The Tragedy Of The Hunter Goddess

The northern territory was unlike the other dukedoms as it only contained one major city which was located in the center of the valley, this was not by choice but rather borne out of necessity. The biggest threat to foreign invaders heading towards Arcadia City was the forest surrounding it.

The 'forgotten forest' as the locals called it, was a dense collection of trees and vines that surrounded the city like a grasping hand. It contained scores of magical beasts and monsters who hungered for blood within the depths. Every spring the magical beasts would go insane due to the lunar cycle and would attack Arcadia in waves of numbers. All the citizens knew, should the walls be breached they would all die.

The forest was not always a place of death and there were historical records of it beings a gentle place was numerous treasures to be discovered but after a certain year, that all changed. There was a legend about the forest that was passed on from parent to child, it told the tragic tale of the goddess of the hunt who fell in love with a mortal prince.

A handsome prince from a foreign land was travelling through a peaceful forest on a mighty quest to gain the holy sword. The goddess was hunting the magical beasts as was her duty to protect the villagers within the forest boundary, when she happened to catch a glimpse of the handsome prince. She was spell struck and began to blush frantically as she gazed upon his face. The prince had heard tales of untold rare fruits and treasures within the forest and was exploring it with his companions.

The goddess followed them closely and protected the prince whenever he was in danger. The prince realised something was wrong and turned around to see the shy figure of the goddess hiding behind a tree. He called out with a smile and she cautiously approached him with trembling hands.

It was love at first sight and the prince was infatuated by her grace and beauty, he swept her in his arms and whispered sweet words of love into her ears. The goddess was eager to please her new lover and guided the prince and his men to all the treasures of the forest where they swept them all up.

When the last treasure was collected, the goddess told the man she was unable to leave the forest but would wait for him after his quest. The man vowed to come back and wed her as his beloved, then set off to complete his journey.

The goddess lay under a tree and waited peacefully.

Months passed by and she remained in the same spot expecting her beloved to return.

Waiting. Waiting and waiting

The months turned to years which turned to decades.

Still she kept her promise.

Years later a traveller would stop by and tell her what happened to her beloved prince, he had completed the quest successfully and was now known as the 'Hero of the Arclight'. He had slayed countless monsters and prevented numerous countries from falling into ruin. His legend was known far and wide across the continent and his harem of ten thousand beauties was admired and envied by all.

The goddess' heart froze and then shattered.

She let loose a gut-wrenching scream of agony and for the first time in centuries, she broke her vow of guardianship and left the forest seeking answers from the prince.She travelled far and wide until she found the prince, now an elderly old king who ruled over numerous lands and confronted him over the broken promise he made. His answer snapped the last threads of sanity the goddess had left.

He did not know who she was.

She was simply one of the many girls whose hearts he had stolen.

The goddess viciously attacked him and killed every single living being in the capitol, the streets flowed red with blood and the screams of pain echoed through the night. She returned years later to the forest carrying the withered corpse of the man she had once loved. Under the tree she spent all those decades waiting, she dug a hole and placed the man and herself within.

Her eyes were now old and weary with no trace of the pure innocent girl remained. Only bitterness and hate could be seen on the once pretty face, sighing deeply, she plunged her hunting knife into her own chest and died holding her love.

The forest seemed to change that day, a malicious feeling of pain and sorrow was felt from all who travelled through its trees. The monsters once seen as scarce were now fiercer and more numerous than ever before. The huntress was forever reviled and hated as the 'Oath Breaker' for abandoning her duty to protect the villagers.

"Mommy that's a really sad story!" Ashley muttered.

Elise looked down and saw that her daughter's eyes were slightly red, and she had begun to sniffle gently. Wrapping her tightly in her arms, she pressed her head on the crown of her little daughter's head. Elise herself was unsure of how true the legend was, there was the existence of old gods and goddesses as they had long since abandoned this world. No trace of them could be seen anymore on the mortal plane.

The party had arrived at the entrance of the forgotten forest after travelling two days through the mountain pass. They had set up camp for the night and were all currently gently lying down around a warm flickering fire. The flames gently curled around the dead logs, slowly wearing them away to nothing.

Only Elena who volunteered for the first watch was awake as the rest of the Valkyries were asleep with their soft breathing echoing through the wind. Ashley had a nightmare, so Elise had taken her outside the carriage for a midnight walk around the campsite.

She nodded at Elena standing guard who instantly snapped to attention, "Strange, her face seems oddly flushed. I should probably stay away to make sure Ashley doesn't get sick," Elise thought to herself.

Poor Elena (who was nervous blushing): ??????????

"Ashley when we travel through the forest, no matter what you hear or what you see, never leave my side," Elise seriously spoke to the little girl in her arms. Ashley picked up on the somber tone and nodded quietly to show she understood.

"Mom are we going to see big sister goddess?" Ashley suddenly asked.

Elise paused and was a bit flustered, she did not expect Ashley to take the legend so seriously. "No big sister goddess is quietly resting so one day she can return to protect the forest," she quickly spoke. She noticed that Ashley was not in a good mood due to the story and racked her brains thinking of something to take her mind off it.

"Why don't we talk to big sister goddess?" she finally said.

Ashley was confused but Elise quickly got to work and walked swiftly to the carriage underbelly, then grabbed a horned rabbit from the food supply. It began kicking and thrashing but a shadowy tendril slowly crept around its neck and snapped the creature's throat instantly. The movement of the rabbit stopped abruptly, and Elise was careful so Ashley did not see what just occurred.

Elise found a tree and gently placed the horn rabbit on the roots of the tree, she then sliced a small cut on the belly of the rabbit and drew a symbol of a bow on the tree using the blood of the monster. Ashley was very curious and asked her mom, "Mom what does this have to do with big sister?"

Elise replied," To talk to old gods you need to set up a shrine and present an offering that they like, then you can freely talk to them and they will listen."Ashley's eyes begun to shine with excitement and ran up to the tree and began a spew of rapidly firing sentences.

"Hello big sister goddess! My name is Ashley and I heard about your story, I think that prince guy was not charming at all! He was a big meanie and my mom would beat him up if he ever came by you again. Anyways I hope you can look after us when we go through this scary forest. Thank you!"

Truthfully, Elise knew the existence of rituals but never performed one herself, her knowledge was quite lacking especially for a goddess whose legend had faded many years ago. She simply improvised a shrine and drew a symbol to make it look more proper. Well at least Ashley was enjoying talking to it and her mood had cheered up considerably.

It was getting pretty late so Elise held Ashley's hand and took her back towards the carriage to sleep. "Bye! Bye! Sister goddess!", Ashley waved cheerfully as they left. Elise shook her head softly, the old gods had long since gone dormant, so it was unlikely that Ashley was talking to anyone.

Elise and Ashley had their back turned as they walked to the carriage, so they failed to see a pale figure of a woman silently watching them from the tree as they departed.

She looked at the little girl, the first in many decades to talk to her and a small smile touched the sides of her lips.