Unnatural

Ch. 5. Attack

Bee lets go of Nasira's hair and helps Lottie up off of the grass. The girls look over at Nasira, "What the hell is a 'Gateway'?" Lottie asks. Nasira nods in thought and points in the directions they fell from "That is a Gateway." Lottie rolls her eyes makes random gestures "I get that, but how did it get me from the normal-looking forest in town... To this wacky-looking place!?" she blurts out in frustration. Bee looks around and frowns.

"This is Ruhanni forest, a world of magic and Non-humans. Ruhanni used to once be a part of the human world, but they split a few thousand years ago. Gateways are the few remaining connections-" Bee hushes Nasira and flaps her hand in a vague direction. "I think I saw something" she whispers. Nasira looks around in the direction Bee is waving in. 

Lottie squints in the direction the other two are looking but quickly loses interest and starts to look around the forest feeling an eerie familiarity. 

A growl reverberates throughout the clearing and Lottie jumps towards Bee and clings to her. A tall figure appears out of the shadows. It's extremely lanky with large horns on top of its head, even though it was slouching it towered over the girls. Nasira jumps into action pulling her rather insignificant sword from its scabbard.

As Lottie looks at the sword it seems to grow until it looks like the perfect weapon to fight this creature. The creature lunges towards them and lets out a deep growl. Nasira blocks the Thing and thrusts her sword towards it. Bee Shakes off the terrified Lottie's arms and rushes towards the fight she pulls something out of her waistband. Bee sneaks behind the creature and waits for the right moment. As the horned thing goes to strike Nasira, Bee plunges a secret weapon into the side of the creature. A shrill whistle is heard and the creature just crumples to the floor.

Bee hurriedly hides her weapon and smiles sheepishly at the other two. Nasira looks questioningly between Bee and the creature, before sheathing her sword. As it goes towards the sword returns to its regular size.

Lottie stares bewildered "W-what the hell is-was that!?" she hugs herself and starts to shake in residual fear. Nasira explains "That was a Windego. A result of when the two worlds were one." She looks sadly at the creature and continues "Windego's were once human. But when the two worlds were one, the humans started a war and created a spell for a way to fight the inhabitants of Ruhanni. Because they are of magic they came with the split." Nasira grabs both the girls and starts to pull them out of the clearing. Lottie and Bee wiggle around trying to get out of her grip, but to no avail. 

Once sufficiently far enough away from the Gateway and the dead Windego, Nasira releases the girls. Bee huffs and straightens her clothes, "You could have just asked us to follow you know!"

Nasira shrugs and starts walking forward. Lottie follows in deep thought, Bee rolls her eyes and begrudgingly walks forward. "If the split was a few thousand years ago why are there still Windego?" Lottie pipes up.

The now-familiar tune of Nasira speaking plays out, "We had most of them wiped out, but a few hundred years ago they started appearing again, along with a rise in missing human cases." 

"Wait so you're saying someone has been taking people and making them into Windego's?" Lottie says in disbelief

"Yes," Nasira says in a very sad tune. The group continues walking with Lottie deep in thought and Bee scanning the surrounding trees. Eventually, they arrive at what looks like a  wall of trees. At the centre the trees have been grown to make an entrance.

"We are here. Welcome Lottie to Derron Stronghold"