The Witcher The Swallow and The Monster

The Worst Father

(F/N) trudged through the woods after Geralt, he was ten years of age, he glowered at the back of the witcher's head, "Why do I have to do this? I'm not gonna get it." It was a bright sunny day, the birds were chirping, and it smelled like dew.

Geralt didn't even dignify his comment by turning around, "You're going to try." The last few months at Kaer Morhen had been rough, to say the least. After (F/N) had found out he was to become a witcher, he was interested, but after he found out about the extensive training routine he was less than thrilled. (F/N) sighed, he was exhausted from the sword training from last night, "Without any mutations I can't, only magically sensitive beings can."

Geralt walked into the clearing, there were plenty of training dummies around, "You still need to try." The witcher had decided to set up practice dummies to see if the boy could use signs. For witchers and magically sensitive beings, it was difficult, but for other beings it was nearly impossible. But it taught determination. Geralt remembered when he had been forced to perform the Ignii sign, it had taken him well over a week, before he saw so much as a spark, but it made him more patient when working on other skills. (F/N) needed that, there was no question, Geralt had come close many times to trying to kill the boy, Lambert had already tried twice, but Vesemir and Eskel had to drag him away.

(F/N) let out an annoyed sigh, as he lazily made the gesture for the Aard sign, he looked at Geralt, "There I tried, can we go back to the fortress."

The witcher glared at the young boy, "Try again, or I'll throw you over my knee and tan your behind with my belt buckle." (F/N) sighed and kept making the gesture, and pushing his hand forward, he didn't understand why he was being forced to do this, he wasn't a witcher, he hadn't heard of someone who hadn't gone through the mutations and been able to use any witcher signs. (F/N) stood there for a while making the sign, but nothing happened, the boy grumbled for a while, muttering about how stupid this was. The woods ominously chirped. The boy didn't realize he was being watched. Finally, he turned to Geralt, "Can't I do something that I'll actually be able to use? You can teach me how to use my training sword more effectively."

The witcher sighed, "(F/N) you need to focus, this'll help you..." Geralt paused, he looked at the woods, then spoke, his voice sharp, "Run."

(F/N) tilted his head, wondering why Geralt had stopped, suddenly what smelled like a mix of vanilla and dew wafted through the air, "What's..." Suddenly, what looked to be a woman sprang through the bushes and tackled his master. The small boy jumped in fright, the monster tried to bite Geralt's neck, "That's a...a...a bruxa!" Geralt reached for his sword, and tried to fight the vampire off with his other arm, as they tumbled all over the ground, "Run!"

(F/N) slowly started to walk away, unable to tear his eyes away, not only was he seeing his master fight, but with a higher vampire no less. But what happened next scared him, more than a Bruxa attacking his master. The female vampire looked straight at him, her black hair was a mess, and her pale white skin was filthy, with a low raspy voice she said, "Run...we...will...find."

As soon as she said 'we', (F/N) took off running through the woods, "Vesemir! Eskel! Lambert! Coën!" He was running faster than he had in his life, he was pushing through the leaves so quick, he almost ran into the long grey hand that reached out for him, it had long claws. The young boy stopped immediately and fell down sliding closer to the outstretched talon. (F/N) went pale when he saw what the talon belonged to, it was the biggest monster he had ever seen in person, he had trouble recognizing it, "Katakan." He choked out, he knew he was dead. The creature held it's hand out, it spoke without moving its mouth, "Come, Son of The Fang, do not fear."

(F/N)'s chest was heaving, his eyes were bulging out of his head, the Katakan wasn't looking at him like he was looking at his dinner, but the boy was still scared. (F/N) slowly reached his hand out towards the monster, the Katakan seemed pleased. It's blood stained fangs slowly became visible, "I will take thee to your father."