”Do not disrespect the king of the forest.”

This phrase was rather common around the little town of Lerendell. However, it varied quite a lot how seriously people took it. Some people thought that it was important to keep in your mind if you were heading to the woods, but to some people it was nothing but nonsense of old ladies and they didn't really believe that such "king" even existed. Few folks swore that they had seen him, a pure white moose, but people did have different opinions about the credibility of their words. Due to these factors, the mystery regarding the king remained and was part of the wonders of Lerendell.

Jaeli was one of those who didn't believe that the king of the forest was real. She had visited the nearby woods many times, for she was a young hunter. Her father had taught her everything he knew and even though she was only seventeen, she was a remarkable hunter already. She was a valuable member of the town since she would bring meat and fur from her hunting trips. She had lived a simple life together with her father and there weren't really worries weighing down her soul.

At least not until recently. Jaeli's father had mysteriously fallen ill. He was bound to bed, having no strength to move or do anything. He had a high fever and it was making him delirious. Jaeli had tried to buy medicine for him, but nothing had worked. She could feel the death approaching her father and she was desperate. Although she had done it many times already, she paid a visit to local physician one more time in hopes that he would know if there existed any remedy that hadn't been tried yet.

Jaeli had been sitting in a corner, watching the old man going through his books. The worry had caused her to lose weight and sleep, she almost looked like a ghost as she was silently following with her gaze what the physician was doing. Dust clouds were lingering in the dim room as the man was riffling through the books he hadn't even touched in ages. It took him a good while, but at last, he found something worthy of his attention from a book with red covers. He eyed it intently, then turned to face the young woman with a slight hope in his eyes.

Then he began to explain: “According to this book, there is a pond deep within the woods, created by a benevolent ancient entity. It seems like the water has miraculous healing properties. This water could possibly heal your father – at least I hope so.”

With bright eyes, Jaeli had jumped from her seat. “I think I know the place! I recall that I have seen a pond a couple of times while on a hunt. Thank you!”

And just like that, she dashed out of the physician's house, and the old man was left alone, sincerely hoping that he had just helped to save a man's life. But one thing which he didn't know was that this was the last time he would see Jaeli.

Jaeli had rushed home, not wanting to waste even a single minute. A couple of times she almost bumped into people as she was running like a wind through the streets of Lerendell. She reached her home in no time and began to bag a few things, such as: her bow and arrows, a knife, a small container for the pond's water, a little bit of food and a flask. Before she left, she went to see her father who was currently sleeping, but had a pained expression on his face.

“Just hold on a bit longer, okay?” she said to her father. “I'll bring a cure.”

These would be her last words for him.

Then she made her leave, heading to the forest.

The change in scenery was a sudden one. First she would run through the streets of her hometown, but would soon cross the borders and dive into a complete different world. All the everyday sounds of Lerendell faded almost instantly as she stepped into the woods. This wasn't the place for humans, not usually, but Jaeli was different. She had visited this kingdom of shadows and vegetation so many times that it was a part of her now. She was like a valued guest in this place and as such, she hadn't been bothered by forest dwellers. She could move swiftly among the trees, those great and ancient kings of the woods, agilely jumping over rocks and creeks, blending in with the shadows. She felt free in this part of land and she let herself enjoy that even though she had an urgent task at hand.

A night was approaching. Jaeli knew that, even though there were still many dots of light coming through the treetops, touching the undergrowth. The light looked almost golden, which indicated that the sun had started to descend from the sky. Perhaps it would have been wiser to wait for a new dawn before heading to the woods as the nightly forest was a capricious place. But her father maybe didn't have that much time left. She had to keep going. Besides, she had spent nights in the woods before, this definitely wasn't her first time. It was just a little unpleasant thing to do, nothing that had to be avoided by all cost. She estimated that she could manage to get to the pond while some sunlight lasted, so she wasn't really worried about wandering in the forest when the night would fall. With determination, she made her way deeper and deeper into the woods where the shadows were growing stronger.

Just like Jaeli had guessed, she was able to find the pond before the darkness arrived and enveloped everything into blackness. This little body of water was hiding in the center of a cluster of trees, it was like they were protecting it. The water was crystal clear and it was surrounded by beautiful but strange flowers, they were something Jaeli couldn't identify. The pond really looked something like a benevolent fairy-like entity could have placed in here.

Jaeli stopped her movements for a brief moment to catch breath. She looked at the unbroken surface of water, pondering that it seemed like it indeed could hold healing properties. Then she began to search her bag for the container she had brought, a small bottle with a cap, and hold it firmly in her hand as she crouched in front of the pond and let the cold water flow into the bottle. When it was full, she put the cap back on and slipped it in her bag. Now that she had the water that could heal her father, she was done here. She just had to get back home. She attempted to turn around and start her return, but then she noticed something.

There was something big rustling in the bushes just few meters away from her. Jaeli looked at the direction of the sound and saw something extraordinary.

It was a completely white moose, its fur bright as freshly fallen snow. Its antlers were huge and the animal was wearing them like the most gorgeous crown. It had stopped its going and was staring back at Jaeli with great wisdom in its eyes, something she hadn't seen ever before. For a moment she could only stare in awe at this absolutely majestic creature; the talk about the king of the forest was real after all. This animal was the most magnificent being she had ever seen.

She wanted to see its head on a wall. And oh, that beautiful pelt.

Jaeli's hunter instinct came forth. With slow movements, she took a hold of her bow and an arrow, and soon the white moose was on her aim. The magnificent creature was still staring at her, showing no signs of fear or irritation. The longer Jaeli looked at the animal, the more disturbed she felt, even though she couldn't really say why was that. She came to a conclusion that it would be best to end this quickly.

She shot the arrow.

Then her reality shattered.

The arrow hit the moose right between its eyes. The animal bellowed and almost instantly, its form began to change in a very unsettling way. Its fur became grayish green and the body was in a state where the flesh was rotting away in a swift pace, the being was decaying right before her eyes, pieces of rotten meat falling to the ground, withering the plants immediately and turning the ground black. The moose's eyes had turned completely white and they were bleeding. Fungi started to grow on its antlers and on some parts of its body. Jaeli watched how this beautiful animal turned into this horrifying abomination, her eyes were completely fixed on the creature. She was sure that it would attack her so with shaky hands, she took a hold of a new arrow and was about to shoot again.

But then the moose just dashed away, blending in with the shadows of the forest. The only thing left of it was the black spot on the ground where it had stood.

Jaeli was alone.

For a moment, she stayed completely still, as if the horrific transformation she had just witnessed had turned her into stone. Her heart was beating so fast, it was like a rabbit that was trying to escape from a wolf. She was waiting to see something odd or hear anything strange, but the forest had become eerily silent. The moments passed by and finally, Jaeli got a hold of herself and lowered her weapon. It was like she had been a statue made of ice and had just melted. She looked around, but so far, everything seemed normal. Had she just imagined the moose? She didn't stay to ponder that for long, because the thought of her father came to her mind and she started to leave the pond, heading home with quick pace.

The night covered the world in darkness as Jaeli was striding through the woods. She had expected this and wasn't worried. Although she knew her way home, she decided to craft a torch, just in case. She didn't want to get lost accidentally, not tonight. Soon she was holding her new light source, the warm small flame illuminating her way. She decided to hurry a little bit more, it wouldn't hurt to be more swift.

Nothing seemed to be out of ordinary at first. Jaeli was so focused at her task to get out of the forest as soon as possible that she didn't realize that something weird was going on. But at some point, she noticed that she hadn't bypassed some landmarks – like a formation of three rocks or a tree that had been struck by a lightning – that she had seen on her way to the pond. She stopped for a brief moment, looking around the forest, cursing in her head that she had managed to get lost. However, she wasn't sure had that been her own fault, because somehow the woods seemed unfamiliar. But how could that be? Was it just because it was nighttime? She certainly hoped so. She picked a direction that would probably turn out to be the right one and continued on her way.

She kept wandering around, but the further she ran, the more foreign and hostile her surroundings appeared to be. Still, Jaeli hadn't spotted any familiar landmarks, which made her feel anxious and worried. She started to get a feeling that the forest was purposely leading her astray, although that thought was ridiculous and possibly something old ladies would babble about. Every ghost story she knew suddenly came to haunt her mind as the darkness took a harder grip of her surroundings, the shadows were slithering around her, although they would step aside from her way thanks to the light of her torch. But this was only temporary. She could almost hear them cackling at her, mocking her. They would accompany her even though she tried really hard to tell herself that she was just imagining things, dark forest would play tricks with anyone's mind. But she couldn't shake the feeling that the living shadows were on her trail, especially because the flame of her torch had started to flicker occasionally, as if something was playing with it. Fear tiptoed into her heart and she desperately tried to find her way out of this place.

Somehow the woods only kept turning more sinister. Jaeli could hear eerie sounds above her; they resembled a child's screams, and she had no idea what could make such dreadful noises. She could also see gleaming eyes around the treetops, though if she tried to take a closer look at them, they would disappear. She also noticed that some rather weird-looking short trees had started to come frequently on her way. The more she looked at them, the more they started to seem like human figures in agonizing positions. It caused Jaeli to shiver a bit. They were parched trees that didn't really have branches. More and more of them appeared as Jaeli went deeper and deeper into the strange woods that wasn't the one familiar to her. Eventually she couldn't unsee the endlessly tormented shapes of humans in the trees, making her feel such dread she hadn't experienced anything like it ever before.

Jaeli's heart was beating fast. She had a strange feeling that somehow the forest could hear them, mimicking them and she started to hear the heart beats around her. The flame of her troch was getting weaker, giving more power to the shadows and other critters that were hiding in the woods, following her desperate journey. In the diminishing light, she could see the colors of the vegetations distorting; everything had suddenly turned reddish. She wondered had she gone insane. Why was this happening to her? Was it because she had shot the white moose? Perhaps the old folks were right. One shouldn't disrespect the king of the forest. Jaeli felt guilty for her actions, but unfortunately, guilt wasn't enough to atone her bad deed.

Bit by bit her surroundings became more and more frightening and strange. The trees were bleeding. Bushes and undergrowth had turned into a mass of flesh, teeth and claws sticking out of from few parts. The forest was alive in a menacing way, and it didn't want her around. Jaeli had headed out to the woods in hopes of saving her father, but now, she had ended up in the middle of a total nightmare. She could feel the fleshy ground beneath her feet writhing, her steps made disgusting squishy sounds as she ran. Despair had tightly wrapped itself around her soul, for she had a hunch that she wasn't getting out of here alive.

Suddenly something grabbed her leg and she got smacked to the red ground made of tissue. The torch flew from her hand and dropped a little bit away from her. Jaeli glanced behind her to see what had caught her and saw a tentacle-like limb that had twisted around her leg. Instinctively she tried to kick it off, but unsuccessfully. She could see other spiked tentacles approaching her, so painfully slowly, giving her more time to feel terror.

“I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!” Jaeli screamed; it was a desperate attempt to get away from this situation.

But it was futile.

Tentacles with spikes leisurely twined around her different body parts, beginning a moment of torment. They tightened their grasp, moving, sinking the spikes into her flesh and started to tear her apart. Jaeli was screaming, struggling against her captors, but in vain. The flame of the torch died out with a hiss and darkness took over Jaeli's world. She was blind and bleeding, the spikes digging deeper, ripping her body to shreds. Her stomach was cut open, her intestines trundling out. One of the tentacles decided to go through the stomach to her throat, spikes tearing her insides as the limb came out of her mouth.

Jaeli had no strength to scream anymore. She was dying, becoming one with the forest. In her last moments, she thought about her father and how she had failed him. She would never be able to bring the cure. This was where their lives together would end. She tried to find comfort in a thought that at least they would see each other in the afterlife.

However, she didn't know that the woods had already claimed her soul.

Not a single part of her would get away, not even in death.