The Woodsmen

A young girl, possibly six years old kneels in the middle of a sitting room, on a mat, in front of the lit fire place. Her hair is brown while her eyes are a darker shade of the same. She's in a red gown with yellow decor on her chest area, on her feet are pink socks. In her hands are two dolls, a disfigured rain deer doll in her left and well curved doll that resembles a princess in her right. She plays with them, pretending the deer for whatever reason is chasing the princess.

The room is mildly lit, not extravagantly put but well done. There are two chairs both facing the fire place at an angle almost as if they were to face each other. In the middle of both chairs is a small chair, the girl's chair. On top of the fire place is a portrait with three people in it; a man, a woman and a child. Above the girl, a couple of feet from her head, is a chandelier that emits no light. At the back of the room is a door, the main door while to it's right is a staircase that leads to what should be the first floor of the building.

The woman on the portrait walks down the staircase in a bit of a hurry. She's in a black dress and brown poncho on top. She resembles the child, similar hair color, similar eye color and similar facial features.

"Leanor! I'm leaving. Don't step out of the house and don't open the door for anyone. Not until I'm back alright?" She instructs the child while pulling down on her poncho to adjust it to her preference.

"Yes mother," answers Leanor.

"What's the password?" She asks Leanor.

"You will knock seven times and then I will answer," answers the child.

"Good, I'll be back soon, lock the door behind me," says the mother as she walks to the door and opens it. It's snowing heavily outside, she walks out and closes the door behind her.

Leanor gets up and walks to the door, she then locks it, it has two locks; one just below the door knob and one at knees height. She locks both before walking back to the mat. About an hour goes by with her playing with her toys when she hears something, a voice calling her name.

"Leanor! Leanor!" The voice seems distant but she can recognize it, it sounds like her mother. She stops everything to listen.

"Leanor!" It calls again, this time she's sure it's her. She runs to the door and opens the first lock but stops on touching the second.

She remembers her mother's words, the constant warnings not to open the door.

"Leanor! Come to me!" Calls the voice.

"What's the password?!" She yells.

The voice is quiet for a moment but then proceeds, "I'm hurt Leanor! Help me! Please!"

This time speaking with agony in its tone, Leanor realizes that her mother is in dire need of help. She turns back and runs to a rocking chair at the front right corner of the room, it has a small brown poncho on its right arm rest and a pair of mittens on the seat. She puts on the poncho and mittens then dashes back to the door. She opens it and a gust of wind blows some snow flakes into the house. She squints her eyes slightly then walks out and closes the door behind her.

Outside there's just snow and blizzards dense with snowflakes. Nothing else is visible.

"Leanor hurry!" Calls the voice again with more anguish to it.

"I'm coming mother!" Yells Leanor back reassuring her mother that help is on its way. She places her left hand over her eyes to protect them and begins to walk towards the direction of her mother's voice. As she walks on, getting deeper and deeper into the snow covered terrene, the blizzards behind her become so concentrated in snow flakes that her house is no longer visible. Against these odds she walks forward, on a mission to save her mother.

"Mother! Where are you?" She calls.

"Here!" Yells back the mother's voice.

She looks forward and spots a faint but visible silhouette that resembles her mother.

"Mother!" She calls in excitement having finally found her. Slight joy on her face and in her voice. With renewed energy she moves forward.

Her mother's figure also walks towards her, Leanor in the process of it falls to her knees on the snow. She gets up before looking at her mother who's suddenly covered a huge distance towards her. The figure still walking towards her but then, it's eyes, they glow green.

"Mother?" Whispers a confused Leanor.

She had never seen her mother do that before. She stops moving forward as the joy originally I'm her face is slowly engulfed by concern.

A blizzard heavy with snowflakes passes in front of her, blocking her field of view. It passes leaving her mother on her immediate front, a mere two feet to her. She has a wide smile on her face, an ugly one. Leanor can tell something is off, that is not her mother!

"You're not my mother," she says staring at the imposter.

"What's...wrong... Leanorrrr?" Asks the imposter, it's words slow and mumbled. It does so as it begins to shift into it's true form. It's head elongates and it's skull rips through the flesh of it's face forming a herbivore's skull with antlers. It's eyes become pitch black like two openings to a void, then, at the centre of each a small green spot glows. It's limbs and body grow long and quick tearing it's clothes apart. Around its neck grows dense fur while the rest of it's body remains hairless. Its skin turns grey and pale. Long sharp claws grow from it's fingers as it's feet morph into hooves. Joints bending and lock in like a camels. It's mostly made of skin and bones, the creature looks malnourished, it's limbs are skinny and it's ribs are uncomfortably visible. It stands at about nine feet towering over Leanor as it licks it's head with it's long tongue.

"Leanor! Aren't happy to see your mother?" Mocks the creature in a monstrous voice intertwined with her mother's.

Leanor stares back in horror. Tears begin to build in her eyes, swallowing saliva that had built up in her mouth. This reflexive act snaps her back from the trance she had been put by dread. She turns to her right to run but a step in and a second monster appears in front of her faster than she could perceive and of the same species as the first. It startles her causing her to jump back and fall in a seated position as she lets out a quick scream. She drags herself back with her hands and legs but bumps into a firm surface behind her. She looks up only to find a third monster staring down at her. She closes her eyes as tears go down her cheeks.

"What do you two want?" Asks the first creature.

"A bite," answers the second.

"No,I lured her here! She's mine!" Demands the first creature.

The third uses its left leg to shove her into the middle and off its hoves.

It then speaks, "You can share or we can fight and let the winner have her."

From a distance a figure is seen running towards the creatures coming from the direction Leanor did.

The first monster growls then yells, "Fine! We can..."

It stops talking and raises it's right hand spreading it's fingers and exposing it's claws, quickly it reaches for Leanor having spotted the incoming individual. Before it can land the attack, the figure reaches Leanor grabbing her off the ground as it it dives while spinning in the air. It slams it's back on the first monster's chest throwing both them and the monster some metres away from the other two. With Leanor still in the individual's arms, they kicks up landing on their feet then runs into the blizzard in their right. The first creature still on the ground, blood oozing through it's nasal aperture and some broken ribs poking out of its chest.

The figure runs for a moment as the blizzard turns into a dense fog, he then jumps out of the fog and into a sort of ruin landing several metres from where the fog ends. It looks like an abandoned village. He hugs Leanor as she hugs him back, he then squats to put her down, her fingers gripping his coat hard as they tremble.

"It's alright, you're safe now," he whispers to her.

"Are they gone?" She asks with her face pasted onto his chest.

"No, but... I'll protect you...I promise," he says to her.

She slowly and hesitantly let's go and steps back to see her rescuer. It's a man with dark skin, blonde thick dreads; some dangling, some semi-rigidly projecting from his scalp and pretty ocean-blue eyes, as gorgeous as the honoured one. He wears a long faded blue trench coat, under that is a navy blue shirt with blue trousers and dark brown boots. He smiles at her with slight pity in his eyes. She stops crying and using his thumbs he wipes the tears on her cheeks and asks her, "What's your name?"

"Leanor," she answers in a soft sad voice.

"Alright Leanor, I need you to hide while I chase those monsters away. Can you do that?" He asks her.

She nods twice.

"Good,"

She turns and runs off, hiding in some abandoned house. He stands up and turns towards the fog exposing his weapon. An axe, this one however is no ordinary axe. Along it's handle and on the faces of it's large head are blue markings.

The markings on the faces of the axe are typically lightning symbols spreading out towards the cutting edge. Those on the handle however different in design and include: the latin symbol for power, the minus symbol, the ohm symbol, the letter J in capital, the letter U in capital and the addition symbol.

"Ivar seems awfully... deserted," he thinks to himself while he looks around. The buildings look old and poorly maintained, the place is silent and dead.

He stops and stares at the fog slowly walking towards it, he then stops about ten feet from the fog and squints his eyes and they glow a brighter blue. He grunts in agitation as his face expresses some irritation. He then takes his axe off his back and holds it with his right hand by its handle. Some electricity manifests on his hand and flows into the axe, along it's handle, up to it's head, the markings hence glow and dim down back in suit.

Just then, he jumps towards the fog raising up the axe ready to strike, a moment after the three monsters jump out. The bruised one to his left, one of the other two in front of him while the last to his right. He swings the axe with such force down at the monster in front of him striking it on its, piercing through to its neck. They both drop with him on its chest, the monster dead on impact. The other two attack from both sides. He leaps at the on his left landing on its chest and boosting himself using his legs while using this motion to throw it back falling to the ground while he leaps high up into the air flipping over the monster initially on his right. He lands behind it and changes the grip on his axe to a reverse grip. He then dashes at the creature piercing its left knee forcing it to kneel down as he stops a metre in front of it. Switching the grip on his axe back to normal, he holds the axe with both hands and swings a horizontal attack at the monsters mouth plunging into it and shoving it down to the ground hard. The attack splitting the upper jaw from the lower jaw severing it completely. He then turns to the last monster that had just stood on its hooves and throws his axe at its head. The monster tried blocking the axe with its arm but it cuts through the arm and digs into it's head. It falls back to the ground bleeding but alive. He walks up to the monster and stands over it. He then picks it by its right antler with and pulls out the axe from its head. The creature seeming too disoriented to defend itself. He then swings the axe at its head decapitating it completely. With contempt he throws the head aside and walks away from it's body and closer to where Leanor was ran to hide.

"Leanor! You can come out now they're gone," he calls while holding his bloody axe.

There is a slight moment of silence before she walks out of one of the houses. She stares at the bloody axe. He looks at it, then back at her and says, "It's alright, they're gone."

He swings the axe forcing the excess blood off of it before placing on his back.

"Where are you from?" He asks as he squats down to her.

"Ivar," she answers.

"This is part of Ivar, which part of it are you from?"

"Main town,"

"Fine, come on, I'll take you home," he says opening his arms to carry her. She walks to him and hugs him digging her face into his chest and gripping his shirt.

He stands up and asks, "Are you ready?"

"Yes," she mutters with her face still covered.

He turns and dashes into the fog. A short while later they enter a busy town. People are all over walking, some selling, some buying, some singing to entertain, some dancing from the entertainment. It snows, but not as bad as the waste lands they emerged from. Here there's a slightly better view of the environment and sky. Seemingly, it is evening and only a few hours to night time. The buildings here are well maintained and the streets have more life to them.

"We're here," he says to her.

She slowly backs her head off his chest and looks around.

"Where's you're house?" He asks her.

"I...I don't know," she says in a nervous voice.

He sighs realizing the task ahead.

"Leanor! Leanor!" Calls a familiar woman's voice from behind them.

He turns and they see her, it's her mother.

"Leanor!" She calls again, tears I'm her eyes and distress written all over her face.

"Do you know her?" He asks.

"It's the monsters! They're pretending to be mother!" She says hiding her face in his chest once more.

"Hmmm, so that's her mother," he thinks to himself then says,"Its alright Leanor, they don't come this deep into towns, that's just your mother."

She slowly takes her head off his chest and her mother's darting eyes spot her.

"Leanor!" She calls as tears roll down her cheeks, she runs towards the two. He places her down and she takes a few steps towards her mother. They make contact and her mother picks her up.

"Ohh thank God," she says as she hugs the child.

People stare as they share that moment of reunion and relief.

"Where was she?" Her mother asks the rescuer.

"Out in the snow, some wendigos had abducted her," he answers.

She looks at her daughter and asks her,"Are you hurt?"

"No, he saved me," she says to her mother with enthusiasm.

"Thank you so much," she says after hugging her daughter again.

"It's alright, just take care of her...and yourself," he says then turns towards a junction by his left and walks away.

The mother and child stare at him as he walks off.

"Did you thank him?" Asks the mother.

She shakes her head in a sideways manner, declining.

"Leanor," calls the mother in a stern voice in disappointment from her failing to do so.

"I'm sorry mother,"

She sighs then says, "It's alright."

"Mother, who was he?" She asks.

"A woodsman, one of four mighty heroes who travel the land hunting monsters like the ones you encountered today. They love to save us from the horrors of this world," she says to her daughter as they watch him disappear into the masses.