The snow beginning to melt away beneath my boots was definitely a plus as I made my journey back towards the town with the sun directly overhead. It was still cold, frigid even, but the slush instead of compact snow made it easy to tell that winter was finally ending. It had been a long one, that was for sure, but after I had made it to town, I was given room in exchange for my hunting and gathering skills. Posted up in one the mayor’s extra rooms, I was quite comfortable, infinitely more so than my previous arrangements. I had begun to learn of the village people’s strife from the wendigo’s reign of terror. Feeding from the fear of the village like a parasite. You see, wendigos don’t just need physical food to survive, they also feed off negative emotions, and it would seem that this one’s favorite flavor is fear. I told the village of what I did to the wendigo, which is most likely why they accepted me so quickly, having a hunter powerful enough to take the arm of a wendigo is a boon for any village, not discounting the amount of fresh meat someone like me can bring in during hunting season. But I digress, the wendigo licking its’ wounds will give the village time to prepare before people start going missing again, and this means that I’ll have to teach them how to defend themselves, which seems easy in theory, you know, “pointy end goes towards bad guy” but you’d be surprised at how many people have trouble figuring that out. The first lesson I’m going to have to teach them is to never run away from a wendigo, that just fuels their predator instincts, and wendigo’s love to play with their prey.
“One more lap and you can have a break!” I shout at the drained militia volunteers who I’ve been training since just after sunrise this morning. It’s been about a week into training, and a week since the snow finally finished melting, and while we have this sweet reprieve from the wendigo, I want all of the able body people in this village to at least be able to defend themselves from a wolf. Armed with anything sharp, which includes pitchforks, axes, and the occasional rusty spear, these people don’t look like much now, but I’m hoping that this will change sooner rather than later.
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One month into training and I’m starting to see some promise from these defenders of homes, not only are they becoming more fit, but the few dangerous creatures that wander towards the village are dealt with in short order by the militia. They’re also starting to grow on me, it reminds me of when I was younger, but that doesn’t matter now.
It’s been half of a year and winter’s icy grip can be felt yet again. Sadly, even with all of their power combined I don’t think these people would be able to fight the wendigo, not without my aid, or at the very least not without the development of their magic, which is a secret that I’m not willing to give away. To say the least, the common predators have completely avoided this village, which is progress without a doubt, I’m just worried that this’ll go to their heads.
Winter is here, and I can feel the wendigo’s presence on the wind, an unnatural shiver down my spine, an acute absence of wildlife, I shouldn’t have stayed here for the winter, no matter how much I train these village folk they’ll never be able to fight a wendigo. These spirits of hatred are much more than an average man can handle, supernatural specters that love a good chase, all I’ve done is prolong the villages suffering, I should have told them to evacuate, but sadly I’ve made their bed as well as mine, and now we must lie in it.
I suppose that one could call me a fool, venturing into the forest even though I know full well the danger I’m putting myself into. I just can’t bear the thought of these innocent people being hurt by my stupidity, so I’m going to do what I can and try to deal with the wendigo, try and drive it out of this forest.
Rage, hate, anger, wrath, destruction, the embodiment of such ideals enclosed inside a layer of icy frost. A spirit that loves to play with its food, if nothing else. I feel a sudden chill as there is a sudden darkness that comes over the forest, the wendigo has grown since our last encounter, being able to affect the environment to this degree. It knows that I’m in the forest, being able to smell me with its significantly stronger senses. It’s coming.