---

There was an eerie stillness to the air when Nathaniel Idenhaus, dropped down into the cemetery, from a high stone wall. Not easily located, the graveyard either didn't have an actual name or it fell off, due to disrepair and neglect. Once you witnessed this place, it wasn't an area that you'd easily forget. A simple look around, allowed you to understand, that you were one of the first living beings to set foot on the property, in well over a hundred years. Such a realization, was enough to give anyone the creeps and even the former spirited separatist, felt himself slightly shudder, with a chill that seemed to come with the territory.


In all honesty, he had the sensation that he entered another time or realm and couldn't fathom how this area had remained, undisturbed, for so long. It was baffling and didn't make any sense to him but he couldn't stay focused on such matters, he had far more important things that needed to be done. He was there to kill a wendigo and not die in the process! That was the goal anyway. Slowly allowing his eyes to pan about the abundantly, overgrown plant life and grave stones, he gradually made his way through the cemetery. Tracking an odor that he literally, forced himself to endure, through every step of the way, in the process. Which explains why, Nathaniel was a tad distracted when an icy cold hand, reached out from beside a tombstone and grabbed his leg.


On instant defense, Nathaniel spun around, only to discover Zane Norrison, beside himself with laughter.


"Oh my god, you should have seen your face! Hilarious!"


"Yeah, real funny stuff. We're out here hunting down a wendigo, no reason to stay serious or remain focused on the objective. You know you're lucky I didn't react worse than what I did, you could be in fucking pieces right now."


"Damn. I'm sorry. Merely trying to have a little fun."


Zane gave a quick grin.


"I was only attempting to lighten the mood. I never hunted a wendigo before... or anything, for that matter. When I initially showed up, I actually assumed Mick, got it wrong because he mentioned seeing the wendigo enter the grounds, giving the impression that the creature was still here. Yet, when I arrived, the graveyard was totally empty. Which prompted me to do a sweep of the whole place and still, I didn't come across it. So I figured, he must've missed witnessing the thing leave, that's when I saw you. Thought I'd have a bit of a laugh. That's all."


Tentatively biting his bottom lip ring, Zane ran a hand back through his hair and appeared to contemplate his past actions. All at once, it clearly dawned on him and he was taken aback, in stupefaction. Opening his eyes wide, he stepped backwards and shook his head in disbelief.


"Oh shit! It's here, isn't it? You can smell it, can't you? Fuck. I'm sorry. I didn't realize. I should have though, the way you were cautiously, walking forward and scoping the area out. Damn. I'm such a fucking idiot."


Nathaniel sighed.


"Relax. You're fine. No harm, no foul. Nevertheless, you were right in your suspicions, the wendigo is here, it just isn't in plain sight. Meaning, in all probability the thing is watching us, right now and biding its time."


Giving an annoyed huff, Nathaniel averted his attention from Zane and gave a brief scan of the interior of the cemetery. Pausing afterwards, he stopped and seemed to listen. Then released a frustrated growl.


"Ich kann das verdammte ding riechen... the scent is faint, but I can smell it. Still, I can't see the fucking thing anywhere or even hear it. How does that make any sense? What? Is it hiding under..."


Before Nathaniel could finish his sentence, the ground erupted upwards between Zane and Nathaniel. Sending them both, flying backwards in opposite directions. Zane crashed into a tree, while Nathaniel slammed against the ground, several yards away. Hard. Groaning, Nathaniel did a kip up and nearly got knocked back down, when he was hit with an extremely putrid stench of decomposition. He thought it was bad at Snappy's Snack Shack, this was a million times worse. Coughing he stumbled and shook his head, his vision wavering. Was he really in over his head here? What made him think he could take on such a foe?


That's when he heard an insanely, high pitched, shrill shriek. Swallowing hard, he did his best to compose himself and lifted his gaze, toward where the sound originated. A few yards away, the wendigo stood, holding Zane high in the air by his throat. Purely driven on instinct, with zero hesitation, Nathaniel charged toward the wendigo and leaped. Within mid-air, his body swiftly transformed. Torso elongating, shoulders and posterior widening, muscles enlarging - his entire form went through an instantaneous transfiguration. Claws tore through his fingers and toes, bones snapped and broke as they realigned, ears repositioned themselves higher and eyes enlarged. Then all at once, the wolf ripped forth from within. Snarling ferociously, he dug his claws deep into the back of the wendigo and it immediately released Zane, in order to direct its full focus at Nathaniel.


The wendigo reached behind itself and grabbed Nathaniel, digging its own tremendously, large claws into his form and in response, Nathaniel bit the wendigo in the back of its neck and clenched his jaw. From there, Nathaniel started shaking his head vigorously, attempting to tear out the back of the wendigo's neck. As he did this the wendigo tightened its grip, sinking its claws into Nathaniel's body, even further. At the same time, the larger of the beasts, let out an ear piercing screech and it ripped, Nathaniel off its back. Blood poured from his multiple wounds as the wendigo flung him against a giant oak tree. When Nathaniel's body bounced off the trunk, he returned to human form and plummeted to the ground. Gagging, he spit up blood and raised his eyes, just in time to watch the wendigo approach. Its sunken in eyes, glowing a terrifyingly, pierce yellow, from deep within its skull.


For a brief moment, Nathaniel had serious thoughts that he was going to die. Right there, in the graveyard. And he laughed, long and loud about it. The entire time he wanted to take over the world, there were zero attempts on his life, now that he was trying to help humanity, he was practically on death's doorstep. It was too fucking much. He had to laugh.


Suddenly...


Out of nowhere, a swarm of bats encircled the wendigo and began attacking like crazy. This drove the wendigo mad and it shrieked maniacally, as it tried to swat at the huge group of bats. Faster and faster, the winged rodents flew, till they almost looked like a continuous, black rope. Twirling and whirling, in roughly, a non-stop lasso. The bats then merged together, in front of the wendigo and formed the shape of a man. That man was Mick Ashcroft and he plunged his hand, straight through the chest of the wendigo and yanked out, its still beating heart. Right before landing onto his feet as it fell backward, with an enormous thud. Within seconds, Zane Norrison was by Mick's side as the vampire smashed the heart within his hand.


"Is that it, is this over? Cause I heard killing wendigos, was a lot more difficult than that. Since I never actually ended a wendigo's life, I'm not really an expert though, so I can't say with absolute certainty."


"The wendigo isn't dead."


"Then what are we doing?"


"Buying ourselves some time."


"Why?"


"To regroup and to save the good doctor's life."


Mick nodded forward and Zane shifted his sights, opening his mouth in instant alarm and stopping short in his tracks, when he observed Nathaniel, laying face down and motionless on the ground.


"Do you think we have time?"


To which Mick replied.


"Best not think, mate. Thinking leads to doubting and we haven't got time to doubt ourselves."

---

Many hours later, Nathaniel sat up in bed with a start, only to realize that he had no idea, where he was located. All he knew, was that he felt like he had been hit by a bus. Rising, he grimaced as a sharp pain shot through his side. While his memory was somewhat foggy, what was clear was that he must have taken on an incredible amount of damage to still be in pain. That's when it hit him, he wasn't wearing his own clothes. Lifting the black t-shirt that he was wearing, that brandished a logo for The Cramps, he seen there were large claw marks accenting his body. Although somewhat healed, they were still deeply, etched into his skin. The sight of the scars, granted a flash of previous imagery that permitted Nathaniel, an immediate recollection of the past events and he lowered the shirt. Then he made his exit and after a short trek down a hallway, found himself standing in a living room, that he also never seen before. Imagine that. Casting a glance across the living room, he could see a kitchen and that's when he was greeted with the sight of Zane Norrison, drinking coffee.


"It's alive!"


He chuckled.


"Sorry. Couldn't help myself."


Pause.


"How ya feelin' man?"


"Definitely alive."


Nathaniel retorted as he progressed over to the kitchen. Where he helped himself to a cigarette, from a pack on the counter and used a nearby lighter to fire it up. Taking a long drag, he closed his eyes and sighed, a cloud of slowly filtering smoke.


"How did the mission fare or should I assume, that I compromised everything with..."


"Almost dying? Oh no. We totally took care of that little wendigo problem, waaay before we tended to you."


Zane laughed.


"How did the mission fare or should I assume I compromised everything? Dude, are you fucking serious? Look. You were out there, with two guys that are already dead, we weren't about to let you die too! I can't precisely speak for Mick but I know I'd give anything, to be alive again. So yeah, we put off killing the wendigo and got you here as quick as possible. Treated your wounds too, my girlfriend, Nyx had a hand in that part and the rest was all you. I imagine you aren't at a hundred percent cause you were shredded but you're standing now, so that's got to be a good sign."


Smirking, Nathaniel nodded and took a pull from his cigarette.


"Hmm. Healed by witchcraft. Well, while I've always been a fan of modern medicine, I can't say I haven't been mended by unconventional means before. Thank Nyx, for me."


Exhaled smoke.


"So when do we go out for a second attempt at killing that fucking thing cause I got a score to settle and I think, I came up with an easy solution while I was... um, napping."


Eye roll.


"Really?"


Obviously intrigued, Zane sipped his coffee.


"Tell me more."

---

"What can I say, I faced Robbie Bourbon and he won. He's a formidable adversary. While I didn't have actual knowledge about his life and the many adventures that he has had throughout it, I recognized that he must have had talent and that assessment was accurate. Now he wields the Hart title and I'm scheduled to face, Hanari Carnes. Hanari Carnes. I could have gone my entire life, without ever fighting this man and I would have been fine with it. I mean, I guess I could talk about stomping the shit out of him but he really just isn't worth the effort."


"Seriously, if I were still intent on being the next Führer, I wouldn't have even bothered with exterminating him, nor would I have put him in a concentration camp. I'd simply have him picked up and placed in some random, remote location, where he needed to actually think and use his common sense to survive and let him do the job for me. It would have been cheaper and worked faster. Now, I'm not a nazi anymore... I'm not, yet I still have the same sentiments. I see this guy and I find him to be such a miserable chore. He's fucking insufferable."


"Fuck."


"I feel like I'm dealing with Chris Chaos, all over again. And yes, I teamed with Chris but in my defense, I was an opportunistic, power hungry, tyrant back then and he invested, quite a bit of money in my 'cause'. Money that I never actually paid back and a 'cause' that I wound up abandoning but oh well, shit happens. At the time it was real for me and Chris helped fund it, somewhat. Why else would Chris Chaos, ask me, to help him and Jenny? He's a closet racist. That's why."


"Surprise."


"Trust me. I know. I spent time with the man and we had a few discussions on the subject. I would have never let him live after I carried out my final solution but he did help move the project along. To an extent. That's why I was always vague about the part he played in 'the equation'. Hey, but now I'm not going through with any of that shit, so you're welcome, Chris. Your gift is your life."


"Back to Carnes, cause fuck it, I have to say something about the man. Alright, here goes. Carnes' team won at War Games... sort of? Only for him to lose. He held the X-Treme title for 12 days, compared to my 7, while I held the Television title for thirty days, versus his twenty one days. Then that's it. For Hanari. Meanwhile, I carried the Hart title for 90 days, and won SOTM in November 2013."


"Oh my god, isn't that amazing... no, not really but I'm also not really bragging here. The point is this, if we're battling back and forth, about our accomplishments, I achieved more than he did in this federation and with less participation. And yet he walks around the halls of the XWF, acting like he's this phenomenal superstar. When he really hasn't done a whole lot. Sure, Carnes could say the same about me and I'm certain he will but I'm not out there, acting like I'm some wrestling superstar. Even when I was preaching my former agenda, I never did that and anyone with a functioning brain, can check up on that past footage."


"What I spoke of was world domination and the fact that I would rule over all with an iron fist. I was and still am, confident in myself but by no means, have I ever announced that I was the next big thing in wrestling and I really think Hanari believes with every fiber of his being, that he's some kind of breakout sensation. Which is bonkers because he isn't a newcomer."


"Still, what happened, Hanari? Okay, I didn't go out and kill billions of people and take over the world, like I promised but on the flip side, you're not the top dog in the XWF either, not even close, you don't even wield a title. Not even the Heavy Metal Weight. So there's no way, you can pass judgement on anyone's career here. Ever. Look. I don't know what you said about me nor do I care and I have zero intentions of watching your promos cause I just can't. Frankly, you mentally exhaust me and I'm not going to sit through any of your long winded, spiels. Ever again. I'm not. It's bad enough I have to encounter you in the halls of the main XWF building. You are not invading my home too."


"Come this Saturday. I'm going to walk to the ring and do everything I can, to end the match as quickly and efficiently as possible. There won't be a slow, gradual, systematic process. I won't break you. My goal is to knock you out and end it. Then leave. That's it. Like ripping off a band-aid. After that, I hope to be out of the arena; long before, you regain consciousness. I'm not even close to kidding. I don't want to deal with you. Ever."

Current Hart Champion
1x X-Treme Champion
1x Television Champion
1x SOTM November 2013