Six Warriors

The Lord's Granddaughter- (Fenrir)

Fenrir looked at his hands, they were small. Did he look smaller, was he a child again? Was he still a child? Was all that, all those things, powers, adventures and idiots friends a dream? Or was it what he was living now that was a dream? What was a dream and what was reality? All of this now felt real, but still, there was something strange about it. He was home again and awake in the middle of the night. He went downstairs, where everything was dark and silent. Why did he go downstairs, where everything was dark and silent? He was afraid of there. Thirsty, that was it, he was thirsty, but was it worth the risk here? He walked through the part of the house where there were those strange dummies of his grandmother, he was alone and everything was silent, and he felt he was being watched. Why? He was scared, wasn't he? Then, in the living room, before reaching the kitchen, he saw the silhouette of a person and all he could see was the glow of something reflecting in what should be the silhouette's eyes. He recognized that silhouette, it was his mother! Yes, she was his mother and he was very relieved that she was there. The fear passed for an instant. But what was his mother doing there?

"Mom?" He asked in his childish, fearful voice, "Are you, mom?"

"Yes, my son, it's me, my son" she replied, but that voice... what a strange voice... why was her voice like that? Did she have a dry throat too? Was that why she was here? Did she want a glass of water too?

"What are you doing here?" He asked. His mother's body suddenly seemed to get strangely bigger, but he didn't think it was a problem, adults were really big after all. "You are scared, aren't you, my little boy?" asked the mother in that strange voice, which was hoarse, no, which was stranger than hoarse. "Why don't you come here, my little boy? I'll protect you, little boy. What are you afraid of? Your mommy will protect you, aren't you scared? You're scared, aren't you? Come here and we'll feel safe."

Reluctantly Fenrir followed the figure. She was his mother, why did he follow so reluctantly? When he got there, the figure put him on his lap, why didn't he feel safe? The silhouette embraced him.

"Mom? I'm still scared."

"I know, my little boy, I am too" and then she brought her face close to his face and with amazement Fenrir realized that that thing was not his mother and that that thing was now much bigger than before and that that thing was hugging him tighter and tighter, "but shouldn't we be? It's so dark in here!"

Fenrir began to struggle trying to escape from there, he was very scared, what was that thing anyway? She had a face... a face so alien it was hard to distinguish! He tried to break free, but the creature was too strong for his little infant body. The creature realizing he wanted to escape was very, very angry and then started trying to penetrate his ribs with those long and strangely alien fingers, that was agonizing and it was hurting, Fenrir wanted to scream, yeah, if he screamed his real mother, who was sleeping upstairs, she would come over there and save him! Fenrir tried to scream, but only despaired even further when he realized that his voice didn't come out, and those long fingers of the creature just hurt more and more and more and more and more...

...

Although a nightmare included a very heavy sleep and an enormous difficulty in waking up, Fenrir managed to wake up. He was lying on a comfortable bed, which he didn't recognize, he felt weak and tired and he was beside a glass window, which made some noises as drops of a soft drizzle hit its glass, a comfortable noise, a comfortable feeling of gentle rain. Although the previous nightmare had been weird and bad, the boy felt too tired to resist sleep, so even though he didn't want to go back to the nightmare, he fell asleep again.

It was morning now, there were no more signs of last night's gentle drizzle, the day was sunny, Fenrir woke up…almost refreshed, the truth is he could never feel fully refreshed, life was tiring perhaps. He was calm and trying to figure out where he was and everything and as he looked around his heart just raced at the sight of a big black beak, a giant black bird face, a huge humanoid raven! The boy let out a small cry and moved a little away from the guy with bird face still in bed, when he heard a childish laugh having fun in front of his scared face. Who was laughing was a girl who was sitting on a chair and table there in that room, it looked like a tea table or something. She must have around ten years of curly hair between a very light brown and blonde that reach to her shoulders, and big greenish-brown eyes, she was a little thin and had very pale skin, she wore a doll dress in color blue, white gloves and sandals. The guy...well...was a raven-man, he was very tall and skinny and he was a humanoid raven dressed in butler clothes or something very similar to that, he had a breakfast tray with him.

"He was really scared of you Adger!" exclaimed the girl laughing.

"Yes, miss, he was." The butler who had the name Adger replied.

"W-who the hell are you?" Fenrir asked, still confused by these strange people, especially the raven butler.

"Pardon, Mr Fenrir, you were asleep and we were told not to wake you up, however, given the unpleasant introduction, allow me to introduce myself, I'm Adger, butler of the Fallfrsky house and that young lady over there is the Miss Merlina Fallfrsky, granddaughter of the Lord of these lands, Hosten Fallfrsky."

"Nice…look, I think I have to go." Fenrir spoke.

"Wait, Mr. Fenrir, you still need to eat the breakfast I brought you, I believe I've put together tasty and nutritious things for your most important meal of the day, remember, you're growing and you need to grow up."

"No thank you." Fenrir started to get up, but Adger, with his thin, long-fingered hand, pushed Fenrir back onto the bed.

"I must insist, Mr. Fenrir. It was Miss Alexia's request."

"Where is she? By the way, where is my so-called team or something?"

"They are investigating some matters to help Lord Fallfrsky, they didn't want to disturb you while you slept, now please eat."

"Yes, big brother, come on, eat right away so we can play!" Merlina said as if excited.

"Big Brother?" Fenrir asked himself in thought with a grimace, "who does this girl think she is? And play? No, don't hold your breath, you brat."

...

After eating Fenrir walked through the big Fallfrsky house, it was like a noble house, with armor scattered for decoration, swords and coats of arms, tapestries and the like, there were also many glass windows and many servants doing their chores, after all, to maintain such a big house required the work of several people.

"So big bro, what are we going to play with first?" Merlina asked appearing out of nowhere.

"What? Let's play anything! I have things to do, look for people, do a mission, it sucks, but I have to do this."

"Huh? But that's not fair! Big Sister Alexia promised you would play with me!"

"Let her play with you then!" Fenrir turned away, but the girl held her body preventing him from proceeding, "hey, let go of me! Come on!"

"No! Until you keep your promise!"

"I didn't promise you anything! Hey, I don't want to hurt you!"

"So are you going to play with me?"

Fenrir sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Okay, I play with you.

"Whoa!" Merlina let go of him and opened a big smile. Fenrir smirked.

"One day, maybe" said the boy, before jumping towards one of the open windows of the place... before disappearing, the boy noticed that the girl was pouting while her eyes were watery, the furrowed brows indicated a certain frustration for having been deceived, Fenrir felt a little sorry, but that was none of his business, he hadn't promised anyone anything, he didn't even know that little girl! He was so skilled at jumping around that he was still surprised at times, he jumped over a big tree there, then jumped again leaning on it and landed in a very nice garden. In fact, the entire property was beautiful and well-organized, without boasting much extravagant luxe. Another thing Fenrir was starting to notice is that his sense of smell was getting sharper, he thought his ability to smell scent was almost approaching that of a dog…or a wolf.

As he was leaving the Fallfrsky large estate, Fenrir found Adger landing in front of him like the humanoid bird he was.

"Pardon Mr. Fenrir, but I was ordered not to let you leave the property."

"What?" Fenrir growled, "So am I a prisoner here?"

"A... child. A child who must be protected."

"Cut it out, feather fella! I know how to fight, so better get out of my way!"

"I cannot allow you to pass." Adger insisted seriously and politely.

"Very well then, try to catch me!" Fenrir ran towards the raven-man, who remained stationary and apparently unconcerned, the boy didn't attack, just wanted to pirouette over the butler. Bad idea. In addition to being tall, he practically flew, Adger grabbed Fenrir's heel and threw him to the ground, still without losing his exemplary posture. On the ground, the chosen one growled.

"I must insist that you stay on the ground, Mr. Fenrir, for your own good."

"For my sake is it?" Fenrir stood up, "I don't even know you feather fool, but if you want to make things difficult then come on!" Fenrir advanced on the butler and this time prepared for attack.

"VIENTO OSCURO!!" Croaked Adger, moving his arms and hands, Fenrir thought he saw the dark shadow of huge raven wings appear in place of his arms and then a kind of tornado with dark winds that hit Fenrir and made him fall to the ground, at the same moment, the boy began to feel dizzy and his body began to tingle and go numb, it was difficult to move him, Fenrir felt heavy, "This wasn't an attack to hurt you, but it will keep you quiet in your place until Miss Alexia is back, it's a spell that will last for a few hours, of course, it'll be a little uncomfortable. I can cancel the effect at any time, but you have to promise me that you will not try to flee this property and that you will play with Miss Merlina. I believe Lord Hoster and Miss Alexia will not be back until sunset, so I will let you choose how you do spend your hours untill there."

That straight pose and correct demeanor, that butler's clothes perfectly starched, that peculiar way of speaking and especially his croaker appearance, made Fenrir think the man at least... sinister.