew towards William.
Like a rain of daggers, the needles closed to within a metre of William before he could even see where they were coming from.
*Ding!!*
With a metallic clang that cut through the air, a large silver shield with delicate, intricate engravings unfolded right in front of William; Originally the size of a coin, it expanded in the air to cover most of his body.
Unfortunately for the young man, one of the larger needles struck his right thigh, cutting through the flesh and embedding itself in the bone.
The red blood barely had time to stain the dirty water on the ground before William wrenched the spike out to allow the wound to heal completely.
(The larger needles are faster, and that one came from a different direction; it's moving within the mist.)
(It will try to attack from two different places at once.)