The Cold Forest Ch. 04

The Cold Forest 4: The Aftermath

Thanks to TRCIII and Pooka Hare for great editing you have done, rest is on me...

Chapter 22: Professor Zhou

In the middle of The Gobi Desert, a small team of archaeologists was excavating a new site, found a few days back after a freak desert storm.

The Gobi desert is a vast, arid region. It's known for its dunes, mountains and rare animals. There have been many discoveries in this desert, such as dinosaur fossils that were found in the Flaming Cliffs.

But this team was working on a site that was on the opposite side of that discovery.

After that sandstorm, a small stone structure was unearthed; by a small team of soldiers on patrol.67-year-old Professor Zhou was notified about the discovery and was told to take a small team of his students to do the research work.

Mr. Lin Zhou, or Professor Zhou, had spent most of his life in this desert doing research at various sites.Never in any of his research had he found any kind of clue that could provide him with any lead to this. He was amazed when he looked at the few pictures that were sent to him with the official letter.

He gathered six of his best students, told them to pack a small bag. They were going on a small trip for some research training. They left early in the morning and reached the city nearest the site around the same afternoon. They traveled there by tourist bus to avoid any kind of rumors, and the very next day, he and his team left their lodgings for the site. It appeared to be similar to a small temple. The entrance was half-broken but still, a person could easily enter the structure doing a crab walk.

First, Mr. Zhou entered the temple, followed by his students. Inside, the temple walls were made of burnt stone.

Unlike some sites, the walls were empty; there weren't any drawings on the walls. The temple-like building had four huge pillars supporting the central structure. Those pillars had some weird symbols on them, something which the Professor had never seen in the past.

The Professor was fascinated by this variety of symbols that were inscribed on the pillars. He wasn't sure what those symbols were depicting, but he knew there was some meaning behind those symbols that were inscribed there.

He pulled his camera out of his bag and started to take photos of those symbols on the pillars. A huge crack was formed at the back wall of the temple, where the sand was spilling inside.

The crack was small, barely a foot-long in size, but it appeared manmade as if someone had used a huge sword to make that slash.

There were also nine dot-like circles surrounding the crack. Although the crack appeared to be manmade, the dots surrounding the crack gave it a symbolic appearance.

After taking photographs and a few samples of the stones, the team left the temple. When all his students had exited, Professor Zhou prepared to follow them. He was about to walk out of the broken gate when he felt a stone beneath his shoe. He looked down and picked up the stone; it was as dark as it could get. His old eyes also noticed some kind of engravings on the stone that would bear closer examination. He pocketed the stone and retired for the day.

After having dinner with his students, he entered his tent, sat at his research table and took the stone out of his pocket to examine it under his table light. He tried to read the language but he failed at recognizing a single word. None of the characters matched any language he knew. The symbols on the stone were quite similar to those he had seen on the pillars.

He had studied many languages, especially the lost ones, but the stone's inscription was unlike any other he knew. After trying for hours, he knew he couldn't solve the puzzle alone. He decided to inform his reporting officer about the stone in the morning and ask for some expert assistance.

He walked to his bedding arrangement and turned the light low before lying down to sleep. Except for the noise of insects, silence covered the whole area. A distance hooting of an owl could be heard now and again. A small gust of wind blew outside of Professor's tent. The dark stone lying on the professor's table shook a bit and then turned still. Again it moved on the table, and after a moment, the stone stilled once more. Again, the wind blew outside the tent.

After the gust passed, silence fell on all existence, and this time it was different. None of the insects were making noise, nor could the hooting of the owl be heard anymore. The stone started to move and shake and appeared to be vibrating or moving to some invisible tune. The movement of the stone kept increasing with each passing moment.

Slowly, a small dark cloud of smoke rose from the stone. The smoke was dark than night; it appeared to be absorbing all light. The low light within the tent was gone; darkness covered the entire tent.

The dark cloud spread across the tent and moved toward the sleeping old man. The professor was sleeping soundly, lost to the bizarre occurrence that was happening inside his tent. The cloud crept closer to him and started to loom over the old man. In a swift movement, the cloud came down on the sleeping man and entered the old man through his mouth.

A dark color started to spread across the body of the old man, his entire body turning dark for a brief moment. Within a second or two, the dim light in the tent resumed and everything returned to normal.

Again, insects started to make noise; the hooting of the owl also resumed. The night continued to gradually pass as it should.

Suddenly the eyes of Professor Zhou were open but there were no irises in those eyes. They were as dark as the smoke that had entered his body. The old man stood up and walked out of the tent.

A small cluster of clouds was hiding the stars from shedding any light in the vast desert. Darkness had covered the entire region; nothing was visible but the head of the professor moving around as if he were observing his surroundings, seeing everything.

He walked out of the camp area and came right before the archaeologist site and looked at the Temple structure. If it wasn't so dark, one could have seen the disgust and anger on the professor's face.

The Professor started to walk outside of the site area and kept walking in one direction, without looking around or looking back. He continued walking; many nocturnal creatures passed by him but he didn't pay any attention to them. He just kept walking, till he crossed a huge dune; behind the dune, a huge Gobi Bear was standing and taking a whiff from the air.

Its eyes landed on the old professor, but like all of the other creatures, the professor also ignored it and kept walking in the same direction. When the bear saw the professor's back, it decided he was prey and rushed to attack Professor Zhou.

The professor calmly turned in his track, raised his left hand toward the brown bear. A small, dark ball of smog came out of his hand and hit the rushing bear in the face.

The bear started to wobble and after stumbling a few more steps, its lifeless body fell to the ground, on the sand.

Without giving it a second glance, the professor kept walking, and after continuing onward for a couple of hours, he reached another dune and stopped right before it.

He raised his hand and another dark smog ball came out of his hand and landed on the dune. Slowly the sand started to slide down, uncovering a small cave-like structure that was hidden below.

The professor marched forward and entered the cave without any worries. Despite the lack of light, he walked as though he could see everything inside the cave. He reached the center of the cave without any trouble, and precisely in the middle, a huge basalt stone was situated. The professor approached the stone and placed his hand on it. Dark smog rushed out of his hand and entered a small crack in the stone, then started to spread across it. With a loud boom, the stone cracked open.

He caught sight of a small bracelet hidden inside the stone and reached with his right hand to pick it up. Without wasting any more time; he walked out of the cave and started to walk in the same direction he was traveling before. Saffron light was shining on desert sand, but the old man had already covered too much distance for anyone to see him!

Chapter 23: A New Dawn

Erik was confused to find himself in the forest. It was dark; he never entered the forest at night. But suddenly, he remembered the dream that he had in the past. It appeared the same as that dream.

He heard the sound of the stream; it was dark around him so he carefully walked toward it. After a few meters of walking, he was out of the lush greenery and he saw the stream flowing before him. He walked closer to the stream when his eyes caught sight of a dog--or at least that's what he thought at first.

He quickly recognized it; it wasn't a dog, but the same fox-like wolf cub that had now grown big. It was as big as a bulldog and it had red fur on its body, which was emitting red light. Those fur strands appeared like they were burning with fire.

Suddenly, the wolf turned its head toward him and saw him standing on the other side of the stream. It had an expression of anger which turned angrier at seeing him! It quickly stood up and rushed toward the stream and took a jump; the fox-sized wolf was in the middle of its jump when everything turned dark.

-

Erik woke up in his bed with a heavy headache. It was worse than the previous ones. He was sleeping naked in his bedroom.

The memory of all the information that was provided by Tanha came rushing to him. He also thought about that letter, but again some alien emotions started to give him headaches, so he stopped thinking about it.

One thing was clear: something was wrong. The wolf bite, then him lose control over his body. Some kind of instinct dominated his senses. Changes in his body increase in his sense of smell and hearing ability. Also those weird dreams and doing things that he didn't remember doing.

'And then the event that happened that night.'

If what the letter said was true, then Alice's real name was Minerva and she had a twin sister and both of them were witches. Last night during a rescue mission to save Minerva's sister, he had somehow fought the hunters and killed them.

He killed people! The thought itself was unnerving for someone like Erik. All of this information was disturbing his heart and mind. He took a shower and went down to the kitchen. He found Tanha wearing the same yellow dress while cooking.

"Good Morning, Master!"

"Morning."

He sat at the dining table. The thought of Alice-Minerva leaving the town again came to his mind; it started to give him another headache so he dropped thinking about her and instead focused on his breakfast.

He thought about the dreams. When he had the first one about that small wolf cub, it was a weird dream. Then in the second one, it was the same wolf but it was now the size of a fox.

"Tanha, what do you know about werewolves?"He asked the question to the demoness who was serving him his breakfast.

"They are cursed beasts, Master. Like the bastard version of Hellhound, but a lot weaker."

"Oh! Do you think I am a werewolf?"

While he knew Tanha wasn't a reliable source of information, since he barely knew her, one thing was clear. Currently, she was the only one who knew more about him than he did.

"Haa, hah hah!" Sweet laughter came out of the demoness's mouth. "Master, you are anything but a werewolf!"

He wasn't satisfied with that answer, but he looked at his breakfast and started to eat.

She spoke again, "Master, werewolves are unique creatures and there are various stories about their origin. And if you think you are a werewolf, then don't worry; tonight is a full moon and we will see the truth."

She appeared to take things very casually; now that he could see her face, she was enjoying the moment like she had gotten some kind of good news.

While explaining about werewolves, Tanha knew very well that Erik wasn't one. Then the question was, what was he? She had never heard about any human or beast that could replenish their life force.

There were stories of four mythical beasts but they were long gone. He didn't have dragon or Fae blood within him, since there were none in this realm anymore.

She had been researching and thinking about Erik's origin since they met but she hadn't had any success. If he was a werewolf as he thought, then he would transform tonight after the rise of the moon. And if he didn't, that meant he was something else.

She was having difficulty solving this mystery called Erik. But she wasn't worried about that much. She had been happy since the envelope arrived here with that weak witch.

Tanha had already read that letter and she knew the witches had left the town. Now there was no one to disturb her or Erik. Now she could spend all her time here consuming Erik's life force and getting stronger. Her guess was if she harvested him every week, she would reach the peak of her level within a year.

So tonight she decided to go for another treat!

At first, she wanted to start harvesting him from the very morning but she was still full. All she had spent in the last few days was the excess energy that was inside her body.

So, she was full from the meal she had. But if she spent the rest of the day inside the forest practicing and using the energy she had harvested from him then she would be able to afford another harvest tonight.

And after seeing him thrashing those hunters like that last night, her body was also craving to fuck him. The 'power' she had seen around him and the aura that she had felt was enough for her body to go down there and start serving him immediately.

Also, the way he had dominated that witch; she could still clearly see the entire scenario playing right before her eyes. She bit her lower lip to control her body and started to arrange things in the kitchen to divert her mind from those thoughts.

Erik was feeling worried about the events that happened last night and the scale of it all. He turned his mobile on and started to watch news channels to see if there was any news about the events of last night.

Normally such an event would have been breaking news, but there wasn't even a mention of it, except for the ticker-tape newsfeed below the anchor, which read: 'A small fire erupted in one of the old buildings while installing new wiring and machinery in 'Old Town'. No one died in the incident. New owner 'Leos Int.' released an official statement saying it was a small accident, nothing serious.'

He immediately searched the name, 'Leos Int.' it was a global giant in medical science and arms manufacturing.

It was an old firm that was turned into a company. The roots of the company could be traced back to the middle ages. It was one of the oldest entities that still existed!

The company was always headed by females who were descendants of the Leos family. The current CEO was Theodora Leos.

A photo of a woman with brown hair and brown eyes appeared on his phone. She had sharp facial features and a prideful stature in that image.

"Who is she? And why is this company hiding what happened? Who are the people involved?"

There were hundreds of questions in his mind but no answers. Due to the frustration, he punched the wall of his drawing-room.

With a loud cracking sound, huge cracks appeared on the wall and with a loud THUD, the entire wall fell.

The shock was written all over his face. He looked toward Tanha who was also looking at him with surprise. His sofa set and all the furniture in the drawing-room were badly damaged.

Chapter 24: Project White Bear

Marie was driving the car while Minerva was asleep in the passenger seat. They were about to exit Estonia.

It had been more than five hours since they left Old Town.

She looked toward her sleeping sister; a heavy sigh left her mouth.

After their argument, Minerva was constantly crying, until she fell asleep. Then two hours ago she woke up again and cried herself back to sleep.

After talking with their friend on the landline, Marie heard some commotion in her sister's room.

She walked inside her room; Minerva was awake.

"Where is Erik?"

Minerva asked her sister while trying to get up, but her body was very weak, she fell back on her bed.

Marie rushed to her sister and hugged her. She wanted to inform her sister about the phone call and then ask her to leave this town immediately, but she could see how weak and vulnerable Minerva was at that moment.

So, she decided to let her sister rest for a few hours and then she would inform her about the phone call.

"Where is Erik, Marie?"Minerva asked again. Marie saw how stressed and worried her sister was at not seeing Erik.

So, she told her about dropping him at his house with his Demoness servant.

"So, from where did he get his hand on this Mara Demoness, Sis?"

That question turned Minerva's face red.

"You remember no secrets between twins, right?"

Minerva told all the embarrassing details about the events that had happened that night after Marie left her alone with the unconscious Erik.

"Oh My God! Really, sis? You just had your first threesome, and with a Demoness! Wow, girl, I thought you wouldn't even let any other woman touch your man! Damn, that must have been hot!"

"Just shut up, Marie and get out. I am really tired now."

"Okay okay, Sis. Goodnight!"

With that, Marie walked out of her sister's bedroom. She had seen Minerva's behavior and expression when talking about Erik, and she knew it would be hard for her sister to leave Erik and the town in the morning.

The honking from a passing truck broke her chain of thoughts. She looked at the GPS which was showing that they were about to exit Estonia. A sigh of relief left her mouth at the thought of what was waiting for them.

She looked at her sister who was still asleep; the heavy honking of the vehicle hadn't broken her sleep.

She could clearly remember the conversation she had with her sister when she woke up early in the morning.

"Marie! Where is Erik?"

Marie quickly rushed to her sister's room, "He is fine, Sis, sleeping in his bed at his house. Remember what I told you about dropping him at his house last night?"

"Oh..." Minerva placed her hands on her face, which was turning red, due to the memories of the conversation she had with her sister.

"Come on, Sis. Hurry up and pack your bags."

"But what? Why?"

"Because Bop called a few hours ago. He has found another book, so we are leaving this town as soon as we can."

With that, Marie opened her sister's closet and started to pack her bags.

"I am not going anywhere."

"What?" Marie wasn't expecting that. She had thought that her sister would argue or feel sad while leaving the town but she didn't expect an outright rejection.

That book was what they were searching for, for the past few years. After finding it, Minerva was outright rejecting it, and for what?

"Yes. I am not leaving this town."

Minerva told her decision to Marie with determination on her face. Marie stopped packing Minerva's clothes and looked at Minerva's face with shock.

"Have you lost your mind, Sis? Within a few hours, Oblonsky will be in this town with all his men. We have to leave NOW!"

With that Marie again started to pack Minerva's bags.

"No, I am not going anywhere."

Marie again stopped her work and looked at Minerva.

"Oh, is it because of that Erik?"

Minerva didn't reply to her sister and just looked down with a red hue on her cheeks.

"So, let me get this straight. You also want to involve him in this situation. Well, congratulations."

Minerva looked at her Sister with a hurtful expression on her face. Again her expression changed and she said, "I will fight for him and protect him, and there is also Tanha, so you could leave now."