The Mitternacht Forest

Welcome, brave traveler.... to the Mitternacht Forest. Oh... brave ye is for coming here... for when someone comes in... no one comes out...



Please...stop...the pain...

These words continued to race through her mind as she weaved in and out of the trees, eyes blind with fear. They were everywhere. She could hear them; whispering to her. But she tried to get away, away from them. For hours she was running through the forest, not knowing how she had gotten there in the first place. Deep gashes and huge cuts lined her whole body, also not known how they got there. But all she wanted was out. All she wanted to do was get away from this horrible place. It was so dark...

The rocks and branches on the forest floor scraped her sore feet as she continued running while the trees seemed to lean in and try to grab her. She was numb from fear and pain. Winds of screaming voices passed by her for a split second, but making the girl jump and hit her shoulder against a tree, dislocating it. But she kept running...

Please stop....we only want to talk...

The voices continued to whisper as she kept running...

---

A laugh could be heard on the wind, it seemed to be comming from everywhere, surrounding the girl and closing in on her. the tone of the laugh was undrecognizable, booming and yet quiet, deep and yet high, it was every type of laugh and none all at once.

then as suddenly as it came, the laugh faded. but he moment the last breath of the noise died away, pebbles began falling from the trees like rain. but about fifty meters ahead of the girl, something larger dropped.

---

The girl screams when the pebbles fall and falls back when the large mass falls in front of her. The pupils of her eyes become mere dots in her terror. Without even thinking, she hurringly picks herself and runs the other way. The heals of her feet kick in as she runs fast again, her surroundings becoming blurs.

Please stop....we won't hurt thee...

"Leave me be!!!" she yells out to the dark ceiling of the forest. A lone branch from a tree seems to appear in front of her and slashes her in the stomach causing her to curl in pain. Whimpering on the ground, she is aware of a figure approching.

---

A wicked smile loams over her, the eyes glinting orbs of gold and silver, swirled together in each pupil to create the look of something not mortally possible. the face was hidden completely, however, no features distinguishable save the grin and eyes. the hair was long, hanging as though wet with something over it's face. indeec it was wet, as the dark liquid dripped down onto the tortured girl. in spots the natural color of white showed through, but not many, most of the hair was covered in this liquid, in fact, most of the body was. almost nothing was distinguishable about the figure that stood over her, the body was neither strong nor frail, tall nor short, nothing seemed unusual about it, althoguh it was dark, and everything blended together in the poor lighting, helped by the mysterious liquid.

the grinning smile parted in an odd, almost machanic motion as it spoke in the same, sing-song, voice that had been laughing, everything and nothing at the same time, "my dear. . .my dear. . . you seem quite lost to meee what is a little lost child like yourself to do when left at the mercey of someone such as meeeee?" it broke into a mocking laughter.

then all went silent, the colors of the eyes swirled, they narrowed, and without word, the thing picked up the girl and effortlessly leaped into the tree above.

small creatures were running about frantically, looking something between a squirrel and a pixie. some carried pebbles, some held captive fireflies, all of which stopped to look at the figure holding the injured female.

the light was better up here, and the figure could roughly be made out to be male. . . but it was questionable. he motioned with his head for the creatures, and at once a few score of them were at his feet, crouding the sturdy branches.

carelessly he droped the girl onto them, and in a voice that was barely autable he commanded them, "--to the . . . tooo the infiiiiirmery. seems our poor child has been cut by an eeeellder." instantly the creatures took the girl, in unison crossing the forest through the treetops with her held high above their small heads.

the girl was taken deep into the forest, where the trees grew so high and thick no light ever hit the ground. she was carried into what seemed to be a large hollowed out Oak tree, but on the inside it was all white, as though the walls were coated with light itself. she was transported through winding, blindingly white, hallways until they reached a room.

the room in contrast to the hallways, was a dark green, so green that it could have been mistaken for black. she was placed on a pile of squishy substance in the center of the room, though upon contact it immidiately numbed her pain and proved to be quite comfortable. the room had no lights in it, but numerous fireflies danced through the air, serving as proficient lighting as well as giving the whole place an earie air about it.

and the creatures left, shutting whatever door there had been behind them. now the girl was alone and the door had dissappeared, the laughing figure from before was nowhere in sight. . .

---

The girl was silent the whole time when the creatures had carried her off back into the forest, near the place where she was trying to escape.

The girl tried to curl up and rest her head on her knees, but the wounds covering her said otherwise. Instead, the girl sat silently, her heartbeat pounding in her ears; the terror slowly evaporating. She could hear the voices going in circles outside, looking for her. One seemed to shreek once it came near her (and the girl had held her breath), but thought it was fooled and they all seemed to disappear.

The girl looked up to get a better look of this place, but saw very little. The only things she could make out was the squishy object she was sitting on and the small light; nothing else. Her fright must have blinded her more than she thought.

But in her mind, so many questions were swirling around, tempting to explode. 'Why did he rescue me? Did the Holy forsee this? How did he find me? And why was he dripping?'

The area around her started to darken even more so. She was so tired. She had lost to much blood. If she could only...close...her...eyes...

But the man seemed to appear next to her again...

---

Silently he held out a white cloth to her, as if she was to whipe yer face with it, "you're bloody" he said in a child-like voice, but with the same machanic movements.

he moved oddly, as though someone had video-taped his movements and removed some of the parts inbetween, not so that he seemed to dissappear and reapear, but that it was if there was no movement between his steps. one foot would be up, the next down, etc. . .

he walked to the wall behind the girl and placed a palm on it, veins of light burst onto the wall, untill the entire room was lit like a sunny day in the younger part of the forest, the veins of peircing light making the green wall of the rounded room look quit leaf-like.

in the better lighting some of his features could be seen, there was no more liquid covering him, he wore an elaborate costume of sourts. a long peice of odd black material draped about his neck, tied at his chest, then bound tightly around his torso until hips, where it abruptly stoped and was tied again at the back. he wore what seemed to be a stone plate hanging from a thick leather belt. he wore black leather pants, tightly fitting his every curveature, and scribbled over with white thread weaving around in swirls and designs.

his face was almost hansome. youthful and yet wisend, old and yet full of mischief. his hair was indeed white, and his eyes were the same swirling gold/silver orbs that were visable before.

his slightly tanned skin seemed to glow as the light hit it and he walked towards the girl.

then, stopping exsactly two feet in front of her, he sat, leggs crossed.

an insane grin tore across his smooth features, and his long silver eyelashes seemed to cirl in excitement, "how is our little child doing now? where the ----- kind to you. . . . ???" his voice broke, mouth still moving, but no words comming out (where the -- are >.>)

---

The girl first eyes the cloth, then the man. Should she do it? She timidly reached out, barely touching the cloth, and slid it off the man's hand slowly. Once she had almost taken the cloth, her finger tips brushed against his, causing an electric jolt to go up her arm and quickly pull away. The man then walked over to the wall behind her, as she covered her face in the soft fabric, eyeing him, almosy in fear.

But once the man had made the light sourse larger, the light burned her eyes for she was not used to that much. She tried to sheld her eyes, but the light still stung.

Once her eyes had gotten used to the light, she slowly brought her hands down and carefully opened her eyes to see more clearly. And indeed, the man was handsome, but it would take the girl a while longer before she realized it.

Realizing he asked her a question, she quietly answered, her soft voice echoing through her mind, "I'm s..sorry...but could thee...a....ask me the question a-again?"

---

His expression changed drastically, turning cold. the colors of his eyes swirled the opposite direction and he answered in a more adult voice, but still in a sing-song rytm, seemingly to change notes, "but no question was asked, child~" the eyes swirled the other way and he scooted towards the girl, grinning like mad.

without warning he jabbed his hands into the ovject she was on and pulled them out just as suddenly, hands filled with ooze.

laughing he sang, "now what about your woooouuuunds, child?"

---

The girls eyes widened and her fear began to arrise again from the man's sudden change. Not to find herself in more trouble, she answered quickly.

"Th-they would be fine sir! but... the p-pain is still present... and they are still b... bleeding," she answered with her head down.

---

without hesitation he threw the globs on her wounds, without actually touching her himself. in a whispy voice he almost commanded her, "now iiif you caan.. . rub that in your woooounds~~!"

he waited for a moment to see if she could or would do it on her own, having no intention of doing it himself if she wouldn't. . .

---

The girl shivered violently as the goo hit her wounds. The goo felt like liquid ice and the cold seemed to be inside her body. She then looked down and noticed that the liquid looked like it was starting to harden, so she did as she was told and gently rubbed the odd goo into her wounds.

But no matter how gentle she was, the pain still bursted open again, as if increased by the strange substance. But she grinded her teeth and continued, having no idea why he commanded her to do so.

The more she rubbed her wounds, the thinner the goo got. A little while longer, the goo started to change into the same color as her skin; a pale flesh, and the wounds seemed to just disappear. The girl sat there, amazed by this event. 'How could this be? How could that substance do that?' she thought.

She slowly looked up at the man and asked, "Wh.....who is thee?"

---

the colors in his eyes stopped instantly, a crazed grin spread wide across his face, "thee thee whoooo is theeeeeeeee???"

he got up and bent over backwards until his chest was on the ground and machanically he through the rest of himself over his head, he lay with his head proped up by his arms staring at her as the colors began swirling inward again, "dunnoo who thee is. . . but i am me!"

he closed his eyes and repeated the girls words in her own voice, only making it clearer and adding a mocking sweetness to it, "who is thee?"

---

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