"Hey, over here, over here!" The child, Juhio, yelped, frantically waving his hands in the air. He jumped up and down on the lovely field grass, akin to a rubber ball being bounced between two metal plates at a high speed, not far from the Lucidia Kingdom, named after its founder, Quadilia Lucidia Fardia, a kingdom known for it's emence food sources, and absolutely gorgeous princess Zardia.
Today ran as normal, nothing special occurred, and the sun shone moderately in the vast open sky inhabited by few, but noticeable clouds.
The other child, Saug, with a boomerang in his hands, eagerly throws it at Juhio. They had just found it today, just a few minutes ago, and decided to play catch; whether they knew how a boomerang worked is vague, and quite frankly irrelevant.
The boomerang flies in the air, but erroneously, unlike how a normal boomerang would work, for the Saug threw it in a completely wrong manner, throwing it in a way similar to how you would a dodgeball. With that said, Juhio wasn't able to catch it, not even make contact with the thing. For Saug, in addition to throwing it incorrectly, threw it very high for a three-foot-tall child to catch. So high in fact that it disappeared into the woods behind them. The trees covering these lands were... solemn to say the least. The wood was black, gray leaves residing on its branches, said branches being akin to thorns, crooked, disfigured, unnatural. Overhead was no sunlight, just clouds. But this sight isn't new, however. For these woods have been here for decades, a long time, even before the kingdom's existence. How they came to be is unknown; not even the prospects of the royal family, or the great devotees of the church, or the oldest and wisest of residents knew the origin of these parts. There are many theories, many rumors, and folk tales about that place...
"I heard that there's a cathedral of dead knights that, when you come before them, they come alive, execute you, burn your body, and keep your head as a suvonear."
"I heard there's a sleeping dragon that, when awoken, will shoot at you with its poisonous snot and bite you with its teeth that are said to be sharper than broken glass."
These stories, while enchanting, were only rumors and fables. Folklore spawned from a tale of two lovers, Montbocle and Juicia, running away from home on a cold night and stumbling into the dark forest... completely disappearing, not a word, not a sight, came from them ever again. The rest of the kingdom heard such a narrative and ran with it with glee. Everyone knew of that story, every man, woman, and child, every peasant, knight, and noble, all were aware of such a mysterious event. The church deemed it to be the work of demons, the lovers had sold their souls to satan, and ran to him. Of course, no one confirmed these concepts true, and it was understandable. Who in their right mind would go there? It looked like a hotspot for witches, werewolves, vampires, and other supernatural happenings. But that was all gonna change... which is what I would say if, well...
"Oh... no..." The children said in unison as they stared at the entrance to the woods, flabbergasted. Their eyes, wide, their blood, cold, and their soul, absent from their bodies entirely. What was on their faces wasn't shock; it was something else. The kind of feeling that comes after you're dead, the kind of expression that comes after ripping an important essay after hours of work, that comes after a glass plate falls and shatters on the hardwood floor.
They stared for a moment, until, "Should we go get that...?" said Saug, slowly looking over at Juhio as he spoke.
Juhio gulped, "I... g-guess... s-s-s-s-so..."
The boys slowly and hesitantly walked in to go get the boomerang. Inside was monotone, a gray sky hovering over the massive and gloomy trees. The grass was gray, there were no flowers, and spiders crawled from inside the trees. The boys shook as they walked, for it was cold, so cold they could see their own breath and their noses were running beyond belief. Juhio tried to speak, but his teeth were too busy chattering away at thin air. In addition, Jaug had already aquired froast bite on his left pinky.
crack, "What was that?!" Jaug yelped, startling Juhio, who got dizzy. Juhio has a trait of getting dizzy when startled. Jaug looked around frantically to see the source of the noise. He looked down and saw that he stepped on a stick.
He heaved a sigh of relief, "Don't worry, Juhio, it was ju-" as Jaug looked up, "Juhio?" Juhio had, "Juhio!" Disappeared...
"JUHIO!" Minutes went by, "JUHIO!" And no sign of the little boy was there. Tears began to drop from Jaug's face and down on the grass and seep into the gray dirt below.
Just then, Jaug heard a sound, another crack, multiple in fact, but this wasn't the cracking of a stick, no, this was... the cracking of bones. Jaug took a step back and looked all around for the genesis. He looked up, and there he saw...
Juhio's body was laid out, spread across a tree branch, his face was ripped off, eaten, gushing with blood, exposing his teeth, nerves, and even his brain. His right arm was missing, held, and by extension chewed on by a figure, a long and lanky one resembling a human. But before Jaug could make out the mans appearence, the figure lunged at him, and...
A man walks through solemn woods, leaves crunching under his feet. He is of tall stature, taller than a human could realistically be; he looked sickly, his eyes numb and dead, his hair medium length and unkept. He was also slim, malnourished, slightly pale, and was in a black long-sleeved shirt, a long red overcoat, black pants, and black shoes. He dragged the bodies of two children, their bodies disfigured, stomachs ripped open, limbs snatched off, and faces stolen. Blood spread as the man walked and dragged the bodies, the same blood all over the man's face and clothes. And after a while of walking. He made it to a dusty cabin, one that looked abandoned and run-down to the point of no return. In fact, this was no cabin; it was a shack, and a horrible one at that...
"W-What? We're not gonna promote this, it's too violent."
"How so? People would love to see the redemption of a deranged cannibal."
"Sir, I almost threw up reading this, "his face was ripped off, eaten, gushing with blood, exposing his teeth, nerves, and even his brain?" What the hell is wrong with you?"
"It is art, a brutal scene to set the tone of the novel going forward."
"This isn't art! It's shit! G-Get the hell out of here, and take your disgusting novel with you! I don't ever wanna see this... shit! Ever again in my life! I don't ever wanna see you again ever in my life!"