A Lullaby for the Dark Fic

by sealettucex

Arina is a young woman living near the Red Forest, a place haunted by tales of a terrible beast that stalks the woods hunting anything that moves. Some say it wears the face of a rabbit, of a bear or wolf. Some say it hums and sings taunting its prey. Stories of it dance from ear to ear, but Arina is about to find out the reality of the twisted Huntress.

1. Prologue

A Lullaby for the Dark Fic

~ 0 ~

1890 - The Red Forest - Kiev Governorate

I was feeble. I was cold. I was lost deep in the Red Forest when I saw her. A small girl, far smaller than I, knelt in a puddle of mud and blood across from the scene of a violent battle, occupied by a woman intertwined with the corpse of some beast. The woman seemed to be faintly humming a lullaby of old until the last of her light was torn from her and she couldn't hum anymore. The woman's skin was pale, paler than any person should be and her eyes, those damned eyes. They still haunt me to this day, fixed on the child, barren and void of any life that once was. They froze me in place and only when the little girl choked out a faint squeal could I drag my eyes away from that haunting gaze. The little girl stood up slowly and shakily, her hand still firmly grasping that of the dead womens. As she rose, questions raced around my head. Who was she? Who was this woman to her? How long had she been here? Before any of these questions could be realised she let go of the deceased woman's hand and began wandering even deeper into the forest through the frost and brush, her head hung low.

I often wonder what happened to that little girl. Did somebody find her like my mother found me?