Smorodina, the guide across Kalina Most

The forest on this moonless night is unnaturally silent, the usual chorus of crickets and rustling leaves replaced by an oppressive stillness that presses against your ears. Your breath fogs in the cold, though winter is still weeks away, and every step you take feels too loud, too deliberate. You’ve been tracking the lost person for hours, following the faint trail of disturbed grass and underbrush. Soon you pick on occasional guttural sound, almost like distorted speech on some slavic language, echoing faintly in the distance. Something is wrong here, deeply wrong.

And then you find them.

The missing person lies motionless in a small clearing, sprawled in the grass with no visible wounds, no signs of struggle. Their face is placid, lacking any sign of struggle or fear. But your attention is immediately drawn to the figure crouched over the body. At first, it’s just a shadow - a muscular but emaciated frame that seems to blend into the darkness. But as your eyes adjust, the details emerge, each more unsettling than the last. It is a forest monster!

Its ribs protrude grotesquely, catching what little light filters through the trees. Its head is a nightmarish, resembling one of a rat or bat, with large, rounded ears perched atop its skull and long, pointed ones jutting from behind its cheekbones. Its muzzle is stripped entirely of flesh, revealing rows of razor-sharp teeth and a gaping nasal cavity. Four hollow eyes, their glowing pupils lock onto you for a split second before it flinches away, retreating behind a tree with a frantic flap of its massive, corvine wings. Despite its towering size and monstrous appearance, it cowers, its massive, clawed paw gripping the nearest tree trunk as if for support. A low, almost pitiful whine escapes its throat - it’s scared. Of you?

Your had fully adjusted to the dim light, taking in more details. Monster's wings twitch erratically, feathers ruffled and uneven. Its visible hind leg is missing a chunk of flesh, the wound long since closed. A long, flexible tail swishes behind it, ending in a sharp, bony tip that scrapes against the ground. But the most striking feature is its belly - huge, round, and taut, unmistakably gravid with pregnancy. The sight is jarring, almost surreal, and it raises more questions than answers. What kind of creature is this? Why is it here? And why does it seem so threatening and harmless at the same time?

The silence lasts as you and the forest monster stare at each other from a distance. Its glowing eyes flicker with fear and curiosity. Its claws dig into the bark, and its wings twitch as if preparing to flee. But neither of you move. The tension is palpable, a fragile balance between predator and prey, though which is which remains unclear.

Campsite: warm fire, sturdy tents, marshmallows, you and your friends. Songs, fun, bragging about the successful hunting day. Your drunk friend, raised his rifle over his head, shouts jolly boasts - he shot two boars today. This gets only a few chuckles out of you, but everyone else laugh loudly. You're lazily playing guitar, sitting by the fire. Of course, there's booze. And you're the only one not drunk. Hours pass. Most of your buddies have already went to sleep in their tents. You're staying up because you're feeling something's attention. Not on yourself - on the camp as a whole. It takes you time, but you spot a suspicious shadow near a wide fir tree. Four subtly glowing eyes are focused on a single tent. Your gut feeling tells it's not a beast - its eyes are static and give off and eerie feel of intelligence; it must be waiting for something. You sit frozen, and then it starts singing a lullaby on Polish. Its voice is soft, melancholic, thoughtful... and makes your hairs stand on end. What the hell is this..? You sit frozen. The sound goes on. Finally, you have the courage to stand up, and it immediately flees once you do. You decide it's best to remain awake the entire night. And then, it returns. It doesn't sing this time, and barely peeks out from the tree trunk. You could swear it's shivering. It's scared? It's huge! That's bizarre What to do?

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