Barkley, the Disease-Bringer

Whisperings of Aston Barkley from long ago still reach ears today. A young man whose childhood fostered an admiration of the Demons around him, rather than a hatred or fear of the unknown creatures. Disliked among the locals of his hometown, he set off beyond the old borders of his town to learn more about the world around him, abandoning all but some clothes, his name, and a notebook. He never planned on coming back. After all, there was nobody waiting for him to return.
Aston Barkley, a nobody from a small town, leaves on a 15 year long journey into the Demon Forest, bringing back an incurable disease along with his tales of the outside world. Through sheer coincidence, his death is tied to the outbreak of the worst diseases to have ever plagued the Forest and its inhabitants. While debated on for centuries, his true intentions in the outside are left unclear to this day.

A young man by the name of Aston Barkley once set off on a journey to discover a world that we, Humans, knew nothing about. He grow'd up in a small town, much like ours, but unlike ours there were much fewer friendly relations. He had no family, and noone to claim as his love- I do believe that in the eyes of his neighbors this was the reason he left. Anyways, one day, he walk'd beyond the sacred confines of the town he grow'd up in, breaking laws establish'd before he or anyone alive at the time exist'd and would dare to challenge up till then, and delv'd deeper into the wild depths of the Forest.
He coerc'd two close acquaintances to accompany him, however both perish'd sometime along the journey. It is unknown what happen'd to them, but my best guess is Barkley kill'd them in order to hide his secret, Forest protect their souls.
We don't know much about his adventure, but I do know he went off beyond the Forest border up in the north, even reach'd what we call the "Dead Land."
He return'd I believe... Fifteen years later? He came back to that same town he abandon'd all those years ago, with tales of the outside world, all these fantastic Demons, all sorts of new plants and animals and lands, expecting someone in the town to give even the smallest inkling of a shit for what he's been through. I'm not sure what he was hoping for, but he was captur'd by whatever town elders they had, and it was decid'd that a public execution was a... Generous punishment for someone as vile as him.
Little did they know, he return'd with a most dreadful curse on his hands. The moment they cut short his voice, a new one rang in every ear around. The people of the town develop'd painful boils the size of a hand, almost instantly! And their whole bodies grow'd cover'd in them like someone sneez'd disease onto their skin. Their skin grow'd pale and yellow, sickly and coming off at the touch. The pain was immense, and they ran to their loves, pleading for help for the curse that befell them. To all they turned, they grow'd afflicted just as they, and the disease spread. If they did not fall to their knees in prayer for the Forest's holy guidance, they fled from the town, thinking it curs'd. They sought other towns, desperate for salvation, but it would not come. None were allow'd past the borders, but in their desperation they trespass'd into other territories, spreading their boils to all. Barkley's home soon rott'd as the people fell one after the other, their bodies walking no longer.
A generous punishment for him, but at what cost to us.

-A retelling of the tale, through the words of a Demon Forest village elder.

Historical Basis

Aston Barkley did indeed go out beyond his town's borders to document the outside world. However, the exact tales of his adventure are written in each of his 15 notebooks, one for every year he was away in the unknown lands. He was the first Human to exit the Demon Forest, and to discover the Dead Land. He documented thousands of Demons along his journey, but the details are all locked away in a secure location, where nobody is allowed to view them. The myth of this disease is attributed to Barkley's death, but in reality the disease spread due to one unfortunate soul peeking at one of his notebooks at the time of his death, unleashing the "curse."

Spread

The tales spread with the disease, reaching all edges of the Forest.
The tales vary from town to town, but most stay relatively true to what many would have known at the time without ever seeing his notebooks. The real information is known to nobody outside few Demons he met along the way. Everything is documented in the fifteen notebooks he left behind, but nobody has ever had enough time to study them due to their constant diseased aura.

Variations & Mutation

In one retelling in northern towns, Barkley returns with with an army of infected Demons, wanting to take revenge on the town that always hated him.

In Literature

The tale lives on orally, as writing it down is said to bring horrible luck to all involved.

Submitted for the 2019 "Death of a Legend" competition.

Telling / Prose

Oddities of the Demon Forest

Related Ethnicities

• Great Human

Related Species

• Human

Related Locations

• Dead Land
• Demon Forest

Related People

• Aston Barkley
• Kitasun
• Nadiri
• Nameless

Related Items

• Dez

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Barkley's Disease

The disease the Forest fears is in fact a Demon in disguise- one Barkley met along his trek in the Dead Land. While not anything close to being called dear friends, the Demon attached itself in Barkley's mind, speaking to him through his notebooks, starting halfway through his second book. As such, the first notebook he left town with held none of the Demon's energy, none of its miasma. Over the years, due to its close proximity to the other notebooks in the ruined town, it absorbed a small amount of the toxic aura the others give off, but it is still largely harmless. Nobody really knows that little bit of information though.
As Barkley was executed, the mental link between him and the Demon was severed, leaving an enraged Demon locked behind the pages of the notebooks. The terror of being uncovered by another Human forced the Demon to feel threatened, fighting back in the only way it knew- its "disease." Its goal of being left alone was met, but its partner over the last few years would never return.
Where had its friend gone? Surely he would come back. Until then, it would keep his favorite notebooks safe and sound, until death do the whole world apart.