I stood right in the center of my friends gathering spot for his pack. Marcus was a werewolf, he had asked me to help him deal with some sort of evil that was messing with his pack. Normally he wouldn't. Being the Alpha and all that but this was beyond what he was able to do. So he had asked for my help. The pack's wise-woman, Sofia was sent by Marcus to ask for assistance. They both would owe me and that, that was something I couldn't pass up but now that I was here. I could feel the evil. The darkness in these woods was something I haven't felt before. It was ancient, powerful and filled with rage. As well as hunger. It wanted to feed. This is what the Earth told me when I tapped into it with my shaman powers. The Earth wanted it gone. It had even asked me for help. If an element was asking for you to destroy something, it meant this was serious business. Where the pack met on full moons was an clearing deep in the middle of the forest. It was one giant circle so the light of the moon could shine down on them. There was a throne carved out of stone where Marcus sat during their meeting. I didn't know much what werewolves did during this time but I've heard it was to deal with pack disputes and when someone could challenge Marcus for the title of Ulfric or Wolf King. Lycans had a hierarchy. There could many alphas but only one king. That's just how it worked I guess but since the evil had come, the pack wasn't happy. They couldn't do anything about it and the blame fell on Marcus. I call bullshit on that. It wasn't his fault that this was happening. Whatever this thing was, it wanted this land for it's own and I wasn't going to let that happen. I took my axe in hand and looked at Sofia and Marcus.

"Okay. I'm going out there. I can sense the evil. I have to know what we are dealing with and going out and seeing it for myself is the only way I'll be able to figure out how I'll stop it."

"Then I'll go with you." Marcus said but I held up my hand to stop him from speaking further.

"No. I need to do this alone. It will be easier to scout, I won't have to worry about you two."

"I can take care of myself Jake." The Wolf King said with a hint of anger in his voice.

"I have no doubt you can but I need to do it this way. Like I said, I can't be worrying about you. Listen, Marcus. I don't have many friends. People I care about. If anything happen to you, I don't know what I'd do, so I'm asking you as a friend. Let me do what I need to do, then we'll work on it from there. Deal?"

Marcus opened his mouth to protest but he soon shut it once he took a moment to think about my words. The lycan sighed deeply, his shoulders slumped when doing so. I know it was hard for him. Being the pack leader. You have to be the ultimate alpha male. That's why I wouldn't want to be a werewolf. Too much dick waving. Too much politics involved but I knew what he was feeling but he was just going to have to deal with it.

"What if something happens to you?" Sofia interjected. "What if you can't handle what's out there?"

I shrugged my shoulders.

"I'd most likely die. That's my guess."

"You die? and?" She questioned me. I couldn't help but to chuckle softly.

"Hopefully I go to Valhalla."

"Do you not fear death?"

"No, not really. Life and Death are different sides of the same coin. To fear death is foolish. Now do I want to just die? No, of course not. I want to live for as long as The Norns will let me. If it is my fate to die. Then so be it and when that happens, I can only hope that Odin choices me to be part of his grand army. So I can train, drink and fight on the day of Ragnarok. So is the life and death of a Viking warrior."

"I can't believe you. That's not how the world works anymor--"

"Sofia!" Marcus suddenly interrupted her, which caused her to jump."Let him do as he wishes. He's right, I asked for his help. So it's only fair that we do it his way. If he feels this is the best course of action, then so be it. I don't know any more of whatever this thing is than you do."

Sofia sighed and nodded.

"Right, okay."

"Great, now that we have all that settled. I'll be back. If something happens to me. You'll know and if that's the case. You two will need to leave asap. No ifs or ands or buts. Get out. Got it?"

The two nodded.

"Just be careful. We don't need you to die out there." Sofia said in a worried tone. I smiled and nodded before turning to Marcus and patted him on his shoulder.

[red]"See you soon."

I left my gym bag behind, if I came back, I was going to need what I had in there. I only took my battle axe and the clothes on my back as I made my way through the dense forest, as I got deeper in, the light from the Sun was fading away, it was the light itself didn't want to be there or whatever evil was out here was keeping the light from entering it's domain. I knew I was on the right path as the smell of rotting, decaying flesh filled my nose. It was thick in the air. It was making my eyes water, it only became more potent the feather I went, but I had to keep going, deeper into the darkness. I spoke shaman spell that would allow me to see in the dark. I followed the smell and soon found what looked like to be a mass grave of human bones piled up on one another. They were picked clean of flesh, every single last one of them. I looked over the large grave, looking for any clue, that's when I came across another pile. It was money, gold, diamonds, very expensive items. I couldn't understand what was going on and as I picked up a skull, the wind picked up, howling through the air like crazy, the air become cold as ice. I gripped my axe as the darkness came. I hear a voice, a demon like one, speaking out to me through the wind.

" Welcome." It said to me.

"Why thank you and who might you be?"

"That doesn't matter. You are on my hunting ground. So you must die."

"Then come out and face me."

A large creature walked out from behind a tree. He had to be at least eleven feet or so tall, his skin was white and sticking to his bones, as if he had not had food in months. I could see his rib cage, his limbs were long and he was hunched over but that's where this thing stopped looking human, his head was that of a buck's with razor sharp teeth, made for tearing into flesh and of course the smell of rot followed him. What the fuck was this thing? I've never seen anything like it before and I've seen some weird shit in my life, trust me on that. He let out a ear breaking screech of a howl and charged at me. I sent him a battle cry as I charged right at him, ready to do battle. He swung his claw like hand but I ducked it and moved to his right and sent my axe down but the creature moved swiftly away and I missed, he countered and smacked be with the back of his claw, it sent me off my feet and through the air, I hit a tree so hard I went through it, breaking it in half. That hurt, this thing was quick and powerful. Amazing, this was thrilling. I hadn't had a real battle in some time. I couldn't help but be excited. I got up from the ground and charged back to my enemy. He saw be coming and swiped at me, I was able to dodge it and kick his leg out from under him and swung my axe down into it's back, this did nothing. He only looked at me and gave me a chuckle. Using his speed he slashed me across my chest, a pink mist covered my attacker's face, he licked it off with his long black tongue.

"You are old, your blood is from a different time. I haven't tasted such blood in such a long time. I must eat you."

"Not on this day."

I said as I went for another strike, but he grabbed me with his massive claws and slammed me into a tree multiple times. Each time, I could feel the pain of broken bones. Normally I could call on the elements but this beast had taken over the land and I was powerless here. He threw me to the ground and with the pain and loss of blood, I was starting to pass out but before I did. I saw a flash of white light and an outline of a figure. That's what was the last thing I saw before I was swallowed by darkness. Fuck.