Northern stood in the embrace of the wide, brown expanse… everything felt right for once. Oh well, except for the smell.
He’d occasionally squeeze his nostrils but there was no helping it.
‘What the hell can be smelling so strong… or is it just the wind?’ He wondered.
One could not really tell with this place. The rift was an anomaly, it brought a lot of anomalies in different packages. And this could just be one of them.
Northern turned his head, shifting his gaze from the endless expanse to the incarnate of war that nestled a stone throw away from him.
Night Terror stood motionlessly, staring forward. But Northern couldn’t tell what it was the monster was looking at. ƒгeeweɓn૦vel.com
‘It’s not thinking it is?’
Northern raised a brow…
‘Impossible’ He dismissed the thought and decided to get closer to the monster.
As he did, Night Terror’s terrifying eyes drifted awake with an intense red shine that made Northern’s blood curl.
He jumped back instinctively, hands posed to summon a weapon… he did already in fact, a few seconds later, the Mortal Blade was in his hands.
But by then the fearsome flame in the terror’s eyes had calmed down.
Northern released the sword and sent it back into his soul, the blade shattered into sparks as it obeyed the unspoken command.
Then Northern drew a long gaze on Night Terror before looking away.
“He must be very angry about being betrayed” Northern murmured to himself.
Experiencing these things were almost creating a soft spot in him for monsters. It caused him to grit his teeth thinking about it.
‘I want to kill the damn monster damn it!’
And Night Terror, and the castle lord, and all those monsters consumed by madness and every other monster that threatens his pace and safety.
He wanted all of them dead!
And didn’t want to feel bad about it.
So Northern was forced to steel himself even harder and look away from the situation.
‘Let’s think the best of this…’Northern inhaled and exhaled, breathing out compassion towards monsters and breathing in logical thinking with a little bit of toxicity.
‘…I need Night Terror to fight the lord of the castle. I’m sure by now he wants to kill it as much as I do… then I can just propose a temporary alliance till the lord of the castle that tried to kill us both is dead.’
That sounded like a sensible deal… if it was being made to a human.
But a monster?
‘Really North, you can do better’
How do monsters even work? Would it be possible? He was sure that Night Terror was angry but towards whom?
So far so good, even though accurate with all facts laid down, all Northern had were barely speculations.
Riding on those speculations felt very risky. It could have made a lot of sense if he was dealing with humans or a weaker monster.
But this was Night Terror.
‘I have gotten stronger, I can feel it in my bones, in my whole body, I can tell the difference.’
Northern’s eyes slowly shifted towards Night Terror as his thoughts continued:
‘And it has gotten a little weaker… but I still don’t feel like I’d beat him if I challenge him. Or is it low confidence issue?’
Night Terror had after all overwhelmed him times without number, as a predator and even as an ally.
He had unknowingly developed a few shards of respect for the malevolent evil.
Night Terror is a powerful monster.
‘But he’s not invincible…’ Northern’s eyes shone with determination.
‘I just have to be very careful and crafty with this… its a monster. It can’t be wiser than I am’
It was a risk, and Northern was not going to back down from it because of his fears.
In as much as his mantra was survival through it all… that did not mean settling for the norm.
For a walker like him; untrained, uninformed and untalented. Closing a rift was a futile struggle… that was even if this was a rift to begin with and he wasn’t being wrong about it all.
But the addition of Night Terror in his plans increased the possibility of this happening.
Northern looked down at his hands as he folded them into a fist and clenched hard.
“Let’s do this…” He whispered to himself.
Northern after a couple of seconds of watching from behind approached Night Terror.
The terror slowly turned its head, glancing at him and turned away to continue its seemingly aimless stare.
Northern scrunched up his eyes, looking at the direction Night Terror’s eyes were glued to saying:
“What are you even looking at anyway?”
Night Terror was unresponsive, standing like a cut out from an ancient coal statue.
Northern stood suspended in the awkwardness brought about by his own stupidity.
‘I guess I really am imagining it… its a monster, let’s not think too deep about things’
As if wanting to prove him wrong, Night Terror averted its forlorn gaze and looked at Northern for a couple of seconds, four eyes blinking briefly.
Northern could feel an intangible weight fall on him without even have to look into its eyes.
Hesitating for a second before turning his head, Northern frowned and asked with a little arrogance in his tone:
“What?”
Night Terror’s eyes still stayed on him… beginning to get uncomfortable, Northern’s frown creased deeper.
He stared deep into the eyes of the terror.
“I’m not going to lose in a staring contest you know…” hr growled.
The terror’s gaze did not waver and indifferent tore deep into his soul. Northern also returned the gesture but with a fierce unyielding blue eyes.
Then the monster withdrew it gaze…
“Ah! I won!!”
Northern celebrated but he seemed to be the only one that cared. Night Terror stared back at the tunnel they had just come from.
Then looked back at Northern, placed its crude talons on his shoulder then looked at the cave with eyes burning with something between madness and anger.
Northern studied the monster for a moment and looked at the cave. Then he furrowed his brows and looked back at Night Terror’s face.
Seeing, the fearsome look on the monster’s face made his lips curl up.
“Don’t tell me… this bastard too…”