VEROLD ENDIR'S BESTIARY - 1 - WENDIGOS

(an original series by Simone Ciucci) 

Hello to everyone who is reading this.  My name will remain anonymous to defend my identity in case this journal falls into wrong hands.

If you are reading it, know that what you will discover may seem strange or even impossible, but many things in this world have been hidden from your eyes.

I was hired to investigate and write about strange events taking place in the dark of our forest,   in our town: Verold Endir.

They wanted me to understand if something mysterious and inexplicable was happening and that was one of my first encounters with the supernatural.

Day 1

My research started from several cases of missing people. They wanted me to investigate on those sudden disappearences. I was armed of course -  you don’t have to worry about my safety.

Jokes aside, I had already found something, after one hour or so inside the forest. I found pieces of clothing far from the area of the disappearances and, after closer inspection, I also located  foot prints and bits of fur. The prints looked vaguely human, but bigger and somewhat deformed, somewhat like the shape of a deer’s foot print. The fur smelt horribly, and I did not feel it belonged to an ordinary animal.

Soon it would be night in the forest, I found a good place to camp and wrote down some notes, I already hade some ideas in mind, and none of them made me feel safer.

Day 2

I kept my guard high during the night, other than some animals nothing strange seemed to move among the trees.

I was still following the trail of cloth and prints, many branches had been broken, the ground and trees were full of claw markings. I was sure there was blood and skin tissue mixed with the marks.

I feared those missing people would not go back to their families. I would find out who or what had taken them.

After hours of searching,   I realized that I was not following one trail, the foot prints on the ground made me believe that there were several creatures, different in size, somehow connected to  disappearance of so many people in so little time.

All the traces seemed to lead to a common place, maybe  a nest, if that was the case. So,  I took a step further into the identification of the mysterious creatures. I would soon rest as the sun set yet again behind the mountains.

I woke up during the night, it was 3 a.m. when I checked the time. I heard voices in the dark. Thinking naively that it might have been one of the survivors, I left my tent, but still with my rifle in my hand.

I followed the voice in the forest, it was a woman’s, very weak and rough but still audible. Then I saw it: the beast.

It had white pale eyes that were lightened by my torch, a large skinny figure towering over me by several metres. It had long arms that looked as thin as the branches of the trees surrounding its shape, it was staring down at me.

 I still remember its strong scent of decay. While that putrid smell was filling my lungs, I raised my weapon and shoot my first shot aiming at its head.

As fire and smoke exploded from the tip of my rifle, I started walking backwards,  creating as much distance between me and the monster. One shot was not enough  and, as soon as the thing started screaming in pain,  I shot again. Pissed off, it tried to jump on me, its speed and strength were incredible. I consider myself lucky to be still alive.  After the third shot, the creature fell a few feet away in front of me, way to close for my tastes. After making sure it was dead,   I climbed a tree and started waiting patiently for the sunrise.  It was there that I started writing what had just happened.

I know these creatures well.

The natives call them wendigos. They say that committing cannibalism inside the forest turns you into a wendigo. Though further research demonstrated that it is not only cannibalism that causes the transformation, this forest must be cursed by an ancient spell of dark witchcraft. The creatures themselves are not too smart, but they are still a force to be reckon with.

A wendigo is partly human partly deer in its appearance.  Its skin rots, its  muscles and bones stretch becoming very thinner and very long. Its skull slowly transforms into the one of a deer and the bones are  completely exposed in several points, especially in the head. Both the long horns and the bone claws are used for hunting.

Its strength grows with size and its size becomes more massive the more it feeds. They can tear down whole trees and run at an incredible speed. The worst part is that a wendigo is always hungry. They virtually eat anything, but they are mainly attracted to humans.

Being once human,  they can also imitate the voice of a human to lure their prays into the forest.

If they have a nest, it may also be the centre of the power of the curse.

But let’s go back to that night. I waited.  The gun shots might have attracted unwanted attention.  I wanted to stay safe.

Day 3

I found it, the nest, I mean. Though that is not the right term for what I found.

It was a temple with a dome, though it was completely underground. The smell inside was unbearable, I almost threw up as I entered.

The wendigos during the day were in a state of hibernation. I was very careful with every movement I made.

The walls were covered by an incredible amount of human bones and decomposing flesh. I saw that some of the bodies had been killed recently, probably the remains of the people I was searching for. Fresh blood covered the floor. The creatures had mutilated and eaten their flesh as their victims were still fighting for their lives. I felt extreme pity watching the bite marks on the cracked bones of the poor souls.

At the centre of the dome a pool of what looked like milk. The borders were golden and full of runes that I could not read without the help of my handbook. I was sure that that was the source of the evil that corrupted those men and transformed them into beasts.

I called a team of hunters to dispose of those creatures. I would personally analyse the strange substance in the pool to understand if it really had something to do with all that.

I left the place and let my colleagues take care of the rest. I would soon pay a new visit, once I understood what I had seen that day.

I thank God I am still alive after coming so close to a nest of those disgusting deadly monsters.

(to be continued)

Simone