The face of a berserker
Introduction:
"There be nothin' inviting upon the face, dark an' frightening.." Old and weather beaten was the man who sat beneath dark trees, stick held in palm of hand, children surrounded him, their small face shone with interest of the mans story, cross-legged and ready for the next part. It was practically in the middle of the woods. The village, which they lived in, no gate, no lock upon surroundings just a few straw houses. Clothing acting as door, fire acting as cooker, it was simple and many of the villagers had none to care of. "As a hand clamped down upon the travellers shoulder he'd turn around to come back to face with that being.Indeed like the stories his face really was dark and frightening. That of a berserker." The man hushed, as children stood, mothers appeared to lead them to slumber. The old story teller stood alone, old stick still in palm, as he walked he listened to the wolvers howling, the moon full in the sky, then taken by surprise he stumbled as upon shoulder was placed a hand of another.
Chapter one:
The pride of a berserker
"Once ones mind has become contaminated with pride their arrogance and know- it-all manner usually leads them to their deaths, but not such with a berserker."
After the forest had become still the only sound one could hear would be those from trees as they whispered, wind blowing through their hanging branches, and the sound of nattering from the village wives as they spoke of their daily work which usually included sitting in the branches of trees and watching the world go by occasionally one would hang clothing which had been washed in the village water supply, a stream which flowed narrowly through the village.
It hadn't been long until disaster would strike once more to the village, when the wives went out to dry their washed garments upon the sharp rocks along the river bank they'd find more than what was expected.
"Your youngen' is feisty for his age." One young woman had said to the other, walking down alone side-by-side. "Isn't he just?" Had the other replied, a strawberry pout upon her rouge, thin lips. They'd stopped at the banks of the rushing water, watching it flow soundly. "I'd give him a good hiding if he weren't so young." She had replied to keep the conversation in place. The other was to answer, but as lips parted, orbs wide with fear as she stared down into the gushing waters below. "Wha..what is it?" The other had replied as she looked at her companions fear in her expressions, then to the gushing waters below also, her expression remained the same a little tense as her orbs searched the tiny waves. First she had caught a glimpse of tiny fragments of a red liquid, indeed it must have been the blood of another, following between the violent waves and mingling with the clean particles. With her eyes she followed the blood, to find where it had come from, fingers twitching, tensing in fear as they locked upon what had produced the bloody mess. A hand, a human hand, it was fresh and in clear view floating upon the tops of the water, blood had flowed from the mangled tissues at the base of the hands wrist, even the ligaments where visible covered in arteries and loose nerves, the finger-nails where clean it was indeed very fresh who ever it had belonged to must have had it ripped from his arm by another's hands. A blade couldn't of done it or it would have been a clean swipe without any bones sticking out, neither any other weapon for that matter. Trembling fingers flew to the woman's frightened face she didn't want to look no longer yet she couldn't pull her view from the horrific sight. Twitching the two women looked at each other slowly moving their heads around to face one another then at the same time each of them let out an ear-piercing scream. Another hand spotted not far from the bank, not as perfect as its twin, already washed up.
None of this was spoken of in the morning; the women had fled and said nothing to one another since the incident. Not until the four following days afterwards was yet found another horrific sight. Two small children wandered along in the forest, each of them had just past their seventh birthdays and that had given their mothers a little more confidence in allowing them to leave. "Yer' momma look stressed when we left." The other replied quickly, his voice happy and chirpy. "Yeah', isn't she just? She's always like that." Stopping with a hand to his forehead the other looked up into the treetop, small traces of sunlight peeped though the tips. "Where goin' far out, you think your momma' will be okay with us doing this?" "She wont know." Replied the other as he leaned against a huge oak. The wind hushed around them, none of them spoke for a while until the one who wasn't leaning piped up. "You think anyone's died in here?"
"Why, you scared?" "No.I heard rumours about people who had died here." "Bullshit." He picked himself up from the tree and grinned, slightly with a menacing expression, he would of joked if it hadn't of been because of the terrified expression upon the others face. "What's wrong with you?" The other didn't reply, he continued staring up into that great oak. "Yu..Yuki!" The boy shouted, Yuki as the other was named studied his friend, those beads of sweat dripping from his face, he wondered if it would melt soon if he continued so. Pausing to check out his friend's features he slowly followed his glance, it met with something hanging from the tree, a body, mangled and broken. Its head hung from only loose vessels and the brim of the spine, from the head came the eye-balls which hung loose from broken sockets, its intestinal organs hung still attached from a ripped open stomach and the other parts where maimed deeply. The two boys twitched, stared at the thing until they screamed as loud as they could, the birds flew from the trees in clusters, the people of the village heard and came running to the disaster area. The body had no hands.
Introduction:
"There be nothin' inviting upon the face, dark an' frightening.." Old and weather beaten was the man who sat beneath dark trees, stick held in palm of hand, children surrounded him, their small face shone with interest of the mans story, cross-legged and ready for the next part. It was practically in the middle of the woods. The village, which they lived in, no gate, no lock upon surroundings just a few straw houses. Clothing acting as door, fire acting as cooker, it was simple and many of the villagers had none to care of. "As a hand clamped down upon the travellers shoulder he'd turn around to come back to face with that being.Indeed like the stories his face really was dark and frightening. That of a berserker." The man hushed, as children stood, mothers appeared to lead them to slumber. The old story teller stood alone, old stick still in palm, as he walked he listened to the wolvers howling, the moon full in the sky, then taken by surprise he stumbled as upon shoulder was placed a hand of another.
Chapter one:
The pride of a berserker
"Once ones mind has become contaminated with pride their arrogance and know- it-all manner usually leads them to their deaths, but not such with a berserker."
After the forest had become still the only sound one could hear would be those from trees as they whispered, wind blowing through their hanging branches, and the sound of nattering from the village wives as they spoke of their daily work which usually included sitting in the branches of trees and watching the world go by occasionally one would hang clothing which had been washed in the village water supply, a stream which flowed narrowly through the village.
It hadn't been long until disaster would strike once more to the village, when the wives went out to dry their washed garments upon the sharp rocks along the river bank they'd find more than what was expected.
"Your youngen' is feisty for his age." One young woman had said to the other, walking down alone side-by-side. "Isn't he just?" Had the other replied, a strawberry pout upon her rouge, thin lips. They'd stopped at the banks of the rushing water, watching it flow soundly. "I'd give him a good hiding if he weren't so young." She had replied to keep the conversation in place. The other was to answer, but as lips parted, orbs wide with fear as she stared down into the gushing waters below. "Wha..what is it?" The other had replied as she looked at her companions fear in her expressions, then to the gushing waters below also, her expression remained the same a little tense as her orbs searched the tiny waves. First she had caught a glimpse of tiny fragments of a red liquid, indeed it must have been the blood of another, following between the violent waves and mingling with the clean particles. With her eyes she followed the blood, to find where it had come from, fingers twitching, tensing in fear as they locked upon what had produced the bloody mess. A hand, a human hand, it was fresh and in clear view floating upon the tops of the water, blood had flowed from the mangled tissues at the base of the hands wrist, even the ligaments where visible covered in arteries and loose nerves, the finger-nails where clean it was indeed very fresh who ever it had belonged to must have had it ripped from his arm by another's hands. A blade couldn't of done it or it would have been a clean swipe without any bones sticking out, neither any other weapon for that matter. Trembling fingers flew to the woman's frightened face she didn't want to look no longer yet she couldn't pull her view from the horrific sight. Twitching the two women looked at each other slowly moving their heads around to face one another then at the same time each of them let out an ear-piercing scream. Another hand spotted not far from the bank, not as perfect as its twin, already washed up.
None of this was spoken of in the morning; the women had fled and said nothing to one another since the incident. Not until the four following days afterwards was yet found another horrific sight. Two small children wandered along in the forest, each of them had just past their seventh birthdays and that had given their mothers a little more confidence in allowing them to leave. "Yer' momma look stressed when we left." The other replied quickly, his voice happy and chirpy. "Yeah', isn't she just? She's always like that." Stopping with a hand to his forehead the other looked up into the treetop, small traces of sunlight peeped though the tips. "Where goin' far out, you think your momma' will be okay with us doing this?" "She wont know." Replied the other as he leaned against a huge oak. The wind hushed around them, none of them spoke for a while until the one who wasn't leaning piped up. "You think anyone's died in here?"
"Why, you scared?" "No.I heard rumours about people who had died here." "Bullshit." He picked himself up from the tree and grinned, slightly with a menacing expression, he would of joked if it hadn't of been because of the terrified expression upon the others face. "What's wrong with you?" The other didn't reply, he continued staring up into that great oak. "Yu..Yuki!" The boy shouted, Yuki as the other was named studied his friend, those beads of sweat dripping from his face, he wondered if it would melt soon if he continued so. Pausing to check out his friend's features he slowly followed his glance, it met with something hanging from the tree, a body, mangled and broken. Its head hung from only loose vessels and the brim of the spine, from the head came the eye-balls which hung loose from broken sockets, its intestinal organs hung still attached from a ripped open stomach and the other parts where maimed deeply. The two boys twitched, stared at the thing until they screamed as loud as they could, the birds flew from the trees in clusters, the people of the village heard and came running to the disaster area. The body had no hands.