I COULDN’T SEE THE RAY’S OF THE SUN. Nor, could I feel its heat. Even it’s deep red glow that set the sky ablaze, which overwhelmed me, had been missing. All I could see was the dark blue-grey harbinger of gloom that hung over my head. The ground behind me shifted as Louella approached.
“It’s called Utgard.” She moved closer. Her cheeks were sunken in and her hands quivered. Her hair remained the same, burning less brightly now and her eyes, still as innocent as they were when she last spoke to me.
“Utgard?” I asked as I slipped my backpack off my shoulder. It was a long trip and my back was close to giving in. “Yeah.” She continued, “The village. It’s called Utgard. Everything has a name, right? Just figured you’d be interested in knowing it.”
“I guess so.” I responded. Although, to me the village seemed too rundown to be tied to anything like a name. The walls still seemed like it could crumble at any time and I wondered how she was able to stay here. She never told me. I never asked.
Her eyes fell onto my bag – hungrily. It was filled with a cans of food I’ve managed to stuff in it. I figured she’d be hungry. “Does he know you brought that?” I shook my head. He hardly payed much attention to anything I did, or at least, it never seemed that way.
“You said it yourself. He doesn’t share my company.” I answered. I noticed her eyes drop down, slightly disappointed. “I see… Then why? Why would you come all the way out here? It’s dangerous moving through the city… “
She was right. I’ve placed myself in danger far greater than simply freezing to death or being separated like has. I risked moving through something far more sinister – the reminants. They were simply what the names stated – mere shells of the people they once were. Nothing more then that, simply vile creatures created by the Shepards, clinging onto their memories as some sort of tie to their previous lives; common sense replaced by a primordial urge.
“You look as if you’ve seen a ghost.” She ran her hand through her hair, “It’s safe here, I promise. Utgard literally means outlandish or outcast. Not much people had any memories tied to this place.”
I nodded. The lack of memories tied to a place was the reason we choose to live in the cabin. There was no chance of encountering them; The Shepards always warned against entering the forest. But, why hadn’t he opted to live in a town like this, instead? Why the cabin instead of Utgard?
“What drove people away from Utgard?”
She shifted on the balls of her toes and untucked a strand of hair from behind her ear. “I don’t know. I heard that everyone just disappeared one day. Luci Chase, Elizabeth Young and Kim Marks. All just vanished some day.”
“The reminants?”
“No. They vanished at least two years before they even existed. Around the same time – “ She curled up her fist, biting back her words. She turned around and walkeda off gesturing me to follow.
She kicked up dust as she walked forward, stopping at everything that caught her eyes, from old coins to bits of cutlery. Childlike. I couldn’t describe her actions otherwise. We reached the center of the town when she hoped onto the monument before turning back to face me.
“The natives don’t like outsiders seeing this place but they aren’t around and I trust you can keep a secret.” She hopped back down. Her voice was more playful then it was earlier, but, it seemed forced. As if she was trying to hide something.
She crouched down near the inscriptions on the slab and dusted the moss off. “The Shepard leads in mystery. His herd, lead to perfection.” She began reciting.
“The wolf, remains in solidarity - a life of the fallen.” I continued. The words defined my life as it always has, yet now I’ve grown to hate it. Louella nodded as she brushed aside the last bits of moss.
“The Shepard and wolf maintain the life, death and sanity of the sheep. Without guidance, the sheep grows wild in a world in which chaos reigns.” She recited further. That was a line we all choose to forget. We remained fixated on what we believed was true that we completely pushed anything else to the outskirts of our thoughts. We forget that evil was nessassry, therefore, we lacked all understanding. We fall into the very darkness and evil we’ve once decided to ignore.
“Help me out with this, you idiot!” She yelled while slipping her fingers under one of the stone tiles, trying to lift it. I stumbled over, confused, and lifted the slab from the other end. The skin on my fingers shredded and my arms trembled but it shifted. She hopped in and I followed after hearing a splash.
The water below was freezing and smelled of dirt; a musty smell that sent a sour tickle up your nose. It was also dark, yet not dark enough that you couldn’t see In front of you – I could see her figure ahead of me – dim, but it was there.
I heard the splashes of water in front of me as she moved forward. “This is one of the old water ways that led into the the old city. When the new one was created much of the old one remained. These tunnels, along with it.”
It happened a lot. The older buildings were never truly gotten rid of, simply built over and hidden from view. My question was where this rabbit hole had lead to. I asked, never being a fan of heading into the an unknown future. At first, she remained silence, reminding me of the mask man, who’s company I’ve never shared and who’s name I’ve never learned, then finally responding with a response so chilling that the water dropped a few degrees.
“I guess I’m leading you towards perfection.”
We were headed to the Shepards building.
YOU ARE READING
The Burning Wolf
Fantasy"Ever since my childhood, I've been fearful of wolves. Their fangs, always barred, left a lingering sense of fear along with bedtime stories we have all been told. The wolf was a menacing creature, one that shouldn't be taken lightly... "
