The Cold Forest Ch. 04

Slowly, she showed improvement; instead of blowing things apart now, they were doing there what they were supposed to do, like levitating things in the air, starting a fire, melting ice, etc. While these acts were the same as before, she could see the increase in their strength.

Compared to her past self, her strength and magic had grown more than twice now. Also, the potency of her magic had increased a lot.

In past, her sources of magic were weak creatures who had most of their life force already taken by others, but now it felt like she was on some healthy diet. The energy she harvested from Erik was something she had never experienced before.

The feeling of being watched broke her thought process. It was the same feeling that she had felt in the past. She looked around, but no one was there, and gradually the feeling of being watched disappeared.

She knew someone was there but she wasn't sure who. It was the same as before; the creature was masked by the forest. It was like the forest was hiding whoever this was.

After she could not find the presence, she decided to head back to Erik's house.

Suddenly she felt pain coursing throughout her body. She wasn't sure what hit her but all she could see was a blurry figure of a woman standing before her and that was the last thing she saw before she lost her consciousness.

When she woke up, she wasn't sure when or where she was but she felt certain it was someplace unknown to her. She slowly opened her eyes, only to find herself lying inside a circle that was drawn with blood; a variety of items were lying outside of the circle.

Some weird-looking book was also lying beside those items. She felt immediate fear within her heart. She could read the words that were written inside the book. It was a ritual book to open a portal to hell. She was inside the circle which meant whoever had taken her was going to send her back to hell.

She felt immediate fear deep within her heart. She wasn't sure who this person was, but the things that were lying around were proof enough to understand that this unknown knew ritual magic.

The blurry image of a woman appeared before her eyes. She became anxious, and looked around; it seemed she was in some kind of basement. Except for a small lamp that was burning inside the far corner, there wasn't any light.

Since the ritual had not yet started, she quickly left the circle and walked closer to the door. She pressed her ear at the door to hear any kind of commotion; she even took a whiff of the air to smell who or what was outside the door.

She could feel that there was no one outside the basement. She slowly opened the door with her magic and walked out of it, up some stairs. She was standing inside a villa, like a big house, and there were a variety of antiques lying around.

Without wasting much time, she rushed out of the house, only to find herself standing before huge trees. It was already night; darkness had descended on the forest. The moon was shining brightly in the open sky, but the trees were blocking all the light.

It was the same trees that surrounded the forest behind Erik's house, but here they looked even bigger. She felt the same presence approaching her location, so without wasting much time she started to run in the direction opposite her attacker.

She was going at a full sprint but she felt her attacker coming closer and closer. It wasn't even hiding its presence anymore. When there were only a few meters left between her and her pursuer, she realized she could not run from this situation. If she wanted to survive this incident, she would have to fight.

She stopped running and looked in the direction from which her pursuer was approaching her. A humanoid shadow came out from behind the trees.

Her sight was clear even in the dark. She could see the person was a woman. Tanha looked at the woman, standing 5'7, a foot taller than her. Her dark hair was flowing with the cold breeze. She was looking at Tanha with disgust.

Tanha saw the woman was strong, not just physically but also magically. The woman appeared to be sharing some kind of magical connection with the forest.

A sudden realization struck her; she gathered a huge chunk of magic inside her spell and threw it toward the woman.

A tree that was standing beside the woman tilted itself in the path of her attack. The powerful spell landed on the tree trunk and blew it to bits.

She started to throw a variety of magical attacks toward the woman but none seem to reach her.

Tree branches, trunks and roots would move in the path of her attack to protect the mysterious woman. Tanha was more than scared but as a last-ditch attempt, she rushed at the woman to attack her.

The woman dodged the fist that was about to hit her face, moving her body like a dancer. Tanha threw another punch at the woman which again was dodged by the mysterious woman. Tanha moved fast and threw a kick at the woman but a huge tree root came out of the forest ground and blocked Tanha's kick.

The woman was standing there with a calm expression on her face. Except for dodging the two punches, she hadn't moved an inch and she didn't even need to dodge Tanha's kick; the tree root just blocked it.

A branch of a tree came out of nowhere and landed on Tanha, throwing her a few feet back. Tanha tried to jump out of the way of the sudden attack but still, it gave her a bit of a concussion. She quickly composed herself and again rushed at the woman; her magic was pulsing within her body, giving her body a boost. She threw punches at the woman one after another but the woman would dodge her attacks, or sometimes a tree trunk or root would come out of nowhere to block her strikes.

The fight was greatly imbalanced; the woman hadn't moved from her place, while Tanha had used up most of her energy. Many trees around her were lying flat on the forest floor now. Her body was bearing many wounds due to the sneak attack of the trees. Since Tanha was so tired and injured due to the fight with the woman, she wasn't fast enough to block when the mysterious woman attacked her.

The woman moved her hand forward, landing on Tanha's stomach, sending her back. The punch was so strong that it broke her magical armor. Tanha braced herself for the collision with the trees that were behind her but instead, she felt him! She felt herself landing in his hand.

Even though many wounds were covering her body, she was still conscious and observing the scene that was unfolding before her.

She felt anger flaring within him when that woman asked him to leave the forest and never come back.

"I am VIDAR!"

When he said that she looked up at him. Yes! She could see it now, the difference in him; in his behavior.

In the past, during her life as a servant to powerful demons, she had seen how strange some of them were. Most of them would do absurd and borderline crazy things for the sake of fun. That was the reason why she had ignored Erik's weird behavior.

She had thought it was something that gave him a kick, something that he enjoyed doing. She even ignored his questions about the things he had done, like fighting those hunters or dominating that witchas something he liked to hear, some kind of self-praising.

But now she could see it he wasn't Erik that she had thrashed when she first met him. It wasn't the Erik who would ask her silly questions. This was the Erik who had threatened to end her life, to whom she had offered herself as a servant. It was this Erik who would order her around.

She skipped a few breaths; most of her wounds were already healed. But she wasn't paying attention to them; all her focus was centered on him. The puzzle called Erik just became more complex!

Chapter 29: Cursed Blood

The Sun was in the middle of the sky while vultures and crows were ravaging it. On a huge plain right before lush greenery, a huge battalion was standing before a man.

It was a huge ground, with the man standing on one side while the battalion stood on the other.

The man was wearing silver armor; the armor had a huge wave of ocean carved on the chest plate. Some ancient words were also carved on the armor. Shoulder-length blue hair waving with the breeze.

He had dark blue eyes staring at the battalion. The battalion released a war cry and marched toward the lone man. With a thin smile on his face, he rushed forward. He was holding a huge sword in his left hand and a spear in his right hand. He was running at the battalion at inhuman speed.

The soldiers of the battalion were wearing battle armour and holding swords and shields in their hands. Upon reaching them, the man raised his sword which came down on the soldiers like lightning.

On his left side with a single swipe of the sword, six soldiers were cut in half. He blocked attacks from the right side with his spear. He kept rushing at the same speed. He gave a few more swipes of his sword and the number of fallen soldiers reached double-digits within a minute

The battalion was utterly failing at stopping him. Every soldier was trying their best to land an attack on their attacker but life would leave their body before they could land a single hit.

Within a few moments, he was in the middle of the battalion cutting soldiers left and right. His spear was long forgotten now; he only had his sword in his one hand. He was using his other hand to punch the soldiers. With a single punch, the body of the soldier would become lifeless.

Like a huge tree would appear among small flowers, he was clearly visible among those soldiers. Standing at 7'8", he dwarfed the entire battalion with his height and might!

He would throw the bodies of the soldiers around like small pebbles.

A horse rider rushed his brown horse toward this brute, with the intent to impact him and make him fall. But the man lifted the horse with its rider and threw them both toward the group of soldiers. The small group of soldiers was crushed beneath the horse.

The man didn't even give them a second glance, he just kept moving to cut and maim the battalion. Even a common man could tell that it wasn't a battle but a slaughter! The tall man was cutting through these soldiers like grass, punching and throwing them around like they were made of paper.

A chariot which had five horses pulling it was rushing at full speed toward the man, but when they were still 50 meters away, the man paused in his killing, bent his legs forward, and jumped.

It was an inhuman jump; he covered the 50 meters of distance in that single leap and landed upon the chariot.

Like an elephant's foot landing on a watermelon, the chariot gave under the pressure. The wheels of the chariot were broken; the horses were brought to their knees. The shattered pieces of the chariot were thrown around. A huge crater formed under the crash site. The rider was also crushed beneath him.

After a few more minutes of this bloody mayhem, the entire battalion was lying on the ground, and the soil around them had turned red from blood. The man kept walking until he reached the gate of a small garden area.

He looked at the gate; two white pillars were standing on each side. A design of small flowers was beautifully carved on all of them.

With a single kick, the Iron Gate was smashed open, damaging one white pillar heavily, while the other was shattered to bits.

He walked inside the garden. It was a man-made garden but it didn't appear well-kept. Bushes and trees had grown freely.

Stone chairs were arranged in a circle for people to sit on them. In the centre of the row, an old man was sitting in one of the chairs. He looked at the intruder with a gentle smile on his face.

"Old fool! You think you can run from me," the intruder spoke to the old man while walking closer to him.

"Einar, I was not running from you."

"Huh!" With that, the man started to laugh, disagreeing with the old man's statement.

"Einar, I am asking you again to stop this madness."The old man spoke with the same gentleness in his voice.

"So, you think its madness. You think I am mad?"

Water started to rise from the stream that was flowing beside the seating area. They both looked at it but with the sound of rain, the water fell back to the ground.

"Look! The man who once commanded the ocean itself can't even move small water droplets. And how much time did it take you to cross my bodyguards? There were just 136-foot soldiers, 4 horse riders, and 1 chariot."

The man was breathing heavily. He had just maimed an entire battalion without dropping a single sweat drop but the same man was sweating heavily from the small feat he just presented with the stream of water.

But it was true the man who once had command over the entire ocean was unable to move a single water droplet now!

"The man, who could wipe out an entire army with one swift moment of his finger, had to use his entire strength to fight a small battalion."

Einar averted his vision from the old man; now he was staring at the small stream that was flowing through the garden and 'Pain' was clear in his eyes!

"I know you have paid a price for what you did, but I want you to stop here and make no further mistakes," the old man warned Einar, with his soothing yet firm voice.

Again, the expression on Einar's face changed with determination and anger he looked at the old man and spoke again. "Once I wipe out all the filthy blood creatures like you. I will have my powers returned to me, and it's Emperor Einar to you!"

"Einar, I am warning you for the last time. I respect you for the things you have done for us, but by killing innocents you have turned yourself into the same monster that you once defeated!"

The man known as Einar was breathing heavily, and his body was shaking with rage.

"A dirty blood creature like you dares to insult me, Emperor Einar, the Son of God, The King of The Ocean?"

The old man released a heavy sigh; he closed his eyes and started to chant something in some ancient language. The expressions on Einar's face changed; he tried to move but his legs wouldn't budge.

Blades of the small grass had moved stealthy and were holding his footing in a vise grip.

"As I said before, Einar, I wasn't running from you. You were a boon to this creation by some unknown God, but now you have turned into a curse, a curse that must come to an end!"

The old man spoke with fiery eyes that were staring at the tall man. The fury that was in his voice and on his face gave a shock to Einar.

"RELEASE ME!" Einar roared at the old man.

"I know I don't have the resources or strength to end your life but I, the one who had the blessing of the Gaia curse you, that the blood that you are so proud of would be the reason for your death. The blood that flows through your veins would turn into poison for your body. First, it will eat your strength, then your vitality, and then your life itself!"

With that, the old man again chanted some ancient mantra and the small grass that was holding Einar's feet released him.

Einar started to laugh loudly, "What else can an old weak leaf do except throw curses and bad words at me? I have been cursed by many other lowly creatures like you. What difference would one more curse make?"

With that, he moved forward and raised his fist. Like a hammer, it landed on the old man's face.

The old man was dead from the impact. Blood slowly started to drip from the chair onto the ground. The birds and animals started to wail, the trees were shaking under some unknown force. The earth itself started to tremble.

A weird circle became visible; it absorbed the blood of the old man. It was a huge circle covering the entire seating area. Einar saw it and tried to rush out of it but a sudden surge of pain hit his body. He started to scream in agony.

After a few moments of this, the circle disappeared and an unconscious Einar was lying on the ground. The trees stopped shaking and the wailing of birds and animals also stopped, silence fell upon the entire existence!

Chapter 30: Who am I?

He wasn't sure who he was. He wasn't sure where he was. The first thing he saw was huge trees looming over his small, red-furred body.

He roamed the area that was covered under the vast spread of trees.

There was nothing that could answer his question, nothing that could tell him who he was. Not until he reached a small stream of water that was passing through the forest. He saw there was a lot of difference in the terrain. While the part of the forest that he was roaming was covered in darkness, there was a lot of brightness on the opposite side of the stream.

His curiosity pushed his instinct and he walked closer to the stream. Again, he glanced at the bright side of the forest. After considering the size of the stream, which was a lot bigger than his small stature, he decided to jump across it to satisfy its curiosity.

He took a few steps back and rushed at the stream; after closing the small distance he jumped.

But before he could reach the opposite side of the stream his body hit with some kind of invincible force; it was like some kind of wall. It stopped him in mid-air before he could complete his jump.

He could not see what it was, but it was so strong that it shook him inside out. With a splash, his body fell into the water of the stream. He was wet from head to toe.

He felt something swell from inside out within himself. It was an emotion, the first emotion that he had felt. He wasn't sure how, but he somehow knew that he was feeling it was emotion.

His instinct was telling him what emotion was. He saw various images, in which he felt this emotion at an old man who was making him eat something, him feeling this same emotion at some girl who was trying to take his pencil away from him. The scenes kept changing until he understood what this emotion stood for.

ANGER!

This emotion that he was experiencing was called 'anger'. Once he walked out of the stream, the scenes that were passing before his eyes stopped.

He looked at the stream, and again saw the brightness that was on the opposite side. Again, he rushed toward it and jumped; when he was in mid-air again, the invisible wall stopped him from crossing the stream.

He fell into the stream; his red fur was covered in water. Again, he felt the same emotion as before but it was a lot worse than before. He saw another scene unfolding before him. The same old man was lying on his bed with his body lifeless.

RAGE!

At first, it was anger but that immediately turned into rage. There wasn't a particular subject for his rage; he was furious with everything around him.

He was about to walk out of the stream when he felt alien emotions invading him. He saw a redheaded woman touching him. The emotion he felt toward the woman was a lot different than the anger.

LUST!

The instinct that he was born with asked him to take that woman and make her his. He was enjoying this emotion, memories of seeing another young woman doing things with him came rushing to him.

After seeing a few more scenes he knew what his instinct was trying to tell him. What it meant by taking her! He liked this emotion; unlike anger which made him uncomfortable and triggered bad memories, this one triggered some pleasant memories, which also gave him some kind of thrill.

He wanted to do more things, but in those scenes, he was being gentle with those girls, something which wasn't fitting with what his instinct was telling him. He walked out of the stream thinking about the new emotion LUST. He was about to walk into the forest when a sudden movement caught his attention. He turned his back toward the stream, only to find some kind of disturbance around it. The stream water was behaving oddly.

The flow of the stream had changed greatly; instead of flowing normally, it was rushing fast. Then, sometimes the flow of water would just stop altogether.