This account by Silverius was originally posted to to Sergio's longstanding forum in GoKrida, told from the point of view of the people of Red Catastrophe, minor souls who think of major souls as gods. The narrative discusses the environment, culture, and government of this imagined planet, including stories and rules for games. Some of the details were inspired by events and discoveries in GoKrida, while others must have been inspired by Silverius' other interests. The GoKridan planet Red Catastrophe Earth, commonly known as Legendary Red Catastrophe, was named in honor of this tale.
The Enchanted Forest
Long, long ago in the mythical times when the planet was young there was a forest full of magic and legends. One of those legends is that of the ten outlaws. It goes like this:
Hear this story for it tells the truth, the truth about magic, the truth about action and most importantly the truth about reaction.
Near a forest long gone there was once a village, a village full of peace and love where the people were happy with eachother and nature. Nothing went wrong there, nobody suffered, the young were playful and the old were wise.
One day a band of ten outlaws came to the village. They heard of a treasure in the forest nearby and wanted to rest in the village for the night. They were stupid and arrogant, impolite and mean, the kind of men that gives men a bad name.
They went into the tavern and called for beer, but they did not pay in money, they paid in life, by not shooting people. While the aether went dim they got more and more drunk and even more impolite than they already were. They were offering romantic rendevous to the ladies in no uncertain terms. And sure enough some ladies accepted the proposals, but it wasn't because the outlaws were such lovable chaps.
One by one the outlaws left the tavern for a romantic meeting and one by one they didn't come back. But one by one they got a good whacking and some ropes around them too. For the villagers were not stupid and had devised a plan, a plan of cunning and bravery, of intellect and wisdom and well just plain old common sense. For the ladies were not ladies but men wearing dresses with clubs underneath them which they used to whack the outlaws when they closed their eyes for a kiss.
When the bandits woke up they found themselves in the forest. As they could not see a way back to the village they decided to just walk on hoping to find the treasure and a way out of the forest. They were migthy angry about what happened, not only because of the whole whacking business but also because they lost their swords. But as true outlaws they had a backup, hidden knifes which they used to cut their way through the forest.
After a while they began to notice that there were ever more rose bushes on their path. Now roses may be beautiful, but rose bushes certainly aren't fun to walk through with all those thorns. And what's worse, the thorns actually seemed to try to hit the outlaws on their faces and hands.
Things became even less fun for them as one outlaw saw a bees next hanging low on a tree and decided to cut it off so that they could have honey for lunch. But as anybody who ever saw a bear in action knows, the bees don't like they honey to become someone elses honey. And the bees in that enchanted forest were especially nasty, with their stings being two centira long and capable of piercing the leather armor of the bandits.
So when the bees started stinging the bandits did the obvious and ran for it, straight through the rose bushes. Now you can say what you want about enchanted forests, but it's hard to defend the position that they aren't at least a bit sadistic. As the outlaws ran through the bushes the forest took care to place the thorn branches at face height. After about 300 ra the rose bushes began to become more rare and after 400 ra they were gone entirely.
Now the outlaws were at an open place in the forest. They heard the sound of a young board nearby. It was a weird little boar, with what seemed to be stone covering most of his face. Now the bandits who were quite hungry thought a young boar might make for a good lunch, at least it couldn't sting them like the bees. So they ran after him and soon got him.
Seeing that the boar had a wounded leg which prevented him from running they started to 'play' a little with him. They formed a circle and put the boar in the middle of them. The boar would of course try to run away but each time he came near a bandit he would kick him. They did this over and over again until suddenly the situation changed quite a bit.
If the bandits had used their brains they would have been aware of the high probability that a little boar would not be alone. And indeed it was not alone. The cries of the little boar had alarmed his herd, which was now making an impressive speed in the direction of the outlaws. The leader however didn't figure that out until after he heard bells sound. So once again they fled.
500 Ra and again quite some thorns further they saw a small group of girls playing tag on an open spot covered by gras. The girls were beautiful with green hair, blue eyes and wearing dresses of green leaves. They saw the bandits and giggled at them, signalling them to come near. But as the bandits approached them they ran away over the gras and through a river nearby. On the other side they stopped and once again winked the bandits to come.
But the bandits didn't come, for their feet got stuck in the stream, which reached about to their middle. Now an enchanted forest of course has enchanted mud and this enchanted mud did not intend to let go. Tias passed, naus passed, septals passed and the bandits were still stuck. But they didn't die, for the river lessened their thirst and the fish their hunger. Legend has it that through eating and drinking so much of the enchanted forest they have become themselves enchanted and have gained the blessing or the curse of a long life.
This all goes to tell you, nature gives everybody what they deserve but not what they expect.
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