Bloodied and bruised, Beleth limped through the forest. His legs ached from walking, the only thing he could see was the endless number of trees surrounding him. Snow began to fall . The ground beneath his feet froze up, as all hope of escaping was crushed.
And still, he continued walking forward, his feet stuck to the ground as if they were fused to it. You can do it… he thought. After a deep breath he forced himself to walk, leaving a bloody trail behind. Exasperated he stumbled and fell as ice creeped up his flesh.
The tears forming in his eyes froze in an instant, his ragged clothes stiffened up. With all his remaining strength he tried crawling forward. The ground erupted as the boy was put on display, four enormous ice spike impaling his limbs as he let out a blood curdling scream.
His screams echoed for a minute before going silent as the boy's blood painted the snow beneath him.
A vortex of snow enveloped him.
"Looks like I have found you!" A deep thunderous voice sounded from behind sending chills down the boy's spine. In an instant he was pulled off the spikes and thrown into a tree.
His barely conscious eyes focused on the figure standing before him. A horrifying abomination, a tall slim body the skin stretched onto the very bone even protruding in some places. A small head with empty empty eye sockets, white fur dyed crimson above the bellybutton and two antlers with intestines screwed on them.
The thing tilted its head a bit. "You caused me quite the trouble. " The thing knelt before him, and leaned towards him. "I encountered some humans on my way to find you, they attacked me, needless to say they no longer walk among the living." It whispered to him then looked in his eyes. "Do you have anything to say for yourself?"
Trembling, the boy barely opened his mouth to speak. "I am sorry I ran. For-g-give me." He stuttered.
The closed the distance in a single step and caressed the boy's cheek."And why did you run? I was worried about you, so so worried."
"I could not handle it anymore… the training." He looked down. "It hurts so much."
"But it is necessary… you are so very precious to me, you need to be prepared. The world is a cruel place." He closed in and hugged Beleth. "Had you run into those humans I did, they would have killed you without hesitation. They will never accept someone like you. Only I will never reject you."
"I am so sorry, please forgive me!! I was stupid." he began to sob. "I won't do it again, I promise!"
"My beloved son, I forgive you, but you need to do one thing. Clean those humans before their stench begins to fester." It let go of the boy and took a step back. "I will be returning home, Noir will show you the way to the corpses." The vortex around them stopped as the thing turned to snow and was blown away by the wind.
A pool of shadows appeared on the ground, from it came an enormous black beast. It boasted the body of a wolf covered in thick shiny fur, with two long whip-like tails at the back, and its head was that of a draconic lizard with horns where its eyes should be.
Beleth's blue eyes mellowed out a bit at the sight of his only friend, a smile formed on his face, a short-lived one. His lips began to tremble, and he got into a fetal position with his legs tightly pressed to his chest. "Noir… " he cried out with a trembling voice "I do not want to go back. But…. I promised. What do I do ?" he began to snivel, as tears began rolling down his cheeks. "If I go back I will die. Please... tell me what to do!"
Noir licked his face for a bit, before biting the boy's shirt and throwing him on his back. Beleth laid down on the creature's back, We are going back, I guess. Not like there is another place for me to go to, he thought as shadows enveloped the two of them.
Traveling through shadows was not particularly enjoyable, Beleth could barely breathe as they traveled through the thick plasma. It was a realm where sound nor light existed, only the faint sense of cold and hot.
After some time, Beleth felt Noir was beginning to surface, as they did the boy clutched tightly the wolf's fur.
The duo were enveloped in a snow storm as soon as they got out of the shadows. The trees around them were completely frozen. Beleth looked up to see ice spikes as tall as trees. His face twisted in horror when he saw what was screwed on the top.
The air was filled with the stench of blood, and how could it not when the corpse of a man stood before him, his leather armor torn to shreds and guts decorated higher on the spikes.
Beleth got down from Noir's back and gestured towards the man on the spikes. "Take him down, please."
The dog shot out its tongue at the corpse and wrapped it around it. With a flick of its head the beast tore it off the spikes and dropped it before the two of them.
Noir prepared to bite the head off before being stopped by Beleth. "I.. I heard…. read. Humans dig holes in the ground and…. place the dead inside." The boy got closer to the man whose eyes and swiped off some blood from his armor. "Can you dig a hole for him? Please ?"
Noir complied, and not soon after the corpse was in a deep hole.
The wolf then bit Beleth by the back collar of his shirt and dragged him deeper inside the storm.
Beleth stood trembling at the sight before him, the trees, the snow on the soil, the dirt beneath that snow. Everything was stained crimson.
The boy took a step forward and stopped immediately as there was something soft underneath his foot. A lone eyeball.
Noir pushed him to move forward, as he felt his chest tighten. He walked very through the bloody trail ahead keeping his head low. Dripping sounds surrounded his ears, as the foul stench of metal attacked his nose.
Every breath came out heavy, at uneven paste. His eyes began to dart upwards as his breathing quickened, the more he saw the more his chest tightened. He could only hear his breaths when his eyes finally captured the full picture.
His stomach growled and he collapsed on his knees,as its contents spilled all over the ground.
There was simply nothing left to clean, as everything that could fester was in pieces so tiny they had already frozen.
"Let us go … home" the boy said through gulps and hiccups, to the beast next to him, "there is nothing we can do…
A chipping sound interrupted him. Beleth turned around to see an individual dressed in black plates stare at him through the skull of a fox that it wore on its head.
"Dwo idh ihst???"