Chapter Text
The forest was completely covered in blue, reflecting the night sky. Felix had never seen anything more breathtaking. It was as if the dark blue of the sky bled into the deep greens of the leaves and pine needles, into the tree trunks and the blades of grass that spread all around him.
The Crescent Moon rose high in the sky, bathing Felix and the forest with a gentle glow, the feelings in his chest becoming overwhelming but in a good sense. He had never dared to look at the Moon this way, with such appreciation for its beauty, for its light.
All his life Felix heard stories from the villagers who spoke of the day and the night and all that inhabits the sky as the good and the evil. The day was the hero, the Sun a generous god that warms the humans, lights up their way and nurtures the earth. And the night? A villain. The Moon, a dangerous temptation that lures you outside, out of your safe bed, guides you through unknown paths as you try to reach it, touch it, captivated by its hypnotizing beauty. The Stars? Those are the souls of the damned that got lost in the woods while under the pale god’s spell, and ended as food for the Moon’s many sons, the night creatures.
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Felix was not supposed to be in this place at this time. No one was. Every place had its tales and this particular forest was home to many. Very rarely people ventured out on this area of the woods, not even daring during the day. There were sounds of twigs breaking when no human nor animal were in sight, there was the unnatural silence of the birds and even the trees were quiet, as if they too were scared of what lies beyond the border, beyond the untamed bushes and the thick trunks of wood that rose even higher into the sky, intimidating everyone away. It was as if there was something watching, someone, no matter day or night.
It is also in this area where most of the missing people were last seen.
Together with his father and his younger sister Felix had come to collect wood and berries, close to what was considered the border of the creepy forest. Shivers crossed down his spine from seeing with his own eyes the way the forest was clearly divided by itself. There was a line created by the overgrown nature that divided the wild, untouched, ruled free, and the tamed woodland they were on. They were here because unfortunately, since everybody in the village went to the same area of the woods, to the ones that were deemed safe, it meant that there was not much left to gather, and not even in this area of the forest were they lucky.
Winter was approaching. There were too many mouths to feed yet not enough food, and hunger and cold together equal a very grim future. A future where one would end up buried or burned in case the ground is too frozen over to dig a grave on. So it came to no surprise when Felix’s father asked him to cross the border, to go to the other side since there had not been much they managed to collect. Felix wasn’t a fool, it might have sounded like a request to foreign ears but it was an order, Felix was familiar with that tone. It didn’t matter how scared he was, he had to go if he wanted them to survive this winter.
And so he went. He walked closer to the border, and took a deep breath. His sister’s eyes showed him empathy and a tinge of sadness. At the end of the day he was doing this for her, so that she wouldn’t have to be the one to step foot on the other side of the woods, so she wouldn’t have to feel the terror Felix felt right now. With one last look back, Felix stepped into the tall grass. On this side the trees swayed gently with the wind, their leaves murmuring between them, alerting the forest of an intruder or welcoming him to his doom. He did not know which one it was.
Felix figured that maybe he could stick by the perimeter of the safer woodlands with the border in his sight, yet once more his luck had abandoned him like it so often did. The forest was untouched so it should have plenty of resources, yet the only thing that grew wildly was the grass and the thorny bushes that carried no berries. He would have to delve deep into the forest if he wanted to get anything to bring back home. Felix prayed to the Sun he would be able to return safely, its rays telling him to move fast as he had approximately thirty minutes to get what he could and go back before the warm light vanished and gave place to a cold white one.
Felix took another look back at the people he came accompanied with. He briefly noticed a strangle glint in the man’s eyes, maybe it was worry, maybe the man he now called father was as worried for Felix's safety as he too was.
Saying he was scared was an understatement. Ever since they were born they were taught to fear the forest. Fear was probably the first emotion planted onto the children, the stories that were taught to them watering and nurturing that emotion that grew stronger with time. Besides, in addition to the fear of the Moon there was the fear for the creatures of the Moon, for its sons that drew power from the god’s light. The Full Moon is when they are louder, the sounds from the wolves and from other mysterious creatures reaching the village like they were right on the other side of the house wall, screaming into the air throughout the entire night. During that phase the pull to the forest is also stronger, the Moon and the creatures whispering directly onto the souls of the people, calling out to them. Not even in their own beds they felt safe.
Felix had seen it happen once when he was a kid. At the time when he lived in the temple’s dormitory he saw another child getting up, their eyes glassy, clearly in a state of daze, walking towards the window right next to his bed. Thankfully the temple ladies always made sure to keep every door and window locked shut. The memory still made shivers run down his spine to this day. Fortunately today it wasn’t a Full Moon. Felix inhaled the thick air, feeling his veins throb with how quick his heart seemed to pump the blood through his body. Deep into the forest the air felt more heavy maybe due to the fact that the nature around him became more dense, closing in on him. At the same time there was a sweet fragrance in the air that calmed him down. A bush of wild roses was close by. The ones that grew outside the temple could never compare to these ones in terms of fragrance and even beauty, their petals a perfect pink, no splotches or rips marking them. He felt like plucking a flower for the way or maybe to offer to his sister but he didn’t want to disturb the forest, to make it angry at him even more, so he left it be.
Felix finally felt some sort of relief when he spotted an area with some bushes with generous amounts of edible berries. He quickly scrambled some onto his pouch and grabbed whatever twigs that were around. He couldn’t afford to lose more time, the Sun was going down way too fast, barely any traces of the orange light were left, the trees engulfing almost everything into shadows. He had to hurry, the Sun is his only guide out of this place after all, there had been no time to mark any tree or memorize anything on his path, not even the grass that he stepped on left a trail. Felix turned back around and started running, chasing his own shadow through the woods. There was a slight breeze that was now becoming more chilly but the only thing Felix could feel was the blood running hot through his veins as he picked up the pace.
He remembered when he was a kid, the ladies at the temple warning them to never run in the forest as there were far too many traps and things they could trip and hurt themselves gravely on. He hears those words in his head now that he is sprawled on the grass, his foot having gotten caught on a prominent root of a tree. In the fall he also ended up spraining his wrist and he could feel blood dripping from his nose to his dirty shirt. The liquid was unpleasant and it made it hard to breath but he had to keep pushing through. Despite being all bruised due to the fall and his ankle throbbing in pain Felix felt relief wash over him. Night had now risen, the sky growing dark with the last remnant of the Sun gone. But he could see the so-called border right in front of him.
He had made it through, a story not many told, a story no one ever told really.
Sadly for him this wasn’t the same place he had been in before entering the dense forest. This part of the woodland had different bushes and more bits of wood but since it was late and his body was sore Felix forego those pieces and kept limping his way out. Problem was, since he never went to the forest alone, he didn’t know the path back to the village, he didn’t know in which direction it even was. That is why people always trust the Sun, it rises on the east and rests on the west every day. Since the beginning of time it guides people to the right path. The Moon on the other hand, was cunning, it played tricks on a person, leading them onto the wrong route if one dared follow its light. And with the Sun gone, Felix had no other choice but to make a lucky guess. His safest bet was that by going the opposite way from the thick forest he would reach the village. The beasts of the night were probably well awake at this point in time, he just hoped they weren’t out looking for a meal right now.
It got increasingly harder to walk despite the path becoming smoother. The damage to his swollen ankle had been bigger than what he initially thought, dried blood clung to his nose from the fall and he could feel every bit of strength leaving his body now that most of the adrenaline had worn off. Adding to that, the last time he ate was at breakfast, a piece of stale bread and a glass of water was all there was. There was never much to eat anyway and since he was physically weak he was always tasked to work on jobs that didn’t require raw power like farming. So most of the time he stayed at home or at the temple taking care of the lost children. And because he didn’t exert himself physically as much as others, he always ended up receiving the smaller portions.
It felt like he spent hours walking around the forest yet there were no signs of him getting closer to the end of it. Felix wondered if it would be too bad to rest for a moment since he was now in safer territory but then his sister’s eyes flashed through his mind. She was probably worried by now, maybe the rest of his family was worried about his well being too.
Something rustled in the forest and Felix’s head shot up like a deer on alert. There was the sound of something cutting through the air and next thing he knew there was a sharp pain on the left side of his lower abdomen. His eyes widened in shock. His hand was covered in blood from where he had touched the source of the pain.
An arrow was stuck on his body.
“I hit it, kill the beast!”
Hunters. He had no idea what they were doing out here at this time of the night but Felix knew he had to run. And fast. If he stayed one more second he wouldn’t stand a chance. And if he tried to talk to them, the hunters would assume it’s the Moon whispering in their ears, luring them in. They would shoot another arrow to kill without hesitation. Hence he ran as fast as he physically could. Felix couldn’t go back to where he came from or he would be back inside the wild deep forest so he opted for one of the sides where he didn’t hear any movement or sound coming from.
There were men behind him, screaming at him and shooting more arrows that thankfully missed the mark as he ran left, right, left, right, trying to lose them and to make it impossible for them to get a good shot. It reached a point where he couldn’t even process where he was going nor his surroundings anymore, pure fear and pain filling every inch of his being. Time was ticking, he couldn’t run for much longer, the blood oozing from his wound making him even weaker. Every single muscle burned but it was the adrenaline that kept him going.
Until it didn’t anymore.
Felix fell to his knees, arms keeping his torso up from the floor so the arrow that impelled him wouldn’t cause more damage. Laying down was impossible and if he removed the arrow he would bleed out as there would be nothing clogging the wound, letting his blood run free and soak in red his worn out shirt more than what it already was. So he just crawled his way on hands and knees to sit on his right side against a thick tree trunk that would hide his position. Felix couldn’t hear anything besides his thrumming heartbeat in his ears and himself gasping for air. Tears pricked his eyes and now that he had finally stopped running, he could see where he was. He had crossed the border again, the thickness of the surroundings and the tall tops of the trees unmistakable. This was it. This was the end.
He finally let loose the tears that so stubbornly clung to his eyelashes, frustrated with his life and with his fate. Frustrations that were not let out vocaly but in the form of salty tears that drenched his collar. What did the world have against him? Why was it so cruel?
Having calmed down and his breathing back at a more regular pace he let himself take on his surroundings. The forest wasn’t as eerie quiet as it was during the day, or as creepy as when he entered it with the last rays of Sunset. He could hear the trees hum a comforting melody with the cool breeze that started to freeze his bones. Felix felt his consciousness seep away and at this point in time, he had nothing more to lose. This would be his final resting place, so he took one good look at the forest bathed in a blue and silver glow. And the Moon, that tantalizing beauty. It whispered to him things he couldn’t comprehend as his senses became more numb with each second, the last thing his eyes caught sight of being the damned souls that he soon would join in the form of Stars and midnight black.
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“Who is he?” A voice spoke.
“Why would you bring a human here? Do you realize how dangerous that is!” A different voice.
“That’s a human arrow don’t worry they-” Again another voice, but this one felt familiar, like the one in the forest, like the Moon. Felix couldn’t grasp the rest of the sentence. His consciousness coming and going in the form of waves. He didn’t feel pain, in fact he didn’t feel anything besides heavy lids from exhaustion. Thus he didn’t try to fight to stay awake, he let himself be lulled back to sleep by the quiet voices and the whispers in his ears.
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When Felix regained conscience and was actually alert of himself and his surroundings, he felt warm ? Cozy even, if ignoring the throbbing pain from the left side of his abdomen. Opening his eyes he felt the crustiness on them and tried to rub it out. By dislodging his arm from under the thick blanket that covered him, he felt the freezing cold hit and the warmth that was entrapped escaping. Engulfing himself back under the sheets he tried to make sense of where he was. He was lying on something soft that compared to the straw mat he usually slept on, felt like what he would imagine a cloud would feel like. There was so much space he figured another person could easily fit there with him. The warmth that enveloped his body was majorly thanks to a large quilt, its borders made of a silk like fabric of a cream colour, similar to the one of the sheets made of plain linen that covered Felix and protected the mattress of clouds he was lying on. The quilt was made out of an assortment of blocks of various shades of reds, browns and cream decorated with intricate patterns and woven shapes of flowers. It was beautiful but clearly something quite expensive.
From the time he spent analysing where he was laying he noticed that the night was crawling up the sky as the light from outside was starting to fade making it hard to see inside. Felix could hear the pit-a-pat of raindrops hitting the ground, the rain slowing down to a stop. As he looked up he took note of the giant white sheet of fabric that created a tent in a bell-like shape with a single wood pole right at the center holding it all up, making the perfect slide for the water droplets to stream through the wax coated fabric. The place he was lying on was right behind that center pole so he assumed the entrance would be straight across. Looking at the other side and...
“Blessed be the Sun.” Felix half whispered, his hoarse voice cracking from lack of use. What the hell is...oh Sun it’s moving- As the figure opened its eyes Felix crawled back, what he failed to realize was that even though the bed he was lying on was pretty large in size, he had been sleeping in a corner. To make matters more painful for him, the bed was slightly elevated being on top of a bedframe. And that’s how Felix ended up sprawled on the floor once more. He had fallen on his back, one of his legs still half on the bed thanks to his foot being tangled in the sheets. His vision swimmed and tears escaped his eyes at the sharp pain shooting from his wound and from the back of the head as it had hit the floor. He heard movement coming from the figure. Felix started panicking. A night beast, it had to be, the figure wasn’t a human. He needed to run, to get out of there.
Once more spiked with adrenaline Felix made a beeline to the exit of the tent dressed only in a long nightshirt that reached his thighs and that definitely did not belong to him. His naked feet padded through the wet grass as he ran. He noticed there were more of the same creatures but he didn’t have time to examine his surroundings properly, he needed to escape or they would kill him. That’s how the tales go, if one gets sucked into the forest the creatures of the Moon sacrifice their catch to the god and the sacrifice would then join the night sky as a Star among the many others. Felix didn’t want to die, especially not like that.
As he passed the last row of tents and ran straight into the deep forest Felix heard yells behind him, probably commands to hunt him down. It was fully night by now, the last quarter of the year bringing with it colder days as well as nights that conquered the sky in a blink, stretching for longer periods of time. Felix heard hooves galloping behind him at a fast pace, faster than what his legs were capable of. There is no point in running, is there? He asked himself just as he lost his footing, his injured ankle giving up underneath him. Once again he laid his back against a tree, this night’s events unfolding to an unpleasant familiar. Felix could hear the hooves circling around both his sides and that’s when he spotted the creatures with their bows pulled back, arrows in position to pierce right through his heart. He could now perfectly see what they were.
Centaurs.
There was also a tale about these creatures. Felix heard of this one when he was a child, in exchange for a piece of bread the old blind man that lived in the town center would tell him everything he wanted to know. Felix liked talking to him, hear the stories of the old gods. The blind man had not survived that year’s cold winter.
The story told that in times of yore the most beautiful horse ever seen, black as midnight, was offered to the first king by the old gods. Said horse was actually a mare, ready to give birth, to continue her legacy, just like the king would one day continue his. Albeit some displeased nobles devised a plan to kill said mare since if succeeded, it would mean that the king's legacy would forever be doomed and they would be at odds to claim the throne. So during the night the nobles trapped the mare and lighted fire to the stable as the fire would purify her and her foal’s souls. What they didn’t account for was her strength and spirit, forged by the old gods themselves. The mare ran through the flames and venged herself by killing the nobles, trampling them under her majestic hooves while others burnt from when she kicked them into the flames with her hind legs. Sadly the mare had injured her skull in the escape and her legacy would have died with her if not for the mischievous Moon.
Some say this was all a ploy created by the villainous Moon against the old gods, as a way to show its power and build its allegiance, to create an assembly of those who would bring it sacrifices, afraid of what the Moon could scheme. They say that’s the reason why it whispered to the nobles to kill the mare, that’s why it lured the king's illegitimate daughter, fruit of the forbidden, to the place the mare took her last breath. That’s why the girl and the mare fused, so that the legacy would continue, but an impure one, and one full of disdain for the king and the humans who tormented the girl in her human life. And that was how the old gods lost their relevance. The Sun and the Moon were not new gods, but they had risen to prominence now. The Moon for its deeds and the Sun to protect the humans from the cunning Moon.
Right in front of his vision Felix could see the centaurs, where their human torso ended and the horse body started. They were mostly brown, cream and spotted. The ones at the front parted away creating a path for another one to walk.
Under the Full Moon and the starry sky, midnight black appeared.