My mother used to leave offers to them, to the forest women.
She always told me that those women needed warmth and food, especially during the war, and that she was more than happy to provide that for the creatures that helped her own mother oh, so much.
The forest women used to help my mother too.
Despite the initial fear their shriek gave me at night, I started to find comfort in them, an in how clean the house was in the morning.
They even baked us fresh bread, one night, those creatures.
But World War I was unforgiving.
When it started, the forest women started to disappear from Croatia.
After a bombardment the meals left for those benevolent creatures started to be left on the window, and the nights were silent.
No one usually saw them, but I did.
It was after yet another bombardment, me and mom were running away from our house, in the middle of the night,looking for a safe shelter, and for a second, illuminated by my mother's lantern, I saw a woman dressed in leaves and flowers, with inhumane features and pointy ears, long, thin limbs.
Croatia never heard of the forest women again.
After many failed Inktobers, I decided to stop trying to follow prompt lists that always end up boring me, so I'm challenging myself to draw a cryptid per day for all the month of October!
No lists, no prompts, just me drawing random creatures I like!