From the darkness something screams, a young brown haired man is watching a baby, is late night, the woman in charge of the born walked out of the room, she wanted to give the young couple privacy.

  Is late night, the candles illuminate the room, is hot, there is a mix of blood and water in the ambient, the wooden window let the breeze remove the smells.

  The young man holds the baby in his arms, he smiles and his eyes shines in happiness.

  His exhausted wife is in the bed, exhausted, she is resting on 2 not so comfortable pillows. Her black long hair rested on the bed, she only was wearing a long white shirt for the birth. She is young like the man.

  The man approaches his wife while the baby screams. "What is going to be her name, she is beautiful" The baby grabbed into the man brown shirt.

  The exhausted wife extends her arms to grab her daughter, she looks at him "She looks like you. I'm happy"

  She pauses to thinks for a moment. "Her name is Haykilia. Haykilia Penter"

  The husband look at his daughter "I love it." He leans into his wife and kiss her on the forehead. "Love you" The sweat of her forehead didn't matter.

  The husband starts crying softly,

  His wife tells him "Don't be silly, we are okay, she is okay." She smiles and laughs.

  She rubs her daughter head softly, the baby falls a sleep.

  Haykilia is running across the village, her brown short hair shines with the sun and her caramel colored eyes too, she is very short at her age being she is 13, but that doesn't stop her, she runs between mud and grass in Kermia, a tiny village. She runs along with the others children with a stick, every male children is wearing cheap shirts, and boots.

  Except Haykilia, she is wearing a dress, that goes under her knees her dress is full of mud at the bottom

  The group of kids run past the chickens and the grape farms. The village is loud in animal sounds and people talking.

  The birds stand on the wooden walls around the village, the walls are tall enough to avoid a animal jumping trough them and avoid bandits from sneaking easily in.

  A lightly armored guard wearing leather armor and a half iron helmet walks across the village, a child run past and he taps the children head.

  Haykilia is running with the group of kids. One of them stops, and plans to the group "Lets go to the forest! I heard the other day from my dad that we could find cool stuff in there!"

  Haykilia grab her hands and plays with her fingers "I don't know... this sounds like a bad idea, my mom told me that the forest may be dangerous. You know, wolves and all the other stuff."

  One of the kids try to convince Haykilia "Come on Haykilia, we have Vildan with us"

  "Don't call me Haykilia, only my mom call me that, call me Haykel" She stomped the ground, her dress got more mud on it.

  Vildan is crossing his arms, the sun reflected his white hair, his blue eyes were rare for the village, but they shine with life, he look older, he is 15 "You can count on me" He points at himself. "I can listen from very faraway." He smiles with a smug look.

  Haykel looks at her hands "I don't know."

  Vildan grabs the hand of Haykel and smiles "Come on, it's gonna be fun."

  They walk through the village, the chickens move away, they pass the gate, the grape farms move with the wind, the grass is tall enough to cover the main road, the forest is at the distance. The sun is high.

  They walk to the forest and inside it they find a skull of a deer. There is a faint smell of wet, dry leaves and rocks. The only sound around was the wind moving the trees.

  One of the kids grabs the skull "This is sick". The skull is completely white, devoid of any life.

  They keep walking deeper into the forest... They found a cave, the cave is extremely dark, is tall has a tree. The cave is in complete stillness.

  The group stops at the cave, Haykel is behind while Vildan acts like a leader. Haykel doubts "I don't think this is a good idea, its very dark, there may be a bear, a lycan or something even worse inside."

  A loud sound comes from the cave, loud enough to break the courage of the whole group.

  They panic, Vildan jumps on his place, he grabs his heart "Let's go back to village, I have a bad feeling about this"

  They walk back to village, from far away a howl sounds, the group walks faster, play time was over.

  From far away a group of wolves smell the scent of human, fresh meat. They move towards the scent.

  The group can see the Village, the smoke from tbe houses, the gate. From the watch tower a bell sounds, the bell break the peaceful atmosphere of the village, people coward and hide in their houses

  The group manages to arrive to the village, exhausted but safe.

  3 guards walk outside the gate, one with a long sword, other with a shield and a straight sword, and the last with a set of claws. Everyone is dressed the same. From far away barking could be hear.

  The gate closes, letting everyone inside safe, outside of th village someone screams with deafening intent "I'M KAILOS THE HERO, YOU WON'T PASS OVER ME."

  The sound of the wind was replaced by growling and barking noises flood, and suddenly , whimpering noises, movement from metal to metal. The smell of blood came from outside the gate.

  Haykel looks at the door, the sounds of metal crashing against bones and meat are alluring, she can't stop herself, curiosity runs through her veins.

  She runs along the wall trying to find a tiny hole to peek outside. She finds one.

  A strong smell at blood hit her nose. She sees the Guard with the claws, He is covered with light leather chest piece, metal gloves with pointy fingers, his hair is semi-long and dark, there is a scar side of his neck.

  The man is waiting for the wolves to jump at him, a wolf lunges into him but he moves to the side with no difficulty and uppercuts the animal stabbing his Stomach. He drops the dead wolf into the ground. The man hand is soaked in blood.

  He is relaxed. Another wolf leaps from his back, he reacts with a kick to the face. The animal recoil and retreat.

  Another wolf plunges into him, he cuts the face of the animal. Removing the fur and skin.

  The wolves choose to retreat. The fight is over. There is only wolf bodies in the floor and blood puddles that mix with the mud, the grass is red.

  Haykel couldn't stop looking "That is so cool"

  A red shit children grabs Haykel shoulder and push her to the side "Move, this fight is for men, not girls, weirdo"

  Haykel stands upset, she looks down and walk back to her house.

  Vildan kicks the children leg "Don't be rude, Haykel is cool"

  The children rolls his eyes "She is just a weirdo and a coward, I don't know why you like hanging out with her"

  Haykel goes back to her house, there is a table in the middle of the room, the wooden floor helped to mantain the house clean, the sun illuminated the house properly with some candles. "Hi mom, hi dad"

  Her mother talks to her from the kitchen at the right of the house. "Hi dear how was your day?"

  Haykel try to clean her dress at the door "It was good, I went to the cave with my friends and Vildan"

  The mom stop cooking and turns "I told you do not go deep into the forest, you are going to get in trouble"

  Her father is sitting in the at the table chair while is carving some wood "Did you find something cool?"

  Haykel tries to sit in a chair "No dad, but, there was a deer skull"

  Her mother hit the kitchen with the knife and screams "SIMON" The tomato got cut in half.

  Simon cowards, he stops carving "I'm sorry, I'm sorry... I got curious Abigail, that's all sweetie"

  Haykel looks at her dad while leaning on the table "Dad, can I borrow your dagger? I saw some sick moves that I want to try."

  The air of the house shift, Simon looks at Abigail "I told you she will eventually was going to ask for my dagger"

  Abigail stops cooking "I don't think is appropriated for a lady" She turns "but if that makes her happy..." She points Simon with the knife "If she gets hurt YOU pay the doctor."

  Haykel jumps out the chair "Yesss" The wooden floor creaked.

  Simon pulls the dagger from his holster, it was a simple dagger the edge wasn't that sharp her use is noticed

  Simon is about to pass the dagger to Haykel, he stops moments from giving the dagger "Do not cut anything from the house, not even from your room"

  Haykel knelts in front of her father and extend her hands waiting "I will make sure to learn all the deadly skills and not damage any of my stuff in my room". Simon puts the dagger on top of Haykel hands. She grabs the dagger and runs to her room, that is at the start of the hallway.

  Haykel is inside her room, her blue bed was comfortable, her stuffed toys are looking at her, the drawer didn't let her move too much in the room, she was only able to stand in the middle and do a single step to the side before stopping with furniture or a wall. There is a single window in her room, the windows is in a tall place, but let enough sun light to illuminate the room.

  She is moving the dagger from side to side. She screams "STAB". She turns and flips on her bed and stab "STAB"

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  From outside window a voice sounds "HAYKEL". She gets scared, and drops the dagger directly on the bed, a direct vertical stab. She didn't notice. She turns to look at the window "Hi Vildan".

  Vildan is hanging from the window outside only his eyes are visible "What are you doing?"

  Haykel roll her eyes "I was training my deadly moves" Outside the window chicken noises could be hear.

  Vildan leans a bit "You don't have any muscles to be training"

  Haykel gets annoyed "You neither have any muscles in your brain, and yet you training math"

  Vildan points from the window to the bed "Did you notice that?"

  Haykel ignores Vildan hand "Did I notice what?"

  Vildan put his hand through the window and points to the bed "Look at your bed."

  Haykel turns "NO!" she pauses "aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa" She maintains a single note for a long time.

  "Uh, I was going to tell you about the plan I have with the cave, but I see you have problems now, so, I will see you later" Vildan drops from the window.

  Haykel walks from side to side. She talks to herself "How do I fix this, How do I fix this, How do I fix this" She grabs her head.

  Outside the room of Haykel steps come closer. Abigail opens the door. Haykel jumps and sit side the dagger hiding it. The room is in complete silence.

  Abigail look at Haykel with suspicion "What was that scream? Are you okay? Did you cut yourself?"

  Haykel sweats and smiles "Nooo... " She looks to the side "It just, Vildan appeared out of nowhere and scared me"

  Abigail look at Haykel, she smells the fear on Haykel words as she starts sweating badly.

  From behind Simon is looking, Haykel pleads with her eyes to Simon.

  She is trying to talk with Simon with her eyes "Dad, I know you can hear me, I know I'm your favorite daughter, if you save me now, I won't ask anything ever again."

  Haykel thinks Simon says "Haykel, you are my favorite daughter, I will buy you a set of daggers"

  Simon notices Haykel sweating.

  Simon taps the shoulder of Abigail "Dear, I think the neighbor was calling you... I think"

  Abigail turns. She analyzes her husband, like a creature, he is sweating and trembling, she walks away "I will see and come back."

  Simon screams in low voice "WHAT DID YOU DO?" Haykel stands in panic.

  Simon screams lowly "OH NO".

  Haykel panics and screams in low voice "WHAT DO I DO, SHE IS GONNA CUT ME A GIVE ME TO THE PIGS"

  Simon thinks and relaxes, he grabs Haykel shoulders "Don't worry my child. Let me think... but first, remove the dagger, let's see the damage."

  Haykel removes the dagger slowly, is a hole in the bed, the sheets, and the cushion. Is not a clean cut, more like a tear.

  Simon cover his eyes with his hand "This is bad, we need to repair the cushion, but not now."

  Haykel sweats "Then what do we do?! "

  Simon grabs his chin "I will give you one of the old sheets, so your bed don't show the hole for now. But later we need to repair it... In silence."

  Simon runs to an isolated room. The room is full of dust, there is no windows, the shelf is filled with carpets, winter clothes and such.

  He moves stuff around, spiders appears but he ignore them, the air gets filled with dust, he finds a green sheet then walks back into the room of Haykel.

  Simon gives the sheet to Haykel, he walks away, she puts the new sheet on top of the damaged one really fast, the room gets filled with dust.

  Abigail leans on the frame of the door and sees Haykel on top of the bed.

  Abigail walks into the room and smells "Why your room smell like dust".

  Haykel panics and respond at high speed "It was Vildan, he came and threw a bit of dirt on my room because he was envious from my... my... MY dagger" She laughs nervously.

  Abigail squints her eyes "Was your bed always green?"

  Haykel is agitated "What are you talking about? pff? My bed always has been green. From the moment I was born it was green. I love green is my favorite color."

  Abigail cross her arms "There is a hole in the bed right?"

  Haykel panics "NO! THERE IS NOT A HOLE IN THE BED, AND IF THERE WAS ONE, I WOULD NEVER TELL YOU."

  Abigail sighs in exhaustion, she slowly approaches to Haykel and gives her a hug, "Its okay, it's a mistake" she pats Haykel head

  Haykel breaks "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I got scared." she grabs her dress.

  Simon from behind breath relaxed. The tension of the room was gone.

  Abigail attacks with her words "I will deal with you later Simon."

  Simon looks down defeated "God dammit... sure dear"

  2 days later.

  Haykel walks toward the wooden shoddy door "Mom, dad, I'm going to play outside"

  Abigail is sewing the hole on the sheets in the table "Don't get in trouble"

  Haykel hides the dagger from her dad under her dress. She walks outside. She avoids the mud by walking on the patches of grass.

  Vildan and the rest of the kids are waiting outside.

  Haykel approaches the group "So... What's the plan today?"

  Vildan points at the floor "I took this from my dad closet" He shows three oil lanterns. They were iron lanterns, simple design. "We can go deeper into the cave now"

  Haykel grabs her hands "I don't know, didn't the cave had something inside the last time? Not to mention the wolves probably can still be around."

  The red shirt kids looks down on Haykel "I told you it was a bad idea inviting her"

  Vildan ignores him and stand firm "That was days ago, they should be gone by now, and don't worry, if the wolves get close again, we can use the fire of the lantern to make a fire and make them go away. Easy. And, I can pay for one of them if I break it, so my dad won't be mad at me"

  Haykel plays with her fingers "What if we accidentally burn the forest, or ourselves?"

  Vildan sighs "You think too much. If you don't want to come. Don't come" Vildan walks away with the rest of the group.

  Haykel grabs on the dagger over her dress. She looks down and look forward and joins the group of kids. Vildan looks behind and smiles.

  The kids pass the gate of the village, some of the wolves still there, people from the village are moving the wolves to wagons to further processing. The blood is dry in the floor. The sun is high.

  Kailos the guard, he have a claw holster, looks at the kids, he notices a bulge in Haykel dress, he notices the dagger. He smiles, look away and says "Kids"

  The kids walk through the forest and past the skull of the deer, directly to the cave, Vildan turns the lamp, the darkness of the cave goes away. Is

  Vildan arms himself with courage and walks inside the cave, the children wait outside, Haykel is worried "Don't go too deep alone"

  Vildan sees a giant broken stalactite in the floor. The cave is wet, devoid of life, no carcasses, just rocks. He screams "The sound yesterday was a rock! Everything is fine, the cave is empty" The cave echoes his voice to the infinite darkness.

  The group walks inside the cave, the light of the lanterns push the darkness away. The kids gets mesmerized by the size of the cave, they walk deeper and deeper, the outside light is gone. There is some spider nest, and bugs crawling around.

  After 10 minutes of walking they find a place where they need to crawl to advance forward. The floor is wet, dirty and rough.

  The group stops, the cave crawlspace is too oppressive and scary to push forwards. Most of the kids coward.

  Most of the group of children say they are going back. Vildan kneel "I want to see the other side, you people can go back. "

  Haykel sees the children leave, but she is worried about Vildan.

  Vildan crawls trough the hole. Haykel says to Vildan "Are you okay? I'm gonna wait for you." The crawlspace is big enough to let person crawl on his stomach but not quite for his knees.

  Vildan answers "I don't need your help, you can leave if you want." Vildan lantern shines through the hole.

  Vildan gets to the end of the crawlspace, it wasn't long, there is crystals shining across the cave, his lantern shines through the cave and crystals. Vildan descends the crawlspace, but he steps on a crystal, this one shatters, he loses her footing and falls into a black liquid that is to the side of the crawlspace.

  Vildan screams in pain. He feels his guts rearranging, his brain changing, every cell from his body is changing, merging, splitting. He is splashing everywhere. The room get filled by echoes of pain and the smell of a toxic liquid.

  Haykel hears the echo and jumps directly into the crawlspace, enters the crystal cave. Descends the crawlspace, she sees Vildan, she grabs Vildan hand a pulls him out of the liquid with all her might.

  Vildan is heavy breathing, exhausted, scared, sleepy, barely conscious. His whole body is covered in oil like liquid.

  Haykel heart is racing "VILDAN, RESPOND TO ME. "

  Vildan breaths slowly, he respond softly "Give me... a minute... And we can go back... please"

  Haykel doesn't wait, she grabs Vildan and put him in her shoulder and walks with Vildan, Vildan is wet, exhausted. They both cross the crawlspace slowly.

  The kids are waiting outside playing with sticks and leaves, the sun is going down, they had spend too much time in the cave. One of the kids scream "Be faster! We need to leave!" The whole cave echoes. From far way a creature hears the echo.

  The kids start walking back with the lanterns trough the forest, the sun shines less and less through the forest.

  Vildan walks slowly with Haykel. Vildan lift his head, he is sweating, he smells like oil "Something is coming. I can hear it. Let me go Haykel. Is dangerous" His voice is really low he is exhausted. Haykel ignores him she keeps walking.

  The sun is down, is night.

  A loud howl can be heard, a creature is moving at high speed in the darkness. The kids run trough the forest, their breathing is heavy and full of terror. They loudly run through the forest.

  They are at the edge of the forest and the kids get separated, Vildan and Haykel stay behind. Vildan is trying to run while grappled to Haykel but he is too slow.

  A giant black shadow Howls near, twigs are breaking, dry leaves crunching from behind.

  Haykel feels a strong pressure of wind, Vildan pushes Haykel out of the way. The lantern falls softly on the grass, illuminating the zone.

  Vildan falls in his stomach, the moon illuminates the creature. A 2 meters fur creature with sharp claws and fangs. A werewolf, the smell at wolf fills the air.

  The werewolf walks toward Vildan slowly ready to bite his back, Vildan is trying to crawl away, but he is too slow and weak to struggle, he is seeing blurry.

  The werewolf is fixated on Vildan, his mouth is dripping thick liquid.

  Haykel jumps front of the creature with the dagger and cut its nose. The Werewolf recoil in pain, his nose is cut slightly.

  Haykel stands between the werewolf and Vildan. Haykel is trembling "This is a very bad idea" Her legs are trembling, her eyes are watery and her cheeks red, her breathing is struggled.

  The werewolf touches his noise while doing rabid noises, it's fangs are giant, 3cm longs, but his claws were longer.

  The werewolf locks into Haykel and lunges to get a bite from her face. From behind a rapid run could be heard, a man jumps over Haykel and kick the werewolf in the face. Launching the animal back into the forest. An animal whimper could be heard.

  The light on the moon only deflects a pair of claws in the night. The man stand in front of Haykel, protecting her "Time to play little puppy." The wind move the branches and the fur of the beast. It's getting cold.

  Haykel runs towards Vildan, he passed out. Haykel hugs Vildan and shield him with her body. Haykel looks at the man, her curiosity got the best of her.

  The man start doing tiny jumps, he slowly start jumping side to side gracefully. The werewolf swipe his left arm to the man frontally.

  The man jumps to the left, and cut left arm of the creature on a clean vertical cut. A loud thump could be heard, the arm of the werewolf crash into the ground. The trees get splattered with blood.

  The werewolf whimpers and back off. The man launch itself has a spear towards the abdomen of the werewolf. He pierces the stomach and claws directly up. The mans screams "AAH". The claws moves from the stomach into the upper thorax. The creature whole abdomen is open, the werewolf sits dead.

  The man shake his claws, bloods fall to the woods and grass. The man put his claws inside his holster, a half form leather holster in his waist.

  The moonlight shows the man face. Is Kailos. He grabs Haykel head and pats her. "Good job kid". Haykel eyes shine on admiration. She is mesmerized.

  Kailos let's Haykel's head go "Wait with your friend there." Kailos walks away to the forest where the dead Werewolf is. He pulls his dagger, and cut the creature head off the blood flows to the grass, leaves and roots. He ties the head and the rope. He grabs the rope with his left.

  Kailos walks toward Haykel "Thanks for waiting. I need you to move out from your friend".

  Haykel moves away "Oh, sorry." She can't stop looking at Kailos.

  Kailos grabs Vildan like a piece of wood between his right arm, and start walking back to the village.

  Haykel looks at Kailos with admiration "How do you move like that? You looked so cool."

  Kailos smiles while walking "Lots of training kid, if you are interested, ask your parents, I don't mind training a kid on the claw, even if is a lady. There is not enough people with this skills these days."

  Haykel screams "YOU WILL?"

  Kailos laughs "I don't mind, but ask your parents."

  "I WILL". Haykel runs to the village.

  At the village 2 guards where waiting with their weapon unsheathed and some people from the village was waiting there, they had torches, and lanterns. Abigail was there waiting for Haykel, worried and nervous.

  Haykel runs trough the gate. The people behind see Kailos carry Vildan like a piece of wood. They gasp and scream in panic.

  Abigail screams "HAYKILIA" She runs and hugs Haykel strongly.

  Haykel is uncomfortable "Mom I'm okay"

  Abigail cries a little "You are so, so grounded"

  Haykel replies "Oh dammit."

  Kailos points to Vildan "He is alive, only pass out. Where is his dad or mother?"

  A white haired men with blue eyes step forwards "I'm his dad. Please give it to me." The man grabs and hugs Vildan, he runs with him towards their house.

  Kailos show the head of the Werewolf "We are safe. Move along." The people calm down, the howl of the werewolf was worrying, but the head of him was confirmation of his dead.

  Haykel walk with her mom back home, Abigail have her hand grab.

  Haykel and Abigail enters their house, Haykel walks with shame towards her father. Abigail cross her arms and looks at her "What do you have to say?"

  Haykel looks down "Dad I borrowed your dagger, I stood my ground against a Werewolf"

  Simon ask "Did you won?"

  "No, I lost" Haykel is disappointed.

  The face of Simon changed from worried to absolute terror. He looks at Abigail "ABIGAIL... IS HAYKILIA DEAD? IS THIS HER GHOST?"

  Abigail cover her eyes in shame and frustration.

  Haykel gets mildly worried "I- I don't think I'm dead dad"

  "Can you prove it?"

  Haykel pinch herself "Ow". "Yeah, I'm alive"

  Simon completely relaxes "Then, I'm happy you are okay..." He sighs "You are grounded"

  Abigail sighs "I can't believe she got your brain." She walks away to the last room of the house, their bedroom. Tired.

  Vildan is in his bed, he wakes up in the middle of the night, he is sweating, he observed his hand trough the candle, he was pale. "I will deal with this tomorrow". He falls a sleep.

  Even if he was dry, the smell at oil lingered in his room.