Fenris, Nature's Sharpened Sword

It was already late at night when he had left the small village, and he had been walking for quite some time; maybe less than an hour. His experiences of late taught him that it was best to travel at night in order to draw as little attention as possible. All the while, he could hear the footsteps of the four men following behind him. Not that they were trying to be discrete in the first place, but even the distance between them barely muffled their footsteps. It must have been hard for them to follow him: trying to keep an eye on a man clad all in black in the dead of night. They had been following him for the past few days, but still kept their distance. He assumed they must have heard the rumors of him having been responsible for several children gone missing. Finally, he decided that his stalkers were annoying him and stopped on the path. He called over his shoulder to them, “If you have something to say to me, then get your asses up here and say it. Otherwise, leave me the hell alone!”

The men decided to accept the invitation, much to the dark man’s delight. This wasn’t the first time he had to deal with people like this, and it surely wouldn’t be the last. It didn’t bother him much. He had developed his own unique way of dealing with these types of situations. The men finished their approach, forming a half circle around their target. “So, you must be that wolf man people have been talking about. We’ve heard about all the things you’ve been doing, freak. And we’re here to put you down like the wild dog you are.” The stranger slowly turned around to face his attackers. “First of all, the name’s Fenris, not freak. And you shouldn’t believe everything you hear. After all…”, Fenris was now facing directly towards them, smiling as he revealed his face, “seeing is believing.” At first the men thought the light from their lanterns were playing tricks on their eyes. They could see that Fenris had fang-like incisors, although they were still natural looking. One of his eyes was completely black around a steel blue iris, while the iris of his other eye was yellow and sharp like a wolf’s. Fenris saw the familiar look of shock and fright on their faces.

“If you men bare any sort of intelligence at all, you’ll pretend like you never met me and go home to your families. After all, I’d hate to be responsible for any more needless deaths.” They didn’t listen. The leader shouted orders for the men to attack. Pistols, a whip, and swords were all drawn. Fenris threw out his hands, and in a brief shimmer of light they twisted and turned into claws. As he darted towards the men, his mind couldn’t help but wander back to his childhood and to the night when he discovered that he was…”different”.

*****

As a child, Fenris had always been “different”. He could see and hear things that others normally missed. Even his sense of smell seemed to be more refined at times. Normally, these traits would have made a young boy seem remarkable, perhaps even gifted. But what set Fenris apart were the images and whispers he would see and hear in his mind. It started out as nothing special: he might know the name of an animal others didn’t, or he could tell if some plant or berry in the wild was poisonous if ingested, all without having seen these things before. Sometimes a villager would catch him talking to a wild animal, acting as if though the creature was talking back. People began to think him strange, perhaps even possessed by some demon, especially when they saw that the creatures seemed to be acting in response to the boy’s words, as if they could understand him. As word began to travel around the village, so did the level of harassment Fenris began to receive. One day, a group of boys decided that it would be fun to gang up on Fenris and tease him about being so different. They circled around him, spouting out insults and shoving him back into the middle of the circle any time he tried to leave. Finally he had enough. Fenris took a swing with his fist at one of the boys, but missed. The boy responded by kicking Fenris in the stomach, causing him to drop to his knees and gasp for breath. In an instant, the group had closed in and were all taking turns beating down their stunned victim. After a moment, the sudden sound of growling could be heard, followed by a fierce snarl and a loud snapping sound. The boys scattered and screamed as they ran away. Several of the adults came out of their huts and saw one of the boys attempting to fight off a black wolf that had bitten down and latched onto his leg. One man was able to rush in and strike the beast on the back of its head with a shovel. The wolf let go and flopped down onto its side. After a moment it began to change, almost as if though it was melting into something else. It was Fenris. As he regained conciousness, he heard the sounds to people yelling. It took him a moment to realize that he was being targeted by a mob that wanted to have him killed as a demon. Some members of the crowd were trying to be rational, but most just wanted to see the boy dead. Not even his own parents rose up to save him. They simply stood by, letting his pleas for help go unanswered while the mob drove out of town. They would forever see him as a monster and cursed child. He ran as far and as fast as he could into the woods until finally he grew so fatigued that he passed out.

Fenris woke up to the sound of a woman’s voice attempting to wake him up. Once his eyes came into focus, he found himself confronted by a silver wolf that standing over him. Startled by the sight, he rolled away quickly and jumped up to his feet. But the wolf didn’t attack. Instead, he heard the same voice as before. Only this time he could tell that the voice was coming from the wolf. She introduced herself as Ran, the matriarch of a pack of wolves that was familiar with Fenris. Members of her pack had spoken to him on several occasions and knew him to be a kind soul. She had been watching from afar when the villagers chased him away, and stood watch over him while he rested in case they came to finish their job. This was the beginning of a new life for Fenris. He lived in the woods with the pack of wolves, Ran being his adoptive mother. She was the one who gave him the name of Fenris, a name which he gladly accepted wishing to have no connection to his old life. As time rolled on, he discovered that his abilities went beyond simple knowledge and the ability to transform into a wolf. When he was thirsty, water would appear. He found he could purify and remove poisons from food and water. When the pack wished to hide, he could create a blanket of fog for them. Unfortunately, these abilities didn’t seem to carry over to his wolf form. Perhaps it was because it was still too difficult for him to transform on command. He had no idea what exactly it was he should do to make the change occur. Not even Ran could teach him what to do. All she could do was sit in front of him while he attempted to figure it out. One day as the wind blew and muttered in his ears, he found his mind flashing back to the incident in the village: the strength he felt as a wolf, the pride of being the predator and not the prey. These were the thoughts and emotions that led him to finally control his transformation. The more he focused on them, the easier it became. Eventually he was able to change with such ease that it was no longer an instinctual reaction. It was now second nature; as basic as breathing. In fact, he spent so much time in his wolf form that eventually his human appearance retained wolf-like traits, most notably his eyes and teeth.

Fenris grew into a man, and his abilities grew along with him. He still had no idea what he was, human or wolf, or why he could do the things he could do. But it didn’t matter to him. He had a home and a family, and he was happy. However, Ran knew he was meant for something more. Nature brought him into her life, and she knew that one day Nature would call upon him to go back out into the world of man. In recent days, word had passed through the forest about a group that had established a settlement to the North. They brought with them weapons and materials that had never been seen before. There was a type of black dirt that almost burnt the nostrils, and containers that held both fire and light. There were even creatures made of metal that seemed to be alive, yet they were unlike the magical constructs of the old world. The members of this group were not Drow; the foul dark creatures that were responsible for the state the world was in. These people had found a way to use the resources of Nature in a new way. Perhaps these people were here to help the world; to restore it to its former glory. Wolves would have no place helping these people. But Ran thought that, perhaps, her son could. Fenris was off on his own, practicing his abilities and trying even now to merge the powers he had as a human with his strength as a wolf. As the wind rolled by, he heard a faint whisper roll past his ears and suddenly felt something pulling his attention towards the mountains. He went to see Ran, and tell her about what he had experienced. She knew it was time for her child to venture out into the world, and to act as a bridge between Nature and the world of man. All this time, she believed she was tending to a wounded cub. It wasn’t until this day that she realized she had been helping Nature forge a sharpened sword that would help take back all of which Nature had been robbed. Ran promised that she and the pack would follow for as far as they could, but it would not be for long. With that Fenris said his goodbyes and left his pack, heading out on his own with only two things in mind: the direction of North, and the name “Amberstone”.

*****

Fenris looked down at the fallen attackers. Slowly he swished some saliva around in his mouth and spat it out mixed with blood. “Ugh, I can’t believe I had to completely transform to finish you idiots off.” He worked his way around to each one of the men, checking their bags for anything worth carrying. “And now I have that damned metallic taste in my mouth again.” He walked over to the last man that lay on the ground, barely conscious. “Hey, you. Can you walk?” The man let out a long groaning sound. Fenris knelt down and placed his had on the man’s shoulder. After a moment, the man’s wounds began to glow and close by themselves, but not completely. The man looked up at the feral looking man with a mix of fear and gratitude. “Get your ass back to the village and send help for these men. If you’re smart, whatever party you send to recover them won’t be told to follow me. Understand?” The man gave a quivering nod, still unable to stand from being overcome with fear. Fenris stood up and turned away to continue in the direction he began, stopping only for a moment to look back over his shoulder at the man. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be on my way. Lots of things to do, ya know: babies to steal, children to eat…whatever other rumors people like to spread about me. That stuff.” The man finally forced himself to his feet, turned and tried to run back towards his village. Fenris called back to him, “Wait a minute!” The man stopped short, and slowly turned back to Fenris, seeing his open hand held out towards him. “That’s a nice coat you’ve got there.” The man quickly removed his coat and threw it to Fenris in a panic, turning at the same time to run away. Fenris put the coat on and pulled the hood of it up over his head. “Hmm, not a bad fit.” In the distance, he suddenly heard the sound of a wolf howling in the darkness. He pulled his hood further down to his eyes, and whispered as he continued along his way. “I know. Don’t worry. We’ll see each other again…mother”

Fenris
February 25, 2011 - August 18, 2011
R.I.P.