Chapter 7: The Past

As I thought about this realization, Fenrir made it up the tree and carefully moved across the branch snuggling up to me, laying his head into my lap. I started slowly stroking the fur on his Head as I thought about our past together.

Since I was reborn, I always had this strange feeling in my chest, that something was deeply connected to me, but I didn't know what it was. Until my first birthday.

Mum and Dad held a great feast in the clan's hall, all the members of our clan gathered on one long table, with me sitting in some sort of baby chair on the end, surrounded by my parents. Old Griselda, who would not only be my teacher later on, was also the cook for our family, and each meal she served us tasted like heaven itself. About one month ago I learned how to eat soggy meals, and now i could fully enjoy the feast. After eating everyone of our clan's members came up to me, congratulating me and presenting me one gift each.Later I would learn that the first birthday of every demon was a rather special day, where each family member would signal their eternal trust and love for the 1yo, all the while gifting them something that could help them in their life.

First of was my uncle, Aymeric. He gave me a deep bow and then pulled a small ring out of his pocket.

"My dear niece, I bestow upon you this ancient ring, said to have been possessed by one of queen Lilith's most trusted generals!"

The ring was made out of some sort of metal, that made it shine like the Moon itself. It was surrounded by some sort of aura that I couldn't wrap my head around. I smiled at my uncle's face and he bowed again, as he returned to his seat.

Next up was my brother, Bertwulf. He was only aged 7 so I didn't expect him to gift me something of great value, but it didn't really matter, because I was more than happy about everything he would gift me.

"My dear sister, I bestow upon you this golden coin, I found while swimming in the river near our village!"

He seemed quite nervous, he was only 7yo, so that made sense, to soothe his feelings I tried to smile my brightest smile and he relaxed visibly. The golden coin had a Face on it which was some sort of Human-Wolf mix.

*Maybe, later in life, I can buy something nice from this? No this is a treasure my brother gave me so I will never give it away!*

Next up was old Griselda, this old granny always frightened me while I was still young, but now I am just as happy to have her as everyone else.

"My dear Lilith, I bestow upon you this Grimoire of ancient magic, may you learn to wield the most powerful spells of all."

I forced myself to smile at her as I observed this weird book, it was black, like a never ending hole, and was bound in blood red leather. I had no Idea what I should do with this but again I felt a strange aura surrounding it, but this time it frightened me a little, it felt as if this book wanted to eat me alive.

The leader of the side family Suebos, Lotharing, and his wife, Ginette, stood up next. I could already guess how their sentence would begin, as it felt more like a ritual than a birthday celebration.

"Our dear Lilith, we bestow upon you this handwoven shirt, made by my dear wife, from material I myself gathered. It is enchanted with protective runes that may forever keep you safe!"

The last ones, before my parents were in turn, was the family Almani, they where made up of their family's leader Reinald, his wife Hedya and their twin daughters Loti and Luana. The two 4yo later became my best friends, and even now I sometimes can't tell them apart. They have both dangerous looking green eyes, are very Athletic, are 1.85 meters in height and have shoulder length blonde hair, and if it wasn't for the Side-Cut they would sometimes wear in different directions, even their parents couldn't tell them apart.

"Our dear Lilith, we bestow upon you this bow, made out of one of the strongest trees inside of Yggdrasil, may any enemy you hit fall from it's might!"

I could already see myself learning how to hunt from my father, and hoped that one day I may be praised by them for a successful kill with this exact bow. But now i was eagerly awaiting the gift i would receive from my parents.

I saw Dad quickly leaving the room and returning with some sort of box, before he and Mum stood before me.

"Our dear daughter, we bestow upon you this little warg puppy, with which you already formed a 'Soul Contract' the moment you were born, may he always be at your side and protect you in the most precarious situations!"

With that he opened the box and took out a small puppy. I couldn't let my eyes off it as I understood what this strange connection I felt, was. It's golden eyes where directly looking into mine and I felt my heart skip as this connection grew even deeper. I could almost hear it's feelings. I reached forward with my Hands to touch his pitch black fur so Dad came closer and laid the puppy in my lap. It must've looked rather strange because this puppy was almost as big as I was and after some time, my hips began to hurt, but I didn't want to let go of it.

In this moment my mind told me it's name.

"Fenrir!"

I said that and was utterly shocked. I talked but as I tried it again, it didn't work.

*What was this?...was this some kind of magic that allowed me to speak? Why doesn't it work again?*

Everyone erupted in cheers and clapped their Hands. Then Dad raised his hands and everyone stopped. He got up from his chair and moved behind me while all the members of our clan stood up and knelled down.

"And this concludes the 'Gift of Wodan', first 'King Consort' of queen Lilith, may he himself bless our dear Lilith!"

The rest of the evening is extremely clouded in my mind, all I know is that I woke up the next day, with Fenrir at my side, which he since then had never left again.

My eyes began to drift again and after some time they landed on old Griselda's house, it was like all the other houses, build out of wood from the forest, the walls where made out of darkwood and had a dark brown color while the roof was dark green. I don't know how this green color came to be, but Griselda said it was made using a paste, made out of special Leaves, that, when dried, could survive the passage of time and nature.

I began to clearly remember most of the lessons she gave me since I was 6yo. Even if it sometimes was tedious, I was still glad to have her.

Everyday she came with a new topic she would teach me about.

"So you don't get to bored."

Was what she would always say.

She told me about the history between humanity and us demons since Claudius was murdered. About how the rise of the church gave way for multiple wars, just because demons and humans couldn't get along anymore. And about the only kingdom that didn't adopt the Churches teaching's up until today, the 'Kingdom of Sarien'. How the queen of this kingdom, Sophie the I, even allowed her son to marry a demon. The way how the 'Empire of Grimveil' came to be, when Cristophorus the Grim-Reaper killed multiple kings in single combat, annexing their realms in the process.

But not all lessons were simple theory, sometimes we ventured out into the forest, so I would learn how to survive and which plants could be used as medicine. There were times when my father would join us and we practiced hunting in a theoretical and practical way. So I even learned how to use my bow, which I was very grateful for.

The most important lessons were Demonology, where she taught me the differences between all known demon forms. From 'Imp' to the higher 'Chaos Demons' like queen Lilith. It was there where I first asked why I didn't look like my parents, so Griselda told me about something called 'Albino Syndrome'. It was a disease, that would sometimes appear on all known species and can alter them to some degree, but that didn't help me at all because I didn't just look differently, I had none of the features of a 'Major Ice Demon', but Griselda just shut me down as I wanted to ask again.

Something rather important that she told me, was that interbreeding between different demon forms would produce a whole new form of demon. That was rather fascinating, because it meant that with careful interbreeding, someone could mix the best attributes of all demons into one powerful being.

*Ugh...just thinking about those endless lessons makes me sleepy*

So I continued moving my eyes across the village and into the forest again.

This is the forest my whole life played out in. On the riverbank, next to our village, i trained casting spells and manipulating Mana in my body, with my mother. There I trained close combat and swordsmanship with my father. Me, Loti and Luana often swam through the river and went hunting in the near vicinity.

But one of the most important places in the forest was still this tree, I was currently sitting on. I often came here on my own to improve my connection with Fenrir. No one in my village knew how to do it, so I needed to figure it out by myself. And my idea was, if we learn to climb this tree together, then maybe I can, at some time in the future, hear his inner thoughts.

As if he knew what I was thinking he raised his head just to lick me across my face.

"Stop it...this tickles...hehe..."

I sounded not very convincing because he just continued to do so.

The night had already begun, so I got up to return to Suben, only to spot something near the village gate.

*Are these lights? Maybe the merchant visits us before my birthday...no wait there are multiple lights...I can't really see what's going on but...no...*