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The Snarling Wendigo

Lonely... Insecure... Special.

"Morning Mom!"

He rushed out into the meal room, holding unto a bag pack and a few textbooks.

"Breakfast?" Mrs Kaitlin Orshwood, his mother asked, while dropping the suckling she carried.

"A quick one. I'm late for the academy."

He walked over to the table, took hold of the half filled cup, and sent it contents into his mouth. He spat it out upon the first sip.

"That's a newly imported beverage. They call it caffeine. It is one of the old age's products. Heard of it?"

His mother walked closer to him with a towel, which she wiped his mouth of the remaining liquid.

"Yes! We learnt about it in one of our classes."

He took second look at the cup's content, staring in disgust. He threw what was left, with the mug he held, into the bin.

"Gotta go, I'm late. The Academy starts at eight, and I must be an hour early, and no less." he tightened his grip on his books, and took steps towards the door.

"One moment young man -" his mother hushed at him "- first, no after school games today, the chauffeur will drive you straight home: your father will be returning from Azs this evening, so be home early!"

He nodded as he turned to leave, but got another bothersome command to halt again.

"Also, Rurgard and Olaf will escort you today."

Two men stepped into the room. He turned to them, and back to his mother.

"Mom! I don't need any freaking body guard. I'm 16, I can take care of my fucking self. For heaven's sake, it is just school."

Dropping the books, he yelled directly to his mother's face in anger.

"Akillim Orshwood Junior, don't let me remind you who's son you are. Your father is the prime minister for intercontinental affairs of this Empire, and security measures are compulsory."

"Screw this mom! I can't keep living this way."

He turned, pulled up the books laying unhinged on the floor, and hurried out through the front door.

The Academy was a home for scholars, created for the purpose of knowledge study, skills, self-defense, and even magic was an explored factor.

There weren't many institutes around, and most sophisticated ones, well equipped, wer located in the upper echleon's Kingdoms, one of which was the kingdom of Eingburg of the Continent of Thames: The Thames Empire.

The pursuit of knowledge had always been at the tip of Akillim's toes. He pursued it with an wholesome dexterity, ignoring every other course, as he found them intellectually degrading.

The Academy's classes officially ended before the evening of the day, and his chauffeur had manned his station, preparing for their forthcoming departure. This was his normal regular routine: Home, school, home and school again; disgraceful but true.

His watchdogs among other children's personal body guards, remained in a large hall, guarding the only staircase that led to a much largely spaced hall where classes for scholars of the same level underwent learning. The building Akillim attended lectures, had two floors; A large hall below, with a staircase leading to a study hall having almost double the available space as the room below, and a balcony on each floor.

Classes for the day had come to a halt, and the students made haste to leave.

Akillim attempted to make his way down the stairs, but hesitated another step. Chattering curses leaves his mouth, as he walked to the balcony.

"I can't keep living like this. I'm heading home alone -" he looked down the balcony "- wind pressure: normal, height: 50 metres, estimated time to climb down: approximately 10 to 15minutes. That's enough time for everybody to exit the study hall to the main hall."

The building was formed from rocks, held firmly with concrete and mortar. The building was constructed a few decades back, and its artisans used the only durable available material in crafting it.

The edges of these rocks were steep, and difficult to climb down, but with his estimated time or more, he could get down safely.

Standing on the edge of the balcony, he leapt unto the protruding end of a rock, and did so to another. It would be very difficult to go down vertically, so he climbed down diagonally. He was half way to the ground when he looked down, taking in a deep breath, and attempted another diagonal jump. He landed successfully, but he was already weary: tired with aching fingers, and profuse dripping sweat. He made another jump, but missed and fell straight to the ground. With blood rolling from his head and a broken ankle, he forced his body covered in bruise up, whining while limping across the field, eluding his driver and body guards, and then made his way home.

He had been hiking for hours before getting home, and the darkness from the night sky had already settled in.

"The lights are turned off?!" He exclaimed while standing in front of his home. He pushed the gate open and forced his sore coated body inside.

The front door creaked open, from the force he applied.

"Mom?" He tiptoed from the door, flipped up the light switch, causing the light to flicker before lighting steadily.

The house was in ruin, the chairs were flipped over and most were broken. His attention was drawn to the whimper and noise he heard from the kitchen. He hurried there, drawing up the light switch. He froze in steps from the morbid scenery that befell his eyes.

His mother and sister laid numb, with their eyes gorged out and its socket empty. Their intestines wrapped about squimingly as it laid splattered on the floor, engulfed in a pool of blood.

He threw up at the gruesome sight, then took a second careful look around the room. He could clearly see it: the destruction and disorder, the dead guards and maids, all with empty eye sockets and dangling intestines, the piece of art their blood painted on the wall, and the scattered brain matter and body pieces that littered the whole house. This was enough to force him to his knees, as he kneels, letting out another round of vomit.

He wiped his mouth, stands, and chose to follow the whimpers he keeps hearing. He skipped over the broken pieces of furniture, and crossed over a corpse. The further he ventured, the closer he got to the sound.

"Dad?!"

He called out when he finally located the frightened man squatting by the corner. The man stood to full height, completely covered with injuries and dripping crimson liquid, dripped from his beard.

"Son? Akillim? Can you come closer -"

Akillim walked over to where his father stood.

"- We do not have much time son."

"What did this?" Akillim asked

"No one knows. It was quick: very fast. It was merciless, it only went for their eyes, the stomach and a few body parts"

"A picky eater. A Wendigo I suppose; such savage creatures." Akillim looked at the corpses and back at his father. "Is there anyone alive?"

Akillim coldly asked, while making steps closer to his father.

"Nobody. But it will be back. It was sent to kill you, and it will not stop 'til it does."

"Me? What does any of this have to do with me father?"

"A lot, but you will understand in time. First you must run and survive. Take this key-" he took off a chain from his neck, that held a single key "- it opens a door behind the rack, the old rack that stands to the east of the base floor."

A screech and a thud, drew both their attention from each other, to the other room.

"It is back! You have to hurry! The door leads to the underground route of this Kingdom, and the whole empire. You need to escape to the lower echleon, you will be safer there. Behind the door is a small box, in it is a map. You must locate the marked area on the map once you safely reach Errgon -"

"Errgon?" Akillim intruded.

"Yes." His father confirmed. "But remember son, Thames is not what you think it is, never trust anybody."

The squeaking sound from footsteps pressing against the wooden floor, drew closer than before, so did the sounds of breaking items and cracking bones echo, as it moved closer to where they stood.

"Dad, what is going on?"

"Hurry! Get to the basement; a magic barrier protects it from evil and dark creatures, you will be safe there temporarily. Go! Now!" His fathers screamed at him, pushed him aside and ran toward the approaching monster.

"Hurry!" He screamed and continued his feat toward the seven foot tall beast.

The beast grabbed his neck, and lifted him above the ground, stuffs its fingers into his eyes, pulled out his eyeballs and threw it into his mouth. It gulped as it swallowed. It tossed his dead body away, and launched at the already shaking boy.

The boy ran back, but was trapped within a corner. From where he stood grovelling, Akillim could clearly see the stairs that led down to the basement, but he could not reach it. He needed to run past the growling wendigo, and make his way down those stairs behind it.

He had nothing to defend against the monster, who stood about six or seven feet away from him. He was trapped, and he had no weapon to fight back- not like he could. He needed to depend on the one weapon he possessed: his intellect, but how?

The hungry wendigo rushed for him, which he docked and it slammed itself into the wall. He grabbed the golden opportunity and went between its legs, running. He wasn't physically built as an athlete, but fear pulled his feeble legs forward. He tripped and rolled down the stairs, hitting and butting into both sides of the railings and the wall, until he finally got in. The Wendigo rushed down too, but could not go beyond the last lift of the stairs. It was stopped by a purple magical force field, and couldn't make any further movement. Its growl became more ferocious, as it scratched, hit and made every possible attempts to break into the already cracking field.

"East! East!" Akillim chanted while clenching his right fingers into a fist, securing the key his father gave him. He runs over to the rack, pulled it down, and began a search for a keyhole.

"Found it!" he jammed the key into the hole, and twisted it. The door creaked open, and dust came flying in. He looked around for a box, found it, and slid it under his left arm.

He turned, noticing the wendigo was almost breaking through the purple barricade, and without hesitation he closed the door, locking it from the inside, and began journeying down the dark tunnel, which turned from dusty to damp and wet.

The tunnel bega to glow as he went deep enough, bioluminescent insect, and creepy crawleys gave off a bright glow of yellow-green light.

He had been running for hours, so he stopped when he thought the threat beyond the door could never get to him -when he thought he was safe -and began walking, carefully looking around, and analysing where he was.

After what seems like days of walking and running as led by his adrenaline, he could finally see it, the light at the end of the tunnel; the sun's ray. He sprinted ahead for it, grasping what form of breath he could find.

Finally, he stepped out into the open. He inhaled deeply, allowing the calm soothing wind of the forest to ride smoothly over his face. He noticed a brook and reached out for it, chasing after it like a thirsty deer. He went on his knees and scooped the water with his hands. He paused, taking a second look at it and noticed a floating lump of animal fur. He poured the water away, and made another scoop, gulping down the water in disgust as he drank.

"Where I'm I?"

Finally satisfied from a hearty drink, he stood up, making a firm grip against his abdomen -if pressing hard against your stomach takes away the jabbing pain from hunger, this certainly would have.

But more importantly, where was he?

He turned all three hundred and sixty degree, trying to discover where he was, but his effort was futile.

His throbbing adrenaline finally settled, and all the pains came rushing in at once: injuries, broken ankles, and the blow he took to the head when he fell; they all exploded in a systemical peaking order.

He was weak, tired, hungry, sore and afraid...

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