Wolves Forest

Signs

I woke up little by little, the light coming back around me as I slowly sat my body on the edge of the bed. I noticed that I was in bed in the city ward and it took me a few minutes trying to understand why... Then the memories of the night before came back with everything, a dark shadow, a frightening howl, life draining from the eyes of my friend right in front of me, a yellowish gleam of cruel eyes, huge teeth stuck in my arm, warm blood running down my back ... On an impulse I sat on the bed and raised my arm to my back; my right arm was bandaged as was my torso. I Survived. Tears traced a path across my face, carrying the sadness of a loss and the relief of still being alive.

I got up from the bed and noticed that there were two other beds occupied by what looked like corpses. My heart was pounding when I recognized one of the bodies as Belrom, and the other body belonged to Laurent, the leatherman; I was not so close to him, but I knew him and he was always someone who brought joy to the village.

Anger filled me when I thought of that creature, now more than never I knew it was not just an ordinary animal, that creature's gaze had the hatred and cruelty present only in intelligent, sentient creatures, like humans, elves, and dwarves. That monster was hunting ingeniously and it would come back. My vision started to confuse me at that moment, for a moment everything around me became extremely sharper and clearer, I could see the wool threads on the sheets, I noticed the little fly flying across the room, in the corner of my vision I noticed Natalia, the healer entering the room. When I turned to her my eyes failed, it felt like the ground was coming towards me as the world went black again.

The second time I woke up, Natalia was nearby working on some herbs. She looked at me and said:

- You woke up again, see if you lie down this time. You're too hurt to be giving me trouble trying to walk around alone and causing me more worry! Wait here, and I'll call your family in a moment.

- Sorry about that, and thanks for taking care of my wounds. -I replied, while trying to organize the recent facts in my head.

A few minutes later my family entered the room and I put these thoughts aside. My mother seeing that I was alive and doing well, turned to my father crying with relief on his shoulder. My father gave me a slight smile, while my two little siblings came almost crushing me with painful but comforting hugs.

- Let him breathe children, he is still hurt you know?-Natalia interrupted.

At that very moment heat filled my heart when Kassandra ran through the door; her long, messy blond hair behind her, her eyes shining with tears of sadness and joy at the same time when she saw me. My fiancee approached the bed wiping her tears; even with the mess of her hair and red eyes from crying, she was as beautiful as ever.

- Don't scare me like that, you idiot! -she said while hugging me.

- Ah, I missed you too Kass ...

I was happy at that moment, but a spark of sadness, fear, and anger tormented me deep in my soul as I thought ... I turned aside and was surprised to see that the corpses that were there before they were nowhere to be found. I turned to my father:

- Where did Belrom and Laurent's body go?

- Ben, you are unconscious for 4 days, the bodies were cleaned and taken to prepare a funeral at the end of the week. -he replied with a look of grief.

Days passed and, despite the healer's warnings, I got up and went to help others prepare for funerals. At that time my father got the villagers together to discuss the creature, after all, I was the first to get a good look at the animal and survive. I explained to them, with anger showing in my voice, that what I saw was not an ordinary animal or even an atrocious wolf, but an intelligent creature, with almost conscious eyes, a monster with traces of beast and humanoid shape, with superhuman strength. I was startled when I said that and thought I felt a familiar smell nearby, the smell of the beast ... I looked around, fear and despair settling in my soul, but I found nothing. Thinking I was just scared and imagining things, I turned my senses to the discussion in front of me.

When the week was over I attended the funeral in the village, and I gave a few words of respect for my late friend.

- Belrom was a great friend, almost from the family. He was always creating interesting sculptures and equipment that no one but him understood what they were for. With regret, I remember his departure, but with joy, we must remember... -as I spoke, my senses changed again, my vision allowing me to see the tears running down Belrom's mother's cheek, my ears perceiving the noise of children playing at a few blocks away, innocently unaware of the seriousness of the event, I could smell the blood below the earth and for a moment my voice failed- we must remember ... remember h-happier times and their smiles during his life. - I finished saying and ran back to Kassandra's side, anguish for the death of my friend and fear of whatever was happening to me.

After days I searched for information about the creature I saw in the village tavern, the only place with interesting books, left there by adventurers and traveling storytellers. Unfortunately the book collection there was small and contained few books on magical creatures. Exhausted, I left this research aside for the moment, worrying about the marriage that was approaching, Kassandra and I were with a joy that lessened the sadness caused by the recent losses, and I would not let some changes in my senses get in the way; after all, it shouldn't be anything, right? I'm just seeing better, hearing better, and smelling things better than I should ... I'm sure it must be just my senses reacting to that night, trying to adapt to the dangers or something.