The Shadow of the Forest
The "Shadow of the Forest" is a black, lizard-like, bipedal creature the watches over the great forest of the Sagely Grounds. It was first witnessed by lumberjacks just outside the small village of Stremly in 412 BFB. The story spread extremely quickly locally as a witnessing of a forest monster or guardian. It didn't take long for local legends and stories to show up.
It was a cool autumn evening, and two lumberjacks had just left for the forest to collect some wood. They journeyed in for only a minute and starting collecting. After about an hour or so, one of them stops to take a break and walks down to a small nearby stream. As he crouches down to refill his water bladder, he notices some movement in the distance. Standing up, he can clearly see a very tall, bipedal creature slowly stepping through the underbrush. It is as black as night with vaguely lizard-like features such as a snout and tail. He calls to the other lumberjack but only revealed his position in doing so. The other jack sees the creature for only a split second before it snaps around, realises it has been seen, and vanishes in a subtle burst of dark mist. They both stood in stunned silence for a moment before finishing up and returning home. They both retold their story to the locals, with most of them thinking it was complete bogus and just made up to scare the villagers. It was mostly disregarded and the people of Stremly carried on as normal.
A few months passed and there had not been any other signs of the creature since. A pair of young children, a brother and sister, thought they should foolishly venture out into the forest at night to find the creature. Going to the stream where the lumberjacks originally saw it, the looked around as much as they could but found nothing out of the ordinary. It wasn't until the boy slips on the wet rocks along the stream and falls in that things start going wrong. While the stream itself isn't terribly deep, it is quite fast flowing and rolls down the rocks until it eventually meets up with the river Strorn. The girl panicked and ran back to Stremly to find someone to help her and quickly returned with multiple villagers armed with torches running down the length of the stream. About half-way down, they saw something, though not one of them could ever have expected it. They saw a very tall, bipedal creature; it is as black as night with vaguely lizard-like features such as a snout and tail. Standing on the other side of the stream, cloaked in large fern leaves, it was difficult to make out in the dim light of their torches. It was clear enough, however, to see what was in its arms. It was...the boy. He was soaking wet and unconscious but appeared mostly unscathed. Not a word was spoken, nor a sound made, by either the creature or the villagers. Instead, the creature slowly bowed its head to them, carefully set the boy down, and disappeared as it did just months before. Moments after it vanished, the people made their way across the stream and found the boy, alive and safe. None of them could believe it. The boy certainly couldn't when he came to.
After this day, the creature was certainly believed to be real by pretty much everyone in Stremly. Some sort of guardian of the forest, watching over those who lose their way in inside. It was here that people started collectively calling the creature the Shadow of the Forest. It was not officially recognised, but many people laid offerings at the edge of the forest at sundown, such as baskets of vegetables and fish, as a way of saying thanks. By morning, it would have vanished. This further solidified the existence of the creature in the eyes of the villagers and gradually became a tradition performed by some of the more devoted believers.
It was a cool autumn evening, and two lumberjacks had just left for the forest to collect some wood. They journeyed in for only a minute and starting collecting. After about an hour or so, one of them stops to take a break and walks down to a small nearby stream. As he crouches down to refill his water bladder, he notices some movement in the distance. Standing up, he can clearly see a very tall, bipedal creature slowly stepping through the underbrush. It is as black as night with vaguely lizard-like features such as a snout and tail. He calls to the other lumberjack but only revealed his position in doing so. The other jack sees the creature for only a split second before it snaps around, realises it has been seen, and vanishes in a subtle burst of dark mist. They both stood in stunned silence for a moment before finishing up and returning home. They both retold their story to the locals, with most of them thinking it was complete bogus and just made up to scare the villagers. It was mostly disregarded and the people of Stremly carried on as normal.
A few months passed and there had not been any other signs of the creature since. A pair of young children, a brother and sister, thought they should foolishly venture out into the forest at night to find the creature. Going to the stream where the lumberjacks originally saw it, the looked around as much as they could but found nothing out of the ordinary. It wasn't until the boy slips on the wet rocks along the stream and falls in that things start going wrong. While the stream itself isn't terribly deep, it is quite fast flowing and rolls down the rocks until it eventually meets up with the river Strorn. The girl panicked and ran back to Stremly to find someone to help her and quickly returned with multiple villagers armed with torches running down the length of the stream. About half-way down, they saw something, though not one of them could ever have expected it. They saw a very tall, bipedal creature; it is as black as night with vaguely lizard-like features such as a snout and tail. Standing on the other side of the stream, cloaked in large fern leaves, it was difficult to make out in the dim light of their torches. It was clear enough, however, to see what was in its arms. It was...the boy. He was soaking wet and unconscious but appeared mostly unscathed. Not a word was spoken, nor a sound made, by either the creature or the villagers. Instead, the creature slowly bowed its head to them, carefully set the boy down, and disappeared as it did just months before. Moments after it vanished, the people made their way across the stream and found the boy, alive and safe. None of them could believe it. The boy certainly couldn't when he came to.
After this day, the creature was certainly believed to be real by pretty much everyone in Stremly. Some sort of guardian of the forest, watching over those who lose their way in inside. It was here that people started collectively calling the creature the Shadow of the Forest. It was not officially recognised, but many people laid offerings at the edge of the forest at sundown, such as baskets of vegetables and fish, as a way of saying thanks. By morning, it would have vanished. This further solidified the existence of the creature in the eyes of the villagers and gradually became a tradition performed by some of the more devoted believers.
Summary
Some young men were out collecting wood from the forest outside Stremly when they accidentally witnessed a passing creature in the distance. When they were noticed, the creature vanished into a cloak of shadow. It was never supposed to be seen, so it disappeared as soon as possible.
It was only ever seen again when it saved a young boy from likely drowning in the river Strorn. From then, it was placed it to be a monster of the forest, or even a guardian, that wandered alone in the dark. It protected those that fell astray or needed guidance and safe passage.
Historical Basis
In reality, the people actually saw a Raxarian. They didn't know it at the time, and no one still does now, but it was a Looker that was caught off-guard. He almost immediately realised he had been noticed and so quickly cast the Shadow Stalk incantation to get away unseen, which is the burst of dark mist.
Due to the responsibilities of the looker, he learned during his observations that the people seemed to have made him into a folktale, even though very few of them even believed it happened at all. Over his time watching over them, he started to feel attached to the villagers and actually did protect them, as subtly as he could. While he was observing the night the children went to find him, he was originally going to carefully reveal himself to them, to humour them. When the boy slipped into the river, however, he had a change of plan. He found the boy as he was being hurtled down the river and pulled him to safety. He cast some very basic healing incantations to repair the worst of his injuries and picked the boy up preparing to take him directly back to village, not initially realising that villagers were already on their way anyway. As he started on his way back up the stream, he saw the dim light of the torches over the crest of the rocks. He turned to face them and prepared for the worst. When the villagers appeared, they all stood in stunned silence. The Raxarian did not want to frighten them, so he simply bowed his head to them, laid the boy down, and disappeared. His later observations of the village showed that they took his appearance as some mythical creature, dubbed the "Shadow of the Forest".
The Raxarian in question was just Kíliaotevarsin. He had performed lots of dishonourable acts in this series of events, and if any Dragon Lord or Speaker heard about it, he would be stripped of honour and likely even exiled if they deemed it necessary. The thing is, they never did. Which, in itself, is a dishonourable act as he did not truthfully report back all of his observations. He also gave himself a name, Armlekas (meaning "Legend"), despite it not being given to him by a Dragon Lord or Speaker and without going through the Yelarvanislienthix. He also took the people's offerings to reinforce his presence which would greatly worsen things in the eyes of the Raxarians. With everything considered that he did, he almost definitely would have been exiled:
- He did not truthfully report back all of his observations.
- He let himself be seen by humans (the first instance wouldn't count as it was accidental).
- He interacted with the humans enough to become a folktale, which means his appearance made a lasting effect. He continued to interact with them by taking their offerings.
- He named himself despite not undergoing the Yelarvanislienthix, or even being offered the name. This is the worst of all his misdeeds, in Raxarian culture.
Spread
The story has stayed almost entirely as local tale and very few other places have heard it. The only other settlement to hear the story was Slumberwood, since it was just down the river, but it didn't catch on as well as it did in Stremly. Gabriel would have written it into his Ancient Tales of the Sages if he were still alive by the time it happened.
In Literature
The story was mostly told through a poem written by an unknown author. It reads as follows:
"Deep in the forest
lurks a great beast.
He prevents unrest,
all from west to east.
Cloaked in dark shadow,
he hides from us.
Many lives, we owe
to his care and trust.
O' Shadow of the Forest,
we believe in your care.
O' Shadow of the Forest,
Betray you, we would not dare.
O' Shadow of the Forest,
keep our people from harm.
O' Shadow of the Forest,
we shall offer you our farm.
O' Shadow of the Forest,
you are most strong and wise.
O' Shadow of the Forest,
we'll save you from prying eyes.
O' Shadow of the Forest,
we love you, it is true.
O' Shadow of the Forest,
we hope you love us so, too."
lurks a great beast.
He prevents unrest,
all from west to east.
Cloaked in dark shadow,
he hides from us.
Many lives, we owe
to his care and trust.
O' Shadow of the Forest,
we believe in your care.
O' Shadow of the Forest,
Betray you, we would not dare.
O' Shadow of the Forest,
keep our people from harm.
O' Shadow of the Forest,
we shall offer you our farm.
O' Shadow of the Forest,
you are most strong and wise.
O' Shadow of the Forest,
we'll save you from prying eyes.
O' Shadow of the Forest,
we love you, it is true.
O' Shadow of the Forest,
we hope you love us so, too."
Date of First Recording
412 BFB
Date of Setting
412 BFB
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