Drenched with my own sweat, my eyes opened in a gasp of shock. After taking deep breaths to regain the air lost in the moment of my experience, the dim light coming from the windows of my bedroom irritated my eyes for a bit before it dawned on me.
It was just a dream.
Getting out of bed was the hardest part, especially experiencing a vivid nightmare to the point it was almost real to me in the middle of the day. The rest of the memories; those details are not too much of an issue to recall. There is only one thing that bothers me; it was like I had read about the incident in a book or something.
As I sat on the edge of my bed, I stared down on my opened palms, wondering how I could forgive myself for not only betraying my allies, but also having to leave my childhood friends for my own selfish desire to survive.
Monsters…Am I one to be called as such? Do I even deserve to be called human? Even now, after years of solitude in spending time with my family, I still do not understand the meaning of the word. How could I ever forget what happened to me? It is not only my body that had become scarred and warped, but so did my soul.
No, I should not stop thinking about negative thoughts like this. I still remember the talk with my daughter and wife that they will always be on my side regardless of the darkness and obstacles that may be placed on my life.Wiping the sweat of my face, I stand up, trying to hold my breathing in steady pace to calm myself; to keep the tears from falling. Slowly, I walked towards the window, gazing at the view of the snow-covered mountains. Inhaling a calming breath, I turn back to look at the clock—6:30 AM.
It’s breakfast, I’m sure that Eve is already preparing the delicious meal of bacon and eggs or something along the lines. Just like every morning she would be busy in the kitchen. A smile crosses my lips as I reminisce of the times we shared together.
Enough of that now, I need to head down and start my new day as usual. Hopefully, nothing crazy will happen today. Carefully, I walk down the stairs and step into the kitchen where everything is spotless, and to top it off, there is a plate full of pancakes and sausage; both were cooked by my wife.
Everyone is on the table except Skoll. I wonder why he didn’t join us.
“Good morning my love!” Eve happily greets as soon as she saw me.
“Hey dad!” Lilim says in bubble of energy.
“Oi, lad! How’s it going with ya?” The leprechaun, Clover, casually asked.
Smiling, I reply with an amused tone, “I was just about to ask you guys the same,” walking towards the table and sitting down. The atmosphere of the room was filled with the smell of freshly made breakfast, dining on my plate.We ate, spoke and laugh in mundane conversation, like always; and eventually, after finishing the food and cleaning our dishes, everyone went back to do their own thing. Clover was simply eating more food than I expected, my wife and daughter are currently in the living room watching some old cartoon.
Bored out of my mind, I decided to start topic with Clover about Skoll’s whereabouts, although I should know that the big bad wolf is outside, hunting in whatever forest he could find and hunt or fight dangerous animals.
“Is Skoll doing his hunting again?” Still remaining on my seat, Clover who was currently surveying the food in our refrigerator has not taken a piece of food yet, too busy staring inside the appetizing cold edibles.
Having heard my question, he responded back albeit not moving away from his spot, “aye, lad! He is outside, but I don’t think he is out there hunting just yet.” That made me curious; why.
Scratching my head, “he is still out there? Is that what you are saying,” I inquired, lamely.
“Why don’t yer grab those ass of yours and see him for yourself?”
He has a point, and it is like a command from an older sibling. Getting up, I proceed to the front door, opening it and stepped out into the cold. Cold? It’s actually pretty warm since the rising sun is up there. Still, it is snowing like every damn day.
Across the corner of my vision, I can see Skoll raising his hands before striking towards in the air with his iced axe even though there is absolutely nothing in front of him. The sound of his swings and grunts was loud enough to be heard from my distance.Releasing out a heavy sigh, I approach towards him, my footsteps creating crunching sounds. “What are you doing?” Simple question; and obvious answer, of course.
Skoll stopped in mid-swing, sighing the same way I did before answering, “practicing my form of swinging,” he explained with a hint of annoyance, “is there a reason you are out here?” Getting straight to the point of our conversation, I like it.
“Can I come with you? You know, to hunt and stuff?” Nervously asked, unsure if it is a good idea or not. What will be the consequence of me joining his quest of hunting in this blizzard?
However, it is better than staying in the house all day without doing anything other than chatting and watching TV. Not to mention, there is nothing to do; except for cleaning the house that we don’t bother with because of the blizzard. So, it is time for me to go out and do something, anything, to kill this boredom.
He smirked, turning his body to face mine. “If you want to join me for a little while,” his eyes were filled with interest in my request, which made me somewhat excited about it too.
I didn’t want to sound like a whiny brat in case that is how he will take it. “That is not a problem at all,” I replied in the most sincere manner possible.
Then off we go. I was off to follow his trail into the woods. Skoll did not even say anything after that when he made his axes disappear and silently walked off without much of a word. Even though the weather is cold, it felt pleasant; probably due to the excitement of trying something new for once.
As we continued onward, we were already far away from our home. Looking around, the snowfall is not so thick but still, the world became white and it is quiet.
Makes me want to explore the surroundings without him. It feels like there is something calling to me. Something that could be found only in this blizzard. Perhaps it’s a monster. Maybe an alien? A secret underground laboratory where scientists are performing experiments with human subjects.
Hah! What am I bubbling about? This damn forest is driving me nuts.
So far, nothing peculiar or interesting had happened. Some wild animals passed by but they were to fast or hidden from sensing the presence of hunter in their midst. Everything is like this; nothing to do or discover. Nothing but myself and the big guy, and the blizzard, and the snow, and—
I heard a faint cry. Is someone in trouble? The thought of helping someone who is in need, did not properly register my mind of not wanting to get lost in this blizzard. Skoll had his ears perked up, although he did not seemed to care if someone is endangered, so why should I?
Memory of my compassionate father came by. He encouraged me to try to becoming a good man, to help those in need, not to let the world become worse than it is now, to make things change for the better.
Dammit!
“Skoll, wait a minute!” Called him from behind; he turned around to face me with a irritated smile, “is this about that cry of help? We are not here to play hero or to find that person in distress,” he explained to me like a parent to a child. Yet for the sake of his own curiosity, he decided to continue this topic.
“Am I wrong?”
Wrong? No, his not. I am not hero to, but I want to atleast try in being good man for once, just to make my father proud; wherever his currently at.
Shaking my head in disappointment, “can you just do me a favor for this once?” I asked with a sad voice. Skoll is silent for a few seconds, his eyes looking straight into mine. Finally, he answered: “fine, lead the way,” the tone wasn’t pleased at the slightest.
Nodding my head, we casually just walked towards the source instead of running. The obvious reason is to save our energy from the blizzard. There was no need to rush. Meanwhile, we both wanted to investigate and see what’s going on.
The sound grew louder the closer to us.When we finally came closer and see the scene that is playing between our eyes, there appeared to be an abnormally huge polar bear, around 20 feet or more. This guy is huge and the striking appearance of it was like a mix of brown bears and white fur; which is so strange and unusual. Its thick fur covered its entire body and there is not a single inch of flesh or skin exposed to the cold air.
However, what caught our eyes was a girl in the same age as my daughter. She wore a hoodie that she has torn open showing her bare shoulders, with a small short sleeve shirt and light blue jeans underneath. Her blond braided hair fluttered from the wind.
This girl was being cornered by this beast.
Seeing a polar bear this huge or some sub species of it this huge would make most hunters and normal people like myself evade danger. Just the mere sight of him had caused me to fully changed my pursuit of going back home rather than foolishly being the hero.
But not Skoll, his different. He sees his foes as the prey, not the other way around.
Conjuring his iced axes, the werewolf wasted no time charging the speed at full speed before leaping on it’s back, landing on the back of the beast; using his axes to hold onto the wounded creature as it began to try to shake him off with violent swipes of its claws.
The girl was in disbelief and awe of their saviors, and in shock of the fact that they have saved her from this massive and powerful animal. All of the sudden, she collapsed on the ground and started shivering like a leaf before stopping; falling completely on unconsciously.
Ordinarily, I would just leave her here to be someone’s else problem. But this time, it is different. Since I came all the way here and not wanting to disappoint my father, I sprint through the fight between these two as I lifted her up with my two hands.
Turning around to see the fight, I cannot help but feel pity and guilt of having to see an animal die. That polar bear or creature is simply surviving like the rest of us humans are. And with that thought, it makes me to change my mind to let Skoll not kill it instead.
“Skoll! Are you listening?” I asked; hoping he could hear my voice.
After the giant polar bear roared and shook the ground with its enormous body, he went down. Skoll was able to land on the ground and stand tall.
My face turned into horror of watching an injured animal in front of me. Seeing dead people is one thing but animals? I just cannot have the stomach to watch something like this.
As I approached him, Skoll was ready and prepared to deliver the last blow.
My heart twitched when the injured polar bear turned it’s eyes to me as if he was begging for mercy; “Skoll! STOP!” I shouted with all my strength, just before he brought his weapon at the beast’s neck.
Looking annoyed, he turn to me, “what is it this time?” Skoll said with a sigh and a furrowed brow, demanding explanation of why I stopped his attack. As much as he doesn’t care for the death of a mere animal or stranger, he still cares for the well-being of his family and his friends.
“Don’t kill him, just spare him. Please?” My cracked voice is like sandpaper of having to hear the whimpering of this bear; reminding me of puppy I used to befriended with in my childhood.
Silence came in. The big bad wolf had simply and coldly take short glances at me and the injured bear, but there were no signs of anger or frustration in his eyes. Instead, there was no emotion there—no guilt, regret, sorrow, or sympathy for the life he was intending to take.
After a few moments, he finally answered, “fine, let’s go.”
