Soft crunches echoed through a shaded forest, the only sound that broke the weak silence other than gentle melodies that floated from birds. Other animals preferred to remain hidden away at the current time of day, about noon, either in thickets of soft leafy bushes or in their burrows, hiding until later in the day when they could roam on their own. Particularly because of one issue-humans. It was only one human, and a human that wasn't about to harm anything, but they animals did not know that and so they hid.
This human was quite harmless indeed. His name was Matthew. Matthew was dressed in thin cotton and worn leather clothing, pieces he'd made on his own with things he'd caught or crafted on his travels. The leather was from hunts, yes, but he hated his hunts. Only when he was bare or hungry did he hunt, and of course never for sport. He hadn't the arrows to spare for it. He strolled through the wooded area for a reason quite different from hunting. He was looking for stories.
Stories, the spoken and rarely written tales of legends present and past, were of great importance to him. They sold for a good price if incomplete stories were made whole, or pieces were linked together to be revealed to be one large interconnected story, and that was what Matthew made a living off of. It was an odd profession, but one he enjoyed.
He had come to the nearby village because of rumours floating around. Matthew had hardly any fame, but when he caught wind of rumours, he always ended showing up to hear them out for himself. It had only been a couple days before he'd collected all that the villagers knew at the moment.
There was a monster in the woods, supposedly, either killing or kidnapping people in the night, said to be a curse put on the village.
Though Matthew had heard many stories similar to this, he was skeptical, and didn't expect any of it to actually be true. So he was fearless as he went through the forest, fingers fiddling with the strap of his satchel as he walked along through the pitiful trails left by others in the village. He would just look around the forest a bit, decide if the rumours had any ground to them, then go back and fetch his horse to be on his way again.
The hours slowly crawled by as Matthew explored the forest, making note of certain things. Like a crystal clear brook he'd stopped at for a rest and a drink, a cave he'd passed by at one point and tried to avoid, and some strange organizations of stones near the centre of the forest. It was certainly a strange place, but in no way magical or really story-worthy.
After the day had nearly exhausted itself, Matthew decided that perhaps the rumours were just that-rumours. He hadn't seen anything that would hold up the villager's claims. He'd just turned around to head back when he stumbled across the stream again, though this time, there was a large shadowy figure near it. It seemed to be an animal, though from where Matthew was at, he could only see that it had an unnaturally large size. The sight made Matthew's heart quicken and the storyteller quickly ducked down behind a bush, his eyes wide.
In this moment, he had to decide. Was the animal dangerous? Would it attack him? The brief glance Matthew had taken told him it was certainly a predatory animal-It had a long snout, muscular frame, front-facing eyes… It was likely canine, perhaps an unnaturally large wolf? No, this animal was much, much too large to be just any wolf. Maybe this animal… Maybe it was the one the villagers had warned about. This thought made colour drain from Matthew's face, his muscles stiffening and tensing as adrenaline started coursing through him, ready for fight or flight. The latter seemed to be a better choice, but against such a momentous creature, would he be able to outrun it? Slim chance.
A slow breath was taken as Matthew attempted to calm himself down and think rationally. He could probably climb a tree to get away from it, and wait up there until it got bored and wandered away. Then again, with such a size, it'd likely be able to jump up and grab him before he could get too high… No, he must think positive. Positive. Turning around and holding his breath to reduce possible sound, he gently pushed aside some fronds of the bush to peek through, only to feel his stomach drop. The animal was no longer there. Matthew frantically looked from side to side, trying to locate it, but the figure was no where in sight. His heart was pounding in his ears, his breathing quickening with fright, warmth draining from his face and fingers.
Everything froze when he heard a crack of a branch directly behind him.