Stories and Myths

"Do you want a piece of my sandwich?" Rick asked Kristian, seeing him having some very sad stale bread.

"N-no need..." Kristian answered a little embarrassed, however, Rick still broke off a piece of his snack and gave it to Kristian.

"... thanks"

Rick then looked at Taro, as if to invite him to share his snack in turn, however, Taro couldn't hold back his gluttony and pretended not to notice, quickly eating all the meatballs and carrots.

After eating, the three decided to stop there a little longer, however, they didn't know what to talk about and therefore remained silent for a while.

"Since this forest isn't scary at all, why don't we tell ourselves some horror stories about it?" Taro suggested.

"For once you had a good idea!" Rick said ironically, smiling at his friend.

"What are you saying?! I always have good ideas!" Taro said a little offended.

Kristian wasn't entirely convinced of the thing, however, he didn't want to be the black sheep of the group and therefore pretended to be equally enthusiastic.

"Actually, there are a lot of myths and absurd stories about this forest..." Rick said then.

"I know one!" Taro came forward, "my grandfather told me about it, he calls it 'The horror of the seven explorers'"

Having said that, Taro began to tell…

"One day, for some reason, the fame of the forbidden forest, then called the Devil's nest, spread to all corners of the region, prompting the bravest to go to the city of 'Letzte Straße'.

Letzte Strasse was and still is the city of the Darar kingdom closest to the Forest, which forms a natural border with the kingdoms further north.

Hundreds arrived, however, even then it was forbidden by law to enter the forest and due to the wave of adventurers in the city, the controls on the edge of the forest increased considerably. Most of the travelers gradually left the city, only seven explorers managed to sneak into the forest, however, it is said that only one returned.

This person, it is said, came running through the streets of 'Letzte Strasse' with his clothes destroyed, bleeding wounds in his chest and arms, and deep, almost bone-baring cuts on his legs, his eyes wide and crazy. He was yelling 'It's coming, it's coming! it's a MONSTER! THE DEVIL IS ON THE EARTH!'"

As he spoke, Taro added weight to his words, making the story even darker.

"The explorer never stopped running, always in the opposite direction of the forest until he ran out of strength and fell to the ground, the inhabitants of 'Letzte Strasse' surrounded him trying to help him as soon as possible. The explorer was, however, in too serious a condition, his last words rose in a desperate scream 'HODOKEVIL WILL FIND YOU!'..:"

At the word Hodokevil, a cold wind blew from the north.

*gulp

Kristian swallowed nervously.

Rick, on the other hand, seemed impassive at the story his friend told.

"Hodokevil…, huh?" Rick's voice had a slight tremor. "I get chills just thinking about it," he said then.

"I've heard of it too... it is said that looking towards the forest at sunset it is sometimes possible to see the shadow of a monster, a being with four skeletal legs, at least three meters tall, a muzzle that looks like that of an alligator, two antennas instead of ears, a tail saw-shaped and tentacles extending from the back… this being… is called Hodokevil…" Rick added then.

These details made both Taro and Kristian shiver.

"Hodokevil…" Kristian repeated softly, bringing the attention of the other two to him.

"In the ancient language of this region it means… son of evil…" Kristian added.

*gulp

All three swallowed loudly.

"Ah-ehm… w-well... now it's your turn to tell..." Taro said in a choked voice.

Rick looked at Kristian, and not seeing him convinced, he stepped forward: "I'll go... the story I'm going to tell is about a tribe that is said to live in this forest... I read it in an old book I found in the library..."

Rick paused for a while to think over the story he had read, he didn't remember it very well, but enough to allow his interlocutor skills to create a sufficiently frightening story.

"Some time ago there was a story circulating the streets Letzte Strasse, now forgotten by many, a myth that made listeners' limbs shiver at the mere thought of it. Always tied to the forest where we are now…"

The two young men, listening to their friend's words, swallowed nervously.

"...among the trees of this hilly forest there is still a tribe that lives in a village with wooden houses and dirt roads, where the people who live there are called 'Mouths of Satan'. .. the members of this tribe live with very normal routines, they wake up in the morning, eat and drink, hunt, read and write books, however, the various normal actions they do hide a horrible fact… in fact they wake up in the morning and yes they feed and water like us… however, what they eat are not animals or plants… but HUMANS!"

Rick emphasized the last word, making his two friends jump a little.

Rick got up off the log where he was sitting and started pacing in front of Taro and Kristian.

"These people made a deal with Satan hundreds of years ago, allowing them to receive eternal life, this, however, in exchange for two bonds, the tribe became in fact barren and forced to periodically eat… human flesh…uhm…"

The mere thought turned the stomach, just filled by the snack, of all three.

"...for this reason, a once a month, some of the village go out hunting for humans like us in the towns surrounding the forest… even 'Letzte Strasse' has been targeted several times by them…"

Rick thinking about what was said next in the story he had read, himself shivered in disgust.

Taro's mood darkened as he recalled the various reports of people missing from unknown causes over the years.

"After a victim was brought alive to the village, he was given a potion made of deer's blood and moon herbs, this concoction, according to the author of the book, heightens the victim's senses and especially the sense of pain, and increases its vitality… after giving the unfortunate this potion, this was then skinned alive, to then be tied upside down with a rope making it dangle for hours… this person was kept alive and conscious throughout the process… after hours upside down, the victim, now more dead than alive, was brought down and was tied firmly to a large table that served as a chopping board, this person was, in fact, then cut into pieces while still alive…"

The limbs of the three young men shuddered at the thought of them as one of the victims of this tribe.

"Ugh!" One of the meatballs Taro had just eaten came back up, "F-fortunately there is no such thing... ha-ha..." he then said, trying to appear brave.

After a while, Taro and Rick turned to their friend, inviting him to tell something.

Kristian looked down, trying to think of something, however, at that moment he couldn't think of anything scary to say.

After a few minutes, Taro said impatiently: "I have another one! The story of the playground Gre-…"

At these words, Kristian felt left out and for this reason he did everything to think of something.

"I-I have a story too…" Kristian said shyly, blocking Taro.

"Well!" Rick said blocking Taro from telling his story.

"AH- But…" Taro was disappointed, wanting once again to tell him a story.

"Wait your turn," Rick said with a judgmental look.

"Y-yes right, go Kri…"

(Letzte Strasse = Letzte Straße)