aka. OC Redesign : Fair Folk
This is the last drawing of the summer because I am melting and if I have to put my hands on the warm screen of my graphic tablet ONE MORE TIME, I will die. 😂 (wait until my self control gets the better of me.....)
Thank you for the tag @missfortunetherogue 🫶 (and thank you @wild-surge for the original prompt :3)
Soflty tagging in turn @burnt-by-marigolds, @litsenn, @riddlerosehearts, @rivereverie, @ranger-jahen and @lilhumanoid, if you want :3 If you have done it already please forgive the tag and drop my a link instead because I would love to see 🩶
There are many myths around The Wild Hunt in the Forgotten Realms, and I really wanted to go with that. Also because this allows me to have Storm and Natavriel be part of the same redesign hehehehe :3 :3
I tried doing a summup of everything I took inspo from/everything I left out, how it relates to the actual Wild Hunt of the Forgotten Realms, but it looks like brain too tired for that. Summer is killing me. So hum…. Have my own version of the Hunt, very liberally inspired by some tales of the various Wild Hunts (Forgotten Realms or not), and I'm mostly just doing what I want lmao.
Natavriel is already a pixie at heart, and Storm is more archfey adjacent than tiefling here, just roll with it, yeah? It ain't a redesign for nothing x) Also : cool glowy horse :3 And of course Storm would be riding bridleless, totally his vibe. Hesitated making him a centaur instead, but I actually liked this version more.
You run through the dense lines of trees as your heart gathers in your throat, both from fear and exhaustion. You have been running for hours. But the deathly rings of the hunting horns at your back keep you going.
You shouldn't have beaten the ox yesterday, you know that. But is it your fault, really, if the damned beast refuses to obey? If anything, you should have killed it for meat. At least would have gotten a good price out of that.
Maybe it isn't the ox, then. Maybe it was the kid, from a few years ago. Or the girls of your youth? Or even the forest you've ordered razed. No other choice, how are you to expand the town, if the forest stays?
The wolves have already been put to death, in preparation for the work, and the only thing that remain is the she-bear living there that still eludes you.
If it didn't you wouldn't be running between the trees, because they would be gone already.
You only have to make it out of the forest, back to the town, back to your house. The Hunt never goes indoor. Then again, the Hunt should not hunt for so little a crime as beating disobeying cattle. Do they?
It's the druids' doing, it must be. The stupid druids that have gotten in your way at every step when you tried to better the town have summoned demons from Faerie to hunt you down.
A light between the trees beckons you. Safety? Yes, somehow you know it in your heart, at last, you have reached safety.
You follow it, further, and further, until the undergrowth of the damned forest is reaching your knees, then your thighs, and still you venture deeper, because you know, you know, there is safety there. But the vines uncoil from the bark of the trees around, and before long, they are grasping at your ankles, and running becomes impossible.
But the light is getting closer, and closer, you kick at the vines as best you can, and you keep going.
Until there are more vines than you can fight off, and you fall of the forest bed, the layer of ferns not enough to absorb the shock. And the light, infuriatingly, comes to you on its own.
It's a pixie. A gods damned pixie.
"Oh no!" the little thing giggles, flying over your head as the vines close on you. "What happened to you, did you fall? I'm so sorry!"
You growl and snarl at it, too frightened and too angry for words.
It lands on your forehead, looking down at you with falsely innocent eyes. You could almost crush it with one fist, hear its bones crack, destroy those pretty glowing wings in one motion, you think. If only you were not tied to the ground by those blasted vines.
It cocks its head at you, all flowing curls of red hair and motes of blinding light.
Then it simply flies away, leaving you helpless and terrified.
You do not see it, but deep into the woods, the pixie hovers in front of their beloved hunter, and no words are needed between them for him to know where he needs to lead the Hunt.
The ghostly processions of horsemen, hounds, and other faes puts itself in motion with a horrifying sort of calm, and when they stop in front of you some time later, you can finally see the truth.
You are not in the forest. You never were in the forest. You are in the Central Square of your town, you have been running through streets of cobblestone, and the vines that keep you chained to the ground exist only in your thoughts. The pixie has tricked you, body and mind.
But before you can even attempt getting up, the spear of the hunter finds your heart and you simply lay there, gasping for a breath that will never come again.
In the haze that comes with the escaping of your life, you see the pixie land on the hunter's shoulder, and you could swear, it places a kiss on his forehead. Then the night swallows you, and you do not see the smile that softens the hunter's face.
At dawn, every soul in this town will know.
The forest of this land has its protectors, and no one harms the innocents there, be it beasts or children, without paying the price for it.
The wrath of the world has caught up with you, the Hunt has been summoned, and tonight, it has found its prey.
Maybe one day I'll edit this properly, but not today. Hope you enjoyed this mini thing anyway, in its rough state xD I have been drawing/writing this to procrastinate on 1) the happy ending pride one shot, and 2)the next chapter of Hope over Power. I regret nothing :3
