Death Is Only The Beginning

The season moves on, the comfortable warmth the summer days had offered slowly giving away to the chill of autumn. The bite of winter can be felt in the air at night and the band has decided to move into the trees nearby to wait out the winter. Something shifts between her and Bodin and Tove can only watch as he becomes sullen and withdrawn. Today she had convinced him to join her while she went on a small patrol of their soon-to-home, claiming that the pair need to familiarizer themselves with the area. Really, she is hoping to pull out whatever is bugging her brother. A gentle breeze ruffles their fur as the pain walk side-by-side, Tove occasionally casting her brother a worried glace. They stop in a little clearing and she casts her duel-toned eyes to her brother as she opens her mouth to begin the gentle interrogation of him.

Words stick in her suddenly dry throat and dread drops a rock in her gut at the look on Bodin’s face. It isn’t fear just… a grim realization. Swallowing thickly, Tove turns her eyes to the space around them as she whispers softly, “What is it?” He never had a chance to answer. A roar splits the still autumn air asunder, the outraged bear letting the trespassing wolves know their mistake. Wheeling around to face the threat, the air suddenly feels sick as she hears, another similar roar. Fear zips along her nerves as she forces her lungs to frantic intake and output of air, assuring herself that they can take on both grizzly bears. However, when a third bear rushes onto the scene, Tove feels the tenders of fear creeping up into her mind as she moves closer to Bodin. Three large grizzlies form a semi-circle around the pair and she looks to her brother, watching he plants his paws and readies to stand his ground.

Everything inside the nebula-clad woman screams at her to run but… she cannot leave Bodin behind. The bears charge, teeth flashing in the noonday sun as she snarls in anger and begins to dance around swinging paws and gnashing fangs. In the end… it didn’t matter. The siblings give a mighty fight but, with a swing of one massive paw, Tove sees a huge spray of blood coat the bear in front of Bodin. Duel-toned eyes watch in horror as his body falls to the earth, the telltale bright red of blood spreading rapidly across his chest. “BODIN!” Tove doesn’t realize she screams his name as her white dipped paws pull her toward his fallen side, the need to keep him alive overriding any sense of self-preservation. But it is too late, the bear that downed Bodin places its paws on her galaxy-hued brother’s head and presses down. The scream that rips itself from her chest is filled with horror, grief, and agony.

The bear removes its paws, spreading them apart to plant its weight and roar at her. Tears stream freely down her red cheeks as she looks to his broken head. The skull is demolished, gray matter and splinters of bone litter the ground while one of his eyeballs has popped out of the socket and hangs on its gory thread. Stomach rolls as she turns her duel-toned eyes to the killer, the heat of rage burning inside her. A bear charges from her left and Tove moves to bite its paw, the roar of pain she gets pulling a cold smile to her lips. Maw bloody, the nebula-cloaked lady attacks them for all she is worth. Claws rake her back, digging deep grooves into the skin and marring her starry pelt. She screams and roars, not ready to leave the dead body of her brother. She has to drive them away, to get Bodin back to help… she has to protect him. Numbness starts to spread through Tove’s limbs, the bears leaving bites and claw marks on her once pristine pelt. Blood coats the area, most of it from Tove, some from the bears and the rest… stumbling sideways after a vicious blow to right side, she casts her duel toned gaze to lifeless body of her brother.

Her body finally gives out on her, sending her crashing into the blood marked dirt. Vision fades in and out as she watches the bears approach, the thought, ‘At least we will die together Bodin’, bringing the injured woman some small measure comfort as she watches death approach.


WC: 784
Total WC: 784 / 1500

"Tove Baade"