Children of the Forest

We are the sound of a branch cracking in the midnight forest. We are the hellish shadows cast by the leaves under the eerie moonlight. We are that scream you could have sworn you heard, that mysterious being that makes animals quiver in fear in the dark.
We are the children of the forest.
With such a name you might think us benign, harmless, and maybe even go so far as to say helpful. Mortal men belittle us as these nice elf-like beings that merrily skip through the forest and talk with fairies. The human race is not only misled about our purpose, but the very nature of our existence. We're not guardian angels; we're hell's worst nightmare.
We were always one with the forest. We've been lurking on earth since the beginning of time. Millions of years of evolution passed by before trees large and nurturing enough could sate our needs. Don't be mistaken though, we are parasites incarnate. The forest used to be a truly majestic place at night, showered with fairies and other
illuminated creatures. That's right, fairies. The leaves used to softly glow in the night. Those nights were long gone before humans ever came into the picture.
Our goal had been the dispersion of dark forces from the beginning. With those dark forces, we took over the forest. All of the nocturnal beauty had faded; we needed its energy to survive. As time passed, our power began to diminish. Seeing that the natural beauty had faded, of course, our next logical step was the extermination of animals.
We had consumed the energy of a few before the humans began to notice. The presence of the advanced humans led to our fate. See, we were so busy basking in our power from the beauty we had vanquished that we didn't notice humans had evolved from ape-like creatures to these superbeings that could easily overpower us.
They soon noticed the predicament of their food source, or rather a lack thereof. One night we were consuming one of their precious animals via the dark forces and they spotted us. They carried weapons of wood and stone, which proved superior over our dark magic. We took many of them, and the psychological damage was worse than the physical. After the dust had cleared, however, our numbers were in the mere twenties.
So we hid in the forest. Our group dwindled to fifteen as there was a gross lack of energy. We were dying. As a result, we came up with a new way to feed off of the weak. Human children were ultimately determined as our prey. They're obtuse, narrow-minded, and naive, which made them perfect targets. We vastly overpower them as well, so there is no chance of escape.
We live in the forest to this day. But we are not limited to forests. Any reasonable amount of dense underbrush can serve as a temporary forge for ingurgitation. So next time you hear a creepy sound coming from a group of trees, it's not the wind blowing. It's not your imagination.
It's us.
{{by|Dubiousdugong|cpwuser=yes}}