The Fae in the Woods

Myoiw related myth

The Myth

If you go out into the woods…

It’s one of the most common ways to start the story for anyone that lives around the large forests that have the hoary trees – century old behemoths that are almost 400 feet tall. It’s a pervasive legend that stretches across the planet in a myriad of forms but the jist is always the same. An alluring fae of form – be it a pretty lady or handsome man – calls to the unsuspecting vnou. They are then compelled, against their will usually, and wander off into the deep gloom of the forest. Never to be heard from. What happens from this point varies wildy – whether the vnou is eaten by wild forest monsters or they become entrapped by the fae, to live in a world beyond. The end result is the same, though. They never come back.

The message…

It’s a childish tale meant to keep children in line and away from the forest where they might otherwise get lost. A superstitious tale told from generation to generation with varying degrees of severity – some emphasizing the importance of not straying out after dark – while others insist that only the Unconnected are unsafe. Like the fae pray upon the innocent.

The truth…

Where there are hoary trees, there are Pra'Myoiw. Where there are Myoiw, there are rumors of the fae. The hoary trees are used for Myoiw homes, and so they guard the forests as their own. Over the centuries of living in the forest, unbeknownst to the locals, the stories of the Myoiw have evolved into those of the fae. Since Myoiw have taken locals – usually those of high Shra – there has been a kernel of truth to the fae snatching. When the Myoiw can’t take a vnou – if they are too resistant – they historically defaulted to murder. Advancement into the modern era has enabled them to be a little more pragmatic and outsource any kidnapping they might struggle with so there has been a lot less murdering.

Related Locations

Urzigeni Forest

A note about Myoiw

Myoiw does nothing to dissuade these stories – if anything, they’ve both embraced and encouraged them. They dissuade the curious from their forest by tricking or scaring vnou out through the use of their high grade Shra – making vnou see things that aren’t there. Monsters in the shadows. Hear things that encourage them to flee. This has also provided a clean cover for when they do take someone from one of the neighboring cities or towns – the fae did it. It doesn’t matter what the truth is because the fear of the fae and the wild stories that frequently follow do all the work for them. The practical will often insist that whomever is missing likely ran away, but it will almost always be accompanied by yeah, with a fae.

Don’t ya dare be goin’ out to them woods, Draesa. Ya’ll be snatched up and ya’ll have no one to be blamin’ but yerself.
His mother’s raspy nagging circled around the back of his mind while Draesakarn wandered close to the edge of the woods. The towering trees rose up into the late evening sky to his right while he maneuvered around old stumps. Much smaller than the monoliths that guarded the old woods. An invisible line that the people of the town wouldn’t cross. Where there was gloom even during the brightest days and the young trees harvested by the town couldn’t grow. Not enough light.
He'd grow up like everyone else in the town to be some sort of logger. Trader. Craftsman. His mother wanted him to marry Aleeteta. She was nice enough but he thought of her like a little sister. Having grown up next to the other handful of kids meant they were all family. Not… Anything else.
Don’t ya dare be goin’ out to them woods. Like she was afraid he’d run away.
Where would he really go? Wandering off into the forest? He might be able to pack enough food to last a week or so, but he was no forager. He’d have no idea how to find anything beyond that and, as far as any map said, there wasn’t any town for miles and miles beyond the forest. Nothing in there but tall, towering trees no one would harvest.
He could follow the only road out of town but that presented much of the same problem. It would take weeks to walk anywhere and he had no idea what then. What else was there to do? His world was the forest and lumber and work. That was all there was to be for him.
Draesa continued to walk amongst the narrow shorn trunks until a steady thunk drew his attention. It was so out of place he actually stopped and looked around. Not far ahead, sitting on a stump close to the edge of the old forest, was a boy his age. An unfamiliar face, swinging his legs while he sat. His heels hit the trunk with a soft thunk at irregular intervals.
“Hey!” The word was out of his mouth before he thought better of it. Before he thought about what he was going to do about a stranger just sitting there.
The boy looked up, startled, but then tilted his head a little and smiled. Curious. He hopped off the trunk and started walking in Draesa’s direction but he was unhurried. His hands slipped in the front pockets of patchworked jeans.
They stared at one another several arms out of reach. “Hey yerself.” The boy’s voice was melodic. Foreign but familiar. It pulled at Draesa’s chest in an odd, uncomfortably warm way. “Ya live ‘round here?”
The question was so outlandish he actually scoffed a laugh then looked around pointedly. “Where else? Where do you live?” Stressing the proper word.
The boy’s smile grew and he canted his head to the other side, like a curious field cat considering a mouse. “In the woods. I thought I heard somethin’ but…” The smile turned into a small frown and he looked around then. “Well, it has jus’ been you. And you just got here. So. Can’t be that.”
“No one lives in the woods.” It was an automatic retort but it was true. No one lived in the Weald. There were no town. Not in the woods.
The boy grinned again. It was a nice smile, pulling at that odd pressure in Draesa’s chest. His left hand slid out of his pocket and he extended it. “Name’s Asiskel.” As soon as Draesa took his hand to shake, reluctantly, the boy added, “And I do live in the woods.”
Their parting was as brief and quick as their introduction. Asiskel said he’d come back, promised he would, the wandered off into the gloom of the Weald. Draesa watched until he couldn’t see him anymore, half expecting the boy to dash off in some other direction. A ploy, a trick. But he didn’t. Not where Draesa could see, anyway.
Later, at the dinner table, when Draesa asked if anyone lived in the forest, his mother had scowled in his direction and scolded him. “Ya were at the trees again, weren’tcha?” Before he could try and lie his way out of his curiosity, Draesa was sent to his room without the remainder of his dinner. He could hear his mother complaining to his three siblings about how his curiosity was going to bring doom on the family, how he was being an irresponsible son. Blaming him for the rusty saws and low egg yield. Things that he couldn’t have possibly had any hand in.
He laid in his bed, staring up at his ceiling well into the dark, until an odd but familiar pressure had him sitting up and wandering to his window. He half expected to see the other boy out there, but he wasn’t. Just the black forest looming in the distance.
Draesa considered for only a minute before he crept out of his house, mindful not to wake anyone, before he made his way toward the forest. No one really lived in the woods, he was sure of it. Apparently his mother was too. He’d grown up on the same silly stories all the other kids had but he’d never believed monsters lived there either.
Asiskel was an oddity.
The autumn night was oddly warm. A last breath of summer before it would well and truly get cold. The entire way toward the stumps, Draesa berated himself. What was he expecting to find? What sort of fool wandered out in the dark? He should go back and try and sleep. If his mother found out he was out and about, let alone because he wanted to see… what? The trees?
Draesa rubbed his hand over his face while he steps slowed. The trees loomed close but he was already reconsidering. It didn’t matter that the ache was still there. An odd, but comforting, pressure. Maybe the dark forest made others nervous, but Draesa felt…
“Hey.” He nearly leapt out of his skin as his hand dropped from his face. Draesa did stumble back. Standing in front of him, from the direction of the stumps and the forest, was Asiskel. He had a small lantern dangling from a long mental hook, casting muted light in a halo that encompassed both of them. Not bright enough to draw too much attention but enough that he could see. That smile was back, too. Surprising Draesa had apparently been funny.
He didn’t think so. Draesa glared and crossed his arms. “What are you doing out here?” All responsible and not at all hypocritical because he was also out in the middle of the night.
“I came to see ya,” Asiskel answer with a shrug. Like it should’ve been the most obvious thing. Which deflated Draesa just a little.
They stared at one another for a breath before Asiskel half turned. The smile was sly. “Want to go for a walk?” He obviously meant in the forest. In the Deep Weald where he was not supposed to go because there were all manner of monsters and myths. Where this boy said he lived.
Courage recollected at that teasing smile, Draesa stepped forward. “Yeah. Couldn’t sleep anyway.”