A brutal snow storm blew across the landscape. Some trees were knocked over by the intense winds. The flakes moved so fast with the wind, they would've been lethal if they were a tad bit condensed.
While most people in this world can withstand freezing temperatures, they knew the risks of being out in a storm like this
A quiet town was completely locked up for the storm. The shed in the middle of the town that was used for storing firewood was completely empty. The smoke emitting from the houses' chimneys quickly disappeared into the storm.
One family was enjoying their time by the fire while sipping coffee and reading books. One of them was sleeping peacefully by the fire, the warmth from the flames making her blanket and pillow much more comfortable.
The three were lounging in their living room. A couch big enough for three with two chairs on either side were set to face a giant bookshelf with the fire place right below. The parents of the sleeping girl were reading their respective stories next to each other, until the mother grew tired and rested her head on the father's shoulder.
The man smiled as he continued reading, grabbing the mother's coffee out of her hands before it spilled.
The family, like all the others, enjoyed storms like these. A whole week of sleeping by a warm fire without worrying about any work or hunting was a shared comfort ability for the Wolfpack of this village.
Suddenly, the girls ears perked up. They were two fluffy white ears that sat on top of her head. She lazily sat herself up, looking a little annoyed that she just got woken up by something. Her long, white hair fell all the way down to her hips, almost covering her snow white tail. Her eyes were a sparkling diamond blue, a matching color with her one-piece nightgown.
Waking up sleepyhead," her father asked. "Quite early for someone who loves to sleep in."
"Mmm…I heard something…" the girl said tiredly.
"You did? Through all that wind? Really, your hearing abilities far surpass my own. You're making your own father feel jealous."
This young girl had a hearing ability that far surpassed everyone in the town. Luckily for the hunting squad, this girl loved hunting for food. Her hearing ability was extremely useful for catching prey, so she was praised quite a bit for her talent.
While it's nice to have, the young girl sees it more as being lucky than having a talent.
"So, have you decided yet?" Her father asked.
"I…I'm still not sure," the girl said. "It just feels so sudden."
"Come on Cyrene, there must be something you want. You're finally twenty. A grown woman must want something to celebrate."
Turning twenty in this world was considered a celebratory stage of one's life. They celebrated this day with gifts give them to them from their relatives and friends. Sometimes, someone would offer them their hand in marriage.
"I guess I'd like to explore new hunting ground," the young girl, Cyrene, said. "I'd like to hunt for a new species."
"I mean, I'd be happy to let you hunt for something like that, but what's the point in giving you that when you already do that? You're always solo hunting anyways, so it wouldn't really feel like a gift."
"Well…yeah, you've got a point…"
"I wish you would at least take some of the novice hunters with you to train them. Our honorary code has always been 'The Pack is strongest whenever we're together.' I know you're special, but you could at least try to use that part of you to help others."
Cyrene sat and pondered on her father's words. As she spent time thinking, here tail gently swaying left and right, she suddenly got an idea.
"I got it," she exclaimed. "Father, how about I become a teacher! I can teach them both head knowledge and experience!"
"A teacher huh? Well, I don't see why not. In fact, that's a great idea. You'd make a lovely teacher. I'll be sure to contact the chief right away as soon as this storm passes."
Her father then placed his book and coffee on a nearby table and went back to sleep with his wife. Cyrene's excitement grew more and more as she realized how fun teaching newer hunters would be.
'I can't wait I can't wait I can't wait! Storm, please pass quickly! I wonder if there'll be kids. Hahn~! Teaching cute little kids how to hunt properly would be awesome! Maybe I'll find a boy the same age as me! I'm a little shy with people, sure, but I can make it work. I mean, it's fine since I'm really passionate about this kind of thing! Oh wow, I'm so exci-'
*CRUNCH* *CRUNCH*
'…ted…'
Cyrene could here footsteps crunching through the snow. The pattern sounded irregular. This thing must either be hurt or tired, barely able to stand, much less walk, she thought.
Cyrene felt the urge to hunt swelling up inside her chest. She had to go out there and see what was happening. She knew how to navigate, so the storm wouldn't bother her too much. She grabbed a coat in case it got a little too cold for her. Then, she grabbed her trusty dagger, a shiny, durable silver blade with her family name engraved on the blade. The sides were jagged and sharp, while the handle was wrapped with a leather strapped. She quickly changed from her nightgown into her leather clothing and added a fur coat made from a feline creature. Her boots also had warm fur inside them as well, while also adding comfort. They were shorter as well, so they were very easy to move in.
'Whatever it is, it's about thirty cemtrics (cemtrics are meters in this world) away. I'm not sure what it could be. It sounds like it has two legs. A person? It can't be. Nobody is that dumb enough to wander in a storm like this for so long. It has to be a new species. Yeah, a new species with some nice fur on it. I hope it's comfortable.'
Cyrene opened the door went outside and closed it in a swift move as to not wake up or inconvenience her parents. The icy cold wind blew at her face, but being a Wolfpack, she had some fur on her cheeks, hands, feet, and neck that kept her face and any other areas from getting frostbite.
'Wait, what if it's a Bandit? No, no it can't be. They wouldn't be that crazy enough to walk through this storm right… R-Right…?'
Bandits were disgusting horrid people who captured other races of people for slavery and sex trafficking. Cyrene ran into a group of them a while back, but was saved by the chief of the town. The Wolfpack and Bandits have been at war with each other for over a century. It was one-sided for the most part, with the Wolfpack on the winning side, but the Bandits resorted to cowardly decisions to get back into it.
By capturing the children of their kind and using them as they pleased. They've even trained them to fight against their own kind. Parents of those children would have to either kill them, or let themselves be killed. And even though the parents have years of experience on the battlefield, nothing can ever break the bond a parent has with their child…
'Fine. So what if it's a Bandit. I'll just have to kill them more slowly. I can afford a few minutes or hours of torturing someone.'
Cyrene readied her dagger and stealthily crept towards the figure in the wind. It stood at about three meters tall. It looked gravely skinny and head the shape of a regular person.
'A Bandit huh? Heh, alright. This'll be fun.'
Cyrene slowly crept through the snow, like a real wolf ready to ambush its prey. She kept her eyes locked completely on it, waiting for it to create an opening for her.
However, as she got closer and closer, she caught a very strong scent.
'Blood! Wait, why does it smell this strong? Is it bleeding? Is that why it's walking awkwardly? No, that can't be it. This much blood loss would kill someone, or at least make them fall unconscious. Is it…covered in it?'
As she got even closer, her suspicions were pretty much spot on. There, through the windy and snow that started to blow like daggers, was a human figure who looked like it hadn't eaten in days. It's eyes were completely dead, with green filling in the void spaces. A shirt and pants that were shredded to mere rags was all that covered this person, so how did this person survive in the cold?
The blood. Cyrene was right. This person was covered in blood, but also had intestines and versions entrails covering his body. All wrapped around his neck and torso. And he carried a dead body with him, occasionally tearing through the corpse's neck and munching on the flesh.
Cyrene had never seen anything like this before. She was shaking. She had never been scared like this since her first days of hunting as a little girl. But what shocked her even more was the dead body. She saw the familiar looking ears on the corpse. The ears of a filthy rat.
'That's…a Bandit. But all that blood… How many Bandits did he kill? I'd have to guess at least two, but how did he do it? I don't see any weapons on him. Did he tear them apart with his own hands?'
Cyrene's fear turned into curiosity. This person in front of her, just ten meters away, was feasting on the flesh of a Bandit while covered in its blood to keep warmth. Whoever this person was, he was a complete beast. Maybe even a monster.
Suddenly, the figure stopped and stared at Cyrene.
'Oh no! He sees me. Fight or flight I guess.'
Cyrene was about to take action, but she noticed the figure not moving. It just stood there, it's eyes completely dead, nothing inside of them whatsoever that resembled a person. A beast through and through. A monster through and through. But even so…
'Why does it look so sad?'
Cyrene saw through those dead eyes of this beast a person who had gone through the worst kind of pain. She didn't know what kind of pain, but she knew it was bad. What she was looking at…was a boy who had been broken beyond repair, letting himself become a monster.
Cyrene sheathed her knife and walked towards it, ignoring the wind growing stronger. Ignoring the daggers of snow flakes. Ignoring her own safety. She just wanted to reach out to this boy.
And she did. Her hand met this boy's cheek. Her hand was quickly soaked with blood that had turned cold. The boy stared down at the girl, no signs of emotion detected at all. But even so, the girl stayed where she was. Right in front of this boy.
'He looks so young… How badly we're you treated? Who did this to you? You poor thing…'
She felt nothing but sorrow and sentiment towards this boy. Tears were forming on her face. She quickly wiped them away before they froze onto her face.
"Come with me," Cyrene said to this boy. "I don't have much to offer you, but at least let me try to help you…"
A smile formed on her face. A very warm, comforting smile. And for a moment, but only a moment, Cyrene felt like she saw just a glimpse of light in this boy's eyes.