This is an AU thing I guess? Just one of the several storylines I think about from time to time involving Varen. Enjoy this short-ish story I wrote alongside this.

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“Don’t fall too far behind!”

The young fox’s head was constantly turning back and forth, looking every which way but in front of him. He had never left the village before today, and was taking it all in. He had always seen the forest stretching out in every direction from his home, but was never allowed to go in them. All anyone would say was that it was too dangerous to wander the woods. When he heard his father call him, he focused his attention, and briskly picked up his pace to catch up.

“Sorry, father! I can’t help taking all this in.” He said, catching up to him.

“I know you’re excited, but do remember why we’re here.” His father reminded him, gently lifting the crate he was carrying a bit higher. “We need to give these to the Lord of the Wood as an offering.” The crate he was holding was filled with a great many acorns, seeds and pine cones.

“Why do we need to give him seeds? I thought you said he grew this whole forest himself?” The boy asked. “When you said I could come with you to give offerings, I thought maybe it would be … well, not just seeds.”

His father nodded. “Well, I suppose I was a bit vague. The Lord of the Wood wants us to give him seeds instead of anything else, because he wants to make sure we continue to take care of the forest. There was a time when people did not do so. The stories say the sky was always gray, and that there was a perpetual haze that would make everyone who breathed it in ill. It is thanks to this forest that we do not live in such a state.” He stopped as the dirt path approached a particularly dark part of the forest, the canopy above so thick, that barely any light was reaching the ground. The boy’s father set the crate down, and took a few steps back. “Now, are you ready to meet him? He is … quite a bit to take in.”

The boy had started to feel a slight hint of concern. “What do you mean? He’s not gonna eat me or something, is he?” He laughed.

“I should hope not. No, just leave any talking to me, alright? Not that there will be much conversation. Stay next to me, and if you feel a bit overwhelmed, just take some deep breaths, alright?” His father pulls an unassuming looking wooden flute. He takes a deep breath, and begins to blow a long and resonating note from it.

The forest seemed to go silent after he stopped playing. The boy looked around, and then looked straight ahead when he heard a distant noise, as if a tree had fallen in the distance. Then he heard the noise again. And again. His eyes looked to the grass near his feet. All the greenery seemed to bend over in the direction of the noise, as if it was bowing to what was approaching.

Then, he saw it. From the distance, a tall and looming creature was approaching. Its eyes were a deep green. He couldn’t see its pupils. There was no way to tell who or what it was looking at. It was as if they were fogged over with the verdure of the forest itself. The rest of its body was a thick and long coat of fur. Its hands and feet bore massive claws each of which on their own could fell large trees. This was the Lord of the Wood?

It continued its approach, each step making the trees it passed shudder and creak, as if they were warping to make way. It was big. Really big. It finally stopped when it was a short distance away from the boy and his father, towering far above them. If it really wanted to, it could probably reach the canopy of the forest far above them.


The boy found himself paralyzed. He was unable to move. He found himself unable to speak, either. Whether it was out of fear or awe, he couldn’t tell. He didn’t have the capacity to even think about which. Instead, he focused on what his father told him, and just took long, slow, breaths.

“I’ve brought seeds from the trees we have taken for our homes, I hope these will help.” His father says loudly and firmly.

The Lord of the Wood leaned forwards, and with a surprisingly gentle amount of precision, picked up a single acorn from the top of the crate. It held it squarely between its eyes. After a silent moment, it dropped the seed back into the crate. However, in that span of being picked up, the boy noticed it had already grown into a small sapling.

From there, it picked up the entire crate in a single hand. It turned around, and began to walk away. With each step The Lord of the Wood distanced itself from the two, the more the forest seemed to turn back to normal, as if it were all just a dream.

The boy’s father put his hands on his shoulders. “Are you alright? I know he can be quite intimidating.”

The boy shuddered for a second when he felt the touch on his shoulder, but was clearly much more at ease. “All these stories about him … I always imagined him as a person. What … is he?”

His father helped him to his feet, and took them down the path to return home. However, he took them on a detour along the way. “He is, despite his appearances, quite gentle. But that does not mean he cannot enact fury when needed.” He began. “Once, long ago, he was like you or I. Even then, he was capable of magic. Very old, and very powerful magic. Magic was feared in those days. And while he used it for good, to help people, many wanted him to use it for other means. He refused, and in response, they would attack him.”

When they reached the end of the path, they had stepped out of the darker shade of the forest, into a bright clearing. It took a moment for the boy to adjust to the light, but what he saw beyond was quite something.

They were stood atop a ridge that looked over a large stone city. Unlike their village, though, this one was clearly abandoned, the roads were no longer stone, but beds of grass and flowers. Many of the buildings had fallen into disrepair, or even sunk into the ground, with a great number of creeping vines and plants enveloping them, like hands slowly pulling the structures into the earth. And, in the far distance, he could see the remains of what was likely a once-great castle, perforated by great and terrible masses of thorns.

The boy was in shock, taking a moment to respond to his father. “What … happened?”

“Well, at first, he would do nothing. He thought they didn’t know any better. But things grew worse. Lands flooded without plants to pull in water. The sky grew dark with smoke and smog. The air itself would slowly sicken people. And when they next saw him, some switch deep within him was flicked. And in a great rage, he did this.” He put a hand on his son’s back, and gave him a reassuring smile. “This is why we do this. As our village grows, we must do so in harmony with nature, not discordance. If we recklessly destroyed all of this in selfishness, we would ruin ourselves the same way. The Lord of the Wood simply does not want us to repeat the mistakes of our ancestors. The form he takes is a reminder of that.”

The boy was still processing everything. The ruined city before him, and the words of his father. After a moment of contemplation, he finally spoke.

“Do you think he gets lonely out here, father?”

“Perhaps he does. Maybe next time, you can ask him, if you’ve the courage.” He said with a smile. “Come on, let’s head back now. I’m sure your mother will get worried if we’re gone for too long.”