Revenge Of The Creature

Hate

20 years later

"Are you prepared?"

"I am, Father."

"Then, go. When you're in crisis, leave everything. It's enough to just flee, as long as you're safe."

Arthur walked out of his hiding cave towards Tanee Village. With a bunch of vines he used as rope, he didn't need too many hunting tools as his current target was a child.

"Hey, Arthur! If you managed to get more than one human, share them with me!" yelled Volka from afar, the guardian of Dark Forest covered by the darkness.

"I won't let you indulge in my rations! Hahaha!" shouted Arthur.

Even when humans thought the curse bound the Forest, The Dark Forest had been an excellent place for the Jotuns. The caves they lived in were covered by Forest's thickness and gloominess, day and night.

Luckily, it wasn't Winter. The absence of thick snow provided easier hunting for the jotuns and left the village without a trace.

Soon as he reached the village border to the Forest, Arthur slowed down. He prepared to quickly slip behind the house he had been targeting for a while.

"Calm down, Arthur. Let us see what that brave girl do this time! Wait until she lets down her guard," Arthur mumbled behind the trees.

"For women and children. As usual, I'll be asking you all to enter your houses and prepare anything you can use to defend yourselves if Jotun come attacking tonight!"

Loud words came from the girl standing firm atop the pile of pine tree branches in the center of Tanee Village. Strong winds blew over her curly messy hair, rendering her beautiful and charismatic. The only thing that indicated her as a princess was her dress conditions.

"Gilda, they know what they have to do. This is the time for you to protect yourself!" said the man standing by her.

"No, Father. I'll protect this village like Mother did that day! I'm not losing any more of my people. This time I won't be distracted by the monsters doing!" Gilda concluded.

At the same time, the man suddenly fell weakly, holding his chest like he was in pain.

"Father!" shouted Gilda.

"Help, child. The villagers have known well about the rules here. I'm asking you to go inside for us to watch our own. You're my only daughter."

"What Mr. Emmett said was right, Princess Gilda. We've prepared our tools and do our best to protect ourselves from Jotun attack. It's better for your Majesty to protect Mr. Emmett instead," said one of the villagers.

"A-alright. I only fear my capabilites in protecting you all. Until now, we haven't been able to stop the Jotun from kidnapping."

Behind the trees, Arthur grinned, watching the commotion inside the village. He strolled on the village's side in the dark. Then it's his turn to arrive at his target's house.

Thud.

Right in front of the door were loud noises.

"Mommy, I'm scared. What was that sound? Will the Jotun come and take me away?" asked one little child of the house.

"Stay here and be still. Mommy will not let anything bad happen to you."

The mother walked carefully towards where the noise came with a wooden rod her late husband made to protect her family when the day came when Jotun was storming in. The child slowly stepped back from where he stood and flinched as his body was held by something from behind.

He glanced around and how shocked he was seeing a glimpse of a big-bodied creature grinning at him.

"Aa—"

Before he managed to scream, Arthur covered the child's mouth and carried him while he shuffled to flee from the back door. The mother didn't find anything in front of her house. She didn't realize what was happening. Finally, she closed the main entrance to walk back inside to her son's side.

"Don't worry, my child. There's no one—" Her words were cut as she saw her son's knitted hat lying on the floor. Both of her eyes widened, and worry and panic engulfed her whole.

"Ra-Ramy!! Ramy! Where are you, Son?!" she conceded as she ran around the house, hoping she'd found her child.

"No… this isn't happening. Help!!"

The mother's shout echoed through the village. Arthur, trying to escape, quickened his pace to avoid the residents' anger, especially their leader, Princess Gilda Varick. The child he kidnapped struggled, kicking and hitting Arthur's back. Pissed, Arthur flipped the child's body and stared down his eyes with his signature deadly expression.

"If you keep on doing that, I'll eat you now!" Arthur warned.

The child was shocked, looking at the natural face of the Jotun that was two inches far from his face. Not long, his body went limp; he passed out cold.

"How weak!" said Ivar, proceeding his way back.

No human dared to fight against the dark of Dark Forest. He knew the Forest was cursed and made Village Tanee's residents put many warning signs on the border.

'BEWARE: DANGEROUS JOTUN'

'NO TRESPASSING

'STUPID JOTUN!'

'CURSED JOTUN!'

Said several warnings in the mouth of the Forest that caused Arthur to hate Gilda to the bone. That girl warned her people to do the things Jotun hated most. This was one of the said things.

"Look! One more success to me. So, who's the dumb one now? Us or your brave Princess?!" shouted Jotun to the unconscious boy.

"Good work. Then, how about the villagers?" asked Rudolf, Arthur's Father.

"To hell with them," Arthur grumbled.

"Great, Great! Alright… place this child in an empty basement. Tonight we'll celebrate your success, Arthur!" cried Rudolf.

Arthur will always be treated better than the rest. After all, he's the oldest of three. The jotuns were made of one family of five. They lived in a cave on Howa Mount's base. Although they're small numbers, they're still the nightmare of Tanee Village's residents every Friday night for years.

Meanwhile, hearing one of her people's cries, Gilda jumped and went directly towards where the voice came from as if she knew things would happen from the darkness she had felt for a long.

Bam!

"Damn those jotuns! They got me again!" Gilda grunted, slamming her hands to the table.

"Princess Gilda, please. Please rescue my boy, I'll do anything for you as long as he's safe!" pleaded the mother.

"Ma'am, it'll be fine. Tonight, I'll try my best to find Ramy. Did you see where he went?"

"I chased him to the mouth of Dark Forest. He walked away and disappeared in the darkness of the cursed woods, Princess," the mother answered.

To catch one Jotun would be hard. They're twice as big as normal humans. Moreover, no villagers were brave enough to help Mia see the monsters; they didn't dare. She had tried multiple times to find the jotuns' footprint whenever these kidnappings happened, but she hadn't succeeded.

They only knew that the jotuns lived in Howa Mountain, the closest to Tanee Village. Jotuns liked to kidnap children and women to feast on. The only way there was through Dark Forest.

'In the name of my late mother, I swear. This will be the last victim that was taken by that cursed creature. I'll find them!' she pledged inside her heart.

That night, Rudolf, Arthur's father, brought along Forest's people to come to his cave for a celebration. This tradition will be made whenever a troll manages to catch their human preys. Bored by the party, Arthur stayed put in the entrance, gazing towards the moon.

"Arthur! Aren't you hungry? What are you doing over there?!" Rudolf came towards his son.

"I'm not hungry," Arthur said blankly, staring towards the woods.

"What's in your mind?" Rudolf asked again.

"I saw many signs, filled with bad things about us in the border towards Tanee Village. I'm sure that it was Gilda's doing. She's influencing her people to do such crazy things. For real, I'm going to finish that pretentious girl soon!"