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December World Building Challenge: Day 1

[MYTH] Origin: How The Great Forest Gained Her Protectors

Long ago, there lived a distant star that had spent it’s last eon watching over The Great Forest. Before the oldest tree had sprouted, before the rivers had cut so deep and wide, the star watched and offered all aid it could to see The Great Forest thrive. When the time came for the star to burn out, it offered the last of it’s life in the form of five beams of light. When the light hit the soil, five beautiful flowers bloomed, and from those flowers came The Five Sisters.

Each sister felt called to a different piece of The Great Forest.

The first sister, Yarrow, went to the peaks and high places. She watched the skies and canopies for trouble. She was a lookout for strong storms and wildfires, a warning on the wind to those who needed to hear it, and a witness to all open spaces.

The second sister, Hyacinth, sank into the creeks, lakes, and rivers to insure water always made it where it should, and to protect all the creatures that lived in the waterways of The Great Forest.

The third sister, Clematis, climbed into the branches of the trees, curling and leaping between the pines and oaks. She held dominion over the trees and their inhabitants, an ever-present protector of spruce and squirrel alike.

The fourth sister, Rhizanthella, reached deep into the detritus to become one with the decay. She oversaw the reallocation of nutrients, recycling the discarded into fuel for new life.

The fifth sister, Ulmaria, felt no strong calling to any one aspect, instead she felt love and a sense of duty towards the entirety of The Great Forest. Her sisters mistook her caring for indecisiveness and laziness. They declared her the weakest among them and gave her dominion over the meadows and paths, so that the four stronger sisters could watch over her.

Though she was a bit offended, Ulmaria gracefully accepted the duty and found that she quite enjoyed the life of a meadow goddess. She reveled in her explorations, leading the migration of keystone species to forge new paths, gossiping with the fungi, conducting the songbirds, and all the many whimsical tasks that come with up-keeping meadows.

One day Ulmaria, being incredibly late for lunch with her sisters, found herself rushing past her favorite trails in favor of taking the less traveled but more direct route to Hyacinth’s meeting space. It was a game trail, mostly used in summer, that cut through a large blackberry bramble. In her haste she failed to see a curious vine had slipped across the path, tangling itself around her ankle and sending her sprawling to the ground.

With her new toad’s eye view, and this forced moment of pause, she was able to spy a large bald patch fairly deep into the bramble. Ulmaria, very characteristically, decided to let her curiosity outweigh her punctuality. With her lunch mostly forgotten, she waded into the blackberries to investigate.

Five yards or so into the thorns Ulmaria stepped into a barren patch of dirt. No grass grew, no bugs crawled, even the airspace was vacant of the normal flying insects. In the center of the patch was what appeared to be a three foot wide, perfectly round, puddle of void. A pool of malevolence that seemed to leech unease into the air, yet it sat completely still.

She reached into her pocket, produced a small acorn, and tossed it into the inky circle. It plunked onto the surface, stuck half way into the puddle, and nothing happened. Ulmaria took a step closer, as she did the acorn burst into flames and then was swallowed completely by the void.

Before she could fully react, a tendril of ooze shot out to grip her wrist. The moment it touched her skin she was overcome with panic. Something deep in her heart told her that this, whatever it was, meant nothing but harm. She was already being dragged closer to the pool by the time she snapped back to the moment and started to fight. As she struggled to free her arm more tendrils reached towards her. She pulled out a blade she kept at her hip and started hacking at the tendril, slicing it off.

She leapt back into the bramble, scrambling through the vines as fast as she could, ignoring the bite of the thorns. For the second time that day she found herself running down the game trail. She knew she couldn’t handle whatever that was on her own. She needed her sisters, and they needed to know what was brewing in The Great Forest.

Ulmaria burst into Hyacinth’s meeting space, breathing ragged, legs bleeding from the blackberries, and panic still stuck in her throat. “Evil!” Ulmaria called out to her sisters, “Evil has taken root in The Great Forest! I know not what it is, but I do know that it means to do Her harm!”

“You are late for our lunch,” Yarrow said, her expression cold.

“Again,” Hyacinth added.

“I think she’s making up a story to get out of trouble. There is no evil here,” Clematis huffed, “other than the evils of poor time management.”

“There is a terrible evil in our home and you chide me for missing a meal?” Ulmaria balked, “I was attacked! We must act, and we must act together. I can take you there now.”

“Why waste more of our time?” Clematis rolled her eyes, “Either there’s no evil and she is just embarrassed by her poor etiquette, or there is something going on in her domain and she is too lazy to do it herself.”

Rhizanthella held up a hand. “If it is such a terrible evil, why haven’t any of us seen it or even sensed it?”

That was a good question. Surely today was not the first day the evil had been in The Great Forest, so why had it gone unnoticed?

“It was under the canopy, so Yarrow could not see it. It was not near water, so Hyacinth could not feel it. It was on the ground, and deep into a blackberry thicket, so Clematis would not have crossed over it. The clearing had no life, which means no death, so Rhizanthella would not have sensed it. It was not in a meadow, nor was it on a path, so I had no reason to look for it. I believe it slipped into a blind spot we were unaware of. Had I not tripped on a vine, I would not have noticed it.”

“That seems convenient,” said Hyacinth.

“My sisters!” plead Ulmaria, “I have never lied to you, I have never lead you astray! Please believe me! This thing, whatever it may be, it touched me. it grabbed my wrist and sent ice through my veins. I saw visions of bare mountains and dry lakes, of naked bones bleached in the sun, of a great and wide nothingness. Please,” Ulmaria did not finish her plea.

Clematis walked out of Hyacinth’s meeting space, climbing into the first tree and swinging away. Yarrow followed after her, slower and with a pointed glare. Hyacinth quickly finished her tea and then turned into a puddle and drained back into the river.

“Rhizza. Please.”

“I believe that you believe in what you say, which is to say that I do not believe you are a liar. I do, however, believe that this will be an opportunity for you to grow into what a goddess should be. I will follow our sister’s lead, and leave you to attempt this on your own. Of all that I believe in, in this strange situation you’ve brought forward, I believe in you most.” Rhizanthella embraced her sister and then gracefully melted back into the mycelial mass.

Left alone, Ulmaria sat and allowed herself a moment to weep. Her sisters had abandoned her, she knew she could not face the terrible evil on her own. For the first time since she had bloomed, she felt lost in The Great Forest.

Just when she felt the permission to give up creep into her heart, a bird landed near her. It had only landed to snatch up the crumbs left behind from the sisters’ lunch, but it’s presence was enough to give Ulmaria an idea.

Her sisters may have left her to her own devices, but The Great Forest was just as invested in ridding it’s self of this evil as Ulmaria was. The Great Forest would send it’s self the aid it needed.

She wiped the tears from her cheeks and walked purposely to her favorite meadow.

Once she had made it to the very center of her meadow she knelt to the ground, digging her fingers into the soft soil, and called for assistance.

“To all who call this land home, help is needed. Evil has reached our motherland, and as a thorn must be plucked from a paw, so must this evil be excised from her. Who will stand with me? Who will give back the life they were given so that others may thrive? Who will protect The Great Forest?”

Ulmaria waited. She did not know who would hear or who would answer. She sat in the soft clover to practice patience and faith, and to plan how she would defeat this enemy.

A day passed, and no one came.

Two days passed, and not even a field mouse had come to visit.

Three days passed, and Ulmaria began to doubt.

On the fourth day, a bear lumbered into the meadow. It sat beside Ulmaria, rested a large paw on her knee, and waited with her. Over the next two days one hundred bears had come to the meadow. All sat in peaceful silence, until the last bear had settled.

For the first time in six days Ulmaria stood. She addressed the waiting army before her, “Thank you. Thank you all for heeding my warning and for having enough courage to stand by my side. For your bravery, and to aid in our mission, I will bestow upon you a higher consciousness, a greater intelligence, and the power of speech for all those willing to help.” She raised her arms up to the sky and with a deep breath she released a wave of magic that settled over the bears like a sheet.

What followed was weeks of study, planning, testing, and training. Ulmaria had hoped to resolve this without a fight, but every interaction with the ever-growing evil ended in violence. No battles had been fought, and yet there were casualties. Finally, a decision was made. A sealing spell was to be placed around the pool, a dangerous task due to how close the casters had to get for the spell to work. Ulmaria would be the one to activate the spell, 3 bears would help cast the spell, the rest of the bears would run interference until the spell was completed. By dawn the next morning the plan was put into motion.

Ninety six bears and a single meadow goddess stood in sight of an unflinching pond of malice. Ulmaria raised her hand above her head and then waited for the gentle rustle of settling fur and paws to quiet; she stepped forward, and the fight began.

A wall of muscle and teeth met a wave of roped aggression. The clash of strengths kept the evil busy long enough for most of the spell to be put into place. All that was left was for Ulmaria to split her palm and offer her blood to seal away the enemy. It was of course at that moment that the terrible evil whipped out a tendril that wrapped around Ulmaria’s waist. It sank it’s self into her side like a viper sinks it’s fangs in a mouse. It injected it’s self under her flesh and then ripped it’s self out. Ulmaria screamed, she cried out in pain, but she still lived, so she offered the blood that flowed so freely from her side. With a snap the terrible evil was sealed away, encased in a thick stone sphere. In another moment the ground opened up and swallowed the sphere, locking it miles underground. The threat was gone, for now.

As the dust settled, the bears gathered around Ulmaria, who lay bleeding on the ground. She could heal herself a bit, but this wound was too much. She was dying. May of the bears rushed to her side, trying to help, but Ulmaria refused and instead made an offer. “If you swear to protect The Great Forest, to be stewards of her lands, and fight back any evils that try to do her harm, I will give you all the gifts I have to give. For you, and all generations forward, so long the promise is kept.” She did not need to wait for a response. Just as her father, the star, had done, Ulmaria sent out the last of her power to those who had helped to save The Great Forest. With a whispered “Thank you,” and a flash of light, Ulmaria: The Fifth of the Five Sisters, Meadow Goddess, Spirit of the Path, True Guardian of The Great Forest was gone.

Suddenly, the seventy two bears left alive from the battle found themselves transforming into higher beings. Their bodies shifted into that of a large human’s, their strength doubled, a subtle magic coursed through their veins, and though they would not find this out for years to come, an exceptional longevity set unto them. From that moment on the bears, now referred to as The McKinnins, have kept their oath.

#world building #december world building challenge #day one #yes i know what day it is #but this took a long time to type out #i have the rest written down because paper is so much more forgiving than the internet #still a work in progress #The McKinnins #origin folktale #lore

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