Restless & Hungry Spirits It’s rare to find a place quite as paradoxical as a forest. It’s a beautiful, lush environment full of wonderful sights to behold, creatures to befriend, and a sense of purity. Yet, it’s also a place so dense that it’s not especially hard to get lost in the woods. Like so many folk stories, something so seemingly beautiful and pleasant can become quite easy to get lost in, and once lost, suddenly the tranquility and isolation can be quite unnerving and oppressive. This was a lesson one anthromorphic Barn Owl would soon realize. Her name was Rchlis, she was a young humanoid Barn Owl dressed in a red hoodie, with gray slacks and sneakers. Her eyes shifted left and right as she wandered aimlessly through the woods, both frustrated and slightly nervous. “C’mon, there was supposed to be an opening by now,” Rchlis remarked, steadily making her way through the densely tree-populated forest. Her surroundings were a bit dim from just how thick the trees all around her were. She took out her cellphone, and predictably, there were zero bars. “Whelp, so much for ‘Waze: Lost in the Woods’ Edition,” she muttered, putting her phone back in her pocket and still seeking a way back on her trail out. Rchlis looked left and she looked right. Then, she sighed to herself. “…Yep. That settles it. You are one hundred percent, very, very…very much lost. Way to go…”
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Rest l ess & Hungry Sp ir i t s It’s rare to find a place quite as paradoxical as a forest. It’s a beautiful, lush
environment full of wonderful sights to behold, creatures to befriend, and a sense
of purity. Yet, it’s also a place so dense that it’s not especially hard to get lost in the
woods. Like so many folk stories, something so seemingly beautiful and pleasant
can become quite easy to get lost in, and once lost, suddenly the tranquility and
isolation can be quite unnerving and oppressive. This was a lesson one
anthromorphic Barn Owl would soon realize.
Her name was Rchlis, she was a young humanoid Barn Owl dressed in a red
hoodie, with gray slacks and sneakers. Her eyes shifted left and right as she
wandered aimlessly through the woods, both frustrated and slightly nervous.
“C’mon, there was supposed to be an opening by now,” Rchlis remarked, steadily
making her way through the densely tree-populated forest. Her surroundings
were a bit dim from just how thick the trees all around her were. She took out her
cellphone, and predictably, there were zero bars. “Whelp, so much for ‘Waze: Lost
in the Woods’ Edition,” she muttered, putting her phone back in her pocket and
still seeking a way back on her trail out. Rchlis looked left and she looked right.
Then, she sighed to herself. “…Yep. That settles it. You are one hundred percent,
very, very…very much lost. Way to go…”
Just then a sudden rustling in the bushes caught her attention. Rchlis gulped
nervously then promptly turned right around. “O-Okay, maybe backtracking’ll
help. H-Heh, y-yep, maybe some familiar settings’ll help us figure the lay of the
land.” As Rchlis chattered to herself, she picked up the pace in her walking, now
doing her best not to run and draw attention, but very much ‘power walking’
through. “…This is the last time I ever ‘see nature’ without a guide again, I swear,”
Rchlis muttered to herself, a little more nervous than before.
However, something caught her attention. Rchlis’ eyes widened somewhat with
relief when she saw rather peculiar looking trees. “Black bark!” she said with relief,
stepping towards the forested area. “Riiiight, I remember, th-there was this whole
section of forest with black bark. In fact, I think I cut through here. Or, at least
near here.” With little frame of reference, Rchlis opted to quickly but carefully
head through the black bark forest. But strangely, there was an odd chill in the
air, as if the temperature in this area alone had dropped a slight but very
noticeable amount. It was enough to make Rchlis’ feathers stand on end, making
her neck shrink into a slightly puffed up scruff, not unlike a traditional owl.
Then, straight ahead, Rchlis caught an unusual sight. In the darkness, she mistook
it for a reindeer. It appeared to be a sizeable, darkened creature with very
reindeer-like antlers, or so she thought. Then, Rchlis carefully took a few steps
forward and got a closer look. Only then did she realize how wrong she was.
What was hunched over, eating something that may have once been a living
creature, quite messily in fact, was not a reindeer at all. It was a ghastly, cloaked
creature, like a wraith straight out of a nightmare. Those antlers appeared to be
fastened to either side of its’ hood. As it chomped away, Rchlis’ heart pounded
intensely, so much so, she was afraid the beast might actually hear it thumping in
her chest. She gulped nervously and oh so slowly took a few steps backwards,
trying to get away from the frightening creature without getting its’ attention.
But then, like something out of a cartoon, she stepped onto a few discarded sticks,
which crunched beneath her sneaker, and caused the hooded beast to stop eating.
Rchlis froze like a deer in headlights when the cloaked creature slowly sat up and
lifted its’ head, staring directly at Rchlis, whose eyes were as wide as saucers.
“…Oh…poop…”
Then, with a throaty, blood-curdling howl, the cloaked beast charged at Rchlis,
lunging at her with very razor sharp claws. Rchlis yelped in terror and just
narrowly dove out of the way from being ‘plucked.’ The beast slammed into several
trees, causing a few to tumble down onto it. This slowed it down just momentarily
enough for Rchlis to make a mad dash further into the black barked woods. The
hooded beast soon broke free from the mess that befell it and took off in pursuit of
Rchlis.
“M O T H E R N A T U R E S U C K S ! ! ” Rchlis cried out to herself as she ran for dear
life, constantly checking behind her to see if she was losing the beast.
Unfortunately, it was gaining on her, rushing like a mad monster high on
adrenaline. It would no doubt catch and maim her at this rate. So, thinking fast,
Rchlis made a sudden left turn into a more densely covered area of the forest, just
as the hooded beast pounced and just narrowly missed. Rchlis was cutting
through the trees, zigzagging her way and constantly checking behind her to make
sure the beast wasn’t on her tail.
But with all that looking behind her, Rchlis neglected to check what was right in
front of her until it was too late.
*SCHLUMP!* Just as Rchlis turned her head back, she ran face first into something very thick,
very round, and very jiggly. So much so that Rchlis actually bounced backwards
and fell onto her rump as a result. “Oof! Hey, watch where you’re going!” called
out a rather deep voice, likely belonging to whoever or whatever Rchlis had just
bumped into. Upon hearing the voice, Rchlis looked up, and just like before, her
heart dipped with terror. It appeared to be a spirit, one that sported a raggedy,
dark green cloak, which concealed the creatures’ face, but not his very ghostly,
semitranslucent, ectoplasmic body, from his muscular arms, his ghostly tail, and
most notably, his immensely big, round, jiggling stomach.
Clearly, Rchlis had just run face first into this big ghosts’ bigger belly because it
was wobbling and sloshing heavily like gelatin. Sufficed to say, she wasn’t sure
which hooded figure to be more afraid of. Fortunately, this big fat ghost didn’t
seem quite as aggressive, more annoyed than anything else.
“I mean, I know I’m big and all, but I’m not that fat-“ but just then, the ghost
stopped speaking midsentence when he actually looked down at the trembling
Barn Owl. “Waaaait a minute, you’re not a spirit…”
Rchlis was too scared to even speak. She was too scared to even stand up or run.
At least, that’s what she thought, until a familiar howl made her practically jump
out of her feathers and dart away for safety, but not finding any immediate routes
to run. As she feared, the restless spirit that had been chasing her tears its’ way
into the area, screeching and hissing like a monster out of a child’s worst
nightmares. But the fat ghost isn’t nearly as intimidated as Rchlis. Instead, he
casually reaches for a glowing, ghastly looking lantern, not unlike something of a
nightmarish image itself, and beneath his hood, blows air into it. In response, the
glowing flames of the lantern cascade outward like a haunted inferno. It almost
appears as if the fat ghost himself were blowing flames at the restless spirit, whose
body is promptly singed by the flames. The spirit screech of agony echoes into the
sky above, causing several leaves to fall from their branches, until it storms of sight,
body still aflame. The ghost watches the beast rush off, then nods to himself.
“Hmph, that’ll show him,” the fat ghost says in a pleased manner. Rchlis, who had
been watching the whole encounter, slowly steps out from behind a tree. The ghost
then turned his attention to Rchlis, and she shrank back behind the tree, peaking
out to observe the fat ghost. Oddly enough, when he turned, his big round
stomach sloshed quite audibly, like an immense vat of syrup. In fact, she can see
that his huge gut was still jiggling a good amount. The ghosts’ belly was so fat that
it was still reacting to the impact of being bumped into by her. And it would
appear the ghost had noticed this too, because he looked down at his heavy belly
and promptly grasped it firmly with his free hand, causing the jiggling to
eventually subside in his grasp.
Sufficed to say, Rchlis dared not imagine how a ghost got that fat.
“You can come out, I promise I don’t bite,” the fat ghost assured in a surprisingly
friendly manner, even waving softly at the young Barn Owl. Then, the ghost
chuckled and said, “Though, I do eat a lot, if you couldn’t already tell.” And just to
accentuate his point, he gave his big rubbery belly a hearty pat, causing the
spherical surface to ripple beneath his palm in almost hypnotic fashion, and slosh
quite audibly as a result. This didn’t help tensions one bit, which the ghost seemed
aware of. “Heheh, okay, bad joke…I mean, it’s not quite a joke, but I digress.
Anywho! I’m Dietrich. Pleased to me you, Miss…umm…Owlie? I wanna say Owlie.
Noooo, maybe, umm…Sue? Bird Girl? Pamela? This is gonna get awkward soon…”
“…R-Rchlis,” Rchlis finally spoke up, stepping awkwardly out from behind the tree.
“Hmm, interesting name,” the chubby ghost, Dietrich commented. He then tilted
his head in a slightly curious fashion. “Pray tell, Rchlis, what’s a friendly looking
young lady like you doing wandering around in the woods? Particularly these
woods…?”
“…W-Well, I, I was just going for a walk. It was nice out this afternoon, and I’ve
always wanted to see the deeper part of the forest. And I just, kinda got lost…”
The chubby spirit audibly sighed in a slightly frustrated matter and shook his
head. “Yep, you most certainly are one hundred percent lost, else you wouldn’t be
here,” he informed Rchlis. “Tell you, have you ever heard of the Lost Woods?”
“…The, umm, that level from Ocarina of Time…?”
Though Dietrich’s face was completely blackened by his hood, Rchlis could sense
him blinking in dull fashion. “…The Lost Woods is a plane that exists within the
spirit realm and the spirit realm only. Living creatures shouldn’t be able to roam
these parts,” Dietrich remarked, tapping his tubby dome idly with his free finger in
thought. Each tap made his belly jiggle just ever so slightly beneath his thick
finger. “Which means you’ve probably wandered through one of their traps…”
Rchlis suddenly grew more nervous than she already was. “T-Trap…? Wh-What’re
you talking about? I’ve literally just been walking around the same woods-”
“-If you’ll forgive me,” Dietrich interrupted, holding a finger up, and causing his fat
form to slosh around from the sudden jolt of action his floating body just took
holding his arm up. “But when you were wandering through the woods, by chance,
did you stumble upon trees with black bark?”
“Y-Yeah, actually. It was odd, but I thought it was just really old or something…”
“That’s what they hoped you’d think. My dear, I fear you’ve walked into a covertly
placed opening into my realm. A trap portal, if you will, where once you’ve entered
the black barked forest, you’ve entered the Lost Woods.”
“…A-And who placed that trap?”
“You recall that oh-so-charming fella who I’m assuming was gunning for you?”
Rchlis nodded nervously in response. “They did. Those are restless spirits. Their
hunger gnaws at them something fierce, and that hunger can only be satiated with
the spirit of a living creature. And it would appear as though it’s found one.” Once
again, Rchlis’ mind was racing with this new bit of information.
“Oh crud on a stick,” Rchlis whimpered to herself. “Wh-What should I do?? H-
How do I get out of here?! I-Is that thing gonna kill me?!”
Dietrich held his palm up in an assuring manner to the Barn Owl. “Easy, easy
there. The way out is simply going back the way you came. The Lost Woods
doesn’t stretch over the entire forest after all.”
“B-But, but I was going left, right, and every way in between trying to get the hell
away from that freaky thing!” Rchlis shot back fearfully. “I-I have no clue where it
was I came from!”
“Relax, relaaaax,” Dietrich assures Rchlis, floating over and patting her gently on
the back. “You work yourself up like this, you’re gonna give yourself a heart attack,
and while that’s one way to keep a restless spirit from getting a fresh soul, it’s not
one I advise,” Dietrich joked, but judging from how terrified Rchlis looked, it
probably wasn’t the best time, which he seemed aware of, judging from him
scratching the back of his hooded head in a slightly sheepish manner. “Okay,
again, bad joke, I’ll work on it. My point is, I can get you out of here safely-”