Of Witches And Wolves

2."Magic songs they sung, rode on wolves the god and gods."

Asulfr and I walked and talked for nearly an hour before reaching Lady Affore's manor. I was beside myself with new sights and people and of course the magic. It wasn't everywhere but it was present. It usually hid itself in the architecture, towers of white stone standing defiantly in the sky, bridged and arched from each of the giant elder trees well past what is possible.

He'd made the walk wonderful. Pointing to every landmark that would catch his eye. It did wonders for me at the time. There was so much information I didn't have time to panic. I was able to compress the panic deeper into my chest.

I love that marvelous mountain of a man. He is very much one of my rocks.

That walk would be the last normal thing I did for some time. Unfortunately the days and weeks after waking up were a hellish blur. For weeks it was nothing but nightmare after nightmare. I would often wake up screaming and shouting. And of course some nights were worse than others, but that's the healing process or so I'm told.

My path as a witch started one of those wicked nights. I'd run face to face with the thing Asulfr warned me about.

The welcomed snow stiffened as ice pecked at my window. Eventually the pecks gave way to slams as hail battered against the sun side of the manor. A storm had appeared essentially out of nowhere. Flashes of lightning followed by a slow roll of thunder encompassed Feylinhall from all sides. Horns had begun to blow and loud bells rang out.

I'd blown out my candle and crept over to the window. In the Frey you could see a tornado coming for miles and I'd become desensitized to storms. I'd found them amusing for some time even. However this storm was different, it was directionless. The entirety of the storm swirled towards the city itself. I'd assumed it was magic and I had assumed correctly, I just wasn't aware of the gravity that night would bring. The bells and horns got louder as lanterns grew closer and closer to the district I had been staying in.

The storm stopped as abruptly as it had started and with the last lightning flash I'd seen it. A failed revenant. It's body was an amalgamation of pale limbs with waterlogged features and bloated skin. The first glimpse I got was the monster crawling into a shattered window of the manor next to us. I'd shrieked in horror. Then the creature was gone, as was the light. I sprinted to the bedside to grab my candle and ran back to the window striking it multiple times. I'd got the candle burning to look up and see a pair of twinned faces smeared together pressed against the window. I locked eyes with its two faces and we both stood in silence until it shrieked and smashed its head through the window. It was a sucking shriek as if it'd made the sound while taking its breath. I'd scrambled down the stairs as it crawled on five limbs in a snaking motion. Limbs twisted with two long fingers dragging the floor covered in blood. I threw my candle and sprinted out the door, screaming. It momentarily writhed in pain as the flame and limited hot wax splashed across its face. I laid in the snow sweating. I felt as if my body was going to catch fire. It pounced on top of me and lifted me up by the waist before the other arms grabbed my wrists and legs. It leaned in and began sniffing me before dropping me. Hooves then pounded through the snow as the creature turned its head in time for it to be separated from the rest of its body. The body writhed and shook before it charged at a few of the other armored horsemen. Knocking them off of their horses with wild swings.

"Another head somewhere," The lead horseman shouted.

I sat crunched and hiding against a stoop buried in snow. The burning sensation calming.

"Yah, yah," the captain shouted as they pulled their reins back.

The horse reared back and charged the monster. I'd watched as the creature's extra arms shoved the rider off of the horse. Their helmet tumbled off into the snow. In that moment I saw Yggdra. Her horse pulled back and striked at the beast with both hooves. The others pushed spears into the monster as it had been distracted. Yggdra slid under the monster, gliding her sword through the beast's knees and up one side of its side. A face screamed out in pain as a layer of fat slid off it's side.