Chapter 2: The Barbarian
The snow drifted lightly down onto the pine forest in the Northern lands of Mistral as a lone Ursa slowly wandered through the forest. It'd stop every now and then, sniff the air around it, and continue on its way through the snow. Unknown to the creature of Grimm, a figure slowly followed behind the beast at a distance that made the Ursa unable to detect him. His breath was heavy and his movement was slow and precise. The man following the Ursa was a young man of about 17 with a muscular build, a tan & dirty complexion that comes with many hours spent doing laborious work outdoors, green eyes with hazel around the pupil, and dark brown hair shaved into a long undercut (Ragnar from Vikings) with a medium length beard. He wore the armor and gear of a Raider (For Honor) that seemed to weigh nothing to him. He followed the Ursa up until it accidentally wandered to a clearing in the forest that had a large horseshoe-like rock wall blocking the beast's path. When it turned to make its way back out, it finally saw the young man that had been following it for a long time. It growled loudly as it began approaching the young man, who seemed undeterred by the threatening growls of the beast. The man, instead, responded by revealing an Ancient Nordic battle axe and taking a defensive stance with it gripped tightly in his hands. The Ursa roared loudly in one final attempt to scare the young man off and avoid fighting. This was instantly met with the young man unleashing a battle cry much louder than the beast's roar before he charged at the beast. The Ursa wasn't something to be taken lightly and was quick to begin clawing and lashing out all around it to try and keep the human away from it, roaring loudly as it did so to attract other Grimm in the area.
"YOUR KIND CAN'T SAVE YOU NOW!" the barbarian yelled just as he found a place in the Ursa's defense that left it vulnerable. As quickly as he could, the barbarian charged at his opportunity and struck the beast in the back left hind leg with his battle axe. The battle axe's blade pieced the evil beast's hide like wet paper and made the Ursa roar even louder than before in pain. The pained roars seemed to boost the barbarian's battle-fueled moral as he quickly ripped the battle axe back out and attacked the other leg, doing the same damage as the other strike had done. The Ursa was now crippled and couldn't go anywhere to try and run or hide. The barbarian took a few steps back away from the large beast and watched as it feebly clawed the ground and air as if it was actually intimidating the man.
"For my brothers...for my shield-sisters...I SEND YOU BACK TO THE REALM IN WHICH YOUR EVIL WAS BORN!" the barbarian yelled in a voice like thunder as he charged the severely wounded Ursa once more. His battle axe was raised high above his head and was ready to be brought down onto the beast's skull. When he was close enough, he delivered the killing blow of the battle axe's blade sinking into the Ursa's skull. The Ursa roared one last time before dropping to the snowy ground in a lifeless mass of fur and darkness. The barbarian breathed heavily from his battle as he pulled the Ancient Nordic battle axe out of the Ursa's skull. He watched as the blood drained from the beast onto the snow around his feet before he raised his fists into the air in victory, his weapon with one hand and the other in a victorious fist. He yelled loudly in celebration at the kill before he returned his focus to the Ursa's body. He stabbed the battle axe's blade into the ground before he approached the beast. He drew a small dagger from his boot and knelt down beside the creature of Grimm with a determined look on his face. He made his way over to the creature's chest and, with all his might, stabbed the dagger's blade through its chest cavity...
A little girl with black hair halfway down to her back and dark green eyes, no older than 9, walked without a care in the world through a small field. She was nearly as pale as the snow around her fur boots, her boots and clothes being made of Grimm hide. She smiled as she began picking snowdrops from the ground around her feet with an innocent smile on her face. Just as she finished picking a few to create a bouquet of the flowers in her hand she noticed an approaching figure that appeared from a treeline not too far from the field she was in. When the figure grew closer it was easy to tell that the approaching person was the barbarian on his way back from slaying the Ursa. His Ancient Nordic battle axe rested on his shoulder and carried a small leather satchel with unknown contents inside. The little girl took a step back for a moment before smiling and running towards the approaching warrior. Most people would run the opposite direction if they saw someone like the barbarian walking in their direction. But the barbarian laughed as he knelt down and accepted a loving hug from the small child, the child being lifted onto his other shoulder after the two parted from the hug.
"Elsin, what are you doing out here on your own?" the barbarian said to the little girl on his shoulder.
"Ragnar, father told me that you went out to slay the Grimm that was getting too close to the village," Elsin replied to the barbarian's question.
"What if the Ursa had slain me and decided to come back to the village to see if it could snatch any livestock. It'd find you, instead," Ragnar said as he gestured to the satchel he carried in his hand, Elsin crossing her arms and pouting in response to Ragnar's words. It didn't take too much more walking before the sight of a stone wall began to form in his field of view. The stone wall had a large wooden gate that held two guards with their swords drawn and their shields at the ready. When they saw the approaching two, they sheathed their weapons and yelled for the gates to be open. The large wooden doors of the gateway creaked and groaned loudly as they slowly opened to reveal a man wearing Nordic armor (The Elder Scrolls Online) waiting for them. The man was clearly in his 50s with a long grey beard that went down to his chest. Ragnar stopped only a few feet from the gate and lowered Elsin to the ground. The little girl proceeded to run towards the waiting man with her arms outstretched to give a hug. The older man smiled as he accepted the hug from Elsin before direction his attention to Ragnar, who threw the satchel onto the ground at the man's feet.
"Chief, I've done as you asked," Ragnar said with a stern face.
"...Good, and not a moment too soon. Atlas is here to take you to Beacon," Ragnar's father said as he stood aside to reveal two Atlas soldiers standing a little ways back next to a waiting airship.