VEROLD ENDIR'S BESTIARY - 2 - SHUB-NIGGURATH

(an original series by Simone Ciucci)

After my adventurous encounter with the wendigos I am finally back home.

Well back to our hideout to be honest, but is the closest thing to a home I have.

When I enter the main hall I start hearing the voices of my comrades, they are good fellows, always respecting each other and helping if needed, that is the way of us hunters. We are just humans, only together we are stronger than the beasts.

After the compliments of my friends for the good job on my… let us say … misadventure, which I cut short, I have still things to do before I can consider that story over.

So I begin my research, our library is huge, filled with esoteric books and guides to the unknown, it would be hell if I did not know who to ask.

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“Good evening m’lady” I say

She turns around facing me,  as she sees me her expression changes from a focused stare to a happy and warm smile.

“Oh oh! Look who’s back” she says “how was your camping experience”

“I found it quite uncomfortable, I didn’t know deer could be so mean!”

She loughs lively as she comes closer and gives me a hug.

“I’ve come to ask you something”,  I say as she embraces me.

“Yeah, like always…you sure you don’t wanna rest a bit though?” She says as she raises one of her eyebrows slightly concerned.

“I’m fine, you don’t have to worry about me”

“Just making sure, sometimes you forget how tired you get”

It is true, my body does get tired before my mind realizes it. She has known me for years, it is obvious she would say that.

The girl I am talking to is a long-time friend, when we were kids we used to train together. The beast killed our parents, they took our innocence that day, the hunters raised us to become like them, WE wanted to become like them.

Unfortunately, in one of our first encounters with the beasts, a Draugr, an undead, cut her arm clean off.

The injury might have led to death, and  we could have saved the arm, but in our conditions I had to cauterize, leaving her in her current state.

I feel no regret, I did what was needed to save her life, and she knows that too.

Since then she could not join the hunt anymore, she had her arm replaced by a prosthetic one that made her fighting quite clunky.

She now does her best to help us by being a librarian for our library. I have to admit it, she has become surprisingly good at her job.

“So, tell me, what is it, cowboy?” She likes calling me that, making fun of my hunting gear.

“I need a book to decipher runes, though I’m not sure of which kind, it looks like futhark, but it’s somewhat different”

She hums for a bit, raising her good hand to her chin, thinking for a second.

“Oh! Maybe I know what you are talking about… it could  be…”

“That was awfully enigmatic for you to say, is there anything wrong with the boo…” before I was able to finish the sentence she disappeared among the high dusty shelves, as I take my seat on one of the large wooden desks.

She comes back after a while with a big ancient-looking tome, after placing it in front of me she opens it and finds the page she was looking for, and then turns it for me to read.

“Is this what you were lookin’ for?” She says pointing her finger on the strange symbols.

“Yes! I’ve never seen this book, what’s it about?”

She is looking at me, worried.

Maybe she was already worried after I described the aspect of the runes, but just did not realize.

“W-what’s wrong?” I say beginning to worry as well

“These…Runes, these runes are the language of the gods of Helheim. Whatever you found it could be the most dangerous thing any hunter has come by in decades” she says, her voice almost trembling.

I am somewhat shocked at her words, how can mere symbols be so terrifying to her? I have heard of the dark gods, though I was sceptical. How dangerous can they be to make it hard for her to even talk about them?

She then proceeds to change the page and shows me a list of those symbols.

“Do you recognize any of this?”

I look closely, I do recognize one of the first ones

“This one” I say tapping it with my finger.

“Shub-Niggurath”

“What?”

“Shub-Niggurath, the dark goddess of fertility. You have to tell what you have found to the elders’council, whatever these inscriptions are, it must be properly contained before it becomes too dangerous” She says getting closer to me.

She looks at me right in the eyes, both her hands on my shoulders.

“I’m serious, I’ve studied this book, just learning about the gods of Helheim can drive mortals crazy. Please don’t act as you always do, go to the elders and explain exactly where you found the mark of Shub”

“Well…I can’t say no if of all people YOU are the one worried”

“Thank you” She looks relieved now and I am glad.

“Can you, at least, explain something instead of being so mysterious?” I ask

“Didn’t you hear me, cowboy? The less you know about this stuff the better”

She proceeds to close the book and disappears again in the labyrinth of books, but I stop her.

“Hey, do you want to go for a drink after you are done here?”

She stops to look back at me “A date?” she says.

“You wish” I respond smirking like a dumb teenager

“Worth asking, cowboy”.

 Read episode 1