Chapter 12

If you were to stand on the tall mountain, located only a few hundred meters away from the village, you would notice the fact that said village, was enveloped in a blazing fire. However, if you possessed the keen eyes of an eagle, and the ears of a bat, you would notice that there was neither chaos, nor panic in said village, even though their homes and food were being burned to a crisp. This was simply because of the fact that they were all dead. Strewn across the ground, torn to pieces; all killed in the most gruesome way you could imagine.

This was sadly the state which many villages had ended up in, in the past few years. And it was all done by a single beast. Said monster would choose a random village, kill everything in it, both man and animal, then go to the next one. He would never leave a single human alive, be it children or elders, they would all die.

However, there were a few select villages, which met their plight in an all different manner. These villages, all had one thing in common; they were outside one large forest; so large that the tribe’s people never dared enter it deeply. And the way, in which these people met their plight, was not a quick death; a slaughter, but it was slow and gruelling. In contrast how the other villages were slaughtered in an instant, and then there could be a several weeks wait until another one fell, these villages all lost a single person, every few days, or sometimes weeks. But it was constant, and their population slowly dwindled. During the past years, some of the villages had even gone extinct.

And said monster, which had just turned a village to ashes, was currently venturing through that large forest, where the people dared not enter deeply, heading for a deep clearing, far inside the forest. This small clearing was like a cave inside a forest. Even inside this clearing, you could not see the skies through the thick forest roof.

And inside said clearing, there was a small hut, and a fenced off area, where a large, two meter tall Auroch lived. As soon as the monster of humanity, known to other’s as Ulfvaldr, entered the clearing, a young girl ran out of the hut. This young girl was small in stature, maybe five or six years old, and had a head full of messy, brown hair. She had big, bright eyes, and was adorned in a large smile, as she ran towards the much taller Ulfvaldr. “Ulf!” She shouted, as he jumped into the hold of Ulfvaldr. She made sure to hug him tightly, as if she was scared he would leave again.

“Ahh, not so tight, Tora!” Ulfvaldr squealed, as if he was actually being pained by the small girl. Tora always liked to think she was strong, and Ulfvaldr always liked seeing her happy. Indeed, this young girl was the one he had taken from that one village, just over six years ago. Of course, she had named her after the late Tola. As for Tora, she had stayed in the small clearing almost her entire life. The only intelligent being she ever talked to, was Ulfvaldr. But she never complained; after all, she never knew anything else.

She knew that there were other humans out there, but she had always been taught that the humans were evil beings; lowly beings. Ulfvaldr always told her that she was the only pure human in the world. And naturally, she believed it whole heartedly. Anything that Ulfvaldr said, was bound to be true. After all, there was no smarter being, than Ulfvaldr in the world, right? So even though she didn’t have any other human contact, she still thrived in her own way. But she still did have one friend,

“How has Arry been?” Ulfvaldr asked the cute little girl. Tora brightened up at the mention of her sole friend.

“Arry took me for a ride yesterday! It was really bumpy, though,” She said. Of course, Arry, referred to the towering Auroch. She had already spent six years with them, as their domesticated pet, so to say. She also provided milk for the young Tora. The Auroch was a pretty intelligent animal, and it cared for the young girl. It never ran away, either, even though the gate to its pen was always left open.

Back when it was built, it was supposed to keep the animal trapped, but now it was just where the Auroch slept. Even Ulfvaldr valued the animal. Not only did it provide milk for Tora, it also protected her when he wasn’t present. After all, the Auroch was no small animal. It towered over two meters tall, and weighed over a ton. Even for Aurochs it was rather tall. And its horns were nothing to be joked about. If Arry slammed into you, you would definitely be impaled.

Of course, Ulfvaldr would never leave Tora in the hands of Arry alone. Using his connection to the bats, he always had an eye on her. Even if he might not be able to get to her quickly of something happened, he was able to make a swarm of bats attack whatever creature was bothering her. And, in fact, it had happened before. Once, a pack of wandering wolves came upon the clearing, and the moment they saw the young Tora, they thought they had happened upon a meal. Never did they expect to be swarmed by bats.

As the two were finished, Tora ran over the to the pen of Arry, ready to milk her. Tora always liked to have a little drink, before she went to sleep. Much like Ulfvaldr, she slept mostly during the day, and stayed up at night, even though that wasn’t the norm between humans. It was quite weird, how she was able to cope with it.

Just before the sun set, she would usually be the first to wake up. Then, she would immediately proceed to shake Ulfvaldr awake, saying,

“Ulf, I’m hungry. Make me something to eat,” with her eyes barely open, as she was still groggy from sleeping. Ulfvaldr, however, would quickly wake up, and proceed to start on her breakfast. He would never let her make warm food herself, as he was afraid she would be burned, so when he was away, she usually ate cold stuff, like fruit and mushrooms. For her delight, there were a few orange trees, as well as some apple trees nearby. And there was no shortage of mushrooms to be found.

However, when Ulfvaldr was there, he’d always make her favourite food; beef liver and mushrooms. It was quite strange, for a child to like it so much, but she always had a strange craving for it. She also loved fish, especially the fatty ones, but they were quite hard to come by, in the middle of a forest. Usually, Ulfvaldr would raid it from the villages he destroyed. Especially the ones near the sealine.

As Ulfvaldr finished making her breakfast, she immediately started gulfing it down, as if she was a mad beast that could eat the world. Then, as soon as she was finished, she would charge outside with all her might, straight over to Arry for her breakfast milk. Ulfvaldr liked the little girl, but it always felt strange to him. He never understood why he took her from that tribe, but one thing he was certain about; she wasn’t like the others. She was pure. Innocent.

After he was finished caring for her meals, and the sun had really set, he set out to get his own breakfast. Outside his forest, there were several villages, and he would always alternate between them, so as not to extinguish them too quickly. He didn’t want to have to move away from there too soon, because of a lack of food. But never the less, that day was nearing quickly. There weren’t many people left close to him, and he reckoned that he would be able to last for at most a year more.

But he put such thoughts to the back of his head, and headed towards one of the villages. It didn’t take long, until he exited the forest, and saw the rising moon in the horizon. The skies were clear that day, and he could easily see the billions of stars in the sky. If there was one sight he enjoyed, it was the night star sky. He liked the night; the peace it brought, the tranquillity. He had always liked taking walks through the silent forests, and to watch the starry sky, even before he met Tola, and even before he regained his memories. It was one of his few joys in life.

Thus, he enjoyed the tranquil night, as he neared ever closer to the walled village. This village was once the largest village in the area, originally numbering over a hundred people, but now, not even half remained. Of course, it was still the largest village, and one of the few that hadn’t fled away yet. Usually, when a village lost too many people, and they finally realized that something was wrong, they’d simply flee. However, this village hadn’t resorted to that yet.

As he neared the village, he spotted another group nearing it; probably a hunting party. They seemed to have had a good hunt, as they carried large prey. It was of the same specie as Arry; an Auroch. They were very good prey, and had a lot of meat on their bodies, but they usually preferred plains, instead of forests. In fact, finding one as deep in a forest, as Ulfvaldr did, was nothing short of a miracle.

As the hunters entered the village, Ulfvaldr followed them, without being noticed. In the back of the group of hunters, there was one individual lacking a bit behind. It seemed like he had injured his leg, so he was a bit slower. As this individual was behind them, they couldn’t see him. Seeing the opportunity, Ulfvaldr quickly neared the injured hunter, and grabbed him. Holding his mouth shut, he sped away as quickly as he arrived, without being noticed by the other hunters.

Then, as he was behind cover, he sank his teeth into the poor hunter and drained him dry, ending the poor man’s life. He was never even able to see what hit him, before he fell to ground, lifeless.

It wasn’t until after the hunters entered the village that they found out that their friend was missing. Naturally, chaos ensued, as they began searching for him. It didn’t take too long, until a few guys stumbled upon his corpse, a short distance into the forest. That’s when they made a rather stupid decision. As they had recovered the corpse, the men of the village got together for a meeting.

“Damnit, this is the second one this month. It’s been like this for years already,” one of them said. They were starting to panic.

“Yes, but this time we actually have something to go on. It was careless this time. We actually found the corpse,” another said. In fact, until now, they had never recovered a single corpse, ever.

“Let’s gather together a few men, and put an end to this. This monster clearly lives in the forest, and it can’t have gotten far. It’s at most twenty minutes since he died,” the second man continued. Many men agreed with him, but some were a bit more sceptic.

“Are you really sure we should do this? This is clearly no normal beast. It’d be better if we just packed up, and left,” the third man to join the conversation stated.

“Are you stupid? We can’t just leave our home! Out tribe has lived here for generations, and I’ll be damned if we leave because of one ugly beast! If we just stick together, this beast won’t stand a chance,” the first man said. The third man was still against it, but in the end, a whole fifteen men gathered together, and left for the forest. They wielded both spears and torches, as well as bows and arrows. They were prepared for war.

Thus, the fifteen brave warriors headed for the dark and dim forest, where few men ever ventured. Inside the forest they were ensued in darkness. If they didn’t have their torches, they wouldn’t have been able to see anything at all. But bravely, they ventured deeper and deeper. They had first gone to where the first hunter died, and then ventured deeper from there.

Naturally, Ulfvaldr had already noticed them, as he had kept a careful eye on them, ever since the search began. And the natural result, was that they angered him. This forest was his home; his domain. How dared those filthy humans enter his territory! So he quickly came to a decision; they needed to die. But he wouldn’t simply kill them. He needed them to feel fear.

So, as he followed them, he also made a swarm of bats fly to their location, ready to swarm the poor hunters. While they steadfastly continued onwards, the bats quickly made their way over. In only ten minutes, they arrived, and they immediately charged into the midst of the hunters.

“What the… GHAAGH!” One of them exclaimed, as the bats charged into them, biting at them, and extinguishing their torches.

“Bats!” Another exclaimed. The bats flew in a swarm, and flew right into the hunters, throwing them around, biting and scratching them, before they disappeared as quickly as they came. However, now they had no torches; no light. And without light, they couldn’t see. Thus, panic ensued quickly.

“Shit, I can’t see! Where are you?” One of them shouted, trying to find his friends, however, the next sound he heard was not a pleasant one,

“GHAAAAAAH!” One man screamed, as Ulfvaldr appeared behind him, and impaled him through the chest, killing him.

“Who was that? What happened?” Another asked, however, he never got an answer, as he was the next victim. Ulfvaldr appeared in front of the man, scaring him, as he could see the glowing eyes of the monster he oh so feared. However, even that fear was short lived, as his throat was pierced by the sharp fangs of Ulfvaldr, draining him for blood, sending the pale corpse to the ground.

One after the other, the fifteen warriors were slowly killed, until there was only a single man left. He was wandering through the dark forest, trying to find his friends, but no matter how often he shouted for them, he never got a single answer. Everything was completely silent, not a sound to be heard. Even the night sound of the crickets had disappeared. The only thing he could hear, was the gentle breeze of the wind, swaying the grass on the ground, and the leaves on the trees.

Desperately, he walked the ground, going from tree to tree, constantly searching for his friends, but he never found them. Like that, he continued for hours, all while Ulfvaldr was following him quickly. In the midst of the slaughter, this had become a bit of an experiment for him. He wanted to see what this human would do; how he would react to such a desperate situation.

And it certainly didn’t take him long to crack under. After only a few hours, he started weeping, calling for his mother. Ulfvaldr found it fascinating how these humans so easily got scared by loneliness and darkness, not realizing he had been the same way once. Back in the day, Ulfvaldr, too, almost lost it, when he was trapped in the dark cave. But these days, he barely ever thought of his human days.

After a few more hours of wandering, Ulfvaldr had lost track of where they were going, as he was too engaged in stalking the poor human, and before he knew it, they neared closer and closer to that small clearing of his. And indeed, after a few more hours, just before the sun rose, the man stumbled into the clearing.

“What the… is that a house?” He said, widely surprised by the sudden appearance of a hut, so deep in the forest. But other than surprise, there was also hope. And coincidently, the young girl Tora just so happened to walk out of the hut, with groggy eyes, just as the man was walking towards it. The moment Tora saw the stranger, she screamed, and ran back into the hut, yelling,

“Ulf, Ulf, Help! Arry, save me!” frantically, as she crouched under the table inside the hut, trying to hide from the evil human. As Ulfvaldr saw this, he frantically panicked, and charged straight at the human and decapitated him, with a single swing of his arm. Tora stared in fright, as she saw the strangers head fall to the ground, and she screamed even more. However, Ulfvaldr quickly cleared away the corpse, and rushed over to Tora, who was shivering in fright.

“Don’t worry, don’t worry, he’s gone already,” Ulfvaldr comforted her, as he held her in his arms, and she quickly calmed down. After all, if Ulfvaldr was there, surely nothing could ever happen to her then, right?

“Wa-was that a, a human?” She asked in her high pitched voice, shivering even more at the thought of what an evil, wicked human could have done to her.

“Indeed it was,” Ulfvaldr admitted. “But it’s gone now, so you don’t need to be scared,” he said, as he held her tightly and comfortably. Then, it didn’t take long, until she fell asleep in his embrace. Whenever the young girl would get in danger, Ulfvaldr would always enter a frantic rage. He felt that if he lost the girl, it would be the same as losing a vital part of himself. It was as if the girl was an important part of him, one that he lacked. If he was to lose her, like when he lost Tola, he would slowly go insane, and wreak havoc on the world. The young girl Tora, like the late Tola, was his humanity.