The Lady Found in the Forest

"Mama!" a young boy made his way towards a parked carriage on the side of a bumpy road near the forest. His face was pale with sweat dripping on his forehead as he pointed his finger behind him, "Mama! Papa! You need to come with me!"

The boy's voice was high in pitch, attracting the attention of the people who were standing beside the carriage. Because they needed to take a short break during the long journeys, the young boy told them he had to pee in a hurry and went into the forest. But who would have expected that not even a few seconds later, he would come running back to them.

The young boy's mother, worried that her son had been attacked by a wild animal, quickly took his hand and questioned him, "What's wrong with you, Peter? I thought you went out to pee? Why do you look so dirty?"

The young boy then noticed that his clothes were in a mess and mud dirt was stuck on his pants. But that wasn't what he wanted them to notice or care about. "Mama, you need to come with me!"

"Stop shouting boy, we hear you the first time," a middle-aged man who has similar features as Peter said. He walked to stand next to the mother and son before asking, "What's gotten you so scared?"

The young boy named Peter took a deep breath and pointed towards the woods where he had just emerged from, "The-there's a lady in the forest. I saw her lying unconscious on the ground. I think she's been attacked…"

Peter didn't know what had happened to the lady, however, he recognized the blood and wounds on the lady's body. He just had a glimpse of her so he hadn't checked if she was dead or not. But still, he couldn't allow himself to turn a blind eye to her and not inform her parents of what he had just seen.

Peter's mother and father looked at each for a second before the father moved away to talk to the coachman. The two talked to each other for a few seconds before they told Peter's mother to stay away from the forest and wait for them to return before they went into the forest themselves.

Although they still had some doubts of what the young boy had told them about, their conscience wouldn't be able to let them sleep at night if what Peter said was true. Thus, the coachman and Peter's father scouted the nearby area where Peter lurked around to pee.

The woods around them swayed around when a strong gust of wind went past them. The fallen leaves scattered soundlessly as two men walked deeper in search of someone. However, even after looking for several minutes, the lady whom Peter was talking about was nowhere to be seen. Could his son be imagining things?

Peter's father was slightly disappointed and angry at his son's prank. He should tell him not to read ghost story books with the other kids in their town. But just when Peter's father was about to tell the coachmen that they didn't have to go further into the forest and return to the carriage, he saw a glimpse of white from a near distance, blocked by two trunks of trees. It was almost imperceptive to the eye hadn't he taken two glances before confirming his suspicion.

Peter's father, with a heavy heart and worried expression on his face as he expected the worse, stepped forward to where the white object he had a glimpse of just now. When he was a few meters away, his senses were assaulted by the metallic tangy smell of blood and something rotting. He almost gagged in the instant the scent hit him by the face.

His mind was screaming for him to run. He should have known something terrible was just in front of him. However, he had to make sure. Peter told him there was a lady lying there. And if his son was right, he couldn't let the body of the lady rot in this place and give her a proper burial.

"Milord, that is…" the coachmen, who also noticed the white object from afar when his master had taken his steps towards that direction, hesitated to stop his master. The smell of blood and rotting scent was too much for them to ignore it.

"Shush… I know what you're thinking, Gilbert. But we cannot allow ourselves to turn around and ignore this. Besides, we're already here anyway. We should at least do a good deed before we leave." Peter's father continued moving forward without his previous hesitation. He wanted to at least look good in front of his son, that's the reason why he wanted to do this.

The coachman, Gilbert, closed his mouth and covered his nose with his sleeved arm. The pungent smell was thicker as they got closer and closer to where the rotting smell was coming from. He was almost sure that the rotting smell came from the 'lady' in white.

However, when they finally were able to see clearer and got closer to the point where they could take a good look at the situation, the assumption for the worse was confirmed and also not confirmed.

Because in front of them, the incredibly disgusting rotting smell didn't come from the lady.

Instead, it had come from the dead monster lying close to the lady.

"Milord!" gasped the coachman as he tried to pull his master away in great fear of what he had just seen. He almost stumbled on the ground but thankfully, his master was able to pull him to stand upright before he fell. "Is…isn't that an Undead?!"

Peter's father's brows gathered at the center of his forehead as he nodded with a grave look in his eyes. To be more precise, the monster in front of them was an Undead. Its previous form was no longer able to be seen, rather it looked like it had been butchered and melted seeing how it had been reduced to a goo. No doubt about it, the rotting smell came from its corpse.

But how did an Undead reach the borders of their Mortal Lands?

...

Poisonlily has something to say: I'm building a fantasy world where tons of unfamiliar and new terms will be written. However, they will not be so confusing and can be similar with familiar terms we already know. Please be patient with me >.<