Chapter 14

On a prairie, where the grass was so golden that when the sun shone, it would reflect back at the heavens, making a spectacular show of golden bright lights, the rays of the sun shone unto a small wooden hut, standing lone on the prairie. As the sun shone on this lone hut, not the slightest sign of life could be seen. It was not until the sun descended past the mountains in the horizon that activity began to bustle. It was only then that the wooden door, comprised of tightly packed wooden twigs, opened, revealing a tall man, about twenty years in age, or so it appeared. This young adult, with brown hair, a slender build, and crimson red eyes, walked out of the building, composed purely of wood and foliage. As soon as he had stepped as much as three steps out of the building, his body suddenly blurred, and disappeared in a straight line, towards the far horizon.

The next movement of activity didn’t happen until an entire hour later, when a young girl, in her late teens; perhaps seventeen years old, walked out of the wooden building. As soon as she stepped out, she started looking around her, warily, as if she needed to be sure that she was alone. Then, she turned around, in the opposite direction from the one the prior male left in, and started waving her hands, and jumping up and down. As she did this, from the edge of the far away forest, a young male sprung up from the ground, and started running franticly towards the girl.

The forest was rather far away; several kilometres in fact, and time was sparse, so he knew that he had to hurry as much as possible. He only had until an hour before sunrise at best. Thus, he sprinted with all his might towards the lone hut, and the lone girl. But he was swift; he done this run many times before, and his physique was already far above that of his peers, from all the frantic running. In fact, he believed it a miracle that he was even alive. The fact that he had never been caught flabbergasted the young man. But he was willing to risk everything, to get to this girl.

As little as thirty minutes later, the gasping young male made it up to the girl, who immediately ran up to him, with a cup of water. The young runner immediately grabbed the cup, and gulped it down in a flash, then followed the young girl to the river, where they sat down next to a fire that the girl had already prepared.

“How have you been the last days, Tor?” The young girl asked, with a kind smile, as she sat next to the male, looking at the fire, reflecting unto the sparkling river.

“I’ve been quite good. The villagers are a bit scared though, since one of the youngsters died from sickness. They’re scared it might spread, so they immediately burned the body… How about you, Tora?” The young man, Tor, said, then asked.

“I’ve been fine, too. Just a bit lonely… Ulf is always out, so you’re really the only one I can talk to,” Tora said, with a slightly sad expression, as she thought back to the late Arry. The old Auroch had died a few years prior, so since then, Tora didn’t have anyone to play with, when Ulfvaldr wasn’t there. But almost a year ago, she had met the young lad to her side, Tor. He was from one of the villages close to here, and he’d always visit when Ulfvaldr was away. This time, it’d be a short visit, though, since Ulfvaldr was supposed to be back by sunrise.

Ulfvaldr always told Tora when he’d be away several days prior, so she wouldn’t be taken by surprise, and so that she could properly prepare. Shortly after she met Tor, they had machinated a messaging system. The day prior to Ulfvaldr’s departure, Tora would make a smoky fire, telling Tor that he would be leaving, and how long he’d be gone.

Then the next day, Tor would wait in the forest next to the prairie, where there were several animals with heartbeats and the need to breath, and where Ulfvaldr couldn’t hear him anyway; at least not without focusing. And Ulfvaldr wouldn’t often take the effort to listen to that place in particular. He might certainly be rather antagonistic, slightly insane, but he most certainly wasn’t paranoid. Being paranoid was beneath him; he had simply no reason to worry over lowly humans.

Then, as he lay at the forest edge, he’d hold an eye out on the hut, and watch out for Ulfvaldr. He’d not always be able to see him, though, so an hour after Ulfvaldr left, Tora would go out and signal him to come.

That’s how they had worked at meeting each other for almost an entire year already. But even though they might seem like starlit lovers that was not the case. And frankly, the boy had certainly been trying, but it just didn’t work on Tora. Not that she didn’t possess the slightest feelings for him, but she just didn’t have any understanding for love. She had never been taught about it, other than the fatherly love she possessed for Ulfvaldr. If the young Tor brought up the subject of love to her, she would simply find it weird, as if Tor confessed that Tora was like a mother or daughter to him.

Instead, they would simply talk about various things that might catch their interests. And those things, included Ulfvaldr. Indeed, he wasn’t there purely to pursue his unrequited love for Tora; he was also there to get as much knowledge on Ulfvaldr as possible. He wanted to both save the poor girl from the monster, as well as kill it. He completely believed that Ulfvaldr had kidnapped Tora, and corrupted her mind. And it wasn’t entirely false.

On the other hand, Tora still believed humans to be evil creatures. She just believed Tor to pure and innocent, just like her. Perhaps it was in the name; Tor and Tora, the two pure humans. But she had no reason to not believe it. Tor had never done anything that seemed evil to her, so why shouldn’t she trust him?

And in the past year, he had learned a number of things about Ulfvaldr. Like his weakness for sunlight, his dislike for being stabbed in the back with wooden stakes, and his distaste for being dowsed in sea water, as well as his thirst for blood.

“So, Tora, he’s coming back at sunrise, right?” Tor asked.

“Yeah, he won’t be long this time. You know, I think you should meet him. You’re not like the others, you’re just like me! I’m sure he’ll like you, he’ll probably immediately realize how nice you are,” Tora said, urging him to stay. She fully believed that Ulfvaldr would like him, but Tor realized the truth.

“No, it’s for the best if he never even knows I exist. If he does, he’ll surely kill me,” Tor stated with confidence. He truly didn’t doubt it.

“If you say so,” Tora replied, a bit disappointed, but she hadn’t expected otherwise. After all, that conversation had come up several times before.

“Has he always looked like he does? I mean, so young. I have never seen him close up, but he doesn’t look like someone who raised a seventeen years old kid,” he asked.

“No, he always looked like that. He hasn’t changed in the slightest, since forever. I’m going to look the same age as him in only a few years. And to be honest, it was only a few years ago that he realized himself. One day, when he was washing himself in the river, he kinda just realized that he had never aged. He made quite a fuss about it, but I can kinda understand,” Tora said with a bit of a distant look,

“After all, I really don’t want to look older than him. He’s pretty much my father, after all,” Tora continued, ending with a sigh.

“So, he doesn’t age, huh?” Tor stated, as he looked into the starry sky. He had to admit, it was rather tranquil, sitting under the shade of the night, like this. Before he met Tora, he never really sat in the open, in the middle of the night, gazing at the starlit night skies. He rather enjoyed it, truth be told.

“Have you ever wondered what those lights in the sky are? I mean, they seem so distant, yet they shine so far. It fascinates me,” Tor said.

“I haven’t really thought about it before,” Tora replied

“I wonder if anyone will ever be able to touch them,” Tor wondered.

“Touch them? How would anyone touch them? I mean, no matter how high you reached, they would still be so far away. Ulf once took me to the top of a mountain, and even there I couldn’t reach them. Seriously, they’re really far away!” Tora said, amazed at how far away they were. I mean, she couldn’t even reach them on the top of a mountain! Madness!

As the night flew by, the two talked about various things, and enjoyed a hearty meal by the crackling fire, until it was finally time for Tor to leave. Thus, without further ado, he sprinted away, through the tall grass of the prairie, towards his village in the forest. His village was pretty well hidden, staying inside the forest. If you didn’t already know the location of it, it would be impossible to find. It was so far inside, that it took the young man another hour to get there, even after he got into the forest. Even Ulfvaldr didn’t know about it, since he rarely ventured into the forest.

But this village wasn’t your normal, ordinary village. It was both large, and also the strongest tribe in the area, and every time the tribes met for their yearly tribe meeting, they would always be the bigshots. That’s why the operations of the young Tor, were of utmost importance for the tribe, and that’s why the moment he returned to the village, he was immediately swarmed by the elders of the tribe. They always met him as he returned, and always pestered him about anything he might have learned. Of course, Tor wasn’t one to deny them the knowledge.

“So boy, did you learn anything good this time?” The first elder quickly asked, urging him to tell. Even though he had returned so many times, without any important information, they always continued to ask him.

“Yes, I did. Quite a significant piece of knowledge, even,” he began, spurring the elders onwards, exciting them.

“Apparently, he doesn’t age, since his appearance has stayed the same for at least seventeen years,” Tor stated, but the elders gave him a bit of a questioning look, as he talked.

“What? Is something wrong?” He asked, slightly nervous. He didn’t have the slightest idea what was going on.

“You refer to it as a he, now?” He was questioned, rather rudely.

“What? Well, yes, he, I mean it, looks completely human, except for the red eyes, and large fangs, or so Tora says,” Tor answered, as he backed away, scared what the elders would do to punish him. As he backed away, the elders started getting angrier and angrier, until, they finally started bursting out, laughing.

“Hahahaha! We’re just teasing you!” The elder exclaimed.

“So tell me, lover boy, how goes it with the girl,” they asked, excited for any news. They knew about the girl, of course, and they were completely supportive of his love for her. After all, even they wanted to save the poor girl, and set her back on the right path.

“Oh, well, eh, she’s as oblivious as ever, I guess?” Tor answered shyly, as his cheeks started to redden. The elders loved to tease the young man about his crush, even though he was more than old enough to hold a mate.

“Ah, fret not my boy, for your time will be soon. The other tribes already know that the monster is here, and they have been told to bring all their men for the next tribe meeting. That’s when we strike. We’re already prepared. We’ll strike at day time, and we’ll do our mightiest to destroy this beast, before it, destroys us!” The elder finally said, with an absolute determination, if not confidence. He was prepared to do whatever it took to destroy this plight of humanity’s.

“But the casualties won’t be low. There will be many an orphan, and many a widow,” he continued.

“Then, then, we can finally be together,” Tor finally finished, before he went over to his own hut, and got some much needed sleep. After staying up all night, and running so much, he was exhausted.

Two moons passed, and the time of the tribe meeting had finally arrived. But this tribe meeting wasn’t like the others. This time it wasn’t just between the tribes in the area, but tribes had come from distant lands. Every tribe that could come, had come. For this time, they had to deal with a problem that the entire human population shared. Thus, as the sun rose in the sky, the various leaders of the tribes stood out in the open, ready to discuss the fate of humanity. There weren’t just a few dozen chieftains present, but hundreds, if not thousands. The leaders of tribes, both small and large had arrived, converging perhaps the first army in human history. And on the top of a boulder, stood the leaders of the three biggest tribes.

These three leaders were large and mighty, known throughout several clans. They were known as the fiercest of warriors, and faced many battles, with both men and beast alike. Thus, they spoke,

“People of mankind, leaders of the various tribes, I, the leader of the Forest Tribe welcome you. All of you know why we are here, but still, I’ll tell you why anyways! We are here today, to deal with the biggest disaster any human has ever faced. This monster has already killed tribes, numbering in the hundreds, maybe over a thousand. But now we stand a fighting chance, for our brave young one has compiled a list of his weaknesses, and we can abuse them to kill him entirely!” The middle aged warrior exclaimed, causing the loud outburst of cheer from his peers. Then he continued,

“Then, let’s set out! The night may be his, but the day is ours! As long as we’re out in sunlight, he’ll be burned by its rays, so let’s set out and kill this beast!” He roared, causing yet another outburst of cheers, before they actually set out.

Thus, the many, many tribes of humanity set out of the forest, traversing towards the golden prairie, where the monster lay. The huge force ventured forwards, until the sun hung two hours into the sky, before they finally broke through the forest, and arrived at the edge of the golden prairie. In the distance, they could see the form of a small hut, standing alone on the vast prairie.

Thus, the army of humanity gave their loud roars of war, and charged forwards, shaking the ground beneath their heavy feet.