The Hollowing of the Woodland Realm begins

Art by Karie-Ann Cooper Author

Discover the mythic curse threatening the Woodland Realm—The Hollowing. A dark fable of forest loss, guardianship, and ritual resistance.

There was once a forest that remembered everything—every pawprint, every whisper, every ritual. But now, something ancient and cruel stirs beneath its roots. It has no name spoken aloud, only a curse whispered by the Woodland Guardian Elders - it is The Hollowing.

It does not walk, but it spreads.
It does not speak, but it devours.
It wears many faces—blight, flame, metal, and silence.

Tree plagues burrow through bark and silence the songlines.
Flytipped relics poison the sacred soil.
Wildfires race through bracken, summoned by carelessness.
Machines tear through groves, leaving scars where memory once grew.

The Hollowing hollows not just trees, but belonging.
If it wins, the forest will fall into stillness. No birdsong. No breath. No balance.

But the Four Foxes of the Compass remember.
They seal, reveal, rethread, and rekindle.
They summon the Verdant Pulse to drive the Hollowing back.

The Verdant Pulse is not a weapon—it is a ritual. A wave of renewal summoned when the Four Foxes of the Compass act in harmony beneath the Moon of Echoes, as each season turns. It moves through root and river, through spore and shadow, restoring what the Hollowing has tried to erase. It is memory made motion, healing made rhythm. When the Pulse awakens, the forest remembers its name—and the Hollowing recoils.

And beneath the canopy, the unnamed Guardians stir.
They dig, scatter, shield, and warn.
They reshape the paths for those who still listen.

At each season’s turn, beneath that same moon’s silver gaze, the forest fights back.

But the Hollowing returns—quieter, crueler, cloaked in convenience.

Realm Keepers, hear this:
The Hollowing feeds on neglect.
But it fears ritual.
It fears memory.
It fears you.

Speak the names of the Foxes.
Shield the saplings.
Report the cursed dumping grounds.
Walk with care. The paths are listening.

Categories: : folk and lore, fox, Hollowing, woodland realm