November 20th 2024.
It was morning in the Enchanted Forest and Samishtara and a group of twelve Hasjin were marching through the forest. They followed a path which had been made many millennia's ago. Samishtara remembered giving the order to have the path made as if it were yesterday and if you asked anyone who worked on it, they'd remember it as so too. Dan and Virosha were both in the group, Dan on Samishtara's left and Virosha on the right. The other members of the company were: mirkudja, Lionel, Diana, Pam, Sioben, Frosh, Neona, Edha, Bunidem, and Kidan (going by ages). Mirkudja and Sioben were siblings who shared green eyes and red hair, whereas Kidan, Neona, Edha, and Diana were brunettes with brown hair with no relation. Dan, Lionel, and Pam were blondes with brown eyes of no relation, and the rest were blonde and blue eyes with also no relation. They all wore identical armour, except their helmets. The only one to wear a helmet was Dan as he was the shortest and risked the most damage to the head.
"How long till we are projected to arrive?" Lionel asked.
"My guess? Eight days, the region of the colder lands we desire are far away. Four days to and back." Dan replied.
"Your grace." Neona inquired. "Is it wise for you to be away from the kingdom for so long?"
Samishtara's brow raised. "Do you question Legalan's leadership or my judgement?"
"Neither, your grace."
"Everything on this side of the border is my kingdom, therefore I am not leaving the kingdom at all. As such, I see no issue with our predicament."
Neona nodded. "Of course, your grace."
They continued on in silence along the smoothed path, their footsteps being the only noise until they came across four branching paths.
"What way, your grace?" Virosha questioned.
"Leave it to the necklace to decide." Samishtara pulled his head back and slipped the necklace over his head after almost struggling to safely get it out from under his armour. He then held it out, it dangled from his right hand's index finger via the leather it was attached to. The actual piece was a small brown circle shape with a curved bottom, a tree pattern on the front that wrapped around onto the back. "Guide us to what we seek." The necklace reacted to the demand and it started swinging on the leather, it pointed to the third pathway, which would take them northeast. "Onwards. Any time extra we spend is wasted time that could have been used in much more important matters. Treat our time as criminals, we spare very little unless in the most viable of cases."
"Yes, sir!" All twelve of them shouted in unison.
Hours later, Samishtara's company had stopped for the night, they had converted trees into small cottage's for each and every one of them using transfiguration magic. They all looked from one cottage to the next.
"Good job, guys. They look cosy. Remember, once you wake up, convert them back to trees. A one time home is a waste of vital resources." Samishtara said.
"And we have no quarrel with the trees." Frosh added.
"And we have no quarrel with the trees." Samishtara chuckled. "Anyone who does have quarrel with them, fist fight them to settle your differences."
Virosha followed Samishtara into his cottage, the overwhelming scent of pine filled their noses and the descending sunlight shone on the floor through the hole where a window should be. "I'm aware moonrise is very soon upon us, your grace, but if I may speak with you." Samishtara interrupted. "We're alone and you're a good friend of mine, Virosha. No need for this 'your grace' talk. No matter the time, tell or ask me anything you need."
"Well, Samishtara, I-" once again, Samishtara interrupted. He raised his finger and then pointed to two wooden seats in the very middle of the room, perfectly symmetrical from one another. "Sit with me. We might as well make use of them. They'll be back into trees by sunrise."
Virosha sat at the seat closest to the door. "If I may, Samishtara, our group is walking to a threat with minimal knowledge of our situation. They cannot fight what they do not know. It would be wise to give them warning."
Samishtara frowned. "That would ruin the point of the exercise. They must adapt to what is thrown at them. To always know your opponents, their forces, their strategies, and their alliances is an impossibility. Sometimes, adapting is the only way to survive. The only thing they need to know, the only thing you need to know, is this necklace is going to change the game."
"Speaking as your friend, it is unwise to leave them in the dark for a land they have rarely visited, perhaps maps wouldn't be too harsh?"
"They want a map, they can use their cartography skills. If we ever have to pass the border, they will be in unfamiliar land, we aren't tourists. There are no rest spots, there are no guides, there is nothing to waste our time and see, there is only completing what we set out to do."
"Very well." Virosha stood up and bowed. "Good night."
Samishtara responded with a lazy wave. "Night."
The Hasjin force had amassed from their cottages at sunrise, just as planned, returning the trees they used back to their regular form, then continued their walk.
"Maybe we should have rode on horses, your grace." Dan whispered.
"Don't be weak, Dan. We have legs for a reason, we will use them. Exercise is key, exercising outside of training is key, you naturally adapt to the landscape. Think of this land as Dagobah, and you're Luke." Samishtara spoke loudly, as if publicly shaming Dan for his suggestion.
"My apologies, your grace."
"Where did you get those movies from anyway, your grace?" Virosha questioned.
"I asked some fairies for magic beans. Did some travelling, came across them in this land with pretty much no magic. So, instead they make movies and books about magic instead. Life must be really boring over there, I don't envy it. Sin of empathy and all that."
"Is that a sin?" Kidan asked.
Samishtara shrugged. "Depends on who you ask, or in what way you use empathy. For example, I could empathise with you losing a dear member of family, but I could also three days later not-very-subtly ask you for money, which I would then not pay you back. Thus, sin of empathy, or sin of manipulation if you want to be pansy about it."
"How about sin of being an asshole?" Lionel suggested.
"That works too." The group stopped in their place. "Feel that?"
"It's colder." Mirkudja said.
"We've reached the colder lands but we still have a way to go. We have today and tomorrow and the day after till we arrive. Don't let the chill fool you and give false hope. Our journey has only just begun. We do not slow, we do not rest till moonrise, and certainly we do not waver."
It had been two more days, Samishtara's group were nearing their destination, likely to arrive within the hour. The repetition of snow crunching beneath their feet is something that followed them into slumber, other than their own voices and the occasional animal, this is what they had become accustomed to after days of non-stop walking. To entertain themselves they had started to play games with each other to pass the time, rock, paper, scissors being a favourite (which also led to many arguments).
"Next time you go rock, I'll throw a rock in your face!" Edha shouted.
"Should have picked paper instead of scissors then." Mirkudja replied, smugly.
"I'll shove paper down your fucking throat too!"
"Calm down!" Samishtara commanded. "Or, I use scissors to cut your vocal cords out!"
They shut up and kept to themselves. No more games were played for the rest of their journey onwards. They walked for another twenty minutes till a voice called out from the distance, it sounded like Sioben. "Help! I got lost! Mirkudja, please!"
"Sioben?!" Mirkudja called out.
"I'm right here." Sioben said, tapping Mirkudja's shoulder.
"Then what was that voice?"
"What we are looking for." Samishtara declared. "Don't trust anyone's voice unless you can see them and their lips moving. It'll try to split you up and weasel you down! Stick together as best you can, its skill is hunting one by one. Oh, and one more thing. Nobody kill it, hold it down and if I'm not there, have someone fetch me. If you see any animal that doesn't look right, hold it down too. If it's not hunting, it's scaring, it will shift into anything animalistic it can think of in an attempt to terrify you. Remember, don't waver."
"What is this thing?" Virosha asked.
"A Wendigo."
Splitting up, Samishtara, Dan, Lionel, and Virosha had stuck together, armed and ready, headed west to look for the Wendigo. The wind howled, voices from all directions faint but still unmistakable. Wildlife fled in various directions, the group's eyes trained on each and every one they saw just to make sure none of them were Wendigo tricks. Cold air made their faces numb, their lips barely able to quiver. Snow had gotten into their armour and melted on their underclothes, making them damp and stick to their skin.
"I can't see anything in all this snow!" Lionel shouted over the wind.
"Keep pushing through it!" Samishtara shouted back.
A feminine voice rang out from the distance. "Samishtara, forgive me."
Samishtara rolled his eyes. "Seriously? Trying to use my bastard of a mother against me?" Samishtara fired his gun in the direction of the voice. "You want to play games then come at me, bitch! I will cut your freakishly long tongue right off!" The whispered voices stopped. Silence returned. Then, a howl which morphed into a screech broke it just moments later. It wasn't deafening but they wished it was. "They're close. Aim for the legs and arms. Do not aim for the chest! I repeat, do not aim for the chest! We stop its mobility, we don't stop its heart!" Samishtara took cover behind a tree and peered out. "One more thing, absolutely no fire!" Thundering footsteps could be heard in the distance, quickly changing into running. The rest of the group took cover. They listened out for the Wendigo but all noise had stopped. Nobody dared move, Samishtara had covered his mouth with his free hand to hide and silence his breath. For minutes they didn't move at all, they didn't even turn their heads once. Samishtara then whispered, trying to get his group's attention without risking an attack. "Someone fall on their back." Dan took the risk without thinking, he fell on his back and the Wendigo was so fast nobody saw which direction it came from. It pinned Dan to the floor and they got a good look at the creature. Its flesh was a ghostly white and saggy, its ribcage was jagged and barely any flesh hid it from view. Just a touch looked like it would cause every one of its bones to turn to dust. It was completely hairless. Their eyes were a pale blue that was almost white and their fingers were long, nails even longer and sharp enough to damage diamonds. Its teeth were sharp too, all broken with some missing. It stuck its tongue out, at six inches in length, it was sticky and rough, like a cat tongue. In an attempt to eat Dan, it tried to rip his flesh off the bone with its freakish tongue but as if they all figured Samishtara's plan, immediately turned to Dan's direction and fired their guns. Dan himself was shooting at the Wendigo's legs. Due to the Wendigo's speed, only Dan's first shot hit, with a hiss the Wendigo had disappeared instantly, its sprinting became quieter and quieter as it got further away. "It's heading to the north group. We can still intercept it!"
Dan pulled himself up. "Its fast. I put a bullet in its knee and its still gone."
"The power of the Wendigo spirit is at work. It may beat us in speed but we're winning. We still have all our group members and we got a good shot in. Just got to keep this up. I don't suppose you want to be fall guy again if it comes to that?"
"Fuck no."
"I'd be happy to put a knife in its thigh." Samishtara took a wooden knife out from his pocket. "this'll keep it nice and alive."
Virosha took his own wooden blade out. "I want to rip its teeth out."
"Agreed." Dan responded.
"You'll have your chance." Samishtara said.
The group heard screaming, shouting, and gunfire just up north from them after just a few minutes of giving chase, all the voices they recognised as their friends. Picking up the pace, they sprinted with their trigger-fingers ready to push downwards.
"Hold it off as long as you can!" Lionel's voice bellowed. "We're near!" They followed the sounds till they stopped. They looked around quickly in various directions but saw nothing, nothing but trees and snow. "Shit! Where are you guys?!"
A group of four slipped out of cover, having done similar to them prior, hiding via the trees. Their group consisted of: Mirkudja, Sioeben, Neona, and Frosh.
"Sorry about that." Frosh said. "And another apology, it got away. It went further north."
"Didn't even land a shot on it." Neona added. "Was it you guys that got its leg?"
"It tried to take my face off." Virosha replied. "I tried to take its leg off. Seems like fair game to me."
"We should combine our groups." Samishtara suggested. "We know which way its going now, and eight is better than four. Likely it'll stick to the defensive now its wounded. We just need to push upwards"
"Agreed." A voice said from their right, heading over was Kidan with his group that consisted of him, Diana, Bunidem, Edha, and Pam.
"What are you guys doing here?" Neona asked.
"We could hear you screaming like a little bitch from miles away." Kidan then moved the conversation swiftly on. "It get away?"
"Wounded in the leg and heading up north." Samishtara responded. "Let's finish this."
"Just need to hold it down, right? Doesn't seem too bad."
"Right."
The thirteen reunited Hasjin pushed further north, where the snow was thicker, the cold was colder, and the weight of their armour felt heavier. It had been near ten minutes since they had last encountered the Wendigo.
"It'll be around here somewhere." Samishtara stated. "It won't be able to refrain itself. Its gluttony will be its downfall."
"It's trying to wait us out." Dan said. "It thinks it can wait for us to die or get weak before it eats."
"It won't be able to refrain." Samishtara repeated, sure in his statement. "Hold out strong, because it won't. And when it can no longer resist, that will be when we strike back."
"How long do you think it'll last?"
"I'm confident it'll fail within the hour."
"Then we'll need something to do."
They had chosen not to push further up after another ten minutes of walking, instead they chose to stay put. They leaned against trees and talked with each other. They refused to play the waiting game while mindlessly wandering around its domain. They were going to make the most of their time if it weren't going to attack. They discussed a variety of topics, from political, to opinions on shows they all liked. Their longest argument was a debate on which was better, Star Trek or Babylon Five. Which when that debate was over, swiftly turned into a debate on which Star Trek show was the best, which then even more quickly turned into a debate on which Star Trek movie was the best (they all unanimously agreed the likes of Nemesis, the original, and Final Frontier were not the best from the very start of their conversation). Once that debate was over, it turned to the best captain of Star Trek, which nobody could decide whether or not it was Picard or Sisko. Somehow, that then turned into a debate on whether or not Star Wars was better than Star Trek. And maybe the Wendigo had given up on restraint, or maybe it was just tired of hearing about Star Trek, but it shot out of whatever cover it was observing them from and threw Kidan to the floor. It tried to claw his eyes out with its long nails, but the debate hadn't distracted the Hasjin from their mission, their weapons were already aimed at the Wendigo and they spared no expense, they unloaded multiple clips into its arms. The wendigo fell back, screeching in pain, attempting to get up. Its left arm was almost torn off.
"Good job, everyone." Samishtara stood over the Wendigo. It shot its long tongue out at him and he rammed his wooden knife upwards into the bottom of its tongue. It cut through and poked out the top. He tugged forward, making the Wendigo scream louder. Samishtara tugged again, and again, and again, till his last tug pulled its whole tongue out from his mouth, it fell off his dagger and onto the snow. Blood coated snow all around the wendigo, not that you could tell without stepping on it. It bled a very light blue that neared white in color. "Time to get what we came for." He took his necklace off and held it out towards their fallen foe. He pressed his thumb into the front of the necklace till it cracked. The Wendigo shook violently as it tried to resist, a blue mist similar to the shade of its blood began to waft out from its chest even though its chest was unharmed. It entered the crack of the necklace till all of the mist was gone, a bright light shone out from the crack for just a second, then it was gone. Looking back at the necklace, the crack was gone. Samishtara put it back on around his neck. The Wendigo was lifeless, and unmoving, but not dead.
"What happened?" Dan questioned.
"What just happened, is we changed the game. This lovely little necklace now has a great tool inside it. A Wendigo soul." Samishtara tucked it back under his armour. "If it does anything strange, like talk to you. Do not listen to it. I have no idea if it can get out or even try to communicate, but there will be no chances taken. Anything off should be considered off and then considered stupid to listen to. Understood?" They all nodded in response. "Good."
Days had past, it had only been a couple hours since their company had returned from their quest with the Wendigo soul in their possession. Samishtara had gone straight to his bedroom and put the necklace in a small black box which he had then hidden behind a portrait, which had a secret compartment hidden behind a false set of bricks. The portrait was of his mother and father, he'd have torn the painting down but he was too lazy to make or find a replacement portrait that was large enough to hide the compartment. It wasn't too much of a bother for him anyway, he never looked at it, and when he entered his bedroom he always instinctively looked to his right so he never had to see it as he walked in. He sat at his desk, scribbling in his notebook, writing notes about what he had missed during his departure. As expected, Legalan had lead the land fine enough in his stead, nothing groundbreaking, but nothing dire either. Which was how Samishtara liked it, he'd have rathered a boring kingdom than a kingdom risking ruin, and he wasn't taking Legalan as the type to bring much groundbreaking prosperity. Legalan was always the type to do only half of the task if someone else was willing to split the load, and that was what Samishtara had seen upon his return. Half-arsed leadership with some changes here and there, none of which were major. Speaking of Legalan, he had entered by himself, coughing to get his king's attention. Samishtara glanced up from his notes. "Yes?"
Legalan bowed. "I would like to thank you again, your grace, thank you for being generous enough to let me lead in your stead."
"Oh, sure. Your welcome." Samishtara spoke with an uninterested tone. "That all?"
Legalan gulped. "Yes, your grace. I'm sorry for disturbing you with such trivial manners."
"Don't be." Samishtara gestured to his family portrait, still not looking at it. "You kept this up."
"Was I not supposed to?"
"I never said for you to keep or remove it, but out of curiosity, why keep it? Was it appealing to look at? The people in the picture, perhaps?"
"I desired to follow your instructions, your grace, nothing more, and certainly nothing less."
"Very well." Samishtara returned to his notes. "If you ever take up temporary leadership again, replace it with a portrait of literally anything else. I find it most unpleasant to look at, but I never get round to burning this damn thing."
"Of course."
"You may go now."
As Legalan left, Virosha entered. "How's the necklace?"
"Nothing exciting. It's locked tightly inside, no voices, no shaking, no dark force trying to corrupt. But, that's good. Makes things so much easier."
"What should I prepare our forces for next?"
Samishtara wrote in his notes as he spoke, a big grin on his face. "I heard we got an update on the Dark One and the dagger. He's being controlled, the dagger is in a castle. We need to get to that dagger as soon as possible, we need it back, we need to limit casualties, and most importantly, we need to get it before Rumplestiltskin's destiny is set in stone. The witch gave us this information and I don't need to tell you why failing to stop an event you've known would happen millenias beforehand would be embarrassing. Pathetic even. Bad for reputation."
Virosha bowed. "I'll get them all ready straight away for pursuit."
"Good. Oh, and be quick. Remember, nobody of Human DNA needs to know we are passing the border."
"Understood."
Notes:
Unfortunately, no regularly scheduled programming today, none of the Storybrooke segments fit into the new canon. However, I had this already written to serve as a side-by-side to the episode's Enchanted Forest story, and I didn't feel like not using it. So, quite a short chapter (maybe even boring chapter to some people) today. But True North is next and while I'm not the biggest fan of the episode, it should be a fun one to write, and hopefully, for you to read (plus, the return of my bad jokes, which I'm sure everyone was missing very much). Anyway, have a good day/night.