It’s almost autumn 1978. In Oklahoma, that means harvest season is on the horizon. The Yearning begins. Dark and deep, from unnatural ground between Route 66 and the new turnpike that just came through. The Yearning is stronger this year. The Row-Walker calls from inside the corn. Calling to be fed. The Yearning is primal, and dark. It compels him forward, into his truck. Looking for nourishment. Nourishment that is required. Demanded by the Row-Walker. Steve is excited. He was born for this! He gets to hunt. The highway is his hunting grounds. As he shifts gears, Route 66 pulls him along. As if he doesn’t need the power from the Detroit Diesel. Something evil powers him along. it’s the Yearning.
Elvina watches the Evil Doer leave the farm. She summons the Woodland Royalty to Conclave. As Elfen Princess it is her duty. The Woodland Creatures have guided my people since time. They protect us from evil and Sheppard us into The Next.
This war between good and evil, light, and dark, started in 1831. Unthinkable endings, disposed in the soil, became unnatural. The Cherokee buried their elders, weak and young here. There was no time for the old ways. The burial rituals were not allowed. The Creek and Osage were all but exterminated here. Rolled into shallow mass graves by the Blue Coats. Cheyenne, Apachie, and Kiowa buried the murdered and captured here. This was where my People were driven like cattle. This is where the Trail of Tears ended! This is where unnatural endings were disposed!
The Woodland Royalty and their faithful have inhabited this land since time, battling the darkness. They used all their powers to make crossover for the Endlings happen. To move them into the Next, but they were overwhelmed. Driven back by Harvest Wraiths and Row Walkers. Driven to the forest where the land is purified with natural growth, light, and waters. A place where good can survive.
In 1889. Steven P Luther arrived in the Indian Territory. Driven by some force he could not explain. A Yearning to own land in Indian Territory. A Yearning that drove him. Leaving his family, riding day and night from the east to this place, to make his claim. It was called a land run. A race to claim Indian lands by the white eyes! It didn’t matter that a family of five put their flag in the ground first. Steven laid them to rest in the dark, cold, soil that called him.
He took as he needed. Every 33rd year he stole and raised a single son who would do the same. Generation after generation of wickedness! Generation after generation of Steve! Raising a single son. Chosen by the Yearning. The urging that never stops. Continually getting stronger as the years go by. The ground calls for nourishment at the 10th full moon. Without nourishment there will be no harvest of corn. No feeding of dark souls.
In 1929. Route 66 blazed through Oklahoma. Moving the mother road slightly to the north was easy for the Yearning. Corruption and greed are easy motivators during a depression. Years later; Moving the Turnpike slightly south was more difficult. Steve planted a Corporation Commissioner and Lieutenant Governor in the corn patch and the turnpike took a southward path. Unnatural endings continue today.
October 1978 (present day)... Steve pulls his rig into another small town. Past the playground. He spots his prey.