The myth of the fall

"I… I don't know a scary story like yours… however, my grandmother often told me a myth, a myth involving this very forest… she called this myth… the Devil's Fall"

Kristian rearranged his thoughts for a few seconds, before starting to tell.

"This story is connected to the battle between Lucifer and God…" Kristian stopped for a moment to look at the faces of his two friends, who didn't seem to know what he was talking about.

"Once upon a time…at the dawn of human existence, an archangel named Samael, the most beautiful and closest angel to God…to him, God gave the task of accuser and judge of men's souls…in essence, it was he who decided who to reward or punish among the souls of humans after death... over time, however, this angel, observing men, learned to despise them more and more and, for this reason, he decided, trying to keep the matter unbeknownst to God, to exterminate human beings from the face of the earth… however, Samael made a banal and fatal mistake, since God, being both omniscient and all-seeing, instantly understood the plans of his most trusted angel, and for this, he was punished by the same… God tore the wings of Lucifer and hurled him in anger to the earth…" Kristian observed the looks of Rick and Taro, they seemed invested in the story, even if Taro looked a little confused at the same time.

'Maybe I should use simpler terms…' Kristian thought

"Um… Samael then fell to earth, creating a gigantic chasm, this chasm thus became what we now call Hell… in fact… Mmh" Kristian was about to explain to their friends how a kind of hell already existed before, or rather, this was what his grandmother had taught him, however, he did not consider these notions interesting enough.

Kristian lost the thread for a moment, so much so that Taro, who had become intrigued by the story, asked: "And what does the forest we're in have to do with all this?"

'Oh right… thanks Taro…' Kristian thought.

"Samael, falling, in addition to becoming a hideous monster, let fall a single and unique tear, full of hatred and resentment... and, according to my grandmother, this tear would have fallen right where we are now, right in the center of this forest... this tear over the years shaped this forest turning it into a lair of horrible monstrosities and demonic beings… such as the one you told about before," He said turning to Taro, "my grandmother also told me that because of this tear full of hate and negative emotions, people who stay too long in this place tend to go crazy and lose their humanity... mmh, basically they become bad…"

'Wait…' Kristian shivered as he thought about Rick's story, then he noticed that the faces of his two friends also darkened. The myth that the young man had just told gave a basis of plausibility to the stories of the other two.

Seeing the two now fearful youngsters, Kristian added, "Well, it's just a myth anyway..."

"Y-yeah, of course…" Taro said, trying not to sound afraid.

However, since Kristian's story had ended, all three of them began to shiver, the air in the forest grew cooler and the wind that rustled the leaves of the trees around them grew sharper. The hearts of the three grew heavy with disquiet and the forest suddenly grew darker.

It was as if the forest had reacted to Kristian's words and changed in tone and climate.

"I-it's starting to get cold…" Taro said.

"Maybe we should go back," Rick added with a nod.

Taro was about to disagree, however, he couldn't utter a word, it was as if his instinct was yelling at him to get away from that place as soon as possible.

"I-I agree with you…" Taro said, these words surprised Rick, who then turned to Kristian, who nodded in agreement.

The three got up, took the leftovers left from their lunches and put them in their backpacks, then set off on the same path as before.

They walked for a long time, in complete silence, the forest really seemed to have turned into an inhospitable and dangerous environment.

"I-it shouldn't be very late…" Taro spoke doubtfully.

Rick looked up, but the sky was covered almost entirely by treetops.

"Yeah… it should be four and… well, four thirty at the latest" He shot off a reasonable time, considering they were off school around 2pm.

"And so why is it already so dark?" Taro asked with a hint of fear in his voice. "It got dark all of a sudden, right after Kristian's story... m-maybe this forest... r-really-" he added then fearfully.

At the young man's words, Kristian changed his face, 'my grandmother warned me not to come here' he thought in fear.

Rick, seeing his two terrified friends, tried to calm them down.

"D-don't worry... most likely the sun is just covered by a passing cloud... that's all..." he said, also not entirely convinced of his theory, the sky, at 2, was in fact clear and without a cloud in sight .

"Maybe you're right..." Taro tried to calm down, trying to think only of walking as fast as possible to get out of that damned forest as quickly as possible.

Time passed.

*Shuffle, shuffle

*Ruslte, Russstle

"H-how long does it take…" Taro complained.

The steps of the three young men and the rustling of the leaves were the only audible noise in that dark forest, there seemed to be no one else in that forest, neither animals nor insects.

That alleged peace that did nothing but unnerve the minds of the three boys, eager to get out of a forest that seemed to give them no escape.

Meanwhile, the seed of fear began to sprout and grow in the minds of the three youngsters.

Step by step the three continued to look for the way out of that accursed wood, which was getting darker and gloomier, while the breeze that rustled the leaves from time to time was getting colder. In the minds of the three that forest looked more and more like a prison.

The tension between the young people became so dense that it could be cut with a knife, slowly a thought began to arise in the minds of the three young people, and, finally, Taro exposed what all three were thinking in their minds…

"A-are we lost?!…" the words came shakily from his mouth.

Rick was about to say something to try to reassure the others, however, a screeching noise suddenly poured throughout the forest.

*HHIIIiiiiii…

Something similar to the creak of a door with a rusty mechanism and with the ferocity of a lion's growl broke the silence of the night.

As a result, their hearts skipped a beat, their pupils dilated and their bodies froze for nearly a minute.

Finally Taro spoke. "W-what was that?!" His eyes were wide open and a dark sea of fear could be seen in them.

'It didn't look like a wolf at all... or any other animal... that... what...' Rick thought. His mind was heavy and numb.

'I shouldn't have come in here...' The three thought simultaneously.