Albert Yorke

A soft cry of a human newborn resonated through the forest. Inside a small clearing stood a small stone altar with a human baby laid down on top. Small predators began to creep closer towards the altar hoping to get a bite.

A fox that was standing in front of the altar was about to jump up, but in the next moment a shadowy line passed by and separated its head from his its body. Before blood could come out of the wound, the corpse sank into a black patch on the ground and disappeared. Seeing one of them die abruptly the other small animals scrambled away.

A moment later a monstrous dog came walking through the bushes. His height was around 1,60m and his fur was pitch black. His tail was just as long and split into multiple at some point, waving together with the wind. His eyes were dark and his fangs longer than those of an average dog, growing outside of its muzzle. His claws didn't lose out though as they dug into the ground with every step he made.

As he came closer towards the crying child, he could make out its features. Age-wise it couldn't be much older than a month or two. It had a tuft of black hair on top of its head and slightly glowing green eyes. As the dog arrived in front of it, he let out a low growl causing the child to quiet down and focus on its company. They both stared at each other for what seemed like minutes until the child let out a small giggle, causing the wolf to make an expression as close to a grin as it could manage.

"Interesting, this little human doesn't seem to fear me. This must be a first." The dog mused aloud. A talking dog would have shocked everybody if he were to see it, but there was nobody to witness this scene. Nobody but the child and the dog itself.

"Though I'd like to know which crazy person would bring a child as an offering before me… On second thought it isn't that surprising considering our past." He let out a sigh while reminiscing about events long forgotten by most people.

Centuries ago, the dog was known to mankind under a multitude of names. He was called a monster, a beast, the black dog or devil dog and many more. Most of these names were meant to instill fear into its listeners. But the name he is most well-known for is Barghest. It is the name he chose for himself after all.

His first appearance in a human world marked his existence as one of evil. He was watched as he was preying on lone travellers and ever since his reputation wasn't a positive one to say the least. Like most supernatural beings he was able to use magic and his domain were the shadows, which lead to another misunderstanding. Being perceived as a herald of death was his fate, just like a black cat crossing someone's path was a sign of misfortune. According to hearsay though, encountering him led not only to misfortune, but outright meant death was at your doorstep.

The sad truth was that the individuals he was preying on were so called stray devils or other beings who used their power for their own pleasure and oftentimes victimized innocents.

"Now what to do with you. I really don't like these people who started worshipping me, but that's not you fault to begin with. Let's first see what you are made of." That said, he started to spread his senses to inspect the newborn in front of him.

"A boy, a strong and healthy body, pretty much stronger energy reserves than average, … " he began to list his findings, when he suddenly widened his eyes. He had surprisingly very human-like reactions.

"What… his body is changing?! It somehow incorporates my energy and builds up resistances, the whole structure of his body gains strength…" he began to murmur and decided to just feed different energies and see what will happen.

If he was proud of one thing, then it was his mastery over energy. His long years of life with nothing else to do left him with a lot of time to train and his gains were astonishing. Few people could claim being able to utilize different kinds of energy. He was able to shape and use pure mana, mana laced with the shadow element, as well as nature energy.

After a while the boys´ body stopped further adapting and built a solid resistance towards these energies. What happened next though left Barghest slack jawed.

"As soon as his body stopped absorbing the energies, he began to produce them on his own?!" That's exactly what happened. His body adapted at an astonishing rate and chose the most suitable way to change itself. It was just like an extremely fast-forwarded process of evolution. What Barghest knew was, that this power was linked to the boys´ soul. What he didn't know though was, that the boys´ soul was practically a blank slate that was just as ever-changing and growing together with his body.

"Just who are your parents and where did you come from boy? You are clearly human, but your ability is something even gods would be envious of." Barghest´s curiosity just increased the more he thought about the individual before him, before he made and ugly face.

"But I doubt you will live long on your own. What to do, what to do." It seemed, as if he stood before a life-changing situation of his own.

"Alright, alright I will take care of you boy, what do you think?" he began to look into the face of the baby which he had completely ignored while inspecting him.

The boy just stared at him with his shining green eyes and burped before he began to giggle again.

"Of course, what did I even expect asking you about your opinion…" Barghest deadpanned in realisation. He was too caught up in the wonders that happened before, that he forgot he confronted a being no more than two months old.

"But I made up my mind, I will become your familiar. That way human beings can look after you while I'm close by and can come to help once something happens." Again, no answer came from the boy who just looked at Barghest with intense eyes. But Barghest didn't mind. If anything, he was interested in what the future held since a long time.

Barghest lifted one of his claws and pricked the boys´ thumb, just enough to draw a single drop of blood. The boy had no change in expression, probably due to the heightened strength of his body before nature energy congregated on his fingertip and healed the little wound again. The drop of blood flew onto Barghest´s forehead and sunk into his head with something akin to a magic circle appearing on both their foreheads before disappearing again.

"Alright we should be able to communicate like this. Time to get you among you people for now." He said as he carefully picked up the little package inside his muzzle and jogged towards the closest human city. Masterfully applying his shadow element, he stayed unnoticed until he reached the doorstep or a big building with a sign reading 'Yorke orphanage'. The building was just at the border of a nearby forest, the perfect place to stay for Barghest while waiting for the little bundle to grow up.

Walking up to the front door he placed the child down and gave it an unreciprocated nod. He lightly knocked on the door with his tail before hiding behind some trees close by.

It wasn't long before an old man opened the door while holding a lantern. The man looked around before he heard some noise close to his feet and looked down. Now with the baby looking back at him, he let out a sad sigh.

"Another one… let's get you in, it's cold outside." He picked him up and went back inside, closing the door behind him.

Barghest´s eyes lingered on the door while he felt the boy through their newly established mental link before he turned around and disappeared into the darkness of the night.

-

Meanwhile in the orphanage the old man began to get the child situated. He checked his body for any signs of sickness or frailty, but in all his years working in the orphanage he hasn't seen a seemingly healthier child than him. Afterwards he began to feed him and started to talk.

"Sad to see another one has to grow up without parents, little one. But we'll try to be as much family to you as possible." He let out a sigh and began to smile before continuing. "First thing you need is a name, boy. Otherwise it would be hard to get your identification made. Hope you don't mind me deciding."

He took a good look at the boy who was just recently born. The most outstanding thing would be his green eyes that seemed to glow in the dark. The black colour of his hair gives him a unique look for somebody of European descent and creates a great contrast to his eyes.

"Ah, I know! You see little boy, because of the nature of my job it somehow became a hobby to research names and their meaning. I will call you Albert, the one who is bright and noble."

He began to take notes for the authorities, who he had to contact the next day.

"Alright, Albert Yorke it is then. Everybody here shares the same last name 'Yorke' just like the name of the orphanage. It helps to feel more like a family. I'm Pete Yorke by the way."

After taking care of little children and oftentimes newborn and infants at that, he developed the habit to talk to them, even though he knew he wouldn't get an answer.

After writing for a while he picked him up again and brought him into another room full of little children and placed him into an unoccupied crib.

"Good night, Albert, I'll introduce the other children to you tomorrow."