UnTamed

Chapter 3

The screams were drowned by the rain, the odor of death hidden by the shower, this was the perfect hunting ground for the wendigo. I spun around confused by the muffled sounds of footsteps that seemed to circle me, the rain; no help to my vision either.
FOCUS BOY! The wolfs call strangely cleared my head. I managed a deep breath, straining my senses. A splash in a puddle at my left made me drop, the wendigo's abnormally long arms stretched out above me. Spinning to face it and instinctively throwing a blow, my arm plunged elbow-deep into its exposed rotten flesh, the organs spraying pus and what I wanted to believe was water all over my arm and the ground by me, waves of nausea- the ones my previous rage had clouded before -threatened to knock me over. Willing it, mana shot off my arm blowing its back out and throwing the rotted entrails all over the wet grass. It collapsed in front of me, its left-over bowels showing off the parts of the camp members it had eaten. Tilting my elbow to have the rain rinse the crap from my arm, I glanced at the camp, frowning at the strange thought- no, it was more like something I just knew -that the people were all dead by now. A growl I noticed too late caused me to spin- and slip -as a jaw barely hanging firm with its rotting muscles widened just in front of my face.
I jolted up clutching my chest, cold sweat coating my body. I sighed- The nightmares just wont stop. Is this some way of that voice from my death reminding me that I failed the people at the camp? I wonder if Yonghoo survived -I wiped my brow and glanced around meeting the wolfs- I meant Styrkur as he called himself -eyes.
"What?" I asked turning away from him
"I was wondering how long you were going to sleep in" he replied in a low voice
"I'll be ready in a sec." I stated taking off my loose sleeping wear. Pausing before putting on my shirt, I inspected my body; a long scar ran across the side of my abs, a "trophy" from the wendigo assault, another unsightly one on my chest. It looked like a star from a kid's coloring book. I had a hunch about the cause but I had never gotten the chance to confirm it.
Turning to Styrkur, I swallowed- a part of me didn't want to know the answer but I had to find out -and asked "Did I die during the wendigo battle?"
"Of course, you did. Did you think that in your first time using mana, you would defeat a horde of one of the best man-hunters in the middle of heavy rain? I'm surprised you were able to take some of them head-on in the first place and kill them." Styrkur stated lowering his head as he rested. The entire death thing was a blur but now that he had spelt it out to me I could remember it clearly. I eyed my arm, the scar from its bite had faded mostly, there was no need to go out of my way to hide it. Holding my head as a headache set in, I sighed and put on my t-shirt and my rag-like cloak around it. It was the same thing that happened with the chimera. I remembered that it killed me but it was vague. How it happened and what happened a few moments before was unknown to me.
Maybe its some sort of defense mechanism so I wont go insane
"I've changed a lot in three months. I'm not as weak as I was then." I stated, tying up my lengthy brown hair.
"Well you look more like a homeless person compared to before and you've been having that nightmare for three months, boy." He said his eyes still shut and his voice nothing more than a low rumble. I carried my bags frowning at his comment.
"Lets get going." I stated climbing on Styrkur's back
"I'm letting you ride upon me because you've proved you're not as pitiful as before." He stated knocking down the wall to expose the bodies of several redcaps.
"Scottish goblins." I muttered staring at their carcasses as vultures fed on them. Styrkur glanced at me sighing "You humans go all the way to classify even beasts by your different myths?"
"Yes, that's exactly how it works. The beasts have different depictions depending on who's telling the story." I answered bluntly, covering my nose from the stink that had become familiar; that of the dead. Styrkur's face scrunched up, I couldn't tell if he was disgusted at the smell of carcasses or my statement.
"Hold on." Ending his statement, he dashed forward, leaping over and through the ruins of Seoul's outskirts. We planned to get to a popular market in Banghwa-dong where I could restock my supplies. Nearing the airport, I noticed several watchmen observing any travelers approaching. Styrkur stopped and retracted into my shadow- Because yeah, he could do that.