The two of them walked on for what seemed like hours through the frozen wastes. Upon exiting the underground city, Jesse was quite surprised to find the frozen terrain. The snow covered hills looked as if someone stretched an ivory, linen sheet across the hills very delicately. The snow glistened in the rays of the morning sun as it rose in the south, slowly rising above the high mountain peaks. While the frigid cold was troublesome, Jesse couldn't help but stare in wonder at the beautiful sight before him. But then his mind would register the cold hands wrapped around his bare arms. Kari's whole body shivered as the cold air nipped at her, she found herself snuggling closer to Jesse to stay warm.
"Do you know where we are?" She repeated this question several times, but she was always answered with silence, but she had faith in Jesse. She couldn't explain it, but she felt safer with him. And see as how Jesse was the only friend she had with her in this strange world, she had to trust him. Occasionally, she would run her fingers across the back of his hand. Though there was no physical difference in the complexion of his skin, something resonated from his hand that felt...unnatural. Something that wasn't there before. She just couldn't shake the feeling that something terrible would follow the appearance of this strange anomaly on his hand.
But just as she had gotten used to their steady pace through the snow, Kari felt Jesse's strong arms lift her off the ground and took off running down the snowy path.
"We're in luck Kari, there's a caravan up ahead!" An exultant tone could be heard in Jesse's voice through his ragged breaths. From afar, the caravan looked as if it were occupied by peaceful merchants and travelers. They seemed harmless enough to Jesse as he approached them, they were all clad in tattered rags and were lightly armed with flimsy swords and daggers. But that didn't mean much to Jesse, his only concern was to get Kari out of the cold. As he approached one of the wagons, the driver turned to him and offered him a toothy grin, a hint of amusement in his eyes.
"Well aren't you two a motley bunch. Don't look like you're from around here, eh?" The mans cobalt eyes shone from under his black, scruffy hair that enshrouded most of his face. His smile and tone were friendly enough, perhaps he could help them after all.
"We've been traveling for hours, we're tired and we're freezing. Can you give us a ride?" But Jesse had already climbed onto the back of the wagon and pulled a burlap blanket over Kari. The driver only shook his head and smiled as he tossed a coat fashioned from deer hide to Jesse.
"Yeah, don't worry. We'll get you out of the cold. My name's Fjonir by the way." He gave them that friendly smile of his as he turned around and flicked the reins, the horses gave whinnied painfully as the leather reins stung their skin, then began pulling the wagon down the snowy path.
Finally relieved to be off his feet, Jesse pulled his arms through the leather coat. The coarse texture of the coat irritated his skin, but he could feel the heat returning to his bare arms the moment he donned the coat. Kari was already fast asleep next to him, her head rested on his shoulder and the blanket pulled up over her frozen lips. Jesse smiled at her peaceful countenance, but then the image of the girl from his dreams flooded his mind once again. As tired as he was, he fought sleep as long as he could. He feared the dreams of the tortured girl would return and the image of the wretched Demon would haunt him. But all while he thought of fighting sleep, it overtook him and soon he was fast asleep.
And just as he feared, the images from before flooded his mind, but they were different this time. Only the Demon stood before him, the two of them were perched on a giant boulder in the midst of a raging battlefield. The Demon's face was clearly visible this time, his dark hair concealed most of his face, but the demonic markings from his arms stretched all the way up his neck and onto the left side of his face. though the markings covered his whole body it seemed, the right side of his face was marked only with a fresh wound. The deep cut resembled an oddly proportioned crescent moon, it looked as if the tip of an axe or sword just barely caught his cheek there. Without warning, the Demon reached out and cut the same odd shaped wound into Jesse's face, then wiped his hand across the blood on his own face and smeared it on Jesse's cheek.
"Now my blood is your's, valgt en." With that, he turned back to face the battle field, a wicked grin plastered on his face as he motioned towards Jesse's hand. Jesse was shocked to find himself wielding a massive axe in his right hand. It was so large, the axe itself must have weighed hundreds of pounds, but Jesse handled it as if it were light as a feather. The front edge of the blade stretched and bowed downwards, a common blade structure for an axe. But the back edge was forged in a much different manner, the edges of the blade protruded upwards and downwards, almost like the elaborate crest of a tropical bird. The markings of the front edge displayed a depiction of the raging skies, lightning stretched across the flat surface of the blade from all directions, while the back edge depicted a more demonic collection of markings, similar to the tattoos sprawled across the Demon's entire body.
But as soon as the events transpire to him, Jesse found himself wide awake in the back of the wagon. He fought to keep his breathing pattern nice and steady so that it wouldn't stir Kari from her peaceful rest. A warm substance rolled down the right side of Jesse's face and when he wiped the substance off his face, he was shocked to see it was blood. Frantically, he fished through the items scattered across the wagon until he took hold of a glass bottle. The liquid in the bottle shifted as he brought the shiny surface of the bottle near his face. Though his reflection in the bottle was faint, he could clearly see the outline of the same crescent-shaped wound under the stream of blood. He stared in awe at the site for several moments before the wagon came to a sudden stop and tore his attention from the bleeding wound. The sudden stop gave Kari a sudden jolt as Jesse was no longer there to hold her steady. She rubbed her eyes and assumed her blank stare as she felt through the air for Jesse.
"Jesse? Where are we?" Her hand came dangerously close to Jesse's face, he feared what her reaction would be if she learned he acquired a cut from a dream. Quickly, he threw his hand in front of his face and gently wrapped his fingers around her delicate hand. He pressed the leather sleeve of his coat against his face, but the coarse texture of the deer hide poked and prodded the exposed bit of fresh meat. He winced slightly from the pain, but quickly pushed the thought of pain from his mind when he realized why they had stopped.
Fjonir stood next to the wagon, his friendly smile plastered across his face as he shoved the point of a dagger in Jesse's face.
"Now, come on out of there.." A deceptive and amused tone was present in his voice, much different from the friendly tone he used with them before. Reluctantly, Jesse helped Kari out of the wagon and took a protective stance between her and Fjonir, never taking his eyes of the backstabbing driver.
"Bind his hands with this, don't worry about the girl," Fjonir said with a sinister smile as he tossed a bundle of hemp rope to a man at his side. "She won't go far on her own." Just before Jesse was pulled away from Kari, he felt her hands trembling with fear as the current events registered to her. Jesse glared at Fjonir with such malice that Fjonir defensively stepped away from Jesse's reach. As the bandit finished tying Jesse's hands, he formed his hands into tight fists, flexing the muscles in his hands against the hemp rope. But the rope was tied so tightly that is dug into the flesh of his hands. His brow furrowed into a malicious scowl as he waited for the right moment to strike. In the distance, he could see a group of horsemen riding towards them. He only prayed the approaching riders weren't allies of Fjonir and his bandits.
"What's this about, Fjonir?" Jesse shot him a death glare that shook him to the core, so much that Fjonir took another step back.
"What do you think, Sëinir? Master Loki'el would be most pleased with your soul as a sacrifice!"
Jesse had no idea what Fjonir spoke of, and he wasn't about to ask either. His only concern was getting out of this situation with Kari at his side. He gritted his teeth and lunged for the man at Fjonir's side, knocking him off his feet and into the deep snow. Fjonir thrust for Jesse's throat, and several times the blade of his dagger barely missed Jesse's neck. He sidestepped the whistling blade every time Fjonir stabbed for him, but even though he avoided the dagger's hungry edge, he knew it was only a matter of time before it caught him. Without warning, Jesse brought his foot down hard on Fjonir's shin, knocking him to one knee. He followed up by swinging his other leg across Fjonir's face with such force that it knocked him unconscious. But when Jesse turned to face Kari, it was all he could do to keep his senses as the rage boiled within him. The other bandit had his dagger pressed to Kari's neck, a sinister smiled was sprawled across his rugged face.
But as Jesse struggled with the ropes on his hands, a gentle breeze blew past him, and with it brought a sense of peace. An involuntary gasp escaped Jesse's mouth as a speck of light appeared near his face. A tiny hand extended from the light and gently touched his face, then the light turned away from him and faded. But as it faded, he realized that the ropes on his hands had vanished. Whatever was in the light had just saved him. With his hands free, Jesse gave the bandit a sinister grin as he charged for him. But when his fist collided with the bandit's face, the mark on the palm of his hand began to glow, so brightly that it shone straight through his hand and bathed the area in a brilliant blue light. The winds picked up and howled as it whipped past them, then grew even stronger as a dark shadow enveloped them. When the winds ceased, Jesse stared in awe at the gigantic wolf standing before him. The wolf's fur was almost as white as the snow but certain patches of his fur were tinted with a dark green coloration. He shifted his brilliant green eyes towards the bandit and effortlessly swiped him aside with his massive paw, a gust of wind followed in the wake of his paw. Jesse winced as a burning sensation coursed through his hand and when he glanced at the marking on his palm, one of the various runes glowed a dark green very briefly then faded then reappeared on the wolf's forehead.
He was so enraptured by the wolf's appearance, he didn't notice the rider's approaching behind him. Before he knew it, one of the rider's had pinned him to the ground and was tying his hands. But he was amazed when the wolf assumed a defensive position in front of Kari as the other rider's attempted to capture her.
"Don't worry about the hound just yet! Focus on the boy, bind his hands with the seals. He musn't be able to use the runebrand." The voice came from the rider above him, he barked the orders to the others, who quickly abandoned the task of besting the wolf and turned to Jesse. They wrapped white cloth around his hands, but when it made contact with his skin, blue runes materialized on the stitched surface of the cloth and searing pain raged through his whole body for a split second, then died away. As the pain faded, the rider's pulled him to his feet and pushed him towards the wolf and Kari.
"Recall your hound, boy." The man standing before him was clad in light armor and a broadsword hung at his belt. His face was worn and furrowed, it looked as if he had seen many battles in his time. Jesse looked up at the wolf, who stared back at him with those bright green eyes. The question of how this being came to be was beyond anything Jesse could imagine, but he knew for sure that the beast was somehow tied to him.
"I..I don't know what to do with it.." He looked back towards the riders and shrugged. The rugged man sighed and grabbed Jesse's arm and pushed him back towards one of the pack horses.
"Newly branded I see? Then I guess we'll just leave it and the girl here. Get on that horse, we're leaving." Jesse glanced back at Kari and the wolf and swore under his breath, he couldn't just leave her here. And even if the wolf was protecting her now, what would happen to Kari if she stayed here? But as these thoughts ran through Jesse's head, he watched as the wolf gently nudged Kari, bearing the scruff of his neck to her.
"Kari! Climb onto the wolf's back." He called to her as he climb on the back of the pack horse. Kari gathered handfuls of the wolf's scruff for a tighter grip as it suddenly leapt to it's feet and started after the rider's. It stayed behind Jesse's horse, but kept himself distanced from the rest of the riders to avoid capture. Jesse constantly glanced back at them, still somewhat wary of the wolf's true intent, but for now he was thankful it was taking such good care of Kari. Every now and then, the rider's would send one of their own to try and take Kari from the wolf. But as soon as they even started towards them, the wolf bared it's teeth and let loose a vicious growl as he stepped closer to the rider, quickly sending the rider back onto his horse.
Jesse stared into the distance as he watched a city slowly appear on the horizon. From afar, it looked so small and rural, but he new for sure that it had to be quite large to be seen from here. He glanced down at the supposed seals on his hands, the white cloth now clearly displayed the blue runes all across their surface. The ropes tying his hands together were barely even tied, it seemed they were more concerned with sealing his hands rather then binding him. He looked skyward and sighed, how he wished that he could just get away from all of this and get back to his normal lifestyle. But from the way things were turning out, it looked as if this would be his new lifestyle now. He knew that on his own he could handle it, but he also knew that with Kari, he would have to work harder to protect her if this was how this new world was going to treat them.