1621- England
The sun had set behind the tall mountains a while back and darkness already settled in. It was a full moon tonight which allowed 17-year-old Tae to see where he was walking. Despite this, he could only see about 10 feet in front of him as he stumbled around in the dark trying to get home from working in the fields. It had been a long, grueling day for Tae and the lord of the manor, Radzig, did not go easy on him today since Tae had beat his 8-year-old son in a game of chess earlier this morning. His son threw a temper tantrum and Tae was punished for it by working in the fields until nightfall. Since Tae didn't have a voice in the matter, the only thing he could do was accept it and working all day long.
Cursing his luck, Tae continues to stumble through the dark for a few minutes until he finally saw his lit-up hut near the edge of the property. It was a small living space that consists of only one room but had more comfort than what the other workers in the manor had. Tae's hut had a small bed, table, chest, and a cooking station in it while most of the other workers were crammed into a room that had only tiny straw beds. The only reason why Tae could enjoy this special treatment is that his parents were forced to work at this manor until they passed away when Tae was only 7 years of age. Although he couldn't remember much about his parents, he could still remember parts of his childhood when he played in the fields that his father worked in and learned how to read with his mother, a privilege that many other workers did not get.
As Tae opens the door to his hut, he gets greeted by a familiar voice. The voice belongs to Sarah, his newlywed wife and the love of his life.
"Hey, what took you so long?" Sarah asks as she walks towards him, "I was afraid that something might've happened to you. I was really worried you know?"
"I'm fine," Tae answers as he hugs her, "I've had a really wild day today. Sir Radzig's son, Charles, asked if I could play chess with him since he needed practice. I said yes since I couldn't really say no to him. We played a game and I beat him quite fast, in ten moves actually. He threw a tantrum and called me names like cheater or slave. Radzig was not happy with this and sent me out to the fields to farm until it was night."
"My god!" Sarah exclaims in shock, "that's all?"
"Yeah," Tae sits down on a chair by the table.
"You got lucky. If it was anyone else in your shoes, their punishment would have been harsher." Sarah sits down next to Tae and hands him a slice of bread.
"Thank you," Tae takes the bread and begins to slowly eat it, "And yeah, you're right. I did get quite lucky now that I think about it. Maybe I shouldn't have beat Charles that quick in chess."
"Well, for such a smart man you can be quite clueless sometimes," Sarah smiles as she jokes with Tae.
Tae laughs, "You're right, who in their right mind would destroy Charles in chess?"
"You apparently!" Sarah laughs.
Tae calms down a little as he takes another slice of bread," I was trying to show Charles how many people are better than him since he doesn't have anyone else to play. Also, it wasn't my intention to-"
BOOM!!!
Tae gets interrupted midsentence as the door bursts off its hinges and gets knocked down. Startled, both Tae and Sarah turn their heads around to look at the doorway. Standing there is a tall looming man. He was about 1 whole foot taller than Tae and could barely fit in the doorway. The man has a fur coat on and his muscles were basically bulging through the shirt. As Tae looks up to glance at the man's face, he realized that there is no way this is a man since the man did not have a face. Instead, a wolf's head is where his head should have been. It then dawns on Tae that the man wasn't wearing a fur coat either. His skin was fur. The creature in front of him was part wolf and part man.
Sarah screams in terror and the creature steps into their small hut.
"You damn thing!" Tae shouts at the creature as he gets in front of Sarah, "Who are you!? What do you want with us!?"
Tae's voice was shaking as the creature takes another step towards him. The creature stares at the couple for a few seconds before it begins to talk.
"Your lord hasn't been a very honorable person," its voice is very deep and loud, "he hasn't kept his end of the deal."
"What do you mean? What does that have to do with us? You can take whatever you have against Radzig to him!! We haven't done a single thing," Sarah screams from Tae's back.
"You dare order me around?" the creature snarls as claws suddenly protrude from his hands.
"What? No, of course not," Tae quickly replies, "What my wife meant to say is that we haven't done any wrong to you. Whatever Radzig did to you has nothing to do with us. We're mere farmers that work at his manor. Nothing more."
"Well, you should have found someone else to work for. Now die!!!" the creature snarls as he lunges towards Tae. Shocked, Tae jumps towards the side and narrowly dodges the creature's claws that almost pierced his face.
AHHH!!!
As Tae turns around to face the creature, he hears Sarah scream out in pain. Tae looks at her and sees that the creature's claws had dug their way into her stomach. Blood streams down her mouth and stomach as she gets lifted off her feet and thrown onto a wall.
SPLATTT!!!
"SARAH!!!" Tae screams at the top of his lungs.
Her body makes a sickening sound as it hits the wall, leaving blood all over the wall. It falls down onto the floor and lays there motionless. Dread fills up Tae.
'Sarah was behind me the whole time. If I hadn't moved, this wouldn't have happened. I should've protected her, I should've been the one that got hit, not her. Why did this happen? What are we facing the consequences of Radzig's actions? Sarah was innocent...'
Tae stares at Sarah's lifeless body as tears begin to well up in his eyes.
The creature slowly approaches Sarah and crouches down. Tae continues to stare at Sarah and the creature as he stands there motionless. Shocked at the sudden turn of events, Tae was paralyzed as tears begin to roll down his face. He couldn't do anything. He couldn't save Sarah. He couldn't even move his body to escape or fight back right now. He could only stare at the creature that took Sarah's life.
The creature remained in his crouched position as Tae continues to stare at him. Suddenly, the creature opens its jaws and bites down on Sarah's arm. Her arm gets torn off and more blood gushes out from her body. The creature chews on her arm and the sickening sounds of her bones being crunched up echo through Tae's ear.
Tae was still paralyzed. Tears continue to roll down his face as a feeling of suffocation envelops him. He couldn't breathe. His ears were ringing as his vision slowly turns red. When the creature takes another bite out of Sarah, something in Tae snapped.
"Get the hell away from her!!!" Tae grabs his farming scythe off the wall and lunges towards the creature in a blind fit of rage. The creature turns around and snarls at him. Right before Tae could swing his scythe, the creature has already swung its right hand out towards Tae.... but gets stuck on a wooden beam on the ceiling.
"DIE!!!" Tae swings the scythe with all his strength and cuts the creature's throat. Blood spills out in a violent torment, soaking Tae in the creature's blood.
However, the monster did not do down so easily. It pulls its claws from the wooden beam and strikes out at Tae once again. Since Tae had never been in a fight his entire life, he couldn't even see the creature attack him before its claws sang into his heart.
Strangely, Tae didn't feel any pain and the creature pulls out Tae's heart. As Tae looks at the creature, he tries to swing his scythe again but his body couldn't move. His vision slowly started to fade as he collapses on the floor. He could hear the creature say something but he couldn't make out its words.
'Is this it for me? Is this how I'll die? What was that thing that attacked us?'
Many thoughts circulate through Tae's head during his final moments but he didn't receive any answers. His vision continues to deteriorate and his thoughts slow down significantly. Sarah was lying in front of him and Tae continues to stare at her dismembered body.
'I'm sorry I couldn't protect you. Maybe our fates will align again someday. At least I get to die by your side... Goodbye Sarah'
Tae slowly drifts into sleep. The last thing he heard was the creature screeching in pain before Tae loses consciousness and dies from his wounds.