My god did I have fun with this chapter! I hope you all enjoy it. I’ll keep this short, so you can read.
He was lost. Luckily, if he was lost, chances are, he lost the Runewalker that was chasing him. Gryr pressed on though, he couldn’t be certain he got rid of the monstrosity yet. Pressing on, Gryr forced himself to continue through the dense trees. Master Taybus had told him to never rest until he was surrounded by four walls. There were no walls in the woods and Gryr had to rest. Finding a spot along the river bank, he sat, allowing himself to relax. The flowing water coursing with life soothed him; slowly it began to ease the tension out of his body. Gryr took notice how sore he was as his body slowly relaxed. Simply breathing caused muscles to hurt that he didn’t know existed. Peacefulness surrounded him, the dense trees of the Norvik Woods had begun to change colors. The beauty washed over Gryr as his eyes swelled with tears. He didn’t fight it, Gryr wept, finally able to digest everything that occurred in a mere week.
A crunch of dried fallen leaves snapped Gryr out of his vulnerability. Scanning the trees, preparing for the worst, he sighed in relief as he watched an elk lazily slink out from behind one of the towering trees to graze.
“Just an elk.” Gryr laughed at himself. He forced himself to relax once more, this time Gryr lost himself in the environment. The trees surrounding him loomed high into the sky. The red and orange leaves bristled on the branches as the crisp wind flowed through the air. A few leaves failed to keep hold of their branch and twirled lightly to the floor. During any other time, the forest floor would be near dark from the monstrous trees blotting out the sun. Fortunately for Gryr, the crisp air of Autumn had arrived in time to clear the thick leaves from high above. Gryr closed his eyes, another thing Master Taybus would never allow. He gave in to the sounds that lived in the woods.
Fallen leaves crunched beneath the weight of the elk that continued to graze and meander about. The crackling of branches as the wind forced them to bend always calmed Gryr as a young boy. The stream just feet from him flowed with grace and power. The water cutting over smooth rocks and pebbles played just over the orchestra of the Norvik Woods. There was one sound however, that Gryr couldn’t place. Hidden among the other sounds of the area, a low hum played steadily in his ears. It seemed to magnify ever so slightly as Gryr turned his head identify its point of origin.
Opening his eyes, Gryr didn’t see anything that would cause this hum. The sound crept into his chest as he allowed himself to focus on it. All other sounds faded out of existence, the humming grew louder as Gryr focused on where the Elk was grazing. The pain in his body went numb as he stood, fixed on the humming. Walking into the stream, the cold water sharply kissed his legs and waist. Gryr didn’t flinch, he didn’t feel the cold water, he only felt the hum. As he emerged from the stream, the elk raised its head and stared at Gryr. He didn’t stop, he couldn’t stop, the humming was pulling him toward the elk. Not toward the elk, but beneath it. As he approached the snow white animal, he raised his arm, holding open his palm he reached for the elk’s nose. The two touched as Gryr felt something flow through his body. The elk slowly pulled back, and walked away, seemingly done with its task.
The humming subsided only slightly; the music from the world around him came back into focus. One thing was different, Gryr didn’t feel tired. His muscled didn’t protest with every movement and flex. As he moved his limbs to take account of what just occurred, Gryr noticed a stone roughly buried beneath the earth, where the elk stood. Slowly, Gryr cleared away the dirt and moss burying the rest of this object. Sitting in the earth was a rune, carved deep into the stone, the symbol for Life stared up at Gryr.
“Odin’s beard!” Gryr couldn’t contain his shock. “Master Taybus won’t believe this.” He reached down and plucked the stone from the ground. It was oddly shaped, a near perfect obelisk, it seemed to glow a faint white. The stone was warm, unnaturally warm for something buried in a cold forest. Tracing the symbol carved into the stone, Gryr was jolted as a burning pain pressed into his forearm. Starring at his arm, he watched as the symbol of life began to appear on the inside of his forearm. Fear and pain forced Gryr to drop the stone as he clutched his pained arm. Gryr didn’t notice the humming had stopped, until he saw the shattered rune at his feet.
“No…no, no, no!” Gryr dropped to his knees scrambling to get the pieces of the rune together.
His efforts were pointless. Gryr hunched over angry, confused and defeated. Lifting his head, he locked eyes with the elk.
“I’m sorry. You trusted me and I ruined it.” Tears streamed down Gryr’s face as the white elk turned and bounced away through the dense trees.
Looking down at the mess he made, Gryr was shocked to see no rune. There were no pieces, there was no broken obelisk. Unbelieving what he saw, Gryr noticed there was no pain on his arm. He turned ghostly white as his eyes searched his forearm and found no symbol.
Gryr’s confusion was cut short as a familiar inhuman roar ripped through the forest. Peering across the stream, where he had come from, Gryr saw the monstrosity has caught up to him. The crystalline ice covered Runewalker set its frozen blue eyes on Gryr.
Chills crawled up Gryr’s spine as he was certain the monster smiled. Forcing himself to forget what happened with the Rune, Gryr got up to run. He had to move, a regular person without Flicker couldn’t go toe to toe with a Runewalker. Gryr wanted to run, but he couldn’t. Frozen to the earth, his right leg was encased in ice. Gryr turned to see a spiked trail of ice leading from him to the crouched Runewalkers hand, across the stream. The ice continued to climb up his leg, slowly numbing the skin beneath it.
It was a matter of time before Gryr was trapped in ice. The Runewalker, happy with the amount of ice clinging to Gryr’s leg, stood and walked along the frozen path to finish it’s hunt. Gryr struggled wildly to get his leg out of the ice as the monster bared down on him. Grabbing the closest rock, he began to smash at the ice, willing to get out of the trap.
He was too slow.
A spear formed out of the Runewalker’s palm. Light gleamed off of the ice spear as the Runewalker made its final steps to its trapped prey. Helpless, Gryr reached out to the Runewalker as the spear plunged deep into his gut. The Runewalker seemed to breathe in as if smelling his kill. Slashing the icicle out of Gryr, the Runewalker readied for a second strike. Gryr clasped the open wound as blood coated his palms quickly. The Runewalker grabbed the trapped and dying boy by the throat, its eyes locked on Gryr’s, waiting to watch the life drain from them. Gryr didn’t resist the hold, his hands stayed pressed against the vicious wound. The Runewalker reared its arm back and prepared for the final thrust.
Gryr didn’t flinch, he didn’t resist. He stared his death in the face, but it never came.
A white flash ripped from beneath Gryr’s brown eyes. The pain screaming from his side began to numb beneath his glowing white hands. The blood pouring out began to slow as the wound seemed to heal. Gryr felt rejuvenated, just as he felt when he touched the elk. The fight burned in Gryr as his body began to heal.
As quickly as Gryr’s flicker began, it ended as the ice spear tore through his chest. The healing ended and the fight left Gryr as death grabbed him once more. Sucking and whooping, Gryr tried to breathe as the Runewalker removed the spear from the hole in his chest. The world around Gryr began to go dark as he collapsed to the ground. The air sucked through the hole in his lung one last time.
I hope you enjoyed that ride! Let me know below what your thoughts are!
Kris Writes Worlds 