Night in the Woods
by Rejoinable3
There is an old game that dates back as far as humans have held malice towards each other and the world around them. To play this game, you do not need any special equipment, but I would recommend taking a few things with you, as you’ll probably need these to survive.
1. Take light or heavy clothing, depending on your area. You’ll know which to take if you’re familiar with the place the game takes place in. If you don’t know, it’s better to pick light clothing if you have good pain tolerance.
2. Take a phone if possible. This can provide light, as you’ll be playing in the dark, and the time, which is very helpful. Make sure to turn it on silent, though.
3. Try to find an uncommon weapon. The best suggestion for this would be to make some kind of your own weapon that has a strange design and usage, but still works well. I’ll explain why later. If you can’t, bring a small handgun or knife.
4. Something to start a fire with would be helpful, like a match or a lighter. If you don’t have any, get one or learn how to make a fire from sticks and kindling.
To start this ritual, you need to go to the largest forest near you. Trespass if you need too, but make sure you won’t get shot on sight. Not that many people with a sane mind would be out that late, anyway. It’s better if you get there earlier to get a feeling of your surroundings, especially when there is still daylight, but the latest I’d arrive is 10 P.M. Make sure you are also well rested, you’ll need the energy. The first step to starting the game is to find a dark opening of some kind. It can be a cave, an animal den, anything large enough to throw a rock in and something that you cannot see into naturally. No, the dark forest will not work. If you can’t find something like it by 11 P.M, just give up and go home. Then, grab a rock. The bigger the better, but if you couldn’t find a large opening like a cave, a small one will do.
You can either check your phone, a watch if you can see it, or use the moon to estimate the time, but once it hits about 11:30 P.M, it’s time to begin. Go to the opening and grab your rock. Make a small fire with whatever you brought with you, or start one with sticks. This is the tricky part. Try to remember something or someone you hate, it could even be your own actions. Channel all that negative energy in yourself, and drop the rock into the fire. In doing this, you are releasing the malice from yourself and allowing it to take form from something else, in this case the rock, though I’m sure there are other methods of doing so. If you did it correctly, the rock will burn. Reach and grab the rock, if you have been following every step perfectly so far, you will feel no pain from the fire. However, the fire will make you feel uncontrollable rage or sadness. Try your best to control yourself, if you got anger instead of sadness then this part will be a lot easier, it really just depends on your temperament as a person. Hurl the rock into the dark space and wait.
If you did all the steps correctly, you will see something in the darkness very clearly. This will be whoever you hate most. If you have any strong negative feelings towards some kind of god, then you shouldn’t even try. Hopefully it’s not too dangerous, though even if it’s as simple as a human being it’s strength and speed will be unlike any other. I’ve talked to a few people who completed the ritual and I can give some examples of what you might come across.
One of them had two abusive parents that ruined his childhood. Both of them were there, in the shape they were in when he was a kid, but with a much superior physical build.
Another was stung by a wasp when he was a toddler and feared them ever since. His enemy took the form of an anthropomorphic wasp with giant wings and a deadly stinger.
The last of them held malice towards the God of Abraham, but he had enough foresight to learn to hate one of the angels instead. What he fought was, well, an angel. It wasn’t the cute little baby with wings that they display in paintings, it was a humanoid abomination with thousands of eyes and a giant spear.
Whatever your enemy will be, it will come forth. This spirit has been a part of us all since the dawn of time, it is the ugly side of everyone, and it is your enemy. It will say “You have decided to face your innermost adversary, the strongest of all, the antagonist of all of humanity. Do you have the willpower to face me?” This is your final chance to turn back, and after seeing whatever horror that your mind constructed, you may not be able to face it. If you choose to do so, then reply with a yes.
The game has begun. You must survive in these woods until the sun starts to rise. Regardless of the weather before, it will now be scorching hot, and no amount of clothing will change this. If you wore something heavy for protection against the thick vines and thorns, then don’t bother taking it off, it won’t change a thing. Just endure it. You have a small head start in this game, so use it wisely. Your enemy will have weaknesses and strengths, depending on what it is. You can analyze it’s form and look at the behavior of it during the game to decipher this. If your enemy is a human, then it’s weakness will be not having the strengths of many horrors of mankind that have powerful strengths. Every form has in common some sort of superhuman speed, so you’ll never be able to outrun it directly. If it’s fall or winter, there are likely to be many leaves on the ground, but most people would attempt this in the hotter months. Try not to make much noise, though if it did take place in the winter or fall then this is redundant. Most forms also have incredible hearing and other sensory enhancements. Most animal forms will have incredible smell and will be able to track you with ease, so trying to be quiet is useless. Take the enemy’s weaknesses and use it to your advantage. Anything that can fly will likely not be able to utilize this power very well thanks to the nature of forests. You can hide, keep running, or try to fight it.
Fighting it is an option, but one that is not very recommended unless the form it takes favors speed over strength. Remember the advice earlier about making your own weapon that is very unusual? This spirit knows all about the various tools humans used to kill each other throughout mankind, and it knows how to counter everything that has been used before in a hateful context, meaning just about every weapon in the world. So, if you managed to make a completely unique weapon, then you can surprise the spirit and possibly take it down. You can never kill it, but attacking it can leave it injured and it may lose some of it’s strengths. Do not even bother trying to fight it outside of self defense if you did not make a weapon. I recommended bringing one anyway just for self defense purposes if it reaches you, but fighting it directly with a common weapon is a death sentence.
The form will instantly attack you if it reaches you. Struggle as much as you can, as it will not be merciful. This is an entity of pure hatred, and it will not hold back. It will tear you to shreds, control your body, and use your last moments of living to cause hatred to spawn in the world. It may murder a model citizen and cause everyone to forever hate you in their memories, or it may cause you to commit suicide right in front of a loved one and cause them eternal grief. You do not want this thing to catch you.
If you can manage to survive until sunrise, then the form will instantly come back to you. Here, you have two options. You can either reject your hatred and live a life of a true pacifist, full of bliss and naivety forever, or if you wait, the form will return to you, and with it, some knowledge. It will tell you exactly how to achieve happiness for yourself, though this will come at the price of many hating you for all of eternity. I will not tell you which one to take, as they both have their own merits, but I took the latter. And I was granted the knowledge of how best to spread the knowledge of this game, and by telling the world how to play it, I will achieve true happiness.
Though, those of you who attempt this and seal their fate as the scum of society may not like that I chose that option.
How to Summon Fairies
What I’m going to tell you now is nothing new to those who get all the references to fairy tales and mystical beings from Disney movies. If that’s the case, then I recommend that you not do this under any circumstances, and even if it is not the case then I still do not recommend it. What I’m about to tell you is how to summon fairies and, although it may not sound so bad, I can assure you that it is very dangerous, especially if something goes wrong, but let’s save that for later. First, let me tell you what you need to summon fairies.
What you need is salt, something made of iron to have around your neck and an offering, such as jewelry of gold or silver, or a bowl full of fresh milk and honey. You may also need a bag full of iron nails, depending on where the ritual takes place, which brings us on to where you are going do the ritual. The ritual shall be carried out in a forest near a naturally formed ring shape, such as a number of fungi, rocks or trees that grow in a ring without any human laying them or planting them in that way. It does not matter what kind of wood it is, but the older the forest, the greater the chance that you get the desired result. If the natural formed ring is close to a stream, river or something like that, you’ll need to have a bag of nails with you.
Now, before you perform the ritual, it is a good idea to read up on the different supernatural beings that might be in the woods, in case one of them decides to come in place of the fairies. Iron protects against most of them, but it does not hurt to be sure of your safety.
The time of the ritual is very important, because it must be done in the middle of summer at midnight, otherwise it will not work. For the actual ritual, you should go to the naturally formed ring. Make sure you are there in good time before twelve, so you have time to make preparations. Select a location a short distance away from the naturally formed ring and pour the salt in a circle around yourself, making it large enough so that no sudden movements can make so the circle break, because that would be bad.
Now, wait until the clock is exactly twelve, if it is not already. Place the offering in front of you, but outside the circle of salt, close your eyes and say with a clear and confident voice, “House of (say your last name but not your full name, because then they will have power over you and there is no way to protect yourself against it) has come to bring a gift. If this gift is accepted, please show yourselves.” If you’ve done everything right and they accept your gift, you will see them as soon as you open your eyes. They will be exactly as you have imagined, but do not believe it. It’s just a disguise, a glamour, as it is also called. The salt reduces the power of their glamour, as it should reduce the urge to go up to them and touch, so it will be easier to stand against it. It may also be that you are a person who has the gift to see through glamour spells and will be absolutely terrified by what you see, if so please do not run from there because they will hunt you down and hurt you because you will have insulted them.
If you manage to survive it this far, you will receive an offer from the fairies. If it is anything to eat or drink, humbly refuse it by saying something complimentary and self-degrading, such as that you are too unworthy to eat or drink something so pure and royal. You will do yourself a great favour that way. After you have turned down their offer of food or drink, they will offer you to participate in a game of guess what. If you have never played the game before, it goes to this:
One must describe something it thinks of in one word and the other will try guess what it is by asking different questions.
It might sound simple, mainly because of the fact that fairies can not lie, but they are experts at bending the truth.
If you win the game, you will get a gift, but if you lose, you will get a mission that probably will not be pleasant. When the game is over and the winner has decided it is time for you to bid farewell, it is now when you really get to know if you have succeeded with the ritual or not.
Say the most humble goodbye you can say then close your eyes, turn around and step out of the circle of salt. Remember to keep your eyes closed the whole time. Once you have stepped out salt circle, you can open your eyes again.
If the ritual functioned as it should have done and you have done all things right, then you should be able to go out of the woods unhindered. If you have performed the ritual near a stream, you might then see a beautiful white horse in front of you. Throw the bag of nails in the creek and run for your your life, as you’ve just met a brook horse (also known as a kelpie) and your life is in danger and it does not matter if you’ve managed to summon the fairies or not.
If you have failed the ritual, it will all seem like you have succeeded in the beginning, but when you try to leave the forest, it will feel cold and threatening, trees will seem to move and you will hear terrible sounds behind you. Now you should run and keep a firm grip on the iron objects you have around your neck. You will feel thousands of tiny claws and teeth burrow into your skin and hands with unnaturally long fingers grabbing hold of your legs. Just keep running and do not lose the iron object you have around your neck, for as long as you have it, you will have a chance to survive. If you drop it, then they will take you to their home, where they will have the most horrible party you have ever imagined and you will be the main attraction, your screams of pain and fear. Fairies are not nice nor friendly creatures, remember that, and good luck if you decide to summon them.
What is the price of love?
No matter how hard they work, no matter how many lavish gifts they shower on the person, how many sweet compliments are murmured into ears, few ever really attain the object of their desires. Often they are just resigned to watching from afar as their love remains completely oblivious to their existence. Some people go their whole lives without ever being loved by another.
But there exists, known by few, a definite method to ensure true love.
As with everything valuable in this world, it comes with a price. A price that only the truly desperate or determined find themselves willing to pay. But as dangerous as the game is, it is truly effective and can ensure a long life filled with love.
You will need to go to a remote stretch of woods, as far away from civilization as you can. You need to be completely alone as you venture out, otherwise the ritual will not work. Once you have arrived, you will need to go as far as you can into the woods, just before midnight. They only come out at night, you see. That’s the only way that you can see them.
Along with a source of light, you will also need some raw meat, preferably fresh to the point of being bloodied.
They’re also very hungry, you see.
You will also need to bring a weapon- any kind of weapon will do- a kitchen knife, an ax, a hammer- anything you want, but it has to something that can be used as a lethal weapon. Believe me, you’re going to need it.
As the clock strikes twelve, an unfamiliar noise will filter across the lonely stretch of shadowed woodlands at night, tinkling over the old creaking branches, sounding as clear as day- laughter. Human laughter. As you hesitantly walk through the trees, peering behind a branch to investigate the source of the clear and resonant sound, that is when you will see them.
They had many names, in many different languages, some so old that they have been lost to human tongues. No-one knows what they truly are. They simply flicker into existence into this world, and possibly many others, in many different forms.
They are the Fair Ones.
These creatures take the forms of impossibly beautiful men and women, who float deftly across the ground instead of walking, as if their bodies are carried by some invisible current of air. They live as one with nature as humans intended, lounging on rocks, basking beneath the swollen sphere of the moon, leaping on tree branches with the kind of agility humans can only dream of. But as beautiful as they are, if you are smart- you will start to notice something wrong about them. Like how pale they are, as milky-skinned as a fresh cadaver. Or that their bodies, through male and female in shape, are essentially sexless, without human genitalia. Or how the whites of their eyes are entirely black, the darkness only pierced by sharp yellow irises, like those of a wolf.
And then they will notice you.
They will flock to your side like moths to a candle- men and women alike. They will touch you reverently, embrace you, try to kiss you. They will treat you like you are the most beautiful creature that they have ever seen in their lives.
But as loved as you might feel through their tender ministrations, DO NOT give into them. Do not allow yourself to be led off by them.
And above all throughout your visit, make sure that your weapon is close at hand. Do not go anywhere with one of them without it, no matter how loving they might seem toward you.
If you resist their initial advances, you will find yourself drawn to one particular being. And in turn, they will be drawn to you, like magnets on a board. You will feel a deep affection towards this particular creature. You will notice that they do not fawn or swoon over you as easily as the others do. There is something warm, genuine about the affection they hold in their deep dark eyes when they smile towards you.
This being will resemble the one who you desire, in both shape and gender. They are a perfect replica of the person you’ve so long believed was the ‘one’.
But if the others are insistent on attaining your affections and do not understand the meaning of the word of ‘no’, then scatter the raw meat that you have on the ground. Their facade will shatter the minute they smell blood and the group will pounce on the meat like a pack of ravenous beasts, ripping and tearing into the flesh.
You will notice their teeth as they gorge themselves- needle-like and black, stained pink at the edges from past meals. They almost seem disproportionately ugly when compared to their unearthly beauty. But you should leave with the one immediately, to an even more secluded area as the rest fight over scraps. You will probably forget that unnerving detail as you embrace them the way that you have always wanted to embrace the human you have so longed for, but always resigned to fantasy. Please treat yours tenderly as you do what you please to them- all they want is to love you.
Once you have finished with them and they curl up next to you, a smile of unbridled happiness across their face, you will have to perform the most difficult part of the ritual. Although they may have given you more love and affection than probably anyone else has ever shown you in their whole lives, you must remind yourself not to fall for their charms, that you cannot stay with them. If you do stay with them past dawn, then you will no longer be human.
You must take the weapon that you have hidden with you and drive it into the Fair One. Despite their unusual appearance, they feel pain just as humans-perhaps even more than humans can. They will scream, cry and even bleed- a dark, bubbling brown blood that hisses through the broken skin.
You can do it whatever way you like- beat them to death, strangle them, drown them, even burn them alive- but you have to spill their blood in some way.
Once you have made sure that they’re completely dead, you must rub whatever blood has been spilled onto the exposed skin of your body, until it has been rubbed away into your pores. The mood of the woods will change, becoming darker and more ominous.
Though you may, you should feel no guilt in what you have done by killing one. They would have easily done the same to your once they had exhausted your affections, or when you were too old and feeble to be any amusement to them anymore- turning on you and tearing into you. You were less their mate and more their meat.
In some ways beyond appearance, the Fair Ones are very much like humans. They find their source of fun and take whatever they can, draining it into a withered husk. And when they find themselves done with it, they leave to prowl for their next source.
You should feel no pity.
After all, this makes it easier for you.
The gentle laughter will crack into desperate sobbing and then, raucous shrieking- the kind of sound that can shake someone to their very bones, give them nightmares for years. It is a sound of unadulterated rage and misery, the kind that only a pack can make when they realize that one of their own had been irrevocably and irretrievably lost forever.
When the deed is done, you must get out of there as quickly as you possibly can, before they can catch you. You feel them running behind you as your heart throbs furiously in your head, snapping their jaws and staining your back with frothy droplets of saliva. But whatever you do, you must keep running and never look back at them, not even for an instant. The sight of their shrunken pupils and dislocated jaws can drive someone to gibbering madness, allowing them the perfect opportunity to tear you apart. Your sacrifice has driven them to animal fury.
You must get away as far as you possibly can, before the sun rises. The Fair Ones fear the sunlight, hiding away in the shadows and the darkness, shying away from it. Only at dawn can you know that you are truly safe from them.
In the days that follow, you may experience nightmares. Nightmares of dozens of pale hands, all reaching for you at once, of the rotting corpse of your inhuman lover, their face still fixed in an accusatory scream towards you.
But you forget the nightmares when the one who you have longed after takes a sudden interest in you. You talk more frequently over time, and realize that you have a lot in common. Soon after, you find yourselves on dates, trips out, going to bars, coffee shops, restaurants- it’s the kind of life you only previously fantasized about with them. You might find yourself getting along so well that you might even get engaged, married. You may even decide to start a family with them.
Your life will be perfectly, unbelievably happy from then on. Everything you ever wanted in life, everything that you ever loved- just seems to fall into your lap. You will almost forget the horror of that fateful night, the unearthly beauty and the fury of the Fair Ones.
But they will never forget you.
You might see a pale shape dart from the corner of your eye. Or hear whispering from behind, only to turn and see that it’s just you. Or when you’re in your backyard, you swear that you see shadowy figures half-crouched, hiding behind the branches of the trees.
For you are forever marked to them- your hands stained with the blood of one of their own. They will never forget or forgive what you have done, but they know that they cannot take their revenge in daylight, or when you are with other people.
So they watch.
They will watch you for the rest of your life from afar, with dark unforgiving glares and wordless threats as they hide away in the cover of the trees. You will see their pale faces peek out from behind walls and outside windows, where they might stand under for hours until the sun rises. But to your loved ones and the rest of the world, they are as invisible as they once were to you, before you went into those woods. As perturbing as it may be, it’s probably best not to talk about it with them; you don’t want to seem crazy, do you?
Just always remember to stay in the light, and always where people are. If you allow yourself to be alone in the dark, even for a second, then it will allow them the perfect opportunity to exact punishment on you for your secret crime.
And believe me, you do not want to know what they’ll do to you if they ever catch you.
But if you’re more morbid than most would be, just think of the many hundreds of people who vanished into the woods over the years without a single trace, and you’ll get a general idea.
There is one thing you will never forget, what they will never allow you to. Each night, as you settle into bed with murmured endearments to your significant other next to you, pulling the covers over your body as you attempt to settle in for sleep, an unfamiliar noise might drift in from outside, beyond your bedroom window on nights when the moon is especially full. It is a strange, high-pitched, tinkling sound, one that almost sounds like laughter.
So, I ask you now; are you still willing to pay the price for love?
