A week went by in the small town of Burnadale without a single monster attack. The elders of Burnadale said that it was a blessing from Notch, but Lydia knew the real reason all the creatures stopped. It was Him. The man she saw 12 years ago. The man with the pure white eyes.
Lydia put her gilded bow across her back and jump out if the tree to collect her spoiling, a medium size cow. The cow was just big enough for a new pair if leather winter boots. She was in desperate need of winter wear, her last home being in the middle of the desert. That's why she was so willing to use the flute, which under different circumstances she would never use, to make extra money.
An elderly woman carrying a hand woven basket walked through the trees and stumbled upon Lydia. The woman gasped.
"Lydia! What in Notch's name are you doing!" The 19 year-old froze over the mutilated carcass. She slowly set down her hunting knife and turned her head.
"Grandmother. What a nice surprise."
"Lydia!" The old woman fumed with anger. "There are customs in the village that you must follow. One of them being you shouldn't be in the forest by yourself!" Lydia sighed.
"But Grandmother-" The older woman held up her hand in silence.
"No! Don't interrupt!" Grandmother sighed. "It's bad enough that you refuse to wear proper clothing for a young lady, but now you're hunting in the forest!"
"Skirts are a pain to move in and I needed a new pair of winter boots." Lydia calmly explained.
"Don't you have extra money from all that flute playing?" The woman asked. Lydia shook her head.
"No, all that money goes to my rent and meals. Or at least until the general store opens and I can get a job. Besides, these customs are so outdated." She gathered the cow's flesh and stood, beginning the long trek back to the village.
"Wait just a minute young lady!" Lydia froze, slightly tilting her left ear skyward. She heard something. Something rattling close by.
An arrow whistled by her ear with a whine. She chuckled at the skeleton's bad aim. Drawing her iron sword, Lydia charged at the skeleton, easily slicing it to pieces. But as she turned around, the bones knit themselves back together, reforming the skeleton. She cursed under her breath. Before Lydia could execute the precise blow to the skeleton's skull, a blood-curdling scream came from Grandmother. The old woman was surrounded by blood covered zombies. Sighing, the younger woman turned sword ready.
A sharp pain ran down Lydia's sword arm, causing her to drop said weapon. She looked back and saw the skeleton reloading its bow.
"Buggar…" she muttered. Gracefully, the teen ducked under another arrow and roundhouse kicked the skeleton's skull of his head. This time, it didn't put itself back together.
That still left the problem of the zombies. They head slowly gotten closer to the terrified woman. But with the arm injury, Lydia couldn't wield her sword with the power required to kill all the undead monsters.
A wolf erupted from the trees, his teeth bared. Then his master came out of the trees. He was tall with a lean muscular build. His shaggy blond hair curled slightly at the end and his gray eyes glinted with anger, even though his face was emotionless.
"Koda!" The Blonde commanded. "Attack." The wolf leapt over Lydia's head onto the zombies. He began tearing the beasts apart, one limb at a time. In less than a minute, the zombies were in pieces on the ground, disintegrating.
Grandmother collapsed to her knees, and fanned herself with her hand. She was pale and shaken, but otherwise unharmed. The stranger handed her a small flask of milk and some travel bread.
"Its not much but…here." He said flatly. He noticed Lydia struggling to get the arrow out of her arm. "Let me help you." He laid his hand on her and gripped the shaft, quickly pulling out the projectile. She let out a short gasp, then quickly composed herself.
"Thank you uh…"
"Casper."
"Pleasure to meet you! I'm Lydia." She said smiling. He kept the same uninterested look on his face. Grandmother shrieked.
"Lydia! You're bleeding!"
"Yes Grandmother. That's what happens when you get shot with an arrow." Lydia explained calmly, searching through her satchel for a bandage. Casper ripped a strip of cloth off the bottom of his cloak.
"Let me help you…again." He poured a small amount of water from his canteen on her wound to clean it and tied the strip of cloth around it. "That should keep it from getting infected."
She turned to thank him, but stopped when she looked into his eyes. They were now blank and emotionless, and vaguely familiar.
"Is there something wrong?" He asked. Lydia shook her head, hiding a slight blush with a smile.
"Uh no!" There was a slight pause. "Say, you're not from Burnadale are you?" He shook his head. She slung her satchel over her shoulder and grabbed his hand. "I'll show you then!"