Growth and Lust Ch. 03 - Cold

“Child, do you feel your days will be the same as before?.” the old woman asked with a raised eyebrow. Then chuckling to herself, "Go, he needs you."

Bakaree was about to protest when she woke up in the hut, looking around for the woman and the hound; she was only able to see the walls in dim fire light. She looked down and found Perta had rolled from under the blanket, now laying on his stomach exposed infront of her. She lifted the blanket that was over her and stretched it to lay it on his back, feeling his cold skin as he shook slightly at her touch.

“M-mm…” escaping from his throat as he nuzzled into the furs.

‘I'll keep you warm.’ she thought to herself as she looked down at Pertas gentle face, his back raising slightly as he breathed. His careless face caressed by the furs he lost himself in as he slept next to her. Bakaree tried to think of her next step, the next move she was supposed to make now that she had Perta by her side.

‘My life as I know it will end…’ she thought, then began to wonder about her new life.

The next morning came and Bakaree found herself almost crying as she saw the chief stepping up to their hut.

“Chief!” she yelled.

“Oh Bakar-” he was cut off as she scooped him up in a four armed hug.

“That was some festival!” Bakaree said in aww as she gripped him for a second, then releasing him and setting him back down on the ground.

The chief smiled, “Well I’m happy you were here, I do not like the thought of the outcome had you not been.”

Bakaree couldn’t stop herself as she cocked an eyebrow, “Would Perta really have been taken, what would have happened?”

“Well the mountain only takes those who willingly give themselves, elderly, sick, The End does not like to take those who can live.” he said.

Bakaree thought about his response, then wondered if Perta would have been taken, she looked back as she saw him exiting the hut and resting his pack on the side of it. She saw him look up to her with his same steel eyes that seemed a little warmer now, then blushing and looking away.

“Perta,” the chief said as he approached him, “farewell.” he said softly, then hugging him, his arms squeezing around him tight.

Perta returned his hug, feeling his eyes burn for a moment, “I-...I’m not coming back.”

“I know, you are no longer the mountains child.”

Perta buried his face in the chiefs shoulder, pausing before speaking, “I’m scared.”

“All the more reason to hold on to her.” the chief responded.

Perta and the chief held each other for a moment longer, then releasing and laughing as they smiled and parted ways. Bakaree collected her things and followed Perta down the main pass through the village, waiving at the villagers as they smiled and said their farewells. She couldn’t believe how much her life had changed on this mountain, how she now had someone else in her life that she would spend her time with, she watched him walk and thought about her feelings. Hitting the edge of the forest and hearing Perta speak.

“Keep your eyes down, and follow me.”

She smiled as she shook her head and looked at his feet, wondering if they would see The End on their way out of the woods. She followed Perta and thought about their future, the planets they would see and the wonder in his eyes as she told him of the places she’d been, now he would experience those places himself. She caught a scent in the air, her brain pausing as she tried to pinpoint where she had smelled it before, then her legs locking still as her muscles tensed and her eyes raised.

“Perta.” she said sternly.

Perta stopped, sensing something in her voice, turning slowly he saw her legs then raised his gaze to look up to her. He saw her face, her red eyes wide as she clenched her teeth, staring just ahead of them.

Bakaree felt it in the air, she watched the forest around them twist and open with ease and lining her up with the sight that struck her with fear. She could see a being, its frame standing rigid in the snow, horns adorning its head as its fiery eyes glared at her. Its hair woven into a braided poney tail, surely to keep it out of it's line of sight while it attacked. Skin red as blood from the death it dealt and a will as strong as steel, she felt her breathing hitch as she tried to get her body to move, to grab Perta and hold him close. She had seen these people before, heard the rumors of them, their ivory crowns that waves of beings had been slaughtered under.

Tallhee, in these woods staring at her, nowhere to run, they were too fast, nowhere to hide as you couldn’t sneak away from a god. This being shouldn’t be here, shouldn’t be in these woods and definitely shouldn’t have anything to do with them. Bakaree tried to reason that it wasn't there for them, then she saw its eyes. Eyes that were almost completely black, like anguish and rage had mixed in its soul to blot out any sliver of kindness.

This was that smell, that feeling in the air that prey felt before the kill, unlike the hound that was The End. This thing was so much worse, this was death incarnate.