Eira's Destiny: The Curse of the Wind Monster

"Tell me a story, Papa," a little boy begged me, sitting in front of a crackling fire. "I already told you one. You need to get ready for bed!" I exclaimed. "Papa, just one more? Please? I promise I'll go right to bed after that!" the young blonde pleaded. "Very well, but this is the last one!" I sighed. With a yelp of joy, the little boy crawled up on my lap and settled in. "Once, a very long time ago, there was a time of magic. People who were born with it were called the Children of Magic. There were also witches and wizards who were not born with magic power, but could learn it and practiced with magic potions," I explained . "Just like you, Papa?" asked the boy. "Yes, Brant, just like me. And just like me, each witch or wizard could only learn to control one type of magic. My magic is protection magic, but there are also other elemental magics and even healing magic," The scholar said. "When a Child of Magic was born, you could tell by their eyes. Right now everyone has the same brown eyes, but before they were different colors." "Really? Different colors?!? Tell me what they looked like!" the boy demanded in disbelief. "Well, if you had red eyes, you could control fire!" I answered. My son gasped, and I chuckled. "Also, if they were born with teal eyes, they had power over water. Those with silver eyes had power over the wind. Gold eyes like me, had protection magic. Green eyed Children were able to command the earth itself! But those who had eyes that shined like sapphires were able to heal anyone and anything!" The little boy looked up at me in awe. "What happened?" asked Brant. "There was a witch, named Alfina, who was born with silver eyes. Her Mother was a Child of Magic, but her father was not. As sometimes can happen, she was born without magic. It had skipped her. She was only half Child of Magic and she was jealous of all the others who naturally had the gift of magic. Through the use of dark magic that she had taught herself, she created a monster. A wind monster by the name of Fritjof. "Fritjof was like a beautiful grey bird, and it's song was said to be irresistible to those who could hear it. Only those with magic could hear it. If you were a young Child of Magic, you would not have been able to deny it's call. It lured all the young, for the older Children were able to resist it's song. It took all the young Children and devoured their souls," I told my son. The boy paled. "What did the mamas and papas do?" he asked quietly. "They found out it was the witch who created the wind monster, and took her to a prophetess. The was woman told Alfina there would be one born who could destroy the creature and set all their souls free." I told my son. "And did they?" Brant asked. "No. But after a year of waiting, they killed Alfina, hoping that once she died her magic would die in the wind monster as well. But that is not what happened. All they ended up doing was allowing Fritjof to steal all the adult Children of Magic. Because Alfina was half Child of Magic, she didn't want her own creation to eat her, so she placed a sort of protection that would not allow it to consume the older Children. But once she died there was no way to protect the rest of them from the monster's wrath. Soon, they all died. Fritjof still lives in the caves to the north. Many have tried to destroy it, but it wakes up from it's sleep and eats them. It wakes every few years to hunt our people. We still wait for the Child who is to be born and will slay the beast. We have been waiting for a millennium to be saved," I finished. A loud knocking at the door interrupted the silence that followed. "I wonder who that could be?" I wondered as I put my son down to answer the door. Upon opening the door, I found the stressed face of my friend. "Erik? What is the matter?" he asked. "Hammond, the baby. Iona, she just had the baby; but there is a problem. We need you," Erik pleaded. I picked up my son. "Lead the way." We raced across the small village and entered a small hut. I came up to Iona who was holding her baby girl. I put my son down and reached for the babe. Iona's eyes were filled with tears and handed the infant over. "Her name is Eira," Iona whispered. "What's wrong with her?" I asked the mother, then gasped as I stared down into twinkling sapphire eyes. "It can't be!" "You have to take her Hammond. You are the only protector we know," choked Erik. "We know you can keep her safe, so she can meet her destiny." "Please, Hammond. Please keep my baby safe," sobbed Iona. The pain in her face was obvious at having to ask the me to take her new born baby from her. "I will," I promised. "I will take her to the southern forest. I will put a protection shield around us and teach her all I know about magic. By the time she is 18, she will be ready to fulfill her destiny." "Thank you!" cried Iona. "Thank you, my friend," said Erik, slapping a hand on my shoulder and trying not to cry. "We will leave tonight. I need to go back home and pack a few things to take with us," I told my friends. Erik swallowed hard and nodded. I placed Eira back into her mother's loving arms. "We will be ready to leave in an hour," I warned her. Iona only nodded and held the babe close to her breast. I picked up Brant. "My son, we are going home to pack some things. Then we will take the new Child of Magic to a new home down south. I will teach you and Eira hot to do magic and how to use a sword. We are going to be her protectors. Can you do this with me?" I asked. My son nodded solemnly. An hour later the new born Child of Magic was strapped to my back. Our supplies were tied down to a second horse, with Brant sleepy in my lap, took off on my stallion into the night.