Chapter 5

After an hour of tracking, she can finally see the boar. It's massive, practically as tall as she is. It stands on a patch of snow, being lit up by a missing patch on the tree tops. The boar is seemingly unaware of Eska's presence, it simply stands there, facing away from Eska. She slowly makes her way towards the creature. She simply walks towards it, her feet, and her breath making no sound through the silent forest around her.

Then she stops. The forest is silent, not a single noise can be heard. She looks at the boar, even more attentively now. It is making no noise, it doesn't even move, yet it stands there on its four legs under the light. Something is wrong. She begins circling around the boar. All her senses are now in overdrive, if there was anything out there she would feel it but there is nothing.

She finally makes her way around the boar and she can see its face. The boar's eyelids are open but completely empty. Its mouth is open, leaking a red fluid with its tongue missing. The beast seems dead, but it still stands on its four legs. She decides to test this by grabbing a small pebble and throwing it at the beast.

The pebble flies through the air and makes contact with one of its horns. The boar's neck twists and crackles, in an instant the boar's face rotates towards Eska. She freezes, her heart begins to palpitate. Eska has never seen anything like this before, the forest is filled with all sorts of creatures but nothing like this has ever shown itself. She quickly brings out her bow and pulls an arrow. In a swift motion, lets the arrow loose and it flies straight at the boar's head, piercing it. A kill shot.

The boar then opens its mouth, after a single second it begins to squeal without stop. The boar seems to not care for the laws set for life and death as it begins to charge at Eska without letting its squeals die out. She quickly jumps towards a nearby tree, grabbing a hold of it with her right hand and sinking her fingers onto the wooden surface. The boar keeps charging and stops right at the spot where Eska was standing.

The boar never stops squealing, not even to regain its breath, it turns its body around as if looking for something with its missing eyes. Eska then draws some blood from her free hand and creates a long thin blade.

She releases her grip from the tree and with her legs she pushes herself downward, gaining a massive speed boost. In the blink of an eye the boar's head is severed from its body.

But it remains standing. As if knowing, the corpse begins charging at Eska once more. In a panic, She shifts her blade and creates a wide circle to protect herself. The headless creature crashes onto the blood shield, but it keeps pushing. In an instant, the boar stops its charge but before she can pull away a black liquid begins slithering around the shield and into her hand from where she drew her own blood.

The liquid moves like a snake. It enters into her wrist and she begins to scream desperately, holding her arm. The liquid moves quickly, but once inside it slows down through her arm. It travels through her veins and vessels until it comes to a complete stop right below her elbow.

The blood circle falls and splashes on the ground. Revealing the boar's headless corpse, now laying on the floor. Her teeth are clenched in stress. She looks at her arm, her body shakes and her breathing is ragged. Her quick thinking saved her from whatever this is. She had stopped the liquid with her bloodcraft. She quickly gets up and begins running, making her way back home.

She runs through the forest, her breath can be heard while her legs are running as fast as possible. Her face seems to have lost all its color. She arrives at her home after half an hour of running and she screams for Oblea.

The panic in her shouts makes Oblea rush outside to her aid. Oblea brings her inside to tend to her, as Eska explains as best as she can with her panic. They sit for a few minutes. Eska seems terrified and Oblea quickly mimics her expression as she explains more and more.

"This is beyond me Eska, we need to hurry to the city. Now" Oblea says panicking as she helps her up and make their way out of the house.

Out there, seven soldiers wearing armor painted in blue and yellow walk through the clearing in front of the house. They both stop in front of the door as they notice them. The soldiers notice the girls, and the one who seems to be the leader steps up. He gets closer and closer, until he reaches them.

"Oblea. Nice to meet you." He says with a calm voice and a smile on his face. Oblea seems in disbelief but she has no time for this. She tries to ignore the man and walk past him, but he kicks her to the side and they both fall to the ground. He turns at his soldiers and beckons them.

The soldiers spread around the property and begin chanting words of fire, burning everything around them. "A decade ago we received a report that you didn't, in fact die, in a werewolf attack, but instead decided to harbor a heretic. Then we find you and another woman matching the description of the heretic's eyes and hair color." The soldier says as he unsheathes his sword from its scabbard.

He walks around Oblea and stands behind her while she is on the floor. "We were here on reports of a mimic, but instead we find you. What a weird coincidence." The soldier says with a smile.

Oblea quickly uses her arm to lift herself up and turn around in the air, attempting to land a kick on the soldier. Unfortunately the soldier catches her leg and in a circular motion slams her down on the ground and part of the house's wall, destroying it. He then kicks her, driving his armored greaves through her stomach. She can't do much, aside from try to push him away.

Suddenly, a swing from behind, but the soldier catches it with his left hand. A blade made of red. Eska seems surprised and the soldier takes advantage of this minimal opening to use the same leg to kick her out of the way. She gets flung through the air and falls hard on the ground and thumbles around a few times before she regains her footing and lands on her feet. She is completely flabbergasted, but regains her composure immediately and begins charging at the soldier once more.

She slashes at him again and the soldier takes a step back then swings his sword shattering her sword, but she turns around and swings her broken sword down. In a blink of an eye, the shattered pieces reconverge onto her sword and she lands her swing. Cutting the soldier's eye from its socket. He steps back once again, covering the injury on his face. Blood spurts from the gaping hole as he screams out loud in pain.

"ENOUGH!" A shout is heard from behind her, and she quickly turns around. A man charges through the smoke with anger on his face.

A punch lands on Eska's gut . Fire spills from the point of contact as if smashing red hot iron with massive force. Eska disappears into the house, destroying everything as she crashes onto it and everything inside. Obleas expression turns from one of shock to that of horror. She begins walking towards Eska as the soldiers all surround her and begin chanting once again. Setting Oblea ablaze.

Eska lies at the destroyed stairs of the house. The wooden stairs are caved in, with Eska at the bottom. Blood seeps from her wounds. Her eyes are widened as she witnesses the screams. Oblea burns as the flames spread to the rest of the house. Her screams mix with the sounds of the fire.

"No." Eska whispers, barely audible to her own ears. "No, no, no, no."

She tries to move, but she can barely extend her arm. The clarity of the fire quickly turning into a blurry mess as her tears run down her cheeks.

Then everything slows to a crawl. The sound of fire is muffled, and everything around her begins to darken. A haunting voice can then be heard from somewhere in the room, overpowering the muffled flames.

"We are. Of one soul." The voice says in monotone.

The sound feels familiar, but strange at the same time. Not male nor female.

"Who ARE you?" Eska asks slowly.

"Last. Of us. Our souls. Apart" The voice replies in monotone once more.