Sight and insight
The cold night's breeze was infiltrating through the thick foliage of the towering trees. The moon was gently covering the forest in a silver mantle. A mother bear was silently walking through the bushes, looking for a midnight snack. "Monsters!" she thought. "How absurd can they be! And King and Queen Bear believe their bullshit! All of them, gone mad! 'You need to stay inside the protected zone!' I'm not a cub, I can go wherever I please! " she was thinking angrily. After rummaging through a bush, out of the corner of her eye, she suddenly saw a white face. She turned her head, but didn't see it. Taking it as a figment of the night, she started towards the territory, but slight fear was in her step.
She noticed a long, black shadow on the earth behind her. She whipped around in fright, but nothing was behind her. The bear's surroundings suddenly started to seem frightening. The trees seemed to watch her, the cold dark seemed to hide something, too. Her heart started racing as she jogged towards the territory, fear gripping her soul. Now her previously angered thoughts were changed to hurrying and frightening ones: "What's happening?! What's that thing?! Must get to the territory, the territory…"
Her vision suddenly started to blur. She saw again the shadow behind her, but didn't turn back, only tried to speed up. She then felt a weight on her back and something stabbing her. She jumped up and rolled around, managing to get the thing off. She then saw what it was: a small human pup, holding something that glittered in the moonlight much alike claws. But his eyes... were blurred and grey. They weren't normal, he seemed... possessed.
The human pup ran towards her, and started stabbing her. She tried to hit it, but she couldn't aim because of her impaired vision. She spotted the tall, looming man watching from behind a tree, and noticed his faceless head. Her scream was only partially heard as the child stabbed her in the throat. The last thing he saw was the tall man, standing behind the pup, placing his hands on the child's shoulders, seemingly admiring his work, the blood he shed for him. Then, bleeding heavily, she blacked out, not to wake again.
Next morning
"Mommy!" cried a bear cub. "Where are you?!"
"What happened, dear? Tell us, so we can find her." said Kate, trying to stop her crying.
"Sh.. she went for ... a snack... last night... I fell... asleep... but she hasn't come back since..." she sobbed.
"Where?" asked Shalidor.
"Straight forward... that way..." she pointed.
"All right. We'll find her, don't worry." said Lara and the Archmages, wolves, and their Majesties hurried in that direction.
After a few minutes of searching, they found the bear's body.
"She's been dead since last night." said Ithilden, examining her wounds. "Knife wounds, all of them." he added confusedly.
"What?" asked Garth.
"Knife. It's like your claw. That's what humans use, 'cause we don't have claws ourselves." replied Fannaeras.
"Wait, her body's whole though. Maybe I can see what she last saw." said Mithrandir, raising his left hand.
"Try. Might be our only chance to see what we're dealing with." shrugged Kharazim.
Mithrandir raised his hand and put it upon the bear's cheek and said: "Ochedin valannor!" His eyes burned with the orange light of a fire. He saw the first spots of the man, the chase, and finally the child, and the monster. He got up and spoke, loudly and clearly:
"We seem to be dealing with some kind of wraith. It takes the form of a very tall human, dressed elegantly, but faceless. The monster can teleport at leisure. It seems to have possessed a child. He can blur his victim's vision and make them feel intense fear. The child had grey and blurry eyes. It doesn't seem to kill directly, only through proxy. I couldn't learn anymore out of it."
Silence greeted his words. King Bear finally said:
"This seems to be an extremely dangerous beast. I think it is beyond of our pours, but still, need you any help, merely ask us. I must attend to my own matters now, forgive me". He then turned and walked away, alongside his mate.
"I must go and comfort Zoe. She needs someone right now, with her mother being killed." said Princess Canue, and also hurried away.
"Can we help you anyhow?" asked Winston, looking at the mages.
"No. Not for now at least." replied Ithilden. "We must think of a way to face this thing." The Archmages went to their tree-house, while the wolves prepared to go hunting.
And nobody saw a white face, looming from behind a tree, watching... always watching…
A few hours later, around midday
"This book doesn't help with shit, Fannaeras. Our best option's trying to disguise ourselves, and be the bait." said Shalidor, closing a book entitled "The strangest monsters ever encountered."
"Well, it was the first thing to consult." replied the blood-elf, putting it on a shelf. "Your idea's best, we can't risk anyone getting killed."
"We should be able to survive it. Pennywise was much more violent." said Kharazim.
"Yeah. Fighting it will be no piece of cake, but we've faced loads of bad shit." said Lara.
"So... tonight?" asked Mithrandir.
"No point in waiting." shrugged Ithilden. "So, who's gonna be the bait here? Volunteer gets a snack!" he laughed loudly, alongside his friends.
"Dammit, I'll do it." called Fannaeras. "Besides you, if I fall, I still have a chance of surviving. I'm fleet-footed."
"Fine, Mr. Speedy." chuckled Shalidor. "We'll choose a suitable place for a trap, and some spells. Rune's are gonna come in quite handy here."
"Yep." replied Lara. "Let's go."
They all teleported away.
In the forest, a few minutes later
"Think this is good enough?" asked Kharazim.
"I think so. Loads of good hiding spots. And I found some good places for runes." replied Shalidor.
"Alright then, we'll set it this evening, so the spells don't wear off. Mark it somehow." said Lara.
Ithilden drew a rune upon the ground, which shined, and then became black. They teleported back.
"Good idea with the invisbility spell, Shalidor." said Mithrandir, becoming visible. "Hope it didn't sense us."
"We hope so too." laughed Fannaeras.
That evening
The Archmages teleported onto the top of the mountain, also scaring everyone.
"You really can't give us a warning or something?!" asked Kate, half amused, half annoyed.
"Nah, like to keep it sudden and dramatic." laughed Fannaeras.
"So, what is your progress?" asked Queen Bear.
"Trap's set, all runes and spells are up. All we need to do now is to lure it there." replied Ithilden.
"We could try to -" began Garth, but was interrupted by Kharazim:
"No 'you'. Hell, we don't even know exactly what this shit is. We're not trying getting you killed."
The red wolf rolled his eyes irritably.
"Then what's your plan?" asked Humphrey.
"We got here, who offered himself as the bait." smiled Shalidor sardonically, jerking his head at the blood-elf.
"What are you going to do?" asked Lilly.
"I'm gonna take Zoe's form. I'm gonna pretend that I'm looking for her mother. That's our best shot right now." explained Fannaeras.
"I can take you to her den, I know where it is." said Canue.
"Let's go then." replied Mithrandir, and so the Archmages and the princess went to the said den.
A few minutes later
"I just need to do a spell, I won't hurt you, I swear. This is to avenge your mother, Zoe." said Fannaeras, in a gentle voice.
A sudden look of determination appeared int the bear cub's red and puffed eyes.
"All right. Do it." she said, closing her eyes.
Fannaeras recited an incantation and lime lines circled Zoe. Then those lines transformed into a skull which circled Fannaeras very fast, and he morphed. When Zoe opened her eyes, her mouth dropped. It was an exact copy of herself, right in front of her. Fannaeras smiled and tried to walk, but immediately lost balance.
"Holy shit!" he said loudly, in Zoe's voice, and Lara caught him. Zoe grimaced.
"Is that really what my voice sounds like? " she asked.
Canue shrugged.
"You look better like this, you know." said Kharazim, inspecting him.
"Shut the fuck up!" laughed Fannaeras.
"All right, you just need to learn how to actually control your body, and we're all good to go." said Shalidor, clapping his hands.
"Yeah, kinda. Let's get to it, we have few hours." said Ithilden, looking at the basking sun.
They left the den, helping Fannaeras to learn to walk on four feet. The wolves also helped him quite a lot, after having a good laugh, of course.
The same night, a few hours later
The trap was set. The moon's rays were sneakingly peeking through the thick, luxuriant foliage of the towering trees. The Archmages were waiting patiently, invisble, in the now almost pitch-black forest, like hunters waiting for their unsuspecting prey.
" Fannaeras ought to arrive pretty soon." said Lara, through the amulet.
"Yeah. We just gotta wait right now, he said it might be a little, 'cause he wants to know for sure he got the beast's attention." replied Shalidor.
"Wondering how it feels to be the bait, in a bear cub disguise." laughed Kharazim.
Meanwhile, at the edge of the forest
"Mommy! Mommy, where are you?!" was heard. Fannaeras's screams, in Zoe's skin and voice, were echoing through the forest. The soft grass, now shining in the moonlight, was inclined gently by the bear cub's paws, as Fannaeras was watching everywhere extremely carefully. He was looking for the monster. He knew it should arrive some time soon. He kept calling and crying, untill he finally spotted a white face from behind a towering birch tree and his vision blurred slightly.
"That must be it." thought the blood-elf.
He started jogging, faking fear. His vision got blurrier as he spotted it closer and started running. "Please, please, come on..." he kept thinking. He spotted the trap and sprinted. He tripped intentionally and tumbled into the circle. He got up and looked around. The monster appeared behind him, alongside the possessed child, but the blood-elf didn't notice the child which started running, knife raised.
Then many things happened at once: Mithrandir pointed his staff at Fannaeras and shielded him, the others activated the traps. The beast and the child were blinded by Lara's bursts of light roots sprouted from the ground by Ithilden ensnared the two of them, explosions of ice appeared from Shalidor's runes, freezing the child solid and slowing down the tall terror.
The monster broke free immediately, only to be drained of stamina and life force by Fannaeras, now back in his normal form. He freed himself and horrible, black tentacles sprouted from the man's back. Two of them grabbed Fannaeras and threw him away far through trees. Shalidor threw fireballs and ice spikes, but the man dodged them and appeared in front of Shalidor, hitting him square in the chest, sending him flying into a tree.
His hand became a sharp blade, and he tried to slash Lara, who quickly parried, but staggered. He hit her quickly with the other hand, which threw her backwards. Ithilden showered him with star strikes, which staggered the beast. Kharazim then tried to hit him with shining fists, but they were just passing through his body. A tentacle hit Ithilden powerfully, slamming him to the ground, and another took hold of one of Kharazim's arms and broke it, then he chucked him aside, bringing a tree down with him.
Mithrandir then had an idea: he rushed the monster, and put his left hand upon it's face. He didn't even have to say an incantation, it just happened. He saw inside the monster's mind. Mithrandir witnessed multiple memories: a very tall man, dressed elegantly, was taking children by their hands into a forest. Then he stood behind him as the tall man admired the picture of the same children hanged from trees, with their insides hanging out. After, many people were laughing and jeering, as the man was being tortured horribly, and the wizard also heard the following words:
"Thy bloodlust never sated shall be, thy rest never restful shall be, thy face never seen shall be, and the forests forever your home shall be!".
Lastly, he stood beside him, but it wasn't the same man. He was much taller, faceless, completely white limbs. He only heard whispers: "Slenderman, Slenderman, Slenderman...".
Mithrandir woke up again. Tentacles grabbed him and threw him aside. As he was getting up he saw Kate and Garth jumping through Slenderman, but they too couldn't touch him. The monster then disappeared in a whiff of smoke, the child alongside him.
The Archmages arrived back at the spot, Ithilden and Lara already healing Shalidor and Kharazim. Fannaeras had already healed himself.
"What... the... fuck... was... that?" panted Kharazim.
"There's our monster. Slenderman." said Mithrandir. "I saw inside his mind." he added to the confused looks he was given by the Archmages, Kate and Garth. "He was a killer when he was alive, like Krueger. He used to lure children into forests, torture and kill them. He got caught later, and was horribly tortured. Most likely by the parents of his victims. He was also cursed the night he was tortured and killed. ' "Thy bloodlust never sated shall be, thy rest never restful shall be, thy face never seen shall be, and the forests forever your home shall be!" ' were the words. He was cursed to forever haunt the forests, and never rest. That's why we can't physically harm him, he's a wraith. I think he calls himself Slenderman, I head that in the end. We must somehow free him of his curse, that's our only solution."
Silence followed his words.
"We just found our next goal, then." said Shalidor, attracting the attention to him. "We must find a way not to kill, but free this wraith of his painful existence."
"Yeah." confirmed Lara.
"Looks like it." replied Garth, shrugging.
"We should all go rest. You two must be tired." spoke Ithilden, looking at the two wolves.
"We will. Moonlight Howl's tomorrow, gotta prepare it from early on." said Kate.
The Archmages teleported, and the two wolves went back to the den.
Earlier that night
A wolf and she-wolf were sitting cuddled together, next to a lake. Their furs were being gently stroked by the cool night wind. The sky, filled to the brim with twinkling stars and amazing consteallations, was reflecting itself in the small lake. The surface of the water looked like it was a piece of the sky, fallen to the ground. The silver mantle was covering the grass and trees, making the sight look like it was a picture painted by a very talented artist.
"The night sky is so beautiful, my love." said Ann, leaning her head on Stinky's shoulder.
"Not as half as beautiful as you." smiled her lover, making her grin too.
"You're sweet. You were right, I would like this place."
"Your howl was just divine, love." said Stinky.
"Yours too, love. We should go back now, it's late." replied Ann.
"Yeah, I'll see you tomorrow, at the Howl." said Stinky dreamily.
They kissed deeply and parted.
A/N: Hello everyone, you got L0RD3N here! First, I wish to apologize for the lack of updates since 5th of November, I've benn quite busy with school, and also the chapters are getting quite trickier to figure out now. With that out of the way, I wanna thank my readers, who have reviewed and read the story so far. What do you think of my interpretation of Slenderman? Did you like it, DananX :D? Let me know in the reviews, I'm quite curios! I'll update only when the chapter satisfies me, and I consider it good enough, so I won't give a specific time for my hobby. Stay tuned and have a good one :D!