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Born in the outpost town of Cerelia, a tale has been spread all over Kiech. Shared by retired and injured soldiers, it quickly became a popular story that parents would share with their children to scare them into obedience.

The story was first told by Gerrit, the young son of a widowed woman who stayed it Cerelia to assist with the wounded who had to fall back from the war.

The boy had grown bored with the reading that his mother had assigned him, so he snuck out and wandered through the thickly wooded forest that surrounded their town. Picking a stick from off of the ground, he pretended to be a warrior. He wanted to be like his father and fight in the war, but his mother forbade him from ever pursuing that dream.

As he played, swinging the stick through the air and whacking it against trees, he started to notice something around him. Through the wind that breathed in the forest, he could hear the occasional crunch of something stepping on a loose leaf or fallen branch.

At first, he brushed it off as a nearby animal. But the sounds kept getting closer and closer until it sounded like it was coming from right behind me.

Then Gerrit realized that he had lost his way. He was lost. His mother often warned him to not go too far out, so that’s what he usually did. This time, however, he was distracted by the worrying sounds that followed him.

Tired and afraid, Gerrit started to cry. He didn’t want to be alone. He had started to think of the worst things that could happen to him, making him even more afraid.

“You shouldn’t be out here.” A voice spoke through the sounds of the forest.

Dropping to the ground, the boy looked around, sobbing.

“Your mother is worried for you.” The voice came again.

Little beads of light appeared in the air. Glowing in diverse colors, they illuminated the area around Gerrit with a warm light.

One of the lights came closer to Gerrit, gently touching on his head.

“Follow him. He’ll bring you home.” The voice said softly. “And don’t come out this far again.”

The little light that had landed on his nose then slowly drifted in one direction. Following after, Gerrit felt the fear slowly loosen its grip on his heart.

It took far less time than he had thought it would to get back home. He could see the towers that stood at the end of town facing into the country. They stood just over the trees, with the guards at the top, watching over the area to ensure that they were safe.

Rushing out into the open, Gerrit quickly spotted his mother. She was visibly quite worried. She had noticed that the boy had gone missing and had started searching around town, asking everyone she could find if they’d seen the boy. Nobody had, though.

Stolen novel; please report.

Seeing her off in the distance, Gerrit ran toward her, leaving behind the spirit that faded into the light.

Seeing her son running toward her, Gerrit’s mother bent down and caught the boy in her arms.

“Where in the world were you?” She asked, burying her face into his neck.

Sobbing, the boy answered. “I… I went… into the forest… to play… and… and I got lost.”

“Well you’re here now.” She said, setting him on the ground. “And I don’t want you to go out there anymore.”

Nodding his head, the two returned home.

Despite his mother’s scolding, Gerrit returned to the forest again not a week later. This time, though, he had a purpose. He tried to ignore the curiosity at first, but it became more than he could manage. He wanted to find the person who guided him back home and thank them.

With a knitted pouch of his mother’s biscuits, he started past the trees. This was where he entered the forest before, and it never occurred to him that he could get lost again.

After a couple of minutes, he paused, looking around. It was similar to what he’d felt at that time. He was being watched and followed.

This time, though, the same little bead of light that had lead him home fluttered through the air. It hovered in the air in front of him, blocking his path.

“Are you the one who brought me back home?” Gerrit asked.

The spirit shifted slightly in the air as Gerrit watched it.

“I wanted to thank the person who helped me.” Gerrit asked, lifting the pouch. “I brought them some snacks. Mom says that you should always do something nice for someone who helps you.”

The spirit froze for a minute, hovering silently in the air, before it started to move further into the trees.

Gerrit followed after the light as it streaked through the air. The forest around them changed as they walked. The trees grew more gnarled and twisted, reaching out with otherworldly claws that threatened to cut and scratch anyone who walked by unaware.

Finally, the spirit stopped, moving around a gap between two trees. Walking toward it, Gerrit looked through and froze at what he saw.

There had been a lot of trees in that area before, but they’d all been torn from the ground and tossed aside. In the center of the carnage, a great beast laid completely still. It resembled a pig, though it was far larger than normal and had several unnatural limbs sticking out from all over its body.

Standing on top of the fallen beast, a young woman stood still, her head on a swivel. She had pure, white hair that seemed to glow in the sunlight and deep blue eyes. Squinting his eyes, Gerrit could see that she wasn’t actually standing on the creature. She was hovering just above it.

Placing a hand to her chest, she drifted away from the beast and dropped down onto the disturbed soil.

Stepping out from behind the trees, Gerrit raised his voice. “Excuse me!”

The young woman snapped her head to look at Gerrit. There was a look of terror on her face in the short moment before her entire body was enveloped in darkness and disappeared.

“I’m sorry if I scared you.” Gerrit said, looking around. “I wanted to thank you for helping me before. I brought you some snacks.”

Holding out the pouch, the boy looked around for a minute before setting it gently on the ground.

“I’ll leave it here for you.”

Looking back to the great beast, Gerrit shuddered and looked around for a moment more before hurrying away. If there were other monsters like this here, then he wanted to be as far away as possible.

The spirit lead him back home just as before, but disappeared right when he spotted the town through the trees.

“Thank you.” Gerrit waved to the air before running back to town.

After that day, the boy actively shared his story. The giant pig monster brought a great deal of worry to some, but the young woman who seemed to be responsible for its demise brought comfort to others. Overall, though, not many believed Gerrit. The story spread from the mouths of traveling merchants who enjoyed to share stories, regardless of their validity.

Thus, the tale of the forest haunted by giant monsters and the ghostly woman who hunted them came to be known across most of the country.