”I will give you the hand of my dearest daughter only if you defeat the Lord of the Forest.”

Jonas stared at the smirking man with a black hatred welling up his heart. He knew he could t defeat the Lord of the Forest. No one could. Few even knew what it looked like, and those that did could only say it was the same colour as blood.

However, his love for Hansdotter far outweighted both his fear of the Lord and his ration thought. In fact, his love for her outweighed even his hate for her father. the fat, balding man was a disgusting sight to behold, but he knew that deep inside that mound of fat and hate was a kind man who wanted nothing but his daughters best.

With a sigh Jonas nodded in agreement. He knew he wouldnt survive this, but he had no choice but to try.

”Oh, well, that settles it!”

The father ejaculated with a large smile twisting his entire face into pure ecstacy.

Jonas quickly rose from his seat. The Lord was known to sleep until early morning, and thus, he had already formulated a plan. He would attack whilst it slept using poison to weaken it after which he would run away.

It may be acowardly plan, but living is always better then dying, no matter the reasons.

He almost ran home. His brother, Peter, was fast asleep.

He quickly rummaged through his brothers things in search of two things. Peter’s beloved sword, Igel, and the lethal poison they kept for emergencies. He found the both of them quickly and almost threw his best armour upon his shoulders.

He didnt say goodbye to his brother.

After this he stormed into the forest, looking with his nose. He had heard a lot about the Lord through his life, but the most common mention was its scent. It reeked of blood.

After only a few minutes, he noticed the scent.

At first he didnt realize what it was. He simply thought Igel was producing a scent, but soon, the scent grew more powerfull and thicker. He carefully examined the source.

In a large cave. completely unhidden, he found the beast.

He started shaking but firced himself to cease. Even the slightest show of fear could have disasterous effect.

He brought out the small vial of poison from a pocket and coated the blade with it. The previously silver blade took a pink hue and he grit his teeth. It was time.

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Of course, he didnt run up to the beast. No human would be that stupid. Instead, he sneaked up to it carefully as to not awaken it from its slumber. It snored heavily, even as he brought down his sword upon its chest, piercing it and letting both blood escape and poison attack.

The beast awoke with a roar of pure wrath and Jonas immidietly took distance.

The beast staggered to its feet and glared at him fiercly.

Jonas couldnt help it. A smile rose to his lips.

As much of a normal man as Jonas was, he was most definatly a warrior. His brother had tought him the ways of the sword since they were little, and at the same pace as Peter grew, Jonas grew along with him. they were inseperable.

As soon as the Beast raised its clawed paws, Jonas attacked in a flurry of faints and slashes.

Loud noices could be heard, as if his sword wasnt hitting fur but instead metal.

For Jonas, however, the important part was not to win here, the important part was to depleate the Beasts stamina before running to cover, after which he would simply wait for the Beast to die.

He smirked at his plan, losing a vital second of consentration wherein the Beast hit his chest eith a backhand.

Jonas flew through the air and slammed into a tree. However, he did not allow this to end him.

Instead, he rose to his feet and ran into the forest.

Every few seconds or so he would stop to deplete even more of the Beasts’ stamina.

After only a minute or so, Jonas reconized where he was.

The White Clearing.

The flowers were, as always, in full blood. the only part of the ground not bathed in white was a single, black hole. But, he didnt have the time to ponder this, instead, he turned towards where he had just emerged from.

The bushes rustled and Jonas muttered, so faintly no human could hear it,

”fan fan fan fan”

The Beast emerged dramtically, glaring at Jonas with a piercing gaze.

For a minute or two, they simply stared at eachother. not in confusion, no. This was two noble warriors, staring down eachother in persuit of vicotry.

The Beast roared loudly and Jonas jumped back in anticipation of an attack, but, when no such attack came, he found he had jumped back so far he ad reached the hole.

Curiosity struck him and he examined the black hole. What caught his gaze was nothing simple. It was something he had only once seen, in a childrens book which his brother had read to him as a child. He knew what it was.

It was the personification of death.

The dictator of bones.

The preacher of the unknown.

A Child of Venus.

For a moment, Jonas simply stared at this abomination of a supposidly extinct creature of fairytales.

Jonas couldnt help himself. In a pure act of fear, he screamed and sent himself tumbeling out of the White Clearing, away from the Crimson Lord of the Forest, away from that wretched abomination of a plant.

Before he knew it, he had reached the village wherein he grew up and lived. He looked behind him. No giant red beast. No persuing plants. No deadly gas.

He sighed and his tense body relaxed.

This did not last long. He ran as fast as his legs could carry him to the villagecabin wherein he located the two leaders of the village council.

Phanting and gasping, he explained the situation.

At first they werent surprised as they had already heard from Anette Hansdotter what her father had done, but once he told them about what had taken place in the White Clearing, they tensed up.

Immidietly a team of the strongest villagers were dispatched but they returned empty handed. All they had found in the black hole in the White Clearing was a small and almost unnoticable hole.

Anette had dissappeared wothout a trace. Most say she went into the forest and was devoured by the Child of Venus, however, Jonas thought otherwise. he knew she had survives. he knew she had adopted the Child of Venus. He had to find her.

And thus, he and his brother set out to become adventurers in order to find Anette.