Chapter 2: The Gift of the Forest

In a small town in the ancients forest where 80 years ago the Germanesh fought off the Thesians tall men and women aswell as children with and without tattoos on their backs go after their everyday lives in this remotest of remote places. A 3 metres tall brown haired man packed with muscle and axes as tattoos walks back into the village carrying logs of wood. Not small ones, but 10 metres long and one metre thick. He carried them on his broad shoulders without breaking into sweat. The children were between one and 2 metres tall and most adults measured about 3 metres. Everyone was working on their respective craft. Farmers, carpenters, woodcutters, basket makers, potters, hunters and many more. The total population could be estimated at around 200 inhabitants and 40 families. The huts are made of stone and wood. Strong fundaments and beautiful walls of stone and wood decorated with carvings and drawings or runes topped of by roofs made of bark or straw. There was a single plastered road and on its sides the houses stood in 2 rows. At the end of the road were on one side the chieftains house which was large and imposing, double the size of all other houses. It serves as a meeting place for the family heads and major ceremonies like the coming of age ceremony. In front of the chiefs hut there is a marketplace. Besides the chieftains house, surrounding the marketplace are barracks and training yards.

In the yard in front of the barracks a 16 year old boy with long black hair, pale white skin and ice blue eyes is sparring with a girl about the same age as him. Shes slender, but her body looks full of energy. Her hair is fiery red and her eyes are ice blue. Neither of the 2 has any tattoos. The girl is fighting with 2 sickles and the boy swings a huge falchion. "Come on Rose, Im gonna fall asleep if you continue to attack with those boring patterns." the youth called Robert laughs at her. Her reply is a quick dash towards him. She deflects a strike of his and slips past the sword. She drops the sickles and tackles him to the ground. "Hah, you got a long way to go until you can beat this young lady!" with a girlish, bright smile she stands up and looks down on him before offering him a hand. Robert takes Roses hand, but instead of standing up he pulls her hand downwards and starts wrestling with her. After a minute or so of rolling around they come to a halt and lay on their backs, sweating and giggling.

These two teenagers were the son and daughter of the 2 biggest warrior houses of the town. The two have been friends ever since they were kids. Rose, the fiery daughter of Freydran and Robert, the dark son of Thorvald.

After their small match in the dirt Robert was drenched in sweat and covered in dirt top to bottom. "By Donar, this girl is truly wild" he thinks to himself with a smile as he walked to the river 2 miles from the village to wash himself. He undressed and jumped into the cold water. His body felt refreshed. First it grew cold, but as he adjusted his breathing it got more bearable. His body may have looked slim, but his muscles were toned. As toned as a young man white as snow can be. He was sitting in the water, enjoying the cold. "In two days Ill finally be 16 and the ancestor will bestow Donars blessing on me!" he thought in anticipation. The tattoos on the bodies of Germanesh are a big part of their power. At each warriors coming of age ceremony at the age of 16 the eldest of the village will carve the flesh of the child with the ritual knife allowing the energy of the holy oak, Donar, to enter their bodies, thus turning them into adults.

Robert thought of a story he was told back when he was 12 and sat by the fire with his father:

"Thousands of years ago this land was a desert. Nothing grew or lived in this part of the world. Only sand as far as the eye can see. In this barren land a single oak sapling stood on a small sandy hill. How this sapling got there? No one knows. Weeks of sun and drought passed by, but the oak sapling still stood there, devoid of any harm. This was until a man from the western kingdoms travelled through the desert. He was close to succumbing to wounds covering his body the heat as his water supplies were running low. He reached the place where the oak sapling stood. The man at his wits end stood before the oak sapling in the middle of unending drought and sand, looking perplexed. "A sapling in this place? This must be a miracle. I am dying... Let me give life to this tree as the last thing I do." He decides to pour his remaining water onto the sapling. He then sacks together and drops on the ground. Alive but in a state hovering between sleep, unconciousness and death. Like a sponge the sapling sucks up all the water poured on it. As it did, green light started descending from the sky and landing on the oak sapling, nourishing it. The sapling starts to grow.... and grow .... and grow. Over the course of the next 2 days the oak tree has grown into a towering force of nature. The energy of the sun bestowed upon it by nature itself pitying the small sapling allowed it to grow into a mighty ruler among trees. Hundreds of metres tall. A strong and firm oak with roots imparted deeply into the ground. This tree continued absorbing energy from the stars and through its roots starts to change the surrounding ground with visible speed. The sand turns into earth and water starts springing out of the ground as new wells form. The oak tree spreads its saplings all around it forming a forest within a short period of time. All this while the tree protects the man in a hole in its trunk. The hole is about 10 metres wide and 5 metres high. In the middle is a small bed of wood and moss. On it lies the man, gently breathing. His name was Germanor and he is the ancestor of our folk. The tree nourishes his body with its energy, for he was the one to give it life. His body, that was covered in wounds before was now covered by green tattoos in the places of the slashes and gushes. The green on his body in addition to his brown hair had an energetic luster, seemingly making the tattoos come alive. When the man stood up he also realised, that he had grown to a towering 3 metres. He looked around and did not know what had happened. This was when the tree spoke to him and these were its words:"Thank you human. I am called Donar. Your self sacrifice has allowed me to grow. I am a child of Donar, the tree of all trees. I am his roots, thus, I am him. You have done a meritous deed and thus I have rewarded you. My powers are great, but us astral trees are a peaceful species. You will be my protector from this day on! Ive bestowed upon you the "Gift of the Forest", making you stronger than any normal human ever could be. Grow stronger than anybody else!" and so Germanor stepped out of the tree and saw the ancients forest. A lush, rich forest as far as eyes can reach. And this is how the Germanesh came into being my son."

Robert remembered that he just sat there looking at his father with big round eyes. This forest they were all living in was the exact forest their ancestor and Donar have created. They need to protect it and in 2 days he too would gain the "Gift of the Forest" to protect the last remnants of his kin. Robert thought back to past stories about the strongest Germanesh warriors called "Wrath of the Forest" and sighed. He wanted to make the old tribe of the Germanesh rise again, never to fall.

He walked out of the river and let the sun dry himself. He then dressed and started to walk back in the direction of the village. This was before he heard a loud roar echoing through the air. This was the sound of a battlecry. Hastily Robert runs towards the village to see what was going on. Over sticks and stones he flies back to the village. As it came into view he could see blue fire covering all houses of the place he lived in. Above his house he could see his father levitating, covered in blood and his tattoos lit, with 2 axes in his hands roaring at the skies before slashing down at his enemy. In the air were tens of men covered with grey, hooded robes. One couldnt see their faces. Only blue flames where the eyes should be. They were carrying a variety of weapons that were lit with their burning energy. Ruthlessly they were assaulting the men, women and children of the tribe, killing and burning in the process. A women came running in Roberts direction only to be ingulfed by blue flames and incinerated to ashes a hundred metres before him. As Robert was about to storm to the village without thought he hears something sound out in his brain.

"Child. Leave. You are without power."

An invisible force was seemingly blocking Rober from advancing. After trying for a few seconds he realised what hes doing and with tears in his eyes turns around, abandoning his home. As he ran he heard the agonised cries of his father and the other warriors making their last stand. Without looking back he runs deeper and deeper into the forest as fast as his legs can carry him.

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