Strangers Pt. I

 "Why do we have to spend our days here, guarding this stupid gate?" A woman asked.

 "So that Fenrir won't destroy the world." A man, sitting on the other side of a giant hall, said.

"No, no, but could we even stop him if he escaped? We are the weakest warriors of our tribe."

 "...It's a great honor to do this task left by our ancestors!"

 "Sure, but I would rather skip on it and go back to my warm home though, I don't want to freeze to death in this stupid temple! Or in this damn ice land!"

 "You know we are forbidden from leaving the tribe, we would not be welcomed by the human world anyway, they think we're freaks, you see how the stray merchants look at us."

 The woman looked at her pale gray skin. "...I don't know, I feel like there's more out there than…"

 "Than what?"

 "Than this! This, every day is just boredom, our lives are dictated by the tribe leaders, they choose who does what job, who marr…"

 The sound of rock scraping against rock stopped the woman from speaking, as she looked back, a dark void opened up behind the giant door, and fright made its way to her face.

 "What the…"

 As the woman turned, she saw a young man with cute dog ears and a fluffy tail in a combination of black and white, the ears with white tips stood out over his black hair, but weren't too out of place as the tips of the man's shoulder-length hair were also white, making a white to black and back to white pattern. She also discovered that he wasn't wearing much in terms of clothing as he was left topless, his pants also being in shambles, but his body wasn't something to scoff at, as it was muscular and deprived of fat. What was truly frightening though was that the teen was covered in dried-up blood and bits of vomit, making him look like a ravenous man-eating beast.

 The other guard quickly readied himself, and without much hesitation started charging Avis with his spear.

 As he came closer, Avis saw his movements in almost slow motion, he saw the man's frightened face as he charged, and he could hear the rapidly beating heart in the man's chest.

 Realizing he was not a threat to him, Avis planned to sidestep his attack, then punch the man in the jaw to knock him out.

 What happened instead was that the man's entire jaw came off, and blood started spraying out, covering him in a fresh coat of gore.

 He quickly retracted his fist, clutching it with his other hand as he looked at the man, who now kneeled before him.

 "Ah… Wait! What the fuck!"

 Losing blood at an alarming pace, the man looked into Avis' eyes, tears falling down his face, and then he lay in the snow, passing away shortly after.

 "I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean for this to happen…"

 However, this time his scars didn't burn, but were left as they were.

 The woman, seeing what the man had done, readied her weapon.

 "Who are you?!" She screamed, but the boy looked at her with a questioning gaze.

 'What is she saying?'

 "Are you the Fenrir?" She asked.

 "Fenrir, yes. Can you understand me?"

 The only word she understood was Fenrir, and by the tone of his voice, she deduced that he must have said: "Fenrir, yes. Can you not recognize me, mortal?"

 She felt engulfed in a dark cloud, speaking with a god that wasn't supposed to be revived, and she resolved herself to attack, even if it ended her life.

 She stabbed with her spear, but the dangerous beast simply caught its shaft, breaking it without even trying.

 Yet, refusing to give up, she took up a fighting stance and kicked the man with all her strength. But as she hit, only pain shot up through her body, her leg went numb, and as she looked down, she could recognize it was broken.

 "Ah… Ha…" Her other leg shook, and not knowing what to do, her mind went into overdrive, she blabbered without speaking any words, and ultimately fell to the ground, losing consciousness.

…

 When she woke up, she realized she was being carried on the man's back, her feet dragging behind, but bandaged and fixed with a stick, her body was tied in old rope, and the cold reached her skin despite her thick clothing. Her dry throat felt hoarse and itchy, letting a cough escape her mouth, and Avis stopped and put her down, making some distance between them.

 "Are you okay? I couldn't leave you there with your broken leg, so I had to take you with me. Can you understand anything I am saying?" He asked, not expecting an answer.

 She turned to look at him, and he was still shirtless, the eyes on his chest were fully open, some glancing at her while others were scanning the surrounding area. He wore the pants of her colleague, though, as they were cleaner.

 'Can he not feel the cold? Why did he take me with him?' She wondered, and again analyzed him, looking at his features and expression, trying to find out his intentions.

 "Do you know where the nearest town is?" She just looked at him. "You know… Town! City, village… Umm, port! Ship! Human?" He tried words, looking for any sign of understanding.

 "Human?" She finally asked.

 "Yes human! I am…" He paused as he was about to point at himself, and he couldn't point at the woman either as she was clearly something else too, so the 'conversation' quickly died down.

 "What even are you?" He asked.

 "..." She looked away.

 "I know I'm weird looking… But you aren't too far from it either…" He looked at her.

 Her features were unlike anything he had seen before, her skin was an almost white gray, and her long white hair slid down her back, the two features beautifully blending to make her look almost like a ghost.

 The tips of her ears peeked from behind her hair, long and pointy.

 She, too, sideglanced at him, they made eye contact, and Avis saw her dark eyes, but then quickly looked away in embarrassment, suddenly the realization of what he was doing hit him.

 'I captured this woman after I killed her friend, I'm just as bad as those bandits, Thorne was right to kill me before this exact thing happened… Dear god, I'm a piece of shit.'