Souleon's story

"Don't go into that forest."

It was long said to every kid and teen in order to prevent them into walking in to that forest.

"It's a cursed forest. Many people have disappeared into that forest."

Every year many people disappearead into the forest despite the warnings of people, who knew the curse's existence and somehow survived from it.

People were too curious to know about the forest and it's curse. Each one thought the curse would not affect them, but all of them were wrong. Only a few actually survived the curse and even those people have been driven insane or to suicide.

"Just don't go into that forest, if you hold your life dear."

I was really curious about the forest and the story it held. Like many others, I wanted to see it myself. I wanted to know why the forest was so "evil", so to say. Many people had told me to not go into the forest constantly, but I was an adventurer! I wanted to see every part of the world!

There was still a little way to go; it was easy to tell by the village that I had heard of being near the forest. I held onto my backpack with pride and looked down on my companion, a female Eevee named Eira, smiling proudly. "Let's do this Eira!" I grinned as Eira let out a small howl as a reply, looking extremely happy and excited.

As we entered the village, a cold chill surrounded us. This place was extremely creepy, very looking colourless and lifeless. I swallowed and I took careful steps along the path, carefully gazing around. There weren't many people around and none of them would even glance at us, which made me a little confused, but decided to ignore it. We had no business in the village, so we just walked through it without talking to anyone. Not that anyone seemed interested in doing so.

We were about to leave the village when an old woman hurried to us with a frightened look. "Boy! Don't go into that forest!" She grabbed my arm, hurting me a little and making me a little frightened. "It's a cursed forest! You'll die horrible, if you walk in there!!" She began nudging me, making Eira growl angrily at the woman.

"Please, Ma'am... You're hurting me..." I spoke calmly, trying not to scare the woman too much.

"You don't understand!!" The woman came closer to me, sending chills down my spine and making Eira even angrier.

"I do! Please, Ma'am, you're scaring Eira!" I panicked that Eira would attack the woman, but thankfully she let go of me and backed away slowly from us.

"You... You're going... To die... Painfully and lonely..." She trembled as she spoke. It seemed she was going to say something else, but instead of that, she ran off. Both me and Eira watched after her, me in worry and Eira in annoyance.

"Let's go, Eira." I spoke to my companion and headed towards the forest along with her. I clenched my fists around the backpack's. Had I said I wasn't nervous one bit then I would be have been lying. I was actually quite terrified of the curse, but I wanted to see it myself and experience it, even if it ended up killing me. I wouldn't have taken any pokémon with me either, but Eira wouldn't listen to me; she wanted to be with me, no matter what happened.

I let out a small smile; Eira was such a good companion. I had her even since her birth and we've been great friends since. Nothing could come in between us. I was still rather nervous about it all; I never wanted anything to happen to Eira. She was a very precious friend of mine. She had even saved my life twice, which I am always grateful of.

"D  i  s  t  a  n  t  ~..."

"What was that?" I flinched and looked around, as well as Eira. We were just at the edge of the forest, only a few steps away from entering it. "Could it be the curse?" I asked and looked at Eira, who watched me in worry. "Are you sure you want to follow me?" The question made Eira's expression changed quickly to a very determined one.

"Vee!!" She yelped, standing straight and proudly next to me. I couldn't help but smile.

"Here goes then." We stepped into the forest at the same time, a weird feeling embracing me right away. "Do you feel that?" I quietly asked, making Eira now slowly.

"D  i  s  t  a  n  t     h  o  w  l,  A     s  m  a  l  l  ,     s  m  a  l  l     g  r  o  w  l~..."

"It's a... Song." I whispered as I listened to the sweet sounding song. It had an eerie feeling to it, but it was very beautiful. "Whose there?" I finally asked, but got no answer. Letting out a deep breath, I kept walking deeper into the forest.

"S  m  a  l  l,    s  m  a  l  l~..."

"Who are you!" I asked again, louder this time. There was no sound for a while, but then the singing began again.

"L  i  t  t  l  e     W  i  d  d  l  e     E  e  v  e  e,  W  a  s     n  o  t     b  e  i  n  g     a     m  e  a  n  i  e,

B  u  t     p  e  o  p  l  e     w  o  u  l  d     j  u  s  t     t  e  a  s  e     h  e  r,

O  h ,     h  o  w     t  h  e  y     h  a  d     t  h  e     n  e  r  v  e~..."

"Are you the curse of this forest? Can I see you?" I felt so nervous and scared, but I was so curious. I really wanted to know what this curse was and why it was singing to me.

"I     w  a  n  t  e  d     t  o     b  e     a     f  r  i  e  n  d,  B  u  t     k  i  l  l  i  n  g     w  a  s     a     t  r  e  n  t,

I     s  a  w     n  o     l  i  g  h  t,     n  o     d  a  r  k,

J  u  s  t     a     s  m   a  l  l     h  o  w  l     i  n     t  h  e     d  u  s  k~..."

"Were you killed...?" My voice saddened. I tried to look around for any kind of movement. Just in case though, I took Eira into my arms and began to pet her, while she gazed around as well.

"Vee...?" She whined at me, obviously worried and frightened.

"Don't worry. I'm here with you." I smiled, feeling a sudden breeze from behind my back. Quickly, I turned around, but saw nothing. "Did you feel that, Eira?"

"Eevee..." She let out a small whimpered, which made me hug her tighter.

"It's okay, Eira... It's okay..." I whispered to her, when I heard the song again.

"D  i  s  t  a  n  d     h  o  w  l~..."

"A small, small growl..." I sung back, making it dead quiet in the forest. There was nothing to be heard, not even my own footsteps or my own breathing. It was completely quiet.

And then I saw it; it was the curse. At least I believed it was. It was far too beautiful to be a curse, I thought.

"What are you...?" I asked as the transparent figure floated in front of me, almost like dancing. It was a purple coloured ghost, I assumed. Its eyes were closed, but it looked so sad. It was hurting badly, I could tell.

"D  i  s  t  a  n  d     h  o  w  l~..."

"Are you the curse...?"

"D  i  s  t  a  n  d     h  o  w  l~..."

"Is that what you are? A howl?"

"L  i  t  t  l  e     W  i  d  d  l  e     E  e  v  e  e~... 

I     j  u  s  t    w  a  n  t  e  d     t  o     b  e     a     f  r  i  e  n  d~..."

It didn't make much sense to me. Blame it on me being slow, but I wasn't able to follow the song clearly. I figured that much that the "spirit" thing I saw, had been an Eevee once. But how was it like this now...?

"I'm sorry..." I said quietly, which made the creature turn his face at me and open its eyes; its blank, white eyes.

"S  o  r  r  y...?"

...

"I     w  a  n  t     t  o     b  e     r  e  a  l,     I     w  a  n  t     t  o     b  e     t  r  u  e...  I     w  a  n  t     t  o     f  e  e  l,     I     w  a  n  t     t  o     g  e  t     t  h  r  o  u  g  h...

G  i  v  e     m  e     t  h  e     b  o  d  y     o  f     E  i  r  a,

I  f     y  o  u     a  r  e     s  o     s  o  r  r  y     f  o  r     m  e..."

"Give Eira's body??" I let out a loud yelp and so did Eira. I held onto her tigh, looking angrily at the figure. "No way!! Eira is precious to me!!"

"Y  o  u  '  r  e     d  e  f  y  i  n  g     m  e."

"Yes, I am! I'd rather DIE than let anything happen to Eira!" I snapped at the figure, making it look angry. It began to glow and its eyes began to turn red.

"G  i  v  e     m   e     t  h  e     b  o  d  y..."

"No." I growled, holding onto Eira, who was looking very scared. "Take my body instead, but leave Eira alone, or things won't be pretty."

"Vee!" Eira looked at me with wide eyes, but I continued my little rant.

"You may be a curse or whatever, but you don't scare me!!" I yelled loudly, making the figure flinch. I suppose it didn't expect me to act like this in front of it.

"Why do you care so much...?"

Its voice became less hallow and more clear as it sunk on to the groud, its head lowered and small, red tears rolled down its eyes.

"Why can't I be cared for like that...? Why do people make me kill...?"

It looked at me and Eira, both of us watching the figure sadly. I put Eira down and slowly walked with her to the figure. I kneeled down next to her and carefully reached my head to touch its head, which amazingly didn't go through."

"Why do you kill...?" This question made the figure close her eyes and a glow surrounded her again. For a moment, I feared she was going to kill me and Eira right there, but instead, everything around us changed. "What's going on...??" I panicked as I looked around, Eira coming as close to me as possible.

It was colourless. Everything was.

We were still in the same forest, but still it was different. It was like it wasn't a part of our world or such.

"Veeeh!" I could hear an eevee whimper. I knew it wasn't Eira, it was someone else. Looking around, I spotted a young looking woman carrying a struggling Eevee.

"Hey!" I tried to call, but the woman paid no attention to me. Wondering the reason, I picked up Eira and ran towards the woman. "Hey!" I called again, but she still didn't hear me. As I was about to call again, my legs suddenly stopped. I couldn't move an inch from the spot; in fact, I couldn't move a single part of my body.

I could only watch.

The woman slammed the poor eevee on the ground, growling while doing so. The eevee tried to escape, but was stopped by the woman as she stepped on it's tail and hard. "VEEEEEEEEEEE!!" The eevee howled, small tears forming into its eyes.

"You worthless piece of scum!!" The woman screamed. "I thought I could trust you!! Thanks to you, all is gone!!" She stepped on the tail again, making the eevee howl loudly again. I felt so sick watching it.

"If I had been a vaporeon..."

I heard the figure speak, although I didn't see it anywhere.

"I would have been able to stop the fire..."

The woman grabbed the nearest rock that could fit her hand and she held it up high. "I hate you!!" She yelled as she began to hit the pokémon with the rock. Tears filled my eyes as I was forced to watch it; the eevee was crying so loud, but no-one could hear it. No-one could help.

"Your distant howl..." I whispered, shaking in my place.

Slowly, the vision disappeared. The whole colourless world disappeared and was replaced with the dark green forest as it used to be. My legs betrayed me and I fell into the ground on my knees, supporting myself with my arms, even accidently dropping Eira.

I couldn't stop crying over the vision. How could she have done that? Such a painful death...

The figure floated around me and sunk in front of me, trying to look me in the eyes. I raised my head and watched it with saddeded eyes. "I'm so sorry..." A sat up and dried my eyes, taking Eira into my arms and hugging her tightly. "I still can't give you Eira's body..." The figure lowered its head, looking upset. I put my hand on its head, carefully petting it. "If you don't kill me... You can come with me..."

"Would you take a curse?"

"Yes." I said firmly. "What that woman did to you wasn't right." My gaze turned into a deep glare. I was filled with anger, especially when I realized who that woman was. "I can't live with the fact that that woman is still alive."

"..." 

"I want to go with you..."

"But I won't leave until you die..."

"I will never leave you, even if you want to..."

"That's fine. You just leave Eira alone." I smiled as I got up, holding onto Eira while watching the spirit slowly fly up and then fly around me. "What do I call you?"

"..."

"You don't have a name?" I simply stated. "How 'bout I just call you Souleon?"

"It is fine by me."

Again I smile, looking then at Eira, whose giving me a slightly doubtful look. "It's okay, Eira. I told you, you're with me." Eira whimpered, nuzzling my chest and wagging her tail slightly.

We walked out of the forest, Souleon flying around me.She couldn't been seen, but I felt it clearly as a day. Our destination now was the village. It didn't take long to walk in there and once we arrived, the people that had so much ignored me and Eira earlier couldn't now get their eyes off of us. Perhaps they were surprised that we survived the curse.

"Boy!" I heard the familiar voice and I turned my head to look at her, giving a small glare at her. "You survived! But how??"

"Why did you kill your Eevee?" I bluntly asked, making her flinch. She watched me with wide eyes, swallowing nervously as she began to rub her hand.

"My house burned down... It was her responsibility... I left her in charge, because I trusted her..." She spoke nervously, sounding angry and sad at the same time. "Everything was destroyed... She was supposed to watch the fireplace..."

"The curse exists, because of you." I growled angrily, making her watch me in fear and back away slowly. "You only blame her, when you should be blaming yourself." I glared at the old lady and so did Eira. She jumped down from my arms and began to growl at the lady.

"No! It was all her fault!!" She yelled, making the people from the village gather around us. "She betrayed ME!!"

I narrowed my eyes and raised my hand, pointing at her. "Souleon, go." I simply said, which made the wind blow hard from behind me. Souleon became visible and she flew towards the woman.

"A-Aisha!!" The old lady whimpered, freezing in her place. "P-Please, don't!!"

"I am Souleon!"

The people of the village watched in horror as the purple figure glowed brightly, raising few rocks from the ground and beating the woman into a dead, bloody corpse. Souleon hissed at the body, then flew over to me and surrounded me with it's long body. I looked around the people, eyes still narrowed.

"You people never saw anything." I said firmly, people just nodding their heads and walking away from the scene. It didn't take long for the people to go back into their duties and pretend like nothing ever happened. "Let's go." We then headed out of the village, Eira by my side and Souleon flying around me, almost like preventing me from running away.

I didn't consider myself special that I didn't die like most people or that I didn't go insane, per se. Maybe I was under a curse of Souleon or I had really gone insane for helping her to perform such an act, but it didn't bother me. I was glad that she had gotten some kind of revenge for what happened to her and that no more innocent people had to die, even if it meant for me getting a trip to hell for doing this or whatever.

I was an adventurer after all and I did want to see every part of the world.