There is nothing more dangerous than fear.
Fear breeds hate and pain. Fear poisons the soul.
Fear is the companion of death. Sometimes, the mighty gods, creatures of nature, succumbed to fear and lost themselves. Like pitch, fear stained their souls, and the once healthy, strong bodies smoldered them. So the guardian gods became demons doomed to eternal wanderings. By demons who do not feel the heat of the sun or the winter cold.
All that such creatures feel is hunger.
All they need is the energy that fear generates, it is she who keeps the tattered soul in their distorted, half-rotten bodies.
One of these demons is Bher. A large beast with a black skin on its skin, in which twigs and leaves are stuck, with a large horned skull, with a muzzle frozen in eternal grin. Bher likes to hunt in dark forests. He walks slowly, walking silently with his hooves. Only dream catchers and pendants of rooky skulls adorning his horns, jingle in the wind. The demon hunts stray travelers, sniffs, eagerly swallows the air, poisoned by the fear of a lost person. The beast specifically scares the traveler - crunches sprigs under his hooves, touches large branches of trees with horns, scares birds - thus causing the traveler to go farther and farther into the thicket. Go and be afraid. And if you go to panic, Bher will not lag behind, so will circling around, not allowing the traveler to get out of the thicket. A person cannot see the demon, but he can feel his presence, smell the smell of his skin - the smell of rotten grass, hear the chime of ornaments and the sound of bones.
Or maybe the presence of an invisible beast only wonders? Or maybe the mind, clouded by fear, draws horrible images? In this thought lies salvation. If a person catches himself on this thought and stops being afraid, the demon will leave, will look from afar with empty eye sockets at the escaped victim. A traveler, who got rid of a terrible pursuer, will be able to find his way home.
Amazing colors and details!
Bher, eh? I never heard about it before! Thanks for sharing this great artwork, as well as the story, @elenasteem! Beautiful work, full of incredible details! ☺️