Prologue

The Dark Forest is a vast area of woodlands so thick that the sunlight ever hardly penetrates through the canopy. Even when the sun is high up in the sky at noon, the heart of the Dark Forest is only ever as bright as the dawn breaking and never really fully committing to a full morning. Because sunlight barely gets through, the forest gets colder the deeper one goes inside. Because of this and some other reasons, the forest has become home to various creatures that are barely seen outside. Creatures that could only be known in books and are considered to be merely created by fantasy.

Towering on the north of the forest is a ragged mountain that is hardly accessible. An old castles sits at its peak. It had been said that the castle is home to an evil lord that was vanquished by the hero 500 years ago. When one stands at the terrace of the castle overlooking the forest, one see a stone altar surrounded by a circular column of large stones and slabs deep in the heart of the forest. The location of the altar is the only clearing in the midst of the dark thicket and no one knows when this altar was made or who uses it. There were rumors that it was used as a sacrificial area for the previous demon lord.

It was on top of this tone altar that a young girl – barely in 15 years old – woke up. As she opened her eyes, she saw the full moon shining brightly above her. A cold midnight breeze blew and the girl shivered, all she had on her was a thin white cloth that barely covered her skin. Her hands and feet were bound to stubs of metal connected to each corner of the altar and her mouth was gagged with cloth. It took her a minute to understand her situation – the moon, her clothing, the bounds on her foot, and the vast expanse of woodland surrounding her. The growls and distant calls of unknown creatures cemented her previous conjecture. She is in the middle of the Dark Forest and she has just become the sacrifice.

Dread has overcome her and she started to pull her hands and feet, trying to get free from the bounds. The tight knot of the rope scraped against her wrists and ankles and she started to bleed. The horror, the pain, and the coldness made her start to cry. She could not believe the situation that she is in. just a few hours ago she was with her friends. They were celebrating the harvest festival and she had food one too many. Then she wakes up and finds herself bound in the middle of the forest, waiting to be taken by whatever creature is coming for her.

A few minutes have passed and her arms and legs started to feel sore from struggling. Her throat felt dry and parched. She wanted to urinate and she has been holding it in for like an eternity. She stopped crying now, she is too weak to even groan. After struggling for a long time, she has finally succumb and surrendered to her fate in the middle of this desolate place. Soon after, she heard the flapping of what seems to large wings. The area started to dim as an overcast shadow of a flying creature started to swoop down to where she is. As the creature gets closer, she soon realized that it was not a bird – at least the wings were not made of feathers.

The huge wings looked like overstretched skin framed by long bony fingers. The creature itself seems like a giant bat, except the features are more humanoid. The limbs were thin and springy, the torso was small and rounded at the belly, but the ribs and clavicles were prominent at the chests. The face and the head was even more grotesque. The creature is balding with wisps of hair at the back of its head. The eyes were almost slit-like and burned red. The nose – if you would ever call it – are merely two vertical slits. The creature’s ears were long. A short description of it would be like a cross between a bat and man – in a single word, a gargoyle.

The girl whimpered as the gargoyle drew closer. It seems to be talking to her but all she hears a growls and squeaks. The girl could not believe what she is seeing. It is a creature that is supposed to be just confined in books and stories made to scare off children. It was not supposed to exist unless this is nothing but a dream. ‘That’s right! This could be just a dream and nothing more,’ she thought to herself. She was supposed to wake up anytime soon and would jump out of her bed – just like what happens when she had nightmares before. But she never woke up, she remained awake and the creature is actually standing right beside her. The pain on her arms and legs only made her understanding of the reality even worse.

The creature started to reach out towards her; on it bony fingers are long claw-like nails. The girl almost lost her control from the fear and she finally let go of what she had been holding in. Her humiliation and fear intermingled as warmth and wetness spread along her legs. The piss spread through the altar and flowed towards the edges. The creature did not seem to mind as it was busy slashing up the rope that bound the girl to the altar. This is not the first time anyway, when seen during the day, the altar has dredge marks of different forms of liquid – rainwater, urine, blood, slime – and the creature only has one job: to gather the sacrifice and take it to its master.

The girl’s mind has gone to a far-off place now. In her mind, she has already woken up to a new day. In her mind, she is already preparing for the day to help her mother in kitchen to cook breakfast and pack lunch for her father and brothers, of course she will include one for her lover as well. Their village is mostly farmland so the boys at this time work at the fields to harvest. In the evening, the harvest festival continues and it will be merry just like the previous night, yes, it was the night when she woke up with a nightmare. That was a very bad dream and she will talk about it with her lover and her friends and they will just laugh it off.

It was all in her mind her mind though, in reality, her eyes have turned glassy and dead. She has become devoid of all feelings. She did not even feel the creature carrying her towards the castle. She did not hear the voice of the Demon King ordering his maid to wash her and replace the cloth on her. She did not notice that the maid pulling her around the castle had a snake’s body instead of legs. She did not notice the moving statues leering at her along the hallways. She did not flinch as she was dipped in the warm bath – too warm for an average human. She woke up the next day in a strange large bed in an even larger room. She will stay here for about a year – until the next sacrifice arrives.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“Hey! Where’s Jessica?!” a girl asked her friends, one of them seems to be missing.

“I don’t know. She was talking to someone earlier,” answered one of her friends.

“Isn’t she just with Carl? The wine she drank seemed to put her in the mood,” answered another one mischievously.

“Oh! Right! Lucky her,” the girl who first asked replied. The group of friends walked around the festival grounds all through the night. They ate from the food stalls, played games on the others, and met with other friends. They did not know that their friend has already been brought somewhere else. That they would never see her again in not least than a year – unless she kills herself in that place. They did not know that another one will be gone in the next festival.

Inside the village head’s mansion a group of men is in talking about the harvest festival. The sound of the festivities and the voices of the villager can be heard even inside the conference room. Every year, they perform the selection ritual – they will randomly choose the next pure maiden from the list and prepare her for the next harvest festival.

“This has been a ritual since the establishment of our village,” the village chief addressed the men in attendance, “This is the only way to ensure that the Demon King would leave us alone.”

“The selection that is guided by the hands of fate will now begin,” said a person in an older and rasped voice, “I will now pick from the box.”

The room was tense and silent. They know that this is an important event for the village bit they are still anxious. Most of them have their daughters listed from among the candidates. A young girl starts to become a Candidate when she turns 13 and she will be in the list until she gets married or until she reaches 20 years old.

“Oh! It seems that next year’s festival is highly favored,” the old man said as he read the name, “The village chief’s daughter has been chosen!”