Chapter 13

After the fifteen hunters of the tribe never returned, panic struck the hearts of the tribe’s people. Now that their strongest men had disappeared, they had little choice in what to do. So, they gathered all their food and left the village. But there were mostly women left, and they were not as capable as the hardened men. Therefore, they could only spread out, and join the various tribes surrounding the forest. They didn’t all go to the same village, as hardly any village would accept such large number of people, in times like these. There were simply too many mouths to feed.

            Thus, the villagers spread out, and friends were separated. But Ulfvaldr wasn’t happy from these events. If things continued on like this, all the tribes would leave soon, and then he’d have to find a new home. If it was just Ulfvaldr himself, then it would be simple enough, but he didn’t want to subject the young Tora to travel such a far distance. At least not yet. That’s why he made a new plan.

            From now on, he would control his feeding more. He’d only feed when necessary. With his current capabilities, he supposed he could hold for about a week, before the hunger started becoming really unbearable, to the point where he wouldn’t even be able to be close to Tora. He supposed if he fed once every five days, he’d be fine. Since there were five villages around the forest, that meant that every village would only lose a single villager every twenty-five days. Considering the number of villagers in every village, he should be able to last just under three and a half years, before everyone was dead. Of course, it would be less than that until they actually decided to flee.

            And like that, time passed. Every five days, Ulfvaldr would go feed, already on the verge of starvation. Every five days, a village would lose a single person. Of course, Ulfvaldr never stopped his purge on humanity. He would continue seeking villages out, continue destroying them. By the time tree years had passed, the young girl Tora was already eight years old, meaning that the purge of humanity had already spread out over eight years. Every month, at least two tribes would face their demise, meaning that in eight years, Ulfvaldr had killed well over ten thousand humans. Like a war machine, he slaughtered and slaughtered, causing terror in the hearts of thousands.

            Naturally, a lot of tribes were made aware of what was happening, as travellers came that had seen the desolate villagers. From time to time, there were even some people claiming to have seen the deed, telling tales of a crimson eyed monster, so fast that the eye could barely catch it, so strong that it could directly rip your head off! As more and more tribes met their demise, the human population became more and more desperate. But there was nothing they could do; they never managed to find the monster.

            After Ulfvaldr had spent those eight years in the forest, raising Tora and killing humans, the surrounding area had finally become void of any humans. The surrounding tribes had fled, telling their tales of horrors to the tribes far away, spreading rumours of the monster’s lair, and it didn’t take long until people came aware of the cursed forest. They had finally come aware of where the monster rested, but still, none dared enter the forest, for the fear of death struck them deeply.

            Not just the fear of the monster’s strength, but also the inherent fear for the dark, which all human possessed. They didn’t dare enter the forest, for they knew that the forest was the monster’s territory, where it could roam free. Thus, everyone simply stayed away from the cursed place, never treading near it.

            But all that effort in staying away from the forest, was wasted effort. After all, as Ulfvaldr’s source of food had dissipated, he had to leave. And that’s why, on a moonlit day, Ulfvaldr approached Tora.

            “Tora, I’m afraid I have some bad news,” he said to the eight years old girl. She looked curiously at the tall man she treated as her father.

            “What is it Ulf?” She asked with her high pitched voice.

            “I’m afraid we’re going to have to leave this place soon. There is no food left for me, so we can’t stay any longer,” he said, slightly guilty that he had to take her away from her lifelong home.

            “What? But I don’t wanna go!” She complained.

            “There’s no discussion. We simply can’t stay. Listen here, we can’t stay, but instead I’ll take you to any place you want to go. You’ve stayed your entire life in a forest, never seen anything else of the world. You may have heard many stories from me, but you’ve never seen them for yourself, right? So where do you want to go?” Ulfvaldr asked, hoping to make her feel a bit better about moving. A moment passed, before she finally answered,

            “Well, then I’d like to go a large plain or prairie somewhere! Somewhere where there aren’t any trees. Some place completely open, where I can see the stars and the moon, and the clouds and the sun!” The said excitedly. The poor girl had spent her entire life in a forest, where the sun could hardly reach. She was always in darkness; this had caused her to be sickly pale, and fragilely thin. She wanted to play out in the sun for once.

            And Ulfvaldr wasn’t one who could make himself deny her, even from all the disadvantages it would bring him. Deep in his heart, he was still a bit guilty of keeping her here, in such a dark place. But even then, he didn’t regret it in the slightest. He considered himself to have saved her, from the corruption of humanity.

            “Alright, Tora. I’ll bring you to the prettiest prairie in the world, and I’ll build you a pretty hut. And we’ll bring Arry, and then you can play in the sun as much as you’d ever want to,” Ulfvaldr said kindly, as he caressed her head. Tora had a huge smile, and hugged her father figure tightly, seemingly having forgot all about the prior sadness at leaving this place.

            Thus, the next day, as the sun lowered beyond the horizon, the three of them, Ulfvaldr, Tora and Arry, left the darkened forest, and left towards a distant prairie. Several years ago, when he had been far, far away from the forest, the farthest he had ever been, he had found a large prairie, full of yellow grass covering the ground as far as the eye could see. That’s where he decided to head, even though it was so far away. It would be no short journey, as he had to take the weak Tora and the slow Arry with him. Even on his own, it took almost two months to make the trip over and back. He never knew why he risked going so far away, when Tora was all on her own back home, but now, he didn’t regret it.

            Thus, they travelled. During the night, they would walk onwards, and during the day they would seek refuge. Like that, they spent three full years as travelling nomads. It wasn’t that it was that an unsurpassable distance, but they simply didn’t walk in a straight path. They basically walked in a circle to get there. But in their long journey, the young Tora got to see many pleasant sights. See saw majestic creatures, both big and small, she saw huge mountain ranges, even some that made Ulfvaldr gawk, and she saw oceans and beaches.

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            When they arrived at their first ocean, Tora really wanted to go play in it, but Ulfvaldr didn’t dare let her. If she was to drown, there was nothing he could do to save her, as he seemed to lose all power as soon he stepped into the ocean water. And that fact made the sea a sore sight to him; he felt like the world was against him. The heavens themselves wanted to see him in pain. Not only was he cursed by the god of the sun, he was also cursed by the god of the sea! But at the very least, he was favoured by the god of the underworld; the god of death.

            Thus, they spent three years travelling the world, until Ulfvaldr finally managed to locate that golden prairie that he had found back then. As they arrived, all they could see was golden dried grass, as long as the eyes could reach. There wasn’t a single tree in sight, no matter where you looked. In the past three years, Tora had been constantly moving around, so she was already quite used to seeing areas void of trees, but this was still quite something. Not only were there no trees, the grass was dry and yellow in most places.

            “Here we are,” Ulfvaldr said, as he stood behind the eleven years old girl, “at our journey’s end,” he continued. Tora simply watched the surroundings, a bit stoic. This was the place she was going to live in from now on, and it was vastly different from her old home. She wasn’t quite sure what to think. Next to the two, was the already quite old Auroch, mooing indifferently.

            “This is so different,” the young girl said, as she looked onwards. She started taking a few steps, then she started running into the grasses, which were tall enough to tower over her at some places. For ten minutes, Ulfvaldr watched the little girl play in the grass, or should I say, listened. After all, it was impossible to see her through all the grass, but he was able to hear her. With his hearing capabilities, he would be able to hear any moving object in several kilometres radius, if he focused.

            But he couldn’t stand around for too long; the sun would rise in only a few hours, so he had to raise their home. Thus, he sped off at his fastest speed, to the nearest trees, and fell as many as he would need, before he came back carrying more trees than any mortal man ever could.

            Thus, he started construction. He did it in a similar manor to his previous hut, where he made a cone shaped hut with the logs, then covered it in foliage, so that neither sun, nor rain should penetrate through. However, this time, it was a bit larger, and it had a door. The previous hut had an open doorway, but this one had a door, so that no sunlight would slip through while he slept. After all, he had to be much more careful now. He was in a completely open area, and there were barely any shady areas, where he could cover from the sun.

            And as the house was finished, it was only about an hour until sunrise, so he entered his humble abode. The young girl Tora had already gone to sleep, as she had tired herself out by playing in the dark prairie. For any other child, it would have been impossible to play in such darkness, but Tora was different. She lived her entire life in darkness. She could see rather well in it. Of course, she couldn’t compare to Ulfvaldr, who could see even clearer during the night, than during the day in his human years.

            As the sun was about to rise, Ulfvaldr went to sleep, and as it rose, indeed, not a single ray of light made it into his primitive hut. A few hours later, when the sun hung high in the sky, Tora woke up and decided that she would finally see the sun. Thus, she carefully walked over to the door, doing her best not to wake up the sleeping Ulfvaldr. During the many years she had spent with him, she had gotten quite good at that.

            Then, she carefully opened the wooden door, made from tightly packed sticks, making sure not to make the slightest sound, and she breezed through like the wind. And as she stepped outside, into the bright world, she was flabbergasted. It was so bright that she instantly got blinded. Even in the past three years, she had never had the chance to see sunlight, as Ulfvaldr would always make sure that they were both protected from its rays.

            As the sun shone into her small eyes, she couldn’t see the slightest thing. She had to wait for a full five minutes, before she became somewhat capable of seeing. But even then, she couldn’t even move. She was simply struck with awe. The sun shone unto the ground, shining it in a golden light. She could see the reflections bursting out of the nearby river; how it sparkled. She started slowly walking towards it. As she arrived by the river, she suddenly felt a sudden need; she just had to jump in there.

            She had never been one much for swimming in rivers; after all, it was so cold, but the sight of the sparkling river was simply too refreshing. She could even see small fish swimming in it. Thus, she quickly took her clothes off, and jumped into the river. As she touched the water, she was expecting to feel a shiver of cold, but instead she was met with refreshing warmth. It was neither cold, not too warm. Thus, she played in the waters for an hour, but she didn’t dare go too deep. She wasn’t able to swim, after all. She never learned how, since there weren’t any big rivers close by their clearing, in the forest.

            But on that day, she made a conviction; she wanted to learn to swim! Surely, Ulfvaldr would be able to teach her. Thus, she jumped back out of the water, and started playing in the grass, until she dried off, and could wear her clothes again. Then, she started waiting for sunset, so that she could bother Ulfvaldr.

            And when it came, bothered he was. As soon as the sun was beyond sight, she raced into the hut, and jumped unto Ulfvaldr’s sleeping stomach, yelling,

            “Teach me how to swim, teach me how to swim, teach me how to swim!” Repeatedly. But sadly, her dreams were immediately crushed.

            “Swim? I don’t think I know how to swim,” he confessed. After all, he was an Ice Age man. There weren’t exactly many places to swim, where he grew up, so he never learned how. Not even in the ten years he had lived after waking up.

            “What? You can run faster than a sabre-cat, but you can’t swim? How’s that even possible?!” The young girl complained. In her brain, it was simply not possible for the amazing Ulfvaldr to not be able to swim. After all, he was all powerful, and all knowing, right? Once, many years ago, Tora gotten lost in the forest, but he had no trouble finding her, so surely he knew everything, right? This was the logic that Tora believed in. But even then, the simple truth was that neither Tora, nor Ulfvaldr could swim. But that didn’t matter, for even if he could swim, he didn’t have time to teach her right now.

            “It’s the truth, Tora, but even then, I don’t have time right now. I need to go check out the area surrounding our new home. See where the nearest villages are, and all that. I won’t be back until sunrise,” Ulfvaldr said, as he stood up from the ground, and prepared himself to leave.

            Thus, he left the annoyed Tora behind. She had even looked forward to swimming, but her dreams were just not meant to be. Not yet, at least. Ulfvaldr sped away from the temperate grasslands, and started scouting the area in many miles surrounding their new home. All in all, there was quite a bit more distance between villages there, than it was back in the forest, but there were still a number of villages to choose from. The nearest one was even about a three hour walk from the house, in normal walking speed.

            It was a bit short for comfort, but he supposed that it was fine. As long as he was there, there was no danger to Tora. And she knew not to converse with humans, so she should be fine, right? Then, as he had scouted the area, he went to one of the villages, for his daily meal. He chose to raid the village nearest to the hut, as it was on the way. As soon as he arrived, he started observing them. As so many other villages, their goings were pretty average. Most people were sleeping at this time, a few were keeping guard, so that no rival tribe, or hungry beast attacked. But never did they suspect that the hungriest beast in the world was just about to do just that, attack.

            Thus, he quickly sped into the village, charging straight at a lone guard. Before he even felt the wind from Ulfvaldr, his throat was already ripped out, killing him in a flash. A short moment later, a body drained for blood littered the village grounds.