A young woman groaned, raising her head from the forest floor. Her body was heavy, exhausted, as if she had run to the neighboring village a dozen times over. She could feel soft grass underneath her, tickling her face, hands, fingers, and ankles. She squeezed her eyes more tightly closed, then opened them slowly. She was lying down in a green clearing, rays of light peering softly down through tree branches. She sat up slowly, her head and body aching, while she looked around her surroundings, her dirty, wheat colored hair falling to her right side. To her left was a small pond, crystal clear, the bottom covered with smooth rocks and extra fine dirt, in a small, gentle copse surrounded by trees. She began to shiver, and felt her stomach lurch as she emptied it into the grass.

Wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, she crawled to the pond and drank until her belly was full, her intense hunger abated slightly. The woman dipped her toes in the water, feeling the cool water kiss her skin. Just on the other side of the copse was a small opening in the tree line where it was thickest, the branches weaving to create what looked like a tall, pointed portal, formed as a tunnel of sorts.

The woman sighs then stands up, moving her way slowly to the portal. While it was vastly more dark than the copse she had been in, it still seemed inviting in a way, almost protective. Through the tunnel she could see wooden symbols, antlers, bones and other objects hanging from the branches that made up the ceiling. Stepping through, she could see small motes of light coming through the branches, just barely illuminating her way. Passing under and around the hanging objects, she took notice of them and contemplated.

She could see a piece of a small, wooden carving hanging from a leather throng, with a local symbol that expressed 'togetherness'. A pair would be carved by two lovers, then the pair would be given to each other, symbolizing the intensity of emotions between the two people.

Another was a small knife, one that would be used by a working person to help with daily tasks. Yet another was what looked like a piece of misshapen, dried meat. It didn't look like any part of any animal she knew of, making her grimace and shiver. Hanging from a silver chain was a large, finely cut rainbow stone, set within a beautiful white-gold frame. The stone shimmered and sparkled in the extremely dim light, as if its light reflection was really its own luminescence from within. The woman was fascinated as the colors it exuded danced across her clothes, face, and hands, and the thick branches on either side of her. She gulped and could only speculate that it looked mysteriously like the stories of mirin. From the stories, she knew even a pinch of the dust of mirin was worth entire cities, let alone a stone as big as her own eye.

She tore herself reluctantly from the necklace, and continued on through the tunnel, until she could see a lightening at the end. She moved quickly, her heart in her throat, as she stepped through the exit. In front of her was a large grove that opened up, a large, dilapidated shack amidst the thick tree trunks. Her body trembled and her breathing was quicker, as she carefully stepped toward the building.

As she got closer, she could see there were small gaps in some of the boards, the short stairs leading up the door rickety and misshapen. She stepped up to the door, the wood underneath her groaning like the risen dead. She placed her hand on the door, her whole body shivering with fear, before opening it slowly and stepping through carefully. She found the shack as decrepit inside as it was out, large enough to house a family comfortably. Hanging from the rafters, broken ceiling or walls, or placed on shelves both large and small, she could see herbs, mushrooms, meat, bones, antlers, and more. Dirty glass jars and bottles, some filled with powders, others filled with liquids, objects or both, covered shelves ready to crumble to dust.

In the middle of the shack was a table, covered in old, dark rust-colored stains, burn marks, and gouges, a bowl sitting in the middle. As she stepped up to the bowl, she noticed it was a dark, silvery color that gleamed bleakly. It had short legs that ended in claws or talons of some sort, she didn't know what. Her breath caught as she reached out to touch it. As soon as her fingers touched the bowl, words burned into the wood of the table, glowing like the bright embers of a fire, before cooling, a crackle of energy making the words shine.

A Thesper True

With Heart Of Life

Reach Thy Hand

Into Promise Deep

For Grace Kindling

Thine Desire Pass

Give Dearest Hope

Then Conduit Begin

The young woman read the words, chewing her lip. She wasn't well read, she barely knew her letters, but she seemed to just know what the words wanted of her, like a whisper in her ear. A single payment for a single wish, the price paid to the hag that lived in these woods. There were stories told about the hag, how she would take your first born to make a stew, or rip out your intestines to read your future, cackling as you choked on your own blood on the floor, or take your body for her own to use. There were stories that said she was a beautiful woman with black eyes, or she had the claws of a reptile for hands and her body was a mix of animal parts, or that she was a shadow, ready to take you into herself and devour you whole.

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In all the myths about her, however, one thing was known to all women that shared the stories. She would grant one wish for the payment she demanded, and while a steep payment it was, she honored her deals, if not always to how the person wanted the wish to fall into place, often leading to a gruesome end for the one who wished.

While the young woman didn't know what payment she would have to pay, she grasped the bowl, knuckles immediately going white from how hard she gripped it, bent her head forward so that her hair fell around her face like a curtain, and whispered her wish. No sound escaped her lips, although her mouth moved with each spoken word, a silvery, opalescent liquid dripping viscously into the container.

She finished her wish and straightened back up, the whispering fading entirely. She stumbled back from the full bowl, her barely recovered body and spirit suddenly exhausted again. She caught herself on a nearby vertical wooden beam and sank against it, just barely able to keep herself from falling to the floor. She felt a shiver, as if something were watching her, and she looked around her. From the other side of the table, the darker part of the shack shifted, and from the shallow shadow a large figure shuffled toward the table. The young woman's eyes flew open in terror, her body shivering again with pure fear.

The light beams cutting through the gaps in the ceiling fell across the figure, its tall, bulky silhouette illuminated. The creature had a sickly dark green-gray skin tone, covered in warts and pustules. The creature was fat beyond belief, bloated and thick, rolls of its hide or skin layered, its sizable breasts hanging heavily. Its face was barely humanoid, with a wide, toothy grin plastered permanently, its nose long and hooked. The thing's cheeks were full and bulging, ears sharp and nearly flat against its skin. In place of hair looked like antlers growing straight from its skin and down its back, tangling in a corrugated, chaotic mess, the tips of the antlers often hooking back into the thing's skin only to thread back out of the skin further down or across the thing's flesh. Its eyes were a dirty yellow, with pin-sized pupils nestled deep into it. Throughout its face were holes with worms crawling out, through and under the skin.

The woman's breathing stopped as her heart hammered too fast. The creature stepped forward and, with a look toward the woman, stared into the bowl. It picked up the stone vessel, brought it up to its lips and drank deep, the shimmering liquid spilling slightly. It put the empty bowl down and with a long, swollen tongue licked up the last drops from her chin and arm, then bent down to lick the drops from the floor and table, before straightening up and staring at the woman yet again.

The creature opened its mouth, and it spoke in a voice that made it sound like it were coming from the woman's own thoughts and from her ears. She fruitlessly clapped her hands over her ears in surprise and pain which did nothing to lessen it. Although spoken low, the bass of the creature's thoughtvoice encompassed everything for the woman, sounding androgynous, feminine and masculine all at once.

Thine life shines. Dark deeds hath wrought upon you, yet still, thine perseverance persists.

She gasps, her hands releasing her ears, instead moving to hug herself, shaking uncontrollably. The creature wheezed before continuing.

Thine wish is entropy. Thy soul is bleak. Thine desire is known. Thesper, are thee willing to pay?

The woman screws her eyes shut tightly, sobbing silently yet deeply, tears falling heavily, her legs giving out as she kneels before the creature. Her mouth opens, her silent screams unuttered, the stump of her tongue jagged and wet. She grasps her head amidst her screams. The creature wheezes again, its breathing like the groaning of a massive, timeless oak falling.

I ask thee again. Thesper, are thee willing to pay?

The woman, unable to speak, nods her head viciously, a pain setting deep into her neck at the movement. She looked up at the creature, tears streaming, face screwed in pain. She mouthed yes over and over

yes

yeS

yES

YES

YES

YES

YES

She screamed from the deepest parts of her spirit, mind and body until it was all she could think of. The creature wheezed a chuckle, the sound of it like metal on a stone platter.

Very well. Thine wish shall be granted. Death comes with pain filled wings to drag thy miserable family to the depths of the earth, eternity beset them. I now take what is mine, our deal be done.

The creature stepped forward toward her, its massive feet silent, its voice continuing to say the last phrase over and over to the woman. It placed a large hand around her throat, lifting her well off the ground. Taking one sharp claw-like fingernail, it sliced open her belly, the woman writhing in agony. It rooted around in her body, carefully slicing open more flesh. Slowly and gently, the creature extracted a small, fist sized fetus and placenta. The woman's struggling became weaker and weaker as she stared at the ceiling in horror, eyes wide and empty.

The creature pursed together all of the flesh it sliced, all of the wounds closing into jagged, horrid scars. It finally dropped the woman, her body landing heavily to the dirty, wooden floor. The creature held the fetus in its arms, turned from the woman and shambled back to the shadowy part of the building, the woman's arm outstretched toward the retreating form. It stepped into the shadow, and one second it seemed to be there, and the next it was just a dusty, dark corner, devoid of movement.