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Rated M for disturbing themes, implications of severe violence and death, maiming, minor cursing.
*
Weakened Boundaries
I don’t sleep well anymore, of course, and it’s difficult to get out much, even though Wilbert takes excellent care of me (people unfamiliar with Pokémon may find it surprising how gentle and affectionate a Luxray can be), and my friends and neighbors are very helpful.
I don’t like talking about it, you can understand, but I’ll tell you what happened in my own words, so you can record it for that book you're writing and perhaps some other brave fools will heed the warning.
My unexpectedly fateful decision was made over a rather innocent thing: the annual Halloween Contest. That year I decided to try something different from usual and go into the great forest at night and find something appropriate to photograph. Even if I didn’t win I thought it would stand out from the crowd of decorations and paintings that are usually entered.
I knew my way around the woods fairly well, having been in there many times over the years, especially when I was younger, though I admit it was not entirely safe, especially in the dark. However, Wilbert would be with me, and I was going to bring enough supplies for overnight camping as a precaution, so I believed there was nothing to worry about. Perhaps if I had not gone in that particular time of year, when the boundary between worlds weakens, I would have been correct.
*
On the 29th of October around six that evening, before the sun had completely fallen, I left my home with Wilbert and set off to the great woodlands to the south. Every once in a while a shadow or sudden movement would startle me a little, but it was more exciting than frightening. Wilbert was enjoying himself too, though I was annoyed at one point when I heard him muffling a snicker after a sleeping Oddish’s snoring made me flinch for a second
If I were not being exceptionally picky for my photograph I would not have needed to stay there for long, and before long I had taken several good pictures—a fallen tree with some holes in the stump seeming to form a face, a Noctowl standing atop a branch made large and menacing by the angle from below, and even a few quick snaps of a Mightyena watching us warily from some bushes, its blood-red eyes following our every move, and a number of others I no longer recall.
Still, I felt sure we could find something even better if we went deeper in the forest and off the well-worn trails, and so as the moon rose higher into the sky we left the path to cut our way deep into the forest.
It seemed a good idea at first as we entered the thicker parts of the forest, farther from humans and their need for fuel and building materials. We passed by and over logs, made our way through brambles, all the while getting more and more pictures—until we reached a stream that I knew completely encircled the boundary between the regular part of the woods and a small but thick area, called “the Dark Woods” in town. It was a strange area that in living memory had never been used for cutting timber or hunting, and many unsettling legends about it had passed down through the centuries.
Large wooden signs were planted all along the water, each sign adorned with papers intended to contain or ward evil spirts, and each one reading:
“THE WOODS ACROSS THIS STREAM ARE FORBIDDEN! STAY OUT! DANGER! –Pokémon Rangers”.
We should have turned back, but I was not superstitious and imagined there was nothing worse there than some wild Pokémon—perhaps some Ghost-types, but Wilbert was skilled in the Crunch move, and I had brought Repel with me. Wilbert seemed anxious about the area, but a few words soothed him and we crossed over.
*
The trees were so claustrophobically close in the Dark Woods that it was utterly without natural light; if it weren’t for Wilbert’s Flash I would have been unable to even see the ground at my feet.
It was here I forgot about the Halloween contest, because there were trees here that were very old and very, very strange. Some had carvings shaped like the faces of both humans and Pokémon in various expressions, some calm or serene, others fearful or screaming, others staring with hatred. Some others had symbols I could not recognize. Strangest of all by contrast were intricate and lovely life-sized carvings in stone of people and Pokémon. These were less macabre than the rest, and I suspected had a different origin.
I was taking as many pictures as I could, no longer for the contest but for curiosity. I wondered if the library or university would know the meaning of these markings, when I suddenly noticed that the only thing I could hear were our footsteps and the click of my camera.
I had been so caught up in taking pictures it had not occurred to me until then that I had not actually heard any other living thing other than Wilbert since entering the Dark Woods.
I decided it was time to leave.
But when we turned around we saw a solid wall of trees, each one with one of the face carvings rather than the symbols—and when we tried to look for a way around we saw we were now surrounded almost entirely by the tree wall, only a single way of passage available.
I felt my heart begin to pound. Wilbert looked at me and released a tiny burst of fire from his mouth, but I shook my head, feeling it would be too dangerous to try burning our way through with Fire Fang, but more than once since then I have suspected that was a serious error.
We continued the only way we could, the tree path twisting and turning more than once before we finally saw light up ahead. We sped up, hoping it might be near the Dark Woods exit, but soon we saw that the light was coming from a small cottage nested in a clearing, itself enclosed by the tree walls.
The outside of the building looked normal and even welcoming, with a porch and bench. There was a light inside the building, which was not reassuring for it was very bright, and oddly intense. I could not shake a strange feeling, and I could tell Wilbert was worried as well. He growled, and pawed at the ground, looked about nervously, then started to alternate between nudging me forcefully in the side and gesturing away from the clearing. I was very willing to follow his suggestion and leave, gambling on either Fire Fang or the return of daylight breaking whatever enchantment kept us here.
Willing…but unable.
I tried to move my legs, but they would not obey. In fact some invisible force seemed to be tugging me, and I began to approach the building, unable to stay still or turn away. Wilbert yelped, and I shouted at him that I could not control my body. He bit onto the back of my coat, carefully avoiding any skin, and began to pull me back; he had little trouble overpowering my muscles, and although being dragged away would be unpleasant I would choose it every time over whatever was bringing me towards that cabin.
Then the door swung open so forcefully it crashed with a bang against the wall. The warm light poured out in an amount I would have thought impossible; the whole clearing was lit up almost like daytime, but it was shockingly hot, like when your face is near an open oven. Wilbert yelped in pain and fell, from what I could not say, and while I desperately tried to regain control my legs continued their steady march until they brought me right up onto the porch and through the door, which slammed shut behind me.
Yet despite almost being blinded outside the inside was somehow dark, the only light a small heart fire in the middle of the room. On the other side there was a door leading farther back into the cabin, and again my body began to walk forward against my will.
Then I would have jumped if I still controlled myself as I heard something heavy—Wilbert, I guessed—crash against the front door. Although a wooden door would not usually hold against a furious Luxray’s assault for long, with all that had happened tonight I was not reassured by that knowledge, and it still held firm as I reached the back door.
The handle turned, it opened on its own, and then I stepped in, a nauseating smell overpowering me as I did.
Before me stood a human-like creature—if creature was even the correct term. It was a being of nightmares brought alive, made up of a mishmash of different limbs from different people, some man and some woman, some young and some old, some parts healthy, and some beginning to rot.
It was not complete; it was missing some parts of its body, there were some large and small holes here and there.
It was smiling like a hungry beast spotting prey, and it spoke to me, its voice strangely soft, even beautiful.
It was human while still alive, it explained, but had been cruelly burned to death after accusations of terrible crimes, and their remains had been scattered across the Dark Woods, a method of posthumous punishment in those days.
And they were going to come back: it was only fair since their life had been unjustly taken.
They just needed a new body first.
Do not try to flee or resist, it told me, it would be waste of effort. I should make it easier for both of us, because if I was good it would leave enough for me to live, it promised. Then we would both be free to leave.
Then the heat and the light returned, brighter and hotter than before, and as I screamed I heard Wilbert managing to break through the door just as everything turned black.
*
When I regained consciousness I was in the town hospital, Wilbert lying down at the bedside, looking up at me with sudden relief when he noticed I was awake.
The doctor told me that Wilbert—burnt and bleeding, but nothing a Super Potion had been unable to fix—had been found attempting to carry me into town by some Rangers doing rounds that morning in the forest, just across the stream that ringed the Dark Woods. Wilbert should have been in a Pokémon center but had refused to leave my bedside before he was sure I would survive. I was told that I had not awoken until the afternoon of November first.
The doctor wanted to know exactly what the hell happened last night.
He listened quietly as I told the story in full, his face impassive. After I finished he paused a moment before he informed me that he would never have believed my story was anything more than an anxious nightmare after exhaustion had caused me to collapse ….
…if it not for the fact he had no other way to explain how, with no bleeding or any sign of cutting whatsoever, I could have lost my left eye and several of my fingers and teeth.
*
Weakened Boundaries
I don’t sleep well anymore, of course, and it’s difficult to get out much, even though Wilbert takes excellent care of me (people unfamiliar with Pokémon may find it surprising how gentle and affectionate a Luxray can be), and my friends and neighbors are very helpful.
I don’t like talking about it, you can understand, but I’ll tell you what happened in my own words, so you can record it for that book you're writing and perhaps some other brave fools will heed the warning.
My unexpectedly fateful decision was made over a rather innocent thing: the annual Halloween Contest. That year I decided to try something different from usual and go into the great forest at night and find something appropriate to photograph. Even if I didn’t win I thought it would stand out from the crowd of decorations and paintings that are usually entered.
I knew my way around the woods fairly well, having been in there many times over the years, especially when I was younger, though I admit it was not entirely safe, especially in the dark. However, Wilbert would be with me, and I was going to bring enough supplies for overnight camping as a precaution, so I believed there was nothing to worry about. Perhaps if I had not gone in that particular time of year, when the boundary between worlds weakens, I would have been correct.
*
On the 29th of October around six that evening, before the sun had completely fallen, I left my home with Wilbert and set off to the great woodlands to the south. Every once in a while a shadow or sudden movement would startle me a little, but it was more exciting than frightening. Wilbert was enjoying himself too, though I was annoyed at one point when I heard him muffling a snicker after a sleeping Oddish’s snoring made me flinch for a second
If I were not being exceptionally picky for my photograph I would not have needed to stay there for long, and before long I had taken several good pictures—a fallen tree with some holes in the stump seeming to form a face, a Noctowl standing atop a branch made large and menacing by the angle from below, and even a few quick snaps of a Mightyena watching us warily from some bushes, its blood-red eyes following our every move, and a number of others I no longer recall.
Still, I felt sure we could find something even better if we went deeper in the forest and off the well-worn trails, and so as the moon rose higher into the sky we left the path to cut our way deep into the forest.
It seemed a good idea at first as we entered the thicker parts of the forest, farther from humans and their need for fuel and building materials. We passed by and over logs, made our way through brambles, all the while getting more and more pictures—until we reached a stream that I knew completely encircled the boundary between the regular part of the woods and a small but thick area, called “the Dark Woods” in town. It was a strange area that in living memory had never been used for cutting timber or hunting, and many unsettling legends about it had passed down through the centuries.
Large wooden signs were planted all along the water, each sign adorned with papers intended to contain or ward evil spirts, and each one reading:
“THE WOODS ACROSS THIS STREAM ARE FORBIDDEN! STAY OUT! DANGER! –Pokémon Rangers”.
We should have turned back, but I was not superstitious and imagined there was nothing worse there than some wild Pokémon—perhaps some Ghost-types, but Wilbert was skilled in the Crunch move, and I had brought Repel with me. Wilbert seemed anxious about the area, but a few words soothed him and we crossed over.
*
The trees were so claustrophobically close in the Dark Woods that it was utterly without natural light; if it weren’t for Wilbert’s Flash I would have been unable to even see the ground at my feet.
It was here I forgot about the Halloween contest, because there were trees here that were very old and very, very strange. Some had carvings shaped like the faces of both humans and Pokémon in various expressions, some calm or serene, others fearful or screaming, others staring with hatred. Some others had symbols I could not recognize. Strangest of all by contrast were intricate and lovely life-sized carvings in stone of people and Pokémon. These were less macabre than the rest, and I suspected had a different origin.
I was taking as many pictures as I could, no longer for the contest but for curiosity. I wondered if the library or university would know the meaning of these markings, when I suddenly noticed that the only thing I could hear were our footsteps and the click of my camera.
I had been so caught up in taking pictures it had not occurred to me until then that I had not actually heard any other living thing other than Wilbert since entering the Dark Woods.
I decided it was time to leave.
But when we turned around we saw a solid wall of trees, each one with one of the face carvings rather than the symbols—and when we tried to look for a way around we saw we were now surrounded almost entirely by the tree wall, only a single way of passage available.
I felt my heart begin to pound. Wilbert looked at me and released a tiny burst of fire from his mouth, but I shook my head, feeling it would be too dangerous to try burning our way through with Fire Fang, but more than once since then I have suspected that was a serious error.
We continued the only way we could, the tree path twisting and turning more than once before we finally saw light up ahead. We sped up, hoping it might be near the Dark Woods exit, but soon we saw that the light was coming from a small cottage nested in a clearing, itself enclosed by the tree walls.
The outside of the building looked normal and even welcoming, with a porch and bench. There was a light inside the building, which was not reassuring for it was very bright, and oddly intense. I could not shake a strange feeling, and I could tell Wilbert was worried as well. He growled, and pawed at the ground, looked about nervously, then started to alternate between nudging me forcefully in the side and gesturing away from the clearing. I was very willing to follow his suggestion and leave, gambling on either Fire Fang or the return of daylight breaking whatever enchantment kept us here.
Willing…but unable.
I tried to move my legs, but they would not obey. In fact some invisible force seemed to be tugging me, and I began to approach the building, unable to stay still or turn away. Wilbert yelped, and I shouted at him that I could not control my body. He bit onto the back of my coat, carefully avoiding any skin, and began to pull me back; he had little trouble overpowering my muscles, and although being dragged away would be unpleasant I would choose it every time over whatever was bringing me towards that cabin.
Then the door swung open so forcefully it crashed with a bang against the wall. The warm light poured out in an amount I would have thought impossible; the whole clearing was lit up almost like daytime, but it was shockingly hot, like when your face is near an open oven. Wilbert yelped in pain and fell, from what I could not say, and while I desperately tried to regain control my legs continued their steady march until they brought me right up onto the porch and through the door, which slammed shut behind me.
Yet despite almost being blinded outside the inside was somehow dark, the only light a small heart fire in the middle of the room. On the other side there was a door leading farther back into the cabin, and again my body began to walk forward against my will.
Then I would have jumped if I still controlled myself as I heard something heavy—Wilbert, I guessed—crash against the front door. Although a wooden door would not usually hold against a furious Luxray’s assault for long, with all that had happened tonight I was not reassured by that knowledge, and it still held firm as I reached the back door.
The handle turned, it opened on its own, and then I stepped in, a nauseating smell overpowering me as I did.
Before me stood a human-like creature—if creature was even the correct term. It was a being of nightmares brought alive, made up of a mishmash of different limbs from different people, some man and some woman, some young and some old, some parts healthy, and some beginning to rot.
It was not complete; it was missing some parts of its body, there were some large and small holes here and there.
It was smiling like a hungry beast spotting prey, and it spoke to me, its voice strangely soft, even beautiful.
It was human while still alive, it explained, but had been cruelly burned to death after accusations of terrible crimes, and their remains had been scattered across the Dark Woods, a method of posthumous punishment in those days.
And they were going to come back: it was only fair since their life had been unjustly taken.
They just needed a new body first.
Do not try to flee or resist, it told me, it would be waste of effort. I should make it easier for both of us, because if I was good it would leave enough for me to live, it promised. Then we would both be free to leave.
Then the heat and the light returned, brighter and hotter than before, and as I screamed I heard Wilbert managing to break through the door just as everything turned black.
*
When I regained consciousness I was in the town hospital, Wilbert lying down at the bedside, looking up at me with sudden relief when he noticed I was awake.
The doctor told me that Wilbert—burnt and bleeding, but nothing a Super Potion had been unable to fix—had been found attempting to carry me into town by some Rangers doing rounds that morning in the forest, just across the stream that ringed the Dark Woods. Wilbert should have been in a Pokémon center but had refused to leave my bedside before he was sure I would survive. I was told that I had not awoken until the afternoon of November first.
The doctor wanted to know exactly what the hell happened last night.
He listened quietly as I told the story in full, his face impassive. After I finished he paused a moment before he informed me that he would never have believed my story was anything more than an anxious nightmare after exhaustion had caused me to collapse ….
…if it not for the fact he had no other way to explain how, with no bleeding or any sign of cutting whatsoever, I could have lost my left eye and several of my fingers and teeth.
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