Chapter 24 - Guest

All four of them scrambled for their weapons.

“What was that?” the annoying villager hissed.

“Quiet!” Thrane shushed him.

The small building they were in was a single-story structure, square in shape, only a few dozen feet across. Back when this outpost was still functional, it was most likely a small warehouse or barracks. But now, it was completely bare. The group had blocked off the windows with vines and cloth to hide any light. They had done the same for the entrance.

They slowly crept toward one of the windows and peered through the cracks.

The sun had just set, and daylight was on its last leg, barely allowing them to see.

However, it was enough.

Out there, a few yards away from the perimeter of the outpost, right on the trail they had come from, was the thing that had made the noise, a Mischief of the Shackled King.

It seemed… weak and unusually emaciated—even more than the others.

Still, they all paled.

“Shit!” Erik said under his breath.

“Don’t do anything! Maybe it will leave,” Thrane murmured.

And they all held their breath, waiting to see what the abomination would do.

It sniffed around… and slowly made its way toward them.

“Dammit!” Thrane cursed under his breath, then added, “Get ready. We will rush it together and ambush it when it’s just outside the entrance.”

They all nodded.

He turned to Erik and pointed toward his Draugr. “Can they fight?”

Erik nodded.

“Alright, get them in position as well.”

And the young man ordered them to do so.

Sniffing and grunting could be heard from outside. One agonizingly slow moment after another, it got closer and closer. They could also hear the shackles clinking and its heavy footsteps squelching on the muddy ground.

“Get ready,” Thrane murmured, keeping an eye on the abomination through a crack in the entrance’s cover.

And just as they were about to rush outside, they heard a voice.

“Hey guys, are you here?”

Erik’s eyes widened, and so did the other three’s.

“Endur?” Thrane whispered in disbelief. They all started looking through the gaps until they spotted him.

“Oh no! He is here!” Thrane hissed.

On the trail they had come from, the young boy had just emerged, wearing his spiderweb armor.

However, he froze when he saw the Nilgrim near the building. The abomination itself swirled around, its deranged gaze scanning the trees—yet, surprisingly, it didn’t react to the young man.

Is it blind? Erik thought.

The creature then started sniffing the air aggressively, and before any of them could react, it charged toward the boy.

“GO! Kill it!” Thrane shouted as he flung the tarp and vines to the side and rushed out. The others were right on his heels.

Erik echoed the words to his minions as well.

They ran after the abomination, but it was faster than them. It also ignored them completely, entirely focused on its new target.

“Endur, run!” the villagers shouted, but the young man was frozen on the spot.

Only when the Nilgrim let out a screech did he snap out of his stupor and jump to the side just in time. Fortunately for him, the Mischief was also off course—it missed the young man completely and collided with a tree, slamming its head hard.

It shook itself off and tried to pounce on the boy again but instead attacked a bush next to him.

At that moment, the others caught up with the Nilgrim and brought their weapons down upon it. Two wooden spears and two axes sank deep into the creature. Unfortunately, aside from Thrane, who swung his weapon unusually fast and hard, the others did not have any combat-related Talents.

Enraged, the Nilgrim lashed its tail and claws around in fury, pushing the four of them back.

Erik stumbled backward and fell onto his back. The abomination locked onto him and rushed forward, but it was caught off guard as a wooden spear suddenly appeared in its path.

Endur had managed to sneak up on it. But the crude spear of the boy snapped upon colliding with the monster, sending him flying backwards.

This, however, bought them enough time, and finally, the three skeletons arrived and jumped on top of it, restraining it while whacking and stabbing it with their bone weapons.

The creature was badly wounded at this point. It roared and fought back, but hidden behind the Draugr, the group managed to dispose of it without suffering heavy injuries.

Erik only lost one of his minions, but it was a small price to pay.

Breathing and sweating heavily, they all turned to the young boy.

“What are you doing here, Endur?” Thrane shouted at him.

The boy had recovered and, fortunately, didn't appear injured. He was just sitting on the ground, watching in fright.

“Endur!”

The kid shook himself and took off his barbute. His curling brown hair, the same as his father’s, clung to his forehead with sweat.

“I-I need to test my armor! I know it’s going to be of use!”

The scrawny boy tried to stand his ground despite shaking like a leaf.

Thrane covered his face with his hands and groaned.

“You could have died!” he exclaimed.

The boy hung his head and mumbled, barely audible, “If… if it works, then at least one person can leave this place. Even if I die, something will come out of it.”

They all looked at him in somber silence.

Thrane sighed and told the other two villagers, “Go scout the area, then bury this thing. Make sure to cover the smell and blood as best as you can.” 

They nodded in acknowledgment.

He then turned back to the boy and paused before saying, “Just come with us for now. You’ll spend the night here.”

“Great! Thanks for having me.”

“We are not having you. We’ll take you back tomorrow.”

“What! Thrane, don’t be like dad. I’m not going to get in your way. Just let me join you.”

“We don’t have time to go back,” Erik said with a serious expression.

On top of that, this spiderweb armor… we should test it. It might be useful.

Thrane grimaced and mumbled, “You’re right. The chief is already getting everyone ready to leave. We need the water.”

His gaze moved to the Nilgrim, and then he gave the boy a hard look.

“Well, you were a little helpful just now… Alright, listen. You will do what you are told, to the rune! If we tell you to run, you run. If we tell you to hide, you hide! Got it?”

Endur nodded vigorously with a big grin.

“Do you mind if I have the Blood Crystal?” Erik asked, his eyes shining as he stared at the dead Nilgrim. He still regretted not being able to dig up the ones from the Nilgrim that were killed in the city. He wasn’t about to let this opportunity pass him.

“Go ahead, we’ll go back inside,” Thrane said.

I suppose they don’t really need it. No one to trade them with after all, and their Talents most likely reached full saturation on their own.

So he gladly got to hacking and slashing. And after a few dozen morbid heartbeats of butchery, he held yet another Blood Crystal. Without hesitating, he crushed it and absorbed the essence. Another invigorating wave washed over him. It felt so good that he was afraid he might get addicted to the feeling. And it was even better since he did not receive any Blood Rune for killing the Mischief.

I was probably not the one to land the killing blow.

He examined his Talent Rune and those of his Skill and Ability. They had come significantly closer to completion. Even if he didn’t kill anything else, in a few days, they would be fully saturated on their own.

He went back inside with his two skeletons following him.

“Are you going to bring—raise?—or whatever another one of those?” Thrane asked, eyeing his minions.

“No, I need to recover my essence. I’ll do it in the morning.”

Silence settled as they rested.

After a while, the other two villagers came back and reported that there were no other signs of creatures nearby.

“Good.”

“We’ll take shifts on watch,” Thrane said.

Erik nodded. “That’s fine, I’ll take first.”

“No way! I am not falling asleep with you and your… vile creatures watching us.”

Erik stared at the villager impassively. Thankfully, he didn’t have to say anything as Thrane stepped in.

“That’s enough! Erik will take first. If you don’t like it, go back and explain it to the chief.”

The annoying villager grumbled again but seemed to calm down.

Everyone settled in for the night.

Erik's shift was uneventful. He spent most of it staring at the night sky. Here and there, he could make out a distant star through the dark clouds. He was grateful for the moment of silence. There was so much happening lately that he felt like he didn't have a moment to clear his mind.

After some time, he woke up one of the villagers, the quietest one in the lot. Who only nodded in return and took up his share of the duty.

“Stand watch over there and wake me if you see any creatures outside,” he ordered his minions.

Then he settled in himself, trying to get some sleep.

But it wasn’t long before the silent darkness of his rest morphed into a vivid dream…

***

The young boy had just left his friend’s house and was on his way home. He was still frustrated that lately, they had not been allowed to leave the neighborhood at all, forced to spend most of their time playing inside each other’s homes.

“What’s all the fuss about? The totems are guarding the town. No monsters can get inside!”

He kicked a rock and watched it bounce, but his frustration evaporated as he turned the corner.

His parents were standing outside their front door.

And they were talking to a mountain of steel—a massive warrior fully clad in fearsome armor.

Erik was at a loss for words. He gawked at the magnificence of what he saw.

The warrior’s armor was made from dark metal, with runes running in lines down his arms, legs, and the middle of his torso and back. A ferocious emblem of a wolf’s head dominated the center of his chest, while other wolf motifs covered the rest of his armor. Large runes interwoven with them pulsated on the back of his hands, the middle of his chest, and his spine.

Skulls—of slain beasts and humans—swayed from his belt, each one covered in runes as well. Wooden talismans hung from different parts of the armor, and a large wooden totem, carved with silently screaming monster faces, was tied to his back.

Two glorious swords in intricate scabbards were strapped to his belt, each nearly as long as Erik himself.

None of the small chinks in the armor, the minute amounts of dirt, or the soot in its crevices diminished its awe-inspiring ferocity.

The boy’s imagination ran wild. What battles had this warrior fought? What creatures had he faced? What had he seen?

M-magnificent! he thought in awe.

At first, Erik just stood there, gawking at their visitor. Then he snapped back to his senses and ran to his parents.

As he got closer, he overheard a bit of what they were saying.

”… you may have retired from the Ulednar, but your duty does not end.” A thick, deep voice rumbled from the warrior.

“You will not tell us whe—” his father started saying, his voice unlike anything Erik had ever heard. It made his hair stand on end.

“Mom! Dad!”

They glanced at him but immediately turned their attention back to their guest.

Are they admiring the armor as well? They must have been talking about it…

As he got closer, his mother pulled him behind her and said quietly, “Go inside, dear.”

She said it in a very calm way—too calm. It was eerie. Erik had never heard her speak like that before. It left no room for discussion.

But he was too curious, and he peeked from behind his mother for a moment. The slits in the great helm of the warrior glowed with orange light, like the eyes of a bear at night—the eyes of a hunter. A predator!

That gaze turned in Erik’s direction, and his heart quickened as he broke out in a cold sweat. Terror overwhelmed him before his mother moved with lightning speed to cover him again, blocking him from view.

“YOU DAR—” His father’s roar of fury cut through the air, and in the next moment, everything dissolved back into darkness…

***

Erik woke up with a start, covered in sweat and breathing heavily. Every detail of the dream was still fresh and vivid in his mind.

Thrane, who was standing guard near the door, looked around in a slight panic, but when he didn’t see anything wrong, he gave Erik a quizzical look.

The young man just shook his head, and the villager returned his attention to the outside.

His heart was still beating wildly. The terror he felt was still there, lingering.

Was that a Ulednar in our hometown…? Why didn’t I remember that before?

Erik felt very confused. He tried to recall any memories about it, but to no avail.

This is so strange. Are these memories or just dreams?... Maybe my Awakening is doing something to me, helping me remember something… or this Whisper is worse than I thought, and it's messing with my mind. Hmm, Freya isn't having any such issue...

After that, he couldn’t fall asleep, and his thoughts kept turning and bringing him back to the dream. He ended up just waiting until the morning came.