To you, the immortal [Intro]

The cold bit into his flesh like the various pack hunters in the mountains, but that didn’t bother him anymore, it had become a distant pain long ago ever since he became immortal. In all his years of life he’d never been brave nor stupid enough to venture past the villages of ice miners for he had no intention of having his neck cut by those who prayed in the snowstorms and his possessions stolen while he came recovered from the wound. Now was different however, he had his own flesh and blood descendent here with him, and he was a were-tiger no doubt! He had nothing to fear as long as Alba was there with him, and as long as they travelled at night they had a very low chance of being attacked by bandits that roamed the area.

“How much further till we reach that abandoned fortress Eric?” the moonlit tiger asked. “It’s not abandoned little cub, Basilisk Fang resides within that indomitable fortress! We could run into some of your distant cousins there, or if we’re really lucky we might run into one of my children!” Eric responded, patting the side of the werebeast as the snow crunched beneath their feet.

“If that’s the case why don’t we scale the cliffs of the mountain instead of taking this long path?”

“Come now Alba that’s just dangerous! I could die!” Eric called half-heartedly, pressing his arm to his head and falling down into the snow. “If you could die you immortal old man.” The tiger muffled under his breath, continuing down the path as the harsh wind silenced his words. “Oh come on Alba I was joking! I could never die and leave you behind, that would make me a terrible great, great, great grandfather to you wouldn’t it!” the bandaged man shouted out to his kin, jumping up out of the snow and running after him, jumping up and mounting his back which caused the tiger man to groan.

“We’re almost there, it’s just over this next ridge. Once we get there we eat as much food as you want.” Eric whispered in his ear, causing the tiger’s mouth to water and slightly pick up the pace, crossing over the ridge as the large fortress came into view, ice surrounding and encrusted in its walls, the faintest sign of smoke floating out from within to signify that there were people living there, even in this harsh wasteland. “The sun will be up soon, we should be safe for the rest of the way but it’d be best if you remained in this form at least until we reach the gates, just to be safe.” Eric instructed, a grunt of disapproval coming from his kin but he continued marching forward.

It wasn’t until a few hours later that a battle had broken out on the snow plains, an arrow flew past and barely grazed Eric’s shoulder, causing them both to come to a stop suddenly as tens of those dressed in white began advancing towards them. “Get the travellers! Take all that they have!” a man had shouted from the backlines, a crossbow raised into the air as his men approached the travelling pair, causing a large smirk to grow across Eric’s face as he dismounted. “You don’t need to fight in this battle Alba, I shall take care of them.”

One of the bandits had run straight for the lightly dressed man, sword raised ready to deliver a vertical slash only to find a fist headed straight for his face, knocking the assailant down and his sword up into the air. Before the blade could land, another had come to strike at the bandaged man, barely missing his target as he ran his blade against Eric’s side, grazing him slightly as he directed a kick straight into the bandit’s stomach, sending the sword flying off into a bandit looking to strike his striped companion as the original wielder of the weapon crumpled down at his feet. The bandits stopped for a moment as the watched what had just unfolded, Erics hand held limply out to the side with palm raised up poised to catch the blade that had been sent upwards in the first strike. “We’re not your regular targets gentlemen. If you wish to die like your friends here-” Eric spoke, swinging the blade around and cutting open the backs of those that had fallen before him and pulling the second sword from the chest of his third victim. “-Then I’d suggest continuing your assault, I can fight for hundreds of years without tiring. I hardly think you lot can even last a few minutes in this weather and you’ve already suffered a loss.” His smirk turning quickly into a sinister grin as he stared straight towards the leader of the group. “Run. Or I won’t be the most of your problem.” As he finished his little announcement a snowstorm had surrounded them, obscuring the vision of everyone in the area.

The bandit leader gritted his teeth, breathing in heavily before letting out a large shout. “Retreat men! Your lives are worth more than what this suicidal maniac is worth!” And in that moment as he spoke, blood splattered against the snow beside him as a head covered in white cloth had been thrown at his feet. “I’m suicidal, but I’m far from a maniac.” Eric spoke, a sword suddenly appearing in the leader’s vision but it was too late for him to move as the sword pierced his throat and severed head from shoulders, dropping to the ground as the ground around them was painted red with the bandit’s blood.

10 minutes later, the storm had passed and all that was left of the battle was a few snow covered corpses and snow tinted red. “You know one of them could have been a descendent.” Alba added only after the bloodshed had finished. “AHHHH YOU’RE RIGHT!” Eric shouted, dropping the bloodstained blades beside him as he crumpled up into the snow. “I should’ve asked if they knew my name. Oh well too late now, nobody who has descended from my bloodline would die that easily.” Eric quickly recovered, jumping up out of the snow and brushing off blood that had splattered over his coat and hands before turning to Alba. “Let’s continue, this was a good workout for me.” His grin, now more playful than sinister, smiled at his kin. “I just hope it’s not as hectic in there as it is out here.” The moon tiger hoped, leading the way towards the large fortress with Eric close behind.



By the time they had reached the large guild they spent another 15 minutes or so just looking for the entrance, and upon finding it swiftly took it upon themselves to open the gates. Alba’s strength in his tiger form cause them to open easily, though they groaned as it swung open, and much faster than the tiger man had expected, sending him tumbling into the guild hall and shifting back into his normal human form, with Eric running up close behind to assist him up when he came to a stop, but they had made it. They had arrived at the entrance to Basilisk Fang.

As Eric helped his descendent to his feet he found himself face to face with a few of the inhabitants of the frozen fortress, debating on whether to put him and his were-beast friend under the knife which only brought a slight grin upon his lips. “I’ve been quite enough experiments back in my hay day to know you won’t get that much out of me. But I can see we’ve come to the right place, not every frozen tundra has a doctor, and very few who experiment with the living.” Eric commented, turning his attention to the man in the lab coat. “But I’ll have to advise you not to bother Alba with such things, he’s deathly afraid of needles and I’d regret to see what’d become of someone who would attempt to do such a thing to him.” Eric advised. “For all I know they could be one of my descendants, and I’d rather not have one of my owns blood spilled over such a trivial matter.”

Eric turned his attention back to the other man and made a slight bow. “Eric Everette, a pleasure to make your acquaintance.” Raising back up he placed a hand on the shoulder of his kin. “And this cub is my great, great, great grandson, Alba Everette.” As he spoke, Alba took a quick bow. “We’ve come in search of a place to collaborate with those of equal in mind and to assist the basilisk to regain its fangs.” Pulling a few bloodstained blades and clothes from his coat, along with the backpack that Alba was carrying he set them out messily in front of him. “I don’t suppose you have a place for us to clean these would you? The bandits out there kept them in terrible condition and I’d like to see them used for something more productive.”