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Hungry
Scene 3
Hunger's Hold
A/n:
Sorry it's been a while, but I'm back now
In the meantime, I'd like to thank Red for her help with this, couldn't have done it without her.
"Why are we even up here?"
"We're looking for the princess." Answered the knight, his eyes searching through the snow covered foliage for any sign of her.
"Everyone knows she's probably dead. Why can't he just accept that?" Asked the man rhetorically.
"It's his daughter. He's not a cold blooded bastard, he loved the girl." The other explained.
"Yeah, but he's the king. He should have more important things on his plate."
"How would you respond if it was your daughter that had gone missing?"
"…you have a point."
"Both of you, stop standing around talking, we have a job to do!" Called out their commander.
"Sir!" The both respond.
They were knights of the kingdom of Arendale, specifically the Legion of the Silver Vargar. A legion of hunters, trackers, rangers, and cavalry designed for quick response to hostile approaches on the Kingdom, and to track down any and all spies trying to cross the border. They were the watch dogs of the Kingdom, standing guard in their immaculate silver armor.
After being the command to search for the princess in the wake of the massive blizzard, they had split up into 10 squads of 12 soldiers to track her down through the massive wilderness of the Frostback Mountains. Each squad had two rangers, one specially designated tracker, 3 mounted knights, and six other soldiers.
"Anders!" Shouted their commander from the back of his silver armored horse.
"Sir!" The tracker called out from ahead, peaking his hooded head out from behind a tree.
"Find anything yet?" He asked.
"I see a frozen pond ahead near a cave." Anders responded.
"A cave? She could have taken shelter there." The Commander reasoned. "Lead on."
Moments later the squad found itself looking across the frozen pond toward the cave surrounded by trees on the opposite side.
"There it is." Anders gestured.
"Is the ice thick enough for us?" Asked one of the knights
"It'd be dubious with your horses, but you should do just fine on foot." One of the rangers commented, eyeing the ice carefully.
"Alright…" The commander pondered.
"Rangers, get up into the trees and cover the area, make sure nothing comes upon us and look for any sign of her." He commanded, "Anders, lead the way with the soldiers toward the cave. If you see any sign of the girl, we shall dismount and join you. Until then, we shall keep watch in case something happens."
"Sir!" They chorused, getting into position.
"I wouldn't want to have come all this way just to have the girl attacked by wolves, or to find the cave a bear's den." He murmured.
Following his command, the six soldiers spread out upon the ice with the tracker leading the way.
Each soldier wore mostly chainmail and leather to stay light and unencumbered enough to keep up with the quick pace the Silver Vargar set. They wore polished silver helms with a wolf motif and carried polished steel longswords, wooden shields, and silver daggers. Some carried a crossbow on their back, others a lance.
The tracker crept forward across the ice, testing each step to make sure there were no weak points. All the way, he kept one hand on his dagger, ready to use it should anything happen.
When he finally reached the cave, he peered inside, only to see that it was empty. However, he felt a draft coming through it. Turning to his commander he yelled, "Sir!"
"It's not a cave, it's a tunnel!"
"A tunnel?" He repeated.
"Yes, sir!" The scout confirmed. "She could be deeper inside, or even on the other side."
The commander hummed in thought, considering his options. Their horses wouldn't fit inside, but they couldn't ignore the possibility that she was in or through the tunnel, and trying to find the exit of the tunnel from the other side was just foolish.
As he pondered these things, the soldiers on the ice began to relax as mist rose from the frozen pond.
The rangers still kept watch with their bows as they sat in the snow covered trees. The tracker looked over the cave, trying to discern more clues from the entrance of the cave.
The two other knights checked over their equipment, making sure that they still had their Wheelock pistols and making sure they were ready for use.
Wheelock pistols, a recent innovation came to the kingdom from overseas trade. Since then, they had learned how to make them on their own, but due to the lack of conflict Arendale experienced, they weren't in high demand. Instead, the complicated but reliable Wheelock design was restricted for officers, knights, and other soldiers of high rank or status, such as the Royal Guard.
For the most part, however, the kingdom still had, by some standards, antiquated military equipment.
It was during this time of nothing and distraction, that it happened.
Crack
Suddenly, all the soldiers jolted into alertness. They frantically looked around, trying to see where the sound of ice cracking came from. The rangers looked on from above, trying to see if they could discern anything.
One soldier took a brave step forward, trying to see if the ice would crack again. When it remained solid, he let out a cold breath of mist, relaxing once again.
Crack
"AH!' Screamed out one of the soldiers, falling to one knee as he grasped hold of his left leg, dropping his sword and shield. The other soldiers ran over to him to try and see what was wrong and provide help. When they reached him, the cause of it was plain to see.
A half meter long icicle was imbedded in his shin, piercing through the armor and exiting out of the other side of his leg. There were other, smaller, shards of ice closer in size to a crossbow bolt than an arrow that were clustered around the main one.
"Herregud, va' fan?" Wondered one soldier looking over the man.
Looking around, they tried to find the cause of it, but all they could see was mist rising up from the frozen lake and the wind moving it.
"Watch out!" Cried one of the rangers.
Suddenly, the mist moved, and something shot out of it, slamming into chest of one of the soldiers, before passing through it, and falling back into the mist. The soldier in question now had a massive ice spike sticking out of his chest along with several shard of ice piercing through his chainmail.
"Carlsson!"
He fell to the ground, dead.
The other soldiers circled around their injured man, raising their shields in some meager attempt at defense. The rangers kept their bows trained on the ice, looking to strike down any sign of movement. Anders, however, had found himself trapped on the other side of the lake. He had his crossbow, but his back was against the wall.
Suddenly, they saw a flash of movement in the mist again. This time prepared for it, they all moved to face the spirit accosting them.
Or so they thought.
When the spirit burst from the mist, it took a form both familiar and chilling. The simplest way to describe it would be as the skeleton of a snake, made from ice, and flying through the air leaving a trail of ice shards behind it.
It was a creature told in many stories to them as children. Along with tales of ogres, trolls, and giants.
It was an Ice Wraith, a spirit of the ice itself.
The moment of shock passed quickly, however, and the rangers let loose their arrows. The shots flew true, but they flew straight through the transparent body of the spirit, doing nothing. When it came upon the soldiers, one slashed at it with his sword. But just like the arrow, it simply passed through the Wraith's body.
In return, the spirit passed into the man's arm, worming its way up through the appendage, before reaching his head. All along the way, shards of ice shredded his skin, tearing through the flesh and muscle. When it finally entered the man's skull, all the liquid in his head froze, instantly killing him. Soon after, several large shards lodged themselves within the horrified face of the man, one in the eye, another in the forehead, and another one again straight through his gaping wide mouth and out the back of his throat.
"Skit, Algren's dead!" One soldier exclaimed.
"Helvete jävlas fan!" Another cursed, panic setting into the squad.
"It's coming around again!"
Spinning around, they saw the spirit flying back at them, intent on taking it's next victim. But despite that, there was nothing they could do. They were helpless. Their weapons did nothing, their armor couldn't protect them, their shields nothing more than a handicap. The rangers sat upon the trees, helpless. Anders stood by the side, hope dying within him. And the soldiers could do little more than stand there and wait for the cold grasp of death to take them.
BANG!
Suddenly a deafening blast rang out.
It shattered the tense silence as surely as the head of the Ice Wraith shattered before their eyes.
Turning back, they saw none other than their commander, Sergeant Gunvaldson, aiming his pistol right at where he slayed the spirit. They looked upon it with wonder, both having rarely seen a firearm in actual use, and never having thought they could have killed the spirit in such a way.
Holstering his pistol, their commander turned his helmeted head back to them.
"Alright men, gather up the dead and wounded." He command, "We're heading back to the city, we need to report th-"
Crack!
Cra-cra-cra-cr-cr-crack
The sound of ice cracking and breaking all around them filled the air. Suddenly a line of spikes shot out of the ice, weaving it's way over the frozen pond. Before they could react, one of the soldiers was impaled on several of these spikes as they shot into the air. They formed a wall, separating the soldiers and the tracker from the rest of the squad. Then, not allowing the squad a breath of respite, the mist grew thicker and denser. The knights could see things moving in that mist. Writhing in the frosted air seeping out from the lake.
A thick fog enveloped it, keeping the all else from seeing what happened beyond.
There was a single tense moment where all was silent.
Then they heard screaming. They heard crunching. They heard ripping. They heard tearing.
Then they saw the fog swirl before. Here, they knew what this meant.
"Go!" Order their commander, turning his horse around.
Echoing the orders of their commander in the face of hopeless odds, they turned and ran. The rangers through the tree, and the knights on horseback.
Soon, the storm was upon them.
Elsa pov
I perked up, thinking I had heard something.
I sat up, looking around to see where it had come from. I noticed that I couldn't see…Death…anywhere.
I can't just keep calling him that I thought with a frown, rubbing one of my eyes tiredly.
It's…well it's not a proper name. Plus it just feels weird.
I brushed the snow off me that had enveloped my sleeping form like a blanket. Surprisingly enough, this was the best I had slept in a long, long, while.
A flickering of light caught my eye, and I turned towards the center of the clearing and saw something strange.
It was a fire…sort of.
Instead of burning with a range of reds and oranges, it was a cool blue. It was not unlike the light emitted from…Death's lantern. Walking up toward it, I experimentally moved my hand near it. To my surprise, it felt warm. Not hot, but warm. A comforting, calming, and safe warm.
Weird… I thought, entranced by it.
"Having fun?" Said a voice from behind me.
Startled, I spun around and fell on my behind. I looked up to see…him…standing above me.
"H-hello …Death." I greeted him.
He towered over me, the sun filtering through the trees behind his head, masking his face in shadow. But I knew it was him. He had a certain ineffable aspect about his sheer presence that made him impossible to mistake for anyone else.
Probably has to do with him being Death.
He stared at me for a moment, just long enough for me to grow uncomfortable, before he looked away and approached the fire.
"I got breakfast." He said, sitting down before the flames, using his crystalline staff to ease himself down.
"You did?" I wondered, "Where?"
He raised his staff into the air, where the glowing tip of it seemed to…puncture the sky, causing a hole to open up into the black abyss of the Void. No sooner had it opened then did three dead deer fall into a heap from the hole and onto the snowy ground.
I cried out and leapt up in surprise, not expecting something so…fantastic…to happen.
"There." He answered, turning back to the fire.
"This is our breakfast?" I said out loud, looking at the massive feast he had gotten for us.
"Not ours, yours." He corrected, "I have no need for food."
"Because you're…Death…right?" I gulped.
He simply nodded.
Looking back at the meal he had gathered, I could feel my stomach rumble in hunger. I wanted to get to work prepping the food, but first, I needed to do something.
"Um…Death?" I began, walking up next to him.
"Yes?" He responded, turning to me slowly.
"Is there, uh, some kind of…" I tried to say, nervousness stealing my words.
All the while, he just looked at me patiently and calmly.
Taking Papa's advice, I took a deep breath and calmed myself before I spoke again.
"Is there anything you would like me to call you?" I asked, "Other than Death?"
"…I don't much care what you call me, frankly." H answered dismissively
"But I do!" I said firmly, "And Death just…"
"It's not a proper name!" I exclaimed.
"A proper name?" He questioned
"I mean, that's not a name I can connect to." I began to explain, "That's a name that evokes a feeling. It has too much power behind it, too much weight in it. It doesn't feel right to call you it."
"But it is fitting, is it not?"
"It is, it's just that it's so weird to call you it. It's a name that evokes fear." I explained.
He stared at me for a moment again, making me feel nervous, before he spoke once more.
"…You have quite the vocabulary for a young girl," He noted.
I blushed, embarrassed by the surprising compliment, "Er, well, I am the princess. Papa wanted to make sure I was ready for the throne, and that meant lots of books and tutors." I explained.
"Hmm…" He considered, "Still, you seem quite intelligent for an 11 year old human."
"Thank you." I whispered, my face aflame as I looked away.
I never was one good at taking praise. I rarely took too much pride in my talents. I just did what was required of me, I didn't do it for praise.
I didn't, right? I considered, wondering, for a brief moment, about the more extensive nature of my thought process.
Shaking my head, I got refocused on my original topic, "But I need a better name for you!" I firmly declared.
He hummed again in thought, turning back to the fire.
"A real name!" I continued.
"I can't just keep calling you Death, it's not…proper. I mean, what if I wanted to talk to someone else about you? I couldn't just call you death, they'd thing I was dropped on my head!" I exclaimed.
Still, he sat there, looking at the fire. Honestly, I wasn't entirely sure if he had been listening to me or not. He could have just taken my words as the words of an insolent child and tuned me out.
"I suppose…" He began, pulling me from my thoughts.
"There is another name that your kind has called me. Several, in fact, but one above the others."
"There is?" I asked, a glimmer of hope blossoming within me.
"Yes." He nodded
"They called me Odin."
"…Odin?" I blinked
"It carries a lot of meaning in another land, and in another time." He explained.
"If you say so…" I murmured skeptically.
"You did ask for a better name, did you not?"
"No no, I did I did," I dismissed with a wave my hand and a defeated sigh
"Thank you for giving me your name." I said graciously. "Or, well, a better name to whatever I was going to call you."
"What were you going to call me?" He asked with mild curiosity.
I shrugged, "I don't know, I'd probably have a good idea later."
He hummed in acknowledgment.
"…Are you going to eat your food?" He finally asked
I looked at the three deer that he had plopped down in the clearing.
"Er…" I began reluctantly, both hungry, but not really wanting to eat them as they were. They were whole, not prepared for me like Papa used to do.
"They still have their skin on them, I'd have to skin them first." I explained, hoping that that would be enough to get him off my back.
When I turned back to him, however, he was holding out a knife made of ice in his hand out to me, handle first.
"Uh…" I blinked, staring at the knife.
I glanced up at his eyes, and saw him looking at me expectantly.
"You…want me to skin it?" I said in disbelief.
"You are the one who wanted it skinned. It doesn't much matter to me how you want to eat it." He pointed out.
"C-could you skin it?" I asked nervously.
While I couldn't really see much of his face since it was shrouded in the shadows of his clock, I got the distinct impression that his eyebrow was arcing up at my statement.
"R-right…" I said, taking the knife slowly.
"U-um…what am I going to cook it though? I can't eat it raw." I brought up, desperately trying to think of anything to delay this.
"…why not?"
"Because that's gross!" I exclaimed. "And I could get sick, and die, and…"
I trailed off as I saw that he just seemed to be becoming more and more confused and amused.
"…Get sick?" He questioned
"…Y-yeah?" I responded.
"You can't get sick." He answered.
"I can't?" I asked, confused.
"Your body would kill any foreign microbes far before they could do any damage. They would never survive living in the body of the Disciple of the Void." He explained.
"…What are…microbes?" I asked, never having heard of the word.
He chuckled, and merely said, "Another time."
I grumbled, not liking being in the dark about this.
"Well, I'm still going to cook that deer. I refuse to eat it raw." I stated adamantly
"Why not use the fire?" He asked, gesturing to the icy blue flames before us.
"Would that work?" I inquired.
"Why would it not?" He responded
"Er, well, I tested the flames myself. They're warm, not hot." I answered. I had felt real fire before, and it had always felt nice and hot. Like it should.
"That's because this isn't normal fire." He answered.
"I figured that." I pouted, "Normal fire isn't cool blue, nor does it feel warm."
"True." He conceded.
Turning back to the fire, he put his hand inside the cracking cerulean blaze before us. Rather than flinch in pain his hand curled in it, twisting the fires within. Then he pulled his hand out, and inside his palm he held a small flame.
"This is fire created from the Void." He said,
I looked in awe as the fire danced in his palm, perfectly content, not burning it. The shades of blues mixed around, flickering brightly in the cradle of his fingers.
"Fire made from the Void." I whispered, carefully inching my finger to the fire. When it touched it, it seemed to curl around my finger, as if it was embracing me, as if it longed for my touch.
"So, Void-Fire?" I suggested looking up at him.
He shrugged, "If you want."
"But wait." I stopped, confused, "I thought the Void was like the land of the dead?"
"Why would you be able to make fire from the 'End of everything'?" I asked.
He nodded, accepting my point, "You see, the Void has much energy within it. It is simply that the energy it has pales in comparison to the emptiness of its existence."
"It is possible to borrow from the Void to create things. It, of course, must return. And it all has a price. But it can be quite useful from time to time." He acknowledged.
"Oh…ok." I nodded, seeing what he was saying.
"I'll teach you more about it later." He said, pulling his hand away. "But now you should eat."
I was unable to hold back a groan at his prodding. The worst part was that I knew he was right, I just really didn't want to actually do all the work in putting it together. I'd never done anything like that before, and it just seemed gross. That, and I really wasn't in the mood for wasting hours just preparing the food when I could be eating it.
"Why are you so intent on me eating?" I asked, trying to change topics.
"Because I'd rather not deal with you when you become truly hungry." He answered.
I blinked, "What do you mean? I'm always hungry."
"I'm talking about when the hunger overwhelms you and takes control. The more hungry you get, the more inhuman you become. Once you lose control, you would become driven by nothing but the desire to feed, becoming little more than a monster of flesh and ice." He explained coldy, "And I'd rather not deal with that."
I gulped nervously at his warning, remembering the twisted image of myself he had shown me, as well as the danger I was to my family.
"Ok," I admitted, "I see your point."
"Good," He nodded, a small measure of relief in his voice, "You need food after all the sleep you got."
"Sleep?" I asked, wondering what he meant by that.
"You've been asleep for about a week." He answered
"A Week!" I exclaimed.
"Yes."
"Why!?"
"Because you're still growing and changing. You need as much food and sleep as you can get." He explained.
I sat there for a moment, still dumbfounded that I had slept for an entire week. In the end I just sighed, relenting myself to the reality that was my life now.
Taking a breath of courage I walked over to the first deer, knife in hand. I stood over it for a second, trying to both gather up the guts to do what I need to, and trying to figure out how to even go about it.
I got down on my knees in the snow, putting both hands on the handle of the cold blade, and held it high above my head. I paused again, reluctant to dirty my hands with this.
I've never done anything like this, what if I mess up? I wondered, doubting myself.
Plus it would be really, really, gross. I added.
But then, almost as an act of defiance, I felt a sharp pang in my gut.
But I'm so hungry
Steeling myself and saying a short prayer for strength, I slammed the knife down, hunger and desperation driving me to do what the rest of me could not. The blade plunged into the flesh of the deer easily.
Surprised, I pulled the knife out with a slick wet sound. The icy blade was covered in still wet blood and the crimson juices oozed out of the wound of the deer I had made. Instead of bile rising in my throat, as I expected, as the metallic scent of the blood reached me, I felt my stomach rumble in desperate hunger. I felt my mouth water at the tantalizing scent and promise of food. I had to resist the urge to lick the blade clean.
A taste wouldn't hurt, right? I considered
Shaking my head, I pushed those horrid thoughts from my mind.
There's a proper way to do this, and I'm not going to let myself give in to temptation. I thought firmly.
Looking back at the deer, I thought, besides, as papa always said
In for a penny, in for a pound.
"My lord." The man began, rousing the King's attention.
"Yes, Kronson?" the king said tiredly, exhaustion and worry written all over his face.
Kronson cringed a bit upon seeing the once strong, proud, and joyous face of his king in such a state. His dark and sunken eyes had lost much of their light, and his hair was disheveled.
"T-there is news from the company of Silver Vargar you sent to look for your daughter." He began, knowing full well where this was going.
"There is?" the king said, a spark of hope lighting up in his eyes.
"It…it is not good, my lord." The servant warned. "In fact, it is quite distressing."
"What, why? What has happened?" The king asked, panic growing within him.
"There are reports of…spirits…my lord." The man said with difficulty, not even sure he could report such a fanciful thing to the king.
"Spirits?" The king repeated incredulously
"Yes," The man confirmed, "Spirits."
"Dangerous spirits," He added, pulling out a small book containing the report, "Apparently several squads of soldiers were either killed or severely hurt by attacks made by these spirits."
At his words, the king grew serious, his face becoming hard, and he sat up in his throne.
"What kind of spirits, Kronson?" He asked with a weight and gravity that the servant had not been prepared for.
"Uh-er, well," He sputtered for a moment, taken off guard by how seriously the king was taking these fanciful reports.
Truth be told, if not for his daughter and the strange events that happened in the castle immediately prior to her disappearance, he might be more skeptical. Most people didn't really think that magic was real. Or, as was more often the case, they might think they did in a fanciful way, but not in a real hard way. They might think that dangerous spirits of winter exist out there, but they don't believe in a threat coming from them in the same way they would worry about wolves coming to steal their cattle.
And outside of the most trusted of the royal staff, no one knew about Elsa's…affliction.
So to hear the king of the land take such an incredible report seriously was surprising for the poor servant.
"The men are calling them 'Ice Wraiths'" he began, "Apparently one squad was tracking the princess when they happened upon a frozen pond in front of a cave. When they were about to enter, the spirit attacked, injuring one man and killing another before Sgt Gunvaldsson killed it by firing a bullet at it."
"Ice Wraiths…" The ming mused for a moment, tasting the words upon his tongue. "I thought they were but a legend?"
"Well, the soldiers reports seem to say otherwise, my lord." Kronson commented before turning back to the report.
"It was then that dozens, perhaps hundreds, more spirits rose from the mist of the frozen lake, and swarmed the squad. Only two men mad it out, Sgt Gunvaldsson and Sir Ostberg, and the horse of the third Knight of the squad, Sir Westerberg." He continued.
"The horse of Sir Westerberg?" The king questioned.
"Yes, technically Sir Westerberg made it back to safety, but he died shortly afterward of frostbite. It seems whatever the spirit's touch freezes." He explained.
"I see…" The king said, massaging his bearded chin as he contemplated the meaning of this. "Anything else about these Wraiths?"
"It seems they could pass through most obstacles like they weren't even there. Shields were useless, their swords barely had any affect, their armor didn't even phase them. It wasn't until Sgt Gunvaldsson shot the spirit that it died." He elaborated.
"I see…" Agnarr said with a frown, unsettled by these reports. "You may go."
"My lord," He bowed before taking his leave.
"First my daughter, then a blizzard, and now spirits?" He murmured, "What did we do to deserve this?"
Elsa pov
I never want to do that again
After several hours of work, I had finally eaten the deer.
It was hard, it was messy, and it was not a very refined end product.
But it was also incredibly satisfying. To my surprise, I actually ended up eating all three deer. Of course, despite that, I still had that hunger inside me.
Most curiously of all, however, was the fact I was starting to feel a measure of cold. Not really cold, honestly, more like it was a bit cool outside.
When I asked Odin why, he said, "It's because you are becoming full."
"Yes, but why?" I insisted.
He hummed in thought as he considered how to answer, something of a habit I've noticed from him.
"...I believe the best way to describe it would be as such," He began, pulling his hand up and summoning an object of ice in his hand.
It looked like an hourglass made of ice and some liquid, probably water.
"You and the Void are linked. The Void is why you have this Hunger, it draws on you and demands to be fed. It is from this demand of the Void that you draw strength." He explained, "The more you go without feeding or the more you owe the Void, the more you hunger, and the more inhuman you become."
"However, satisfying the Void from feeding in any method appeases it, and it rescinds from you, and you regain some of you humanity."
"Wait, so…the hungrier I am, the more…wrong…I become?" I asked, "and the more I eat, the more normal I get?"
"More or less." He answered.
"Wha-" I paused, second guessing myself. "What if I got really full?"
Once again I could feel that impression of his brow raising silently in confusion.
"Could I get so full I became normal again? No powers, none of this wrongness, none of this." I clarified, "Could I cure myself?"
"Yes." He said simply.
I blinked. His response was so instant and sure that it caught me off guard. I had expected more consideration and deliberation then what he had done.
"I can?" I repeated, unable to believe it
"Indeed." He nodded.
"How?" I asked, desperate to know. I had to find out how to fix myself. I was wrong, and if there was a way to fix me, to let me go back home to Mama and Papa and Anna, I would take it. I didn't care how dangerous or reckless it was, I would do it.
"Humans."
I stopped.
I just….stopped.
"Wa-what?" I asked, almost hysterical.
I must have misheard him
"Humans." He repeated. "The best way to sever your connection would be to feed on humans."
"n-no." I denied, shaking my head, "That can't be true."
"You know very well it is." He responded casually.
"Did you not partake in the feast of your sister?"
I froze, ice filling my veins. My heart stopped as horror filled my being.
Because he was right.
"h-how do you know about that?" I stuttered, shaken by these revelations.
"I am the prime embodiment of the Void. Nothing you have done with it has escaped my notice." He answered.
I gulped, trying and failing to push down the fear welling up within me. I tried to force away this disgusting bile rising in my throat at these thoughts. And most of all, I tried to stop from salivating at the memory, to stop the hunger from taking over.
But I could feel those pangs in my stomach again, those gaping wounds in my soul crying out for a feast.
I knew what it wanted, I knew he was right, and I knew how good it felt…
No! I thought, furiously shaking my head.
"The fact of the matter is that one's life force is a source of great energy." He continued, heedless of my despair.
"Namely souls."
No no no! I denied, knowing, in my heart, where he was going with this, but refusing to accept this reality he gave me.
"And humans, especially, have quite large souls." He pointed out. "If you want to sever your ties with the Void, you would need to consume them or something of equal or greater energy."
"C-can't I just eat lesser things?" I hoped, "I mean, a bunch of animals could equal a human, right?"
"Potentially." He conceded.
"But you would have to overcome the rate at which the Void within you grows. Something that becomes increasingly difficult the more you fill it." He explained. "You'd probably need to kill several dozen deer within moments of each other to do it."
"Several dozen deer for one human?" I repeated.
I gulped again, insidious thoughts crawling in my mind. The hunger gnawed within, a parasite on my mind, stealing my purity and feeding my putrid thoughts I did not want.
"M-maybe…" I whispered, mostly to myself, "Maybe I could eat one."
"If it would fix me…if it would end this hunger…maybe I could do it?" I began to seriously consider, "Maybe I could eat someone?"
"Someone?" he repeated.
My heart caught in my throat as dread replaced the blood within me.
"You would not have to consume one human." He corrected.
"You would have to consume a whole family."
"…what?" I said with wide, horrified, eyes.
Please no.
Please, Please don't let be so
"Now, I suppose you don't necessarily need a family, specifically. But you would most likely need about 5 humans at one time to sever your ties." He continued
"Five?" I said, my mind feeling numb at this point. I thought nothing else could shock me, nothing else could be worse.
"Yes." He confirmed "About five, depending on their age, should do it. You'd need to consume them within the span of…an hour or so."
"At least, for now."
"What do you mean, for now?" I questioned, both needing to know, but also knowing full well I would not like what I heard.
"The older you grow, the more the Void within you grows. The stronger your connection with it. You'll get stronger, but so too will your hunger." He explained, "It also means it will require more to sever the connection."
"So it's only going to get worse over time." I murmured, the shocks rocking me like a series of waves, each one worse than the last.
In the end, it was too much. I couldn't take it.
I let out a choked sob, curling in on myself. The hunger within me was agonizing, the meal I had had doing little to feed it now. But worst of all it was the crushing amount of pure despair within me.
When I had met Death, there was hope he could fix me, make me right again. But now…now that hope had curled up and died.
How could I do something like that? I asked myself, I can't kill a family. I couldn't kill people, it's wrong
But I'm so hungry I considered, the pangs screaming out from deep within me.
I bit my lip hard enough to draw blood, bitter tears streaking down my face.
"Why me?" I sobbed. "Why am I cursed?"
"Gods, I'm so hungry." I whimpered.
Suddenly I heard the crunch of something hitting the snow in front of me. I could…feel the snow shift around it. Looking up, I saw it.
It was a rabbit.
Just laying there.
"Eat." Odin said, gesturing to the rabbit.
"What good is a rabbit going to do?" I complained with a sniffle. "Three deer couldn't even fill me for long."
"This...is a bit different." He responded cryptically.
I frowned, far from being in a mood for games. Then I felt it. I could feel it through the snow, strangely enough.
The rabbit was still warm.
I gulped
Warm
"It's still alive," I said, one part wonder, one part horror.
"It is." He said simply.
"A-and you want me to…?"
"Eat."
I swallowed again, saliva building in my mouth as I looked at it. The rabbit was still, yet I could see it's little chest moving up and down with it's breath.
"Why isn't it moving?" I asked.
"It's asleep." He answered.
"A-are you going to kill it?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"That courtesy is for you."
"B-but-"
"Calm yourself." He stopped me, "and feast."
I gulped again, feeling the mass of saliva crawl its way down my throat. The hunger in me seemed to rise to impossible heights, as if growing in anticipation of the meal before me.
Finally, I reached out and grabbed the rabbit by the back of the neck, pulling it up toward me. I held it in both hands for a moment, just looking at it. It's eyes were still shut, it looked like it didn't even know what was happening.
And it felt so warm. So incredibly warm. So impossibly warm.
For a moment, I just sat there, basking in the heat flowing into my hands. I inhaled a breath of fresh air from it. Fresh, warm air. After all this cold, the warm felt impossibly good. Just touching life felt intoxicating.
I leaned in closer, taking the sweet scent of its life. I buried my nose its soft fur, basking in the warmth radiating from it. I opened my mouth, taking in a mouthful of that warm air. That living scent blurring my mind. The hunger inside me rumbling in anticipation.
More I thought
I need more
My mouth opened wider, my muscles stretching my jaw beyond its limits. I could hear and feel the cracks and pops as my jaw as it opened farther and farther. My tongue stretched out, tasting the hot fur of the rabbit. As I did, I began to feel it squirm in my hands.
Its awake I idly noticed, but I was too far gone to care.
Instead, ran my tongue across its neck, tasting it intimately.
Then, I bit down. I squeezed my teeth around its neck tightly. I could feel it frantically panic. Hear it squeal in terror. But I didn't care. I needed this.
I bit down harder and harder, feeling the soft give of the meat underneath. Then, suddenly, I tasted it. The warm juices of the rabbit pouring into my mouth. It was like sweet heaven on my tongue, filling my body with its heat.
Crunch
And like that, I had bitten through its spine, ending its futile struggles.
Biting down harder, I severed the last ties connecting the chunk to the rest of the rabbit's body. Ripping the last vestiges of tendons and muscle away, I chewed the piece of meat and bone in my mouth for a moment, savoring the delicious juices filling my mouth. I rolled it around on my tongue, ignoring the fur and focusing on the warmth and succulent flavor.
Finally, I swallowed the tender meat. I felt it crawl its way down my throat, the lump of flesh worming its way down my esophagus. The remnants of heat pouring into my body.
With each bit, I could feel more and more of its life force flow into me. I could feel the heat seeping into my skin. I could feel its death fueling me.
And with my last bite, I felt something else pass into me. Something big, something filled with bright energy, something incredibly filling.
I had felt it the last time, when I had killed the bird, but it wasn't this intense.
"Was that its soul?" I wondered out loud.
"Yes." Odin answered, pulling me from my thoughts.
"That was…good." I admitted, coming back to my sense.
I looked back down at my hands, now covered in still warm blood. I gulped, swallowing the last vestiges of the rabbit.
"I just ate a rabbit." I thought, stupefied
"You did," Odin noted.
"Why was that so good?" I wondered.
"Consuming living things will always be innately better and more filling than dead things. In addition, the hungrier you are, the better eating anything will feel." Odin answered.
I nodded dumbly, still stunned by my act of carnage and hunger. The fact that it filled me with such happiness, put a warm feeling in my gut, and filled me up so easily gave me comfort. But it also gave me great concern. It was here that I truly began to realize how dangerous I was. I had come so close to doing that to Anna. I had almost eaten her.
I guess they were right I thought
I am a monster.
A/n:
And like that, I've given you a taste of the true meat of this story.
So yes, Elsa did just eat a live Rabbit.
I did a lot to describe the mechanics of the nature of her connection to the Void and what that means.
I also decided to give her the chance to regain her full humanity, at the cost of committing an atrocity.
In other news, I decided to introduce guns. Looking at Frozen, it looks like they're not really in middle ages europe, and instead closer to the "modern age". Before the industrial revolution, to be sure, but definitely after the advent of guns.
Guns are old, they've been around for roughly 600 years in europe, back since the late 14th century. Based on their outfits and tech they did have, I'd say Frozen could easily take place in a tech period equivalent to somewhere between 1600-1900 or so.
But since it's a fantasy land known as Arendale, I can play with that a bit.
For now, however, they're very very select. Only a few people will have them in the kingdom.
I chose a Wheelock pistol as their gun because it was reliable, relatively, fast, and usable in bad weather like rain. Something important for the snowy kingdom. Also, it was expensive as fuck because it was so complicated. This is another reason it's going to be so rare, because it costs a pretty penny.
Also, I picked them 'cause they're classy as fuck.
And yes, I did use Ice Wraiths from Skyrim
And spirits are going to be a thing
I'm going to be pulling from a number of sources to give me inspiration for a lot of the dark fantasy themes I'm going for in here. Later I might change the wraiths to be more original than ice snakes, but for right now I thought it fitting.
I've also decided that I will, actually, be displaying some things about Anna's childhood since, well, it's not going to be so boring anymore.
The 4th and final chapter of the trial period for this story should, should, be coming out in mid-late February. I wanted it out at the end of this month, but that's obviously not happening.
In the meantime, the rest you all have a good one and I hope you enjoyed the story.