Chapter 3: Chapter 2

As I lay on my back, my eyes crept open to a star-strewn night. The icy wind brushed my skin with its sting as the season’s first snow fluttered down on me. I raised my hand, catching flakes on my palm as the other ice crystals passed between my fingers, landing on my face. Their contact with my skin dissolved them, aiding the breeze’s sharpness. October was a tad early for snowfall.

The ground was just as cold, and my breath was visible as I peeled my damp self from the dingy forest floor to a sitting position. I glanced up at the stars again before my eye drifted to the two moons, which were three-fourths full, improving my visibility for the trip home. My only company was the trees’ shadows and the branches sweeping against each other.

I had never been in the forest at night. Father was strict about us coming in before dark. While I wasn’t too concerned, I was nervous about staying in one spot for too long. Putting the nightstalkers aside, wolves were abundant in this region. There were bears, too, but they were less aggressive and becoming lazy as winter drew near.

Speaking of nightstalkers, I couldn’t help but feel dread as I knew the walk back home would take me near the stalkers’ cave. It was impossible to get around without hiking for hours out of the way. Hunger and thirst had made themselves known, and I needed to return to Yuridia and Mother soon. I couldn’t stop. The path of danger was my only option.

After gingerly climbing to my feet, I began my tedious journey home. The large moon and the small one peeking out from behind it lit my way through the forest sufficient for the walk home. My body felt like rubbish but wasn’t as terrible as before. The glowing window was no longer in my face, making me question my sanity—again.

All of that was beyond my imagination.

Even though there were few howls in the distance, they sounded far enough away that I was not concerned. Despite this, my pace increased with purpose. The trees had become solid now, and I confirmed that by colliding with them several times when clouds obscured the moons’ light. I whimpered as the collisions exacerbated my aches and amplified my remorse for not leaving with Yuridia.

My adventure had now become a regret.

On the subject of pain, I could not wait to return home so Yuridia could properly yell at me. A slap was likely after returning so late. I loved my sister, but she worried about things with too much enthusiasm. She was two years older than me but acted like a mother—Mother was already too much of a thorn in my side. I didn’t need her doppelgänger yelling at me, too.

A fast pace of walking took me at least an hour to arrive at the lording cave, whose rock sickles resembled the jaws of a wolf, baring its teeth. Bats flew in and out between the stone fangs squeaking, as if something had spooked them. The musty urine smell reaching from the entrance was still potent, even with the cold air weighing it down. Why these nightstalkers would choose to live in such a disgusting place was beyond me. This wasn’t the only cave around. There might have already been something occupying the others, but, with how everyone feared these monsters, no beast in this forest would be a challenge for it.

While hiding behind the white bark trees, I kept an eye on the opening, trying not to attract the nightstalker’s attention. That, without a doubt, would be my end, especially without a weapon, which reminded me I had completely forgotten my satchel—damn it. There was no way I was heading back to get it, even if I had a knife in there. I was freezing and needed a fire soon. Even without the nightstalkers around, it would be ridiculous to stop now.

When I was at a safe distance, I turned my back to the cave and hurried towards town. Typically, I would have seen the village lights between the trees by now. I thought maybe I had gotten turned around, but my stride was in line with home.

I was sure of this.

As strange as it seemed, I saw no monsters around. I would not complain, but… everything was unsettling quiet, and I felt uncomfortable.

Father described the nightstalkers as rabid animals with mouthfuls of teeth that attacked anything that moved. He made it seem that if I left the house at night, they would ambush me the moment I crossed the door’s threshold. Apparently, they could not enter a home without permission, which begs the question of why anyone found themselves getting eaten by them. It seemed odd that these beasts would abide by such an arbitrary concept.

Suppose I encountered an outhouse and entered to relieve myself. Could they interrupt my shitting, or would I have to invite them in? That was an insightful question. It’s something that should be a law of nature as well. No one should worry about their safety when squatting. I laughed at my own humour, which was probably only amusing to me.

The smirk on my face soon faded from my lips as I came to a slow stop. A pure black wolf stepped in front of me, tilting its head with blazing red eyes as its giant paws crunched the snow under them. Its ebony fur was dusted with white powder, which now flurried down with weight. I was terrified and paralysed with fear, expecting to be ripped to pieces by the chest-high beast at any moment. But it just sniffed the air, glimpsing towards the village before shuffling in the opposite direction. It glanced back at me a few times before it vanished into the woods.

There was a moment of reflection on my choices today. In addition to escaping death from the crystal, I also saw the Hound of Hell. As much as I tried to make sense of its appearance as natural, the folklore my father had read to my sister and me described such an animal in exact detail. Why did I see this apparition? It seemed death had not yet finished playing with me.

As I stepped from the embrace of the forest to the unlit town, I realised what was happening. A ‘stalkers had entered the village. We had gone so many nights without incident that I had hoped this wasn’t the case on my arrival.

Moving quick but with apprehension, I passed through the raging snow and pressed myself against the nearest log cabin. I surveyed the area before sneaking into a crouched position toward our farmhouse on the other side of the village. It was difficult to see now as the blizzard blocked a significant amount of moonlight. Everything felt strange as I dashed between the buildings, peeking in the windows and seeing no one.

I made it to the other side of the village, staring at the field of darkness I must pass to make it home. The distance between the town and the farm was about three miles of open space. The wind thrashed me around as I marched forward, obstructing its strike with my arm over my face. My free hand reached out every so often, touching the wood fence that ran along the side of the road to ensure I didn’t get turned around.

Freezing and tired, I arrived at my house. I trudged around the corner of our home with my hand on the damp log wall before peering towards the barn. The stable door was cracked open, and I glanced around, afraid, but saw nothing outside.

The moon’s light weakly reflected off an iron axe blade sitting jammed in a log by the house’s back door. I, without hesitation, grabbed the wood handle, pulling it from the wood as I heard a movement in the barn. My father and I dug a cellar to hide in before he left for the war. Yuridia and Mother would be there if ‘stalkers came into town. While it would be difficult to see in the barn, grabbing a lantern from the house and lighting it would be foolish. The ‘stalkers would just swarm me. The only reason I made it this far was thanks to the snow veil. If I could just slip into the cellar, that would be the best-case scenario.

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I kept the axe ready to swing in my right hand before carefully walking over to the barn’s double doors, leaving snow prints behind me. With a gentle push, I opened the entrance, and the rusted hinges made a skin-crawling creak. Sheepishly I stepped into the building and glanced around, witnessing nothing but the shape of iron farm tools and the chained hooks father used to butcher deer with. The chains clanked as they rocked back and forth, and the frigid wind howled through the opened doors, escorting snow inside.

There was already a decent amount of snow in here, blanketing the inside as it crunched under my boots. I looked at the roof with a person-sized hole that gave me soft visibility from the moonlight. This either meant that nightstalkers could enter a house uninvited or that the rule only applied to homes. Either way, answering my question from before.

A noise above me caught my attention, but I saw nothing in the rafters. I inched back, staring at the empty ceiling. My heart felt like it was pounding out of my chest as I took quick, shallow breaths. Just as my nerves settled, I heard the floorboards of the barn’s loft flex, causing my eyes to dart over to the ladder. A chill cascaded down my spine, and I swung the axe back without hesitation for it to pass through the air, almost coming out of my hand from the sheer power of the swing. I stumbled from momentum as something moved in the rafters, causing me to hold the axe up as I regained my balance.

“Hello?” I said, trying not to show fear, but it was already too late; my tone was unsteady. “You’re not supposed to be in here,” I continued as if the nightstalkers cared about trespassing. Of course, my words fell on deaf ears. “I won’t ask again. Get out.” The axe shook in my hand as my breathing sped up, and there was a lump in my throat at every swallow.

The room was so dark and quiet that it was maddening as my ears rang from its silence. An overwhelming smell that reminded me of decaying fish filled the air. My hand tightened around the handle as the wood above creaked again and again and again. Something was above me, and it had confidence. It wasn’t trying to be quiet anymore.

A heavy thump from behind froze me in place. I waited to swing this time. The stalker would run and hide again if I attacked too early, and I was sure that the intruder thought I was no longer a threat. That would be its downfall. I wasn’t strong, but a hit to the neck would… hopefully be enough to kill it.

As the footsteps finally became too much to bear, I swung, but it lost power as I locked eyes with the moonlit monster of nightmares. Its pitch-black eyes twitched as horror rushed over me like freezing water. The monster’s head slowly tilted to an unnatural angle as its mouth of teeth salivated, dropping a black fluid onto the snow, creating steam from its contact. I froze as the nightstalkers’ hand with long black nails crept toward my face before the grey-skinned palm touched my nose.

Snapping back to reality, I slammed the axe through its forearm, expunging it.

The monster stumbled back, letting out an ear-piercing wail that almost took me to the ground as I put my hands over my ears, dropping the axe to the floor. My heart slammed against my ribs; every beat caused more fear as my palms became moist.

I succumbed to the scream and dropped to my knees, catching myself with my hand before frantically trying to find the axe. My unprotected ears began bleeding. The wood handle found its way into my palm, and my fingers clutched it. I swung upwards, and the blade lodged into something fleshy, muting the cry with abruptness. An enormous hand grabbed my forearm as black nails sliced into my skin like a freshly sharpened blade. The following jolt of pain sent through my body triggered the glowing window again.

The stalker’s knifed teeth slowly wrapped around my wrist, and I dislodged the blade from its chest with much effort. Then, with one last desperate swing, my wrist cracked under its teeth’s pressure as the axe edge slammed into what I hoped was the monster’s neck. It pierced straight through as the edge violently smashed into the dirt foundation. Its mouth released me, and its head bounced on the ground to a rolling stop.

I fell back and grabbed my wrist, which was broken in multiple places. Moving my fingers intensified the distressing pain, and I whimpered. This break would never reset correctly. I was likely to lose much of my hand’s function. Hunting was now off the table for sure. I would receive no sympathy, considering my curiosity got me into this mess. This stupidity had consequences, and it was a lesson I learned far too late for it to make a difference.

I glanced at the health bar at the top, blinking again. <-1 Severe Bleeding> floated above the bar, informing me of the problems I was already very aware of.

The cellar hatch flung up, slamming down on the other side, and I saw the flaming orange of a torch come out of the ground. Yuridia bolted over and kneeled beside me as she looked at my arm, which was cascading crimson. Blood saturated my clothes as Mother arrived, and her brown eyes stared at my gash. Her hand went over her mouth in disbelief, knowing this was bad.

I looked over at the severed head with long black hair and its jaws still chattered its sharp misshapen teeth. Its limbs were disproportionately long to its torso, making it look malnourished and inhuman. My mother’s and Yuridia’s faces were shaken as they stared at the nightstalker with me.

They were genuinely grotesque monstrosities.

Yuridia placed the torch next to us on the dirt and cupped my face. “Where were you? We were so worried,” she said as her eyes filled with tears. “I thought you were dead.”

“Do we have anything that can control his bleeding? I think I might die if we don’t stop this,” I responded, twisting my face in pain.

Yuridia, panicky, applied pressure to my arm, but the blood continued to flow out from between her fingers like a river. Mother ran into the cellar, looking for anything to help impede the bleeding. I began losing consciousness as darkness filled my vision and tears streamed down Yuridia’s cheeks. Her face showed what I knew was coming. What a pathetic way for things to end. I stared up at the barn’s wood ceiling, spinning in circles. My breathing slowed—almost nonexistent—as I couldn’t understand what they said around me when my mother returned.

And with one last breath, everything became dark, and I accepted my cruel fate.

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