Work Text:
A long time ago, the world was ruled between humans and monsters. Peace was short lived, however, for the humans and monsters engaged in a long and terrible war. Through their determination and strength, the humans emerged victorious and they sealed the monsters deep beneath the earth.
This war quickly faded into myth across generations of humans. The only remainder was an old legend passed down to descendants of the warrior humans: a tale of a deep valley, the Falls Valley, with streams of water running through it like veins that pumped into the ground and swept unfortunate souls to vengeful monsters. A tale many believed was conjured to keep children from wandering away from the safety of the human villages and settlements, and a tale that did not appear to work as effectively as it may have generations ago, for children tended to disappear annually.
This was the unfortunate reality for the people of a small sleepy village nestled beside a pine forest. Another year, another mother crying out for her children. Her bright stars had vanished into the sunset, down the beaten path into the forest and the valley beyond it, she had been too late to notice their absence. Behind her, village folk bowed their heads and returned to their lives, praying the valley would be content with two souls and spare the next year's innocence.