The Veiled Ones

This had to be the shittiest camping trip in the history of shitty camping trips. Landon Early thought as he ran, gasping, deep into the darkness of the forest. Anything that could have possibly gone wrong with their annual winter camping trip to the wilds of Appalachia did go wrong, and then some.

            Also, who in the actual fuck goes camping in the middle of winter? Like really? If this keeps on, they’ll find our mangled remains, scattered around the woods and it’ll make Dyatlov Pass look like a fucking spring picnic. The thoughts skittered nervously through his mind as he breathlessly meandered around trees, blind as to where he was going. He remembered hearing about the doomed skiers found in Russia back in the 1950’s half naked in the snow, bludgeoned to death with their tongues missing, with no proper explanation as to how or why.

Landon didn’t have a damn clue where his friends were. All he knew was something huge had barged into their campsite and started absolutely wrecking shit; bellowing like nothing Landon had ever heard before. And he had watched a shit ton of movies, so to outstrip the ungodly machinations of Landon’s imagination was one hell of a feat.

A scream cut through the night and he stumbled on a branch and fell face-first into a patch of snow. He pulled himself up and sputtered, brushing off his glasses, thankful that they didn’t fall off. When he looked up, his heart froze. 

A figure was peering at him, balanced on a large limb. The snow made it just bright enough that he could make out the wrinkled, bark-like face of something without a nose or a mouth, just two haggard holes for eyes.

“What the fuck?!” He screamed and began to back away.

“Don’t move!” The creature ordered. It held out a stick with a glowing orb at the end.

“Don’t eat me!” Landon screamed, unable to think clearly. He cowered into the trunk of a tree, knowing his time was up. This tree-faced lady-demon was going to make long-pig jerky from his flesh, decorate her tree house with his intestines, and drink tree demon wine from his skull.

“Just don’t fucking move, damn it.” The voice said, sounding highly annoyed. A bright light exploded before his eyes and Landon’s fear suddenly dissipated along with the cold. He felt suddenly warm and fuzzy as darkness fell upon him.

            He awoke to the sound of sizzling and the smell of bacon and for a single, heart-stopping moment just knew that he was being cooked alive.

            “Mother fuck!” He screamed, falling out of the bed he had been haphazardly placed in. He fell and there was a sharp crack, a brief flash of light, and darkness once more.

            He woke again, his face pressed to the fabric of the crude mattress. He couldn’t make out much of anything around him, since he glasses seemed to be missing, but he realized two things: first was that he was inside a cozy cabin of sorts, the second was that he was bound in rope. Tied head to toe, so if he tried to get away, he couldn’t. He rolled the rest of his body off the bed and nearly knocked over a small table.

            The bacon smelled so damn good right now, like really fucking good, but he knew that whatever had him tied up like this couldn’t have anything good in store for him. He began to inch his way across the floor like an awkward caterpillar when the door to the room swung open. Landon froze mid-inch, and supposed he looked ridiculous.

            “You’re awake.” A voice said, he recognized it from the night before. He could just barely make out her form in the doorway.

            Landon tried not to move, hoping that the scene from Jurassic Park where the T-Rex couldn’t see them if they didn’t move was actually true.

            It wasn’t.

            “I’ll untie you.” She said.

            “Hold up.” Landon said, quivering. “You aren’t going to eat me, are you?”

            She snorted, and the sound of a suppressed laugh scared Landon only for a moment as he didn’t fully know what kind of creature this thing was.

“No. I’m not going to eat you.” She said, clearly annoyed.

            “Oh.”

            She reached over and untied him. He pulled the rope away from his body and sat up.

            “You wouldn’t happen to have my glasses, would you?”

            “Here.” She placed them in his hand and Landon was finally able to clearly make out his surroundings, and the she-demon. Who didn’t look like a demon at all, in fact, she looked just like a regular girl, possibly his age or even a bit younger. She had an elvish face, a small, pointed nose with a sprinkling of freckles in between two doe-like brown eyes.

            He stood up quickly; dizziness overwhelmed him and he fell heavily onto the bed, which caused the bedpost to break.

            “Shit! I… I’m so sorry!” He stammered out an apology and crouched down to look at the damage.

            Before he could inspect it properly, the girl walked over and placed her hands on the bedpost. Landon felt the air in the room still become thick, almost electrified. He sat there dumbfounded as the snapped wood began to vibrate and knit itself back together.

            “Wow!” Was all Landon could say, his eyes nearly bugging out of their sockets.

            He stared at the wood, running his hands along it as if it were a priceless artifact made of gold.

            “How the hell did you do that?” He asked as she stood up to leave.

            “Magic. Now don’t fall on my bed again, please.” She said, a little haughtily Landon thought, and left the room.

            It was only an accident, and besides, its fixed. He thought, standing up slowly this time and making sure not to break anything else. He didn’t want her to turn him into wood or something. Stepping from the room, Landon entered what had to be the main living space of a cottage.

            A fairytale cottage, but for some reason the ceilings and the doors were unusually high and wide, as if the house had formerly been home to a giant.

            “I’m not going crazy, am I?” He asked, looking over at a small nearby table with what appeared to be a series of levitating crystal orbs. There were nine crystals in all and were in various sizes and colors. Landon’s hand was reaching out to touch one before he realized what he was doing.

            “Please, don’t touch anything you don’t completely and absolutely understand. If it’s floating or glowing, lay off. I can mend wood, but I can’t put body parts back on.” She grumbled, not looking at him, preoccupied with the wood burning stove where breakfast was being prepared. He withdrew his hand and interlaced his fingers behind his back. As a kid, he had always been the one who had to stay in the cart in stores with fragile items.

            “Sorry. I’m clearly not a morning person.” She added, waving a stick and sending the bacon onto a nearby plate.

            A wand.

            That wasn’t a stick, it was a wand.

            A magic fucking wand.

            “Did you just put bacon onto that plate with a magic wand.”

            She turned to him, unsmiling, “Yeah.”

            “Wow...”

            The front door to the cottage opened and a man well over a foot taller than Landon barged in. Landon was six feet, three inches tall, making this man a damn giant. He had dark, intelligent eyes and long black hair tied back in a loose bun, and a massive beard. He shook the snow that had settled upon him off in the doorway, putting Landon in mind of a massive fuzzy dog.

            Or a fucking grizzly bear.

            Yeah. Totally a grizzly bear.

            “Damn it!” The girl shrieked causing Landon to nearly wet himself as he jumped.

“What?” The giant stopped shaking the snow off and grumbled, reminding Landon slightly of a scolded dog.

            “I literally just cleaned that area up, you bastard! Now you’re tracking snow and mud, possibly fucking blood, into the house.”

            The man shook his head and grimaced as he pulled the laces on his massive leather boots. The girl spat something else in a harsh whisper as she swung the wand aggressively, sending a plate skidding across the counter. It stopped before crashing into the wood paneled wall.

            He watched the giant undo his boots, noting how the guy made even that menial affair look like an impressive feat. This dude could literally eat him.

            Why was he so worried about being eaten?

            “I see that our trespasser is still alive.” Chuckled the giant, tugging off his boot.

            “Yeah, no thanks to you.” Sophie spat.

            Damn, she’s mean. Landon thought, smiling stupidly as the two of them bickered, trying to stifle a little laugh. He didn’t know if this was the place or the time, but he cleared his throat.

            “My name is Landon. Landon Early.”

            The two of them looked at him for a moment, then continued with what they were doing. Just before Landon felt extremely stupid for even speaking, the girl spoke up.

            “I’m Sophie, and this is my dipshit of a brother, Aries.”

            “Aries? Like the Greek god?”

            “More like the astrological sign. Sun, moon, and rising all landed in Aries, so I guess it’s fitting.” He laughed.

            “You’re telling me.” Sophie snorted, her back to them.

            Landon nodded and smiled, not understanding a damn thing they were talking about.

            “Hey, great and powerful Lord of Fire and Warfare, how about you get your ass over here and get some eggs started.” She added.

            Aries sighed and walked over in his stocking feet and grabbed a cast iron skillet from a high shelf. Landon now realized why all the ceilings in this place were so high. Sophie swung an arm out and made a pulling motion with her hand, and Landon watched as the curtain across the room opened, revealing a dim, snowy forest beyond. He wondered to himself why she had a wand if she didn’t need it.

            “You can take a seat over there if you want. The chairs shouldn’t kill you.” She added, meandering around Aries’s giant frame to get some plates out of a nearby cupboard. Landon walked over to the table sitting under the window and sat down. It was here that he started to feel the panic all over again.

            Where were the others?

            Were they all dead?

            What exactly happened last night?

The events leading up to running into what he now knew was Sophie wearing some sort of mask were a bit hazy. He had gone to bed early. The day was long, a lot of hiking in the cold and after a warm meal by the fire, Landon had decided sleep was unavoidable. His friends stayed up drinking and partying, making it hard to sleep.

Then the screaming started and before Landon realized it, he was running through the snow without a coat.

What had attacked them last night? Landon had only gotten a glimpse of the creature. It was gargantuan, but it was only a shadow. He glanced over at the two making breakfast.      

Had it been Aries?

“Oh, that wasn’t me.” Aries responded, causing Landon to jump.

“Oh, I didn’t realize I was talking aloud.”

“You weren’t.” Sophie added. “Your thoughts are just really fucking loud.”

“My thoughts?” What the hell did that mean?

Wait… shit! They can hear my thoughts?!

“We can hear your thoughts because you never learned how to tame them, living out in the ‘civilized’ world and all. Just being in your presence almost gives me a damn headache.” Sophie said.

“Just one of the many issues I have with the rest of the world.” She added.

“So… my friends. The ones I came here with. Are they all dead?”

“No.” Aries said, breaking open an egg onto the cast iron skillet.

“Which is why we are here about to have breakfast instead of still being out there trying to track them down.” Said Sophie.

“So, where are they?” Landon asked, looking around at the small cottage.

“Trapped in the Burgodor’s Den.”

“What’s—” Landon tried to ask, but Sophie cut in.

“A Burgodor is what attacked you last night. There are other names for the creatures. You may know them as Sasquatch or Bigfoot. They call them Yeti in the Himalayas.”

Landon blinked.

“My friends were captured by a damn Bigfoot?”

“A tribe of them actually, though we are uncertain as to why they didn’t just kill you all outright for being on their claimed land.”

“Well, how were we supposed to know that it was claimed land?”

“Didn’t bother to ask the trees, did you?”

“Well, no, because the last time I checked, trees didn’t fucking talk.”

Sophie laughed, “Show’s how much you know.”

Landon felt heat rising in his face and knew he was flushing. He always did so when he was getting agitated. His ears got red too, which was embarrassing.

A clinking sound on the table in front of Landon made him look down. Bacon, eggs, and a heaping pile of green stuff was on a plate that had magically appeared in front of him.

“Holy shit!” Landon jumped. He looked up at the two of them who were smiling, then back down to the eggs which were sunny side up, exactly how he liked them. “Ok, now you guys are just showing off.”

Sophie sat down, “So, we’re going to try to convince the Burgodor tribe to release your friends before they get too annoyed with them and kill them. Playing diplomat to the Burgodors isn’t going to be a picnic, and we’ll need you to listen and do exactly as we say. And I mean exactly as we say. Any wrong moves will jeopardize you and your friends. We are already on shaky ground with the tribe for not being there to scare you off first.”

“Scare us off?”

“Yeah, it’s kinda our job.” She said, nodding to Aries who was scrubbing dishes in a sink of steaming hot water that, oddly enough, didn’t have a faucet.

What a weird fucking place.

“We keep you ‘civilized’ folks from screwing up what’s left of the sacred natural spots around here. Well, we try to. There are only about eleven of us and there are miles and miles of wilderness around here.” Sophie fussed.

“There’s eleven of you wizards or whatever?”

“Yeah. There used to be more. Over forty at one point.” She said, sighing, eyes drifting to her mug.

“What happened? If you don’t mind me asking.” But as soon as the words left Landon’s mouth, Sophie got up and walked into another room. Obviously, he had touched a nerve.

“Killed off.” Aries said, not turning.

“Killed off? By those Burger-things?”

Aries snorted and shook his head. “No, no. The Burgodor tribe is one of the many tribes we are charged to protect here. Think of this place as a nature reserve, only instead of just rare and exotic animals, there are mythical beings, creatures, and spirits residing here.”

“Mythical creatures… like bigfoots, unicorns, and dragons?”

“Manticores, Pukwudgies, Redcaps, Wyverns. If you can name it, we probably have it kicking around here somewhere.”

“Wow.” Landon said, looking out the window, hoping to see something crazy, but just saw a quiet snowy forest beyond.

“So, you guys are like magical park rangers?”

“Pretty much. Our kind was given the title of Veiled Ones long ago, during the Civil War. ‘Those who live with each foot placed firmly within the two realms, in hopes that one day the two will become united once again.’” Aries said as if quoting someone. Then quietly he added.

“E Pluribus Unum.”

“Why does that sound familiar?”

“Got any money on you?” Aries asked, a wry smile coming to his bearded face.

Landon pulled out a dollar and examined it. He saw on the back side the familiar seal of the United States, and on the ribbon being held in the mouth of the eagle were the words: E PLURIBUS UNUM.

“What the hell?”

Aries laughed. “It means out of many, one. There’s a reason it’s on the United States seal. Most think it’s simply the motto of the United States but it goes a lot deeper than that. There’s a reason behind a lot of things, mostly older things, in the country’s history, how systems were established, placements of buildings in Washington, but nearly, if not all of it has been long forgotten by now, except by us, that is. And don’t get me started about the pyramid and the all-seeing eye.”

Landon remembered all the wacked out conspiracy theories about the placements of the streets of Washington. He understood that many of the founders of the United States were Free Masons, and a lot of the architecture from the period and afterward were Masonic iconography. Aries laughed again, responding to Landon’s thoughts.

“That pentacle in the city streets is just a form of protection, the first of many walls of defenses established by those almighty founders of this great nation, which so many hold in such high regard. They were just people. People with a bit of knowledge, but lacking in the wisdom, as is usually the case.” Aries said, sounding much older than he appeared, or so Landon supposed. It wouldn’t surprise him if Aries and Sophie were immortal or some shit. For a backwoods giant mystic living in West Virginia, Landon could tell the guy knew some serious shit.

“People are always talking about freedom and liberty and their desire for it. Many deify those ideals, desiring it more than anything, yet, as I’ve seen of the world to date, they lack the proper knowledge and wisdom and thus are not capable of handling the arduous responsibility of keeping those ideals true for everyone.” He waved a wet hand at the cottage. “Hence, we remain out here, out of the reach of everyone, perhaps until the truth becomes uncovered, or we will perish out here and be forgotten.”

The door opened and Sophie stepped out wearing what looked like primitive body armor, reminding Landon of the Lost Boys in the movie Hook. It was made of hardened leather with patches of tree bark, moss still growing in some places. On top of her head was what looked like a hunk of tree bark, and Landon realized that it was that mask that he had seen her wearing the previous night.

She tossed something at Landon.  “You’ll need this.”

It was a mask, similar to the one she had.

She tightened a buckle around her shoulder which held a quiver of the oddest arrows Landon had ever seen.

Honestly, Landon had never seen proper arrows before in his life, besides the shitty ones he got as a kid that were made of plastic with the suction cup on the end that never worked.

“Aries, let’s get a move on. We’ve dallied enough. We don’t want to arrive to these people being skinned alive.”

“No, we certainly don’t.” Aries said, opening a wooden cabinet and withdrawing the largest sword Landon had ever seen and strapped it upon his back. Landon followed behind them toward the door. Upon stepping outside, Landon saw that the cabin wasn’t tucked away in the middle of the woods but was instead in what appeared to be a small village.

“What is this place?” Landon asked, looking at all the little cottages and stone buildings. It looked like a mixture between something he’d find in a fairy tale book and a Thomas Kincaid painting.

“It’s quaint, was much more so in past years when the town was actually bustling, but Seeker Falls isn’t what it once used to be.” Said Aries, leading Landon and Sophie away from the town and toward the snow-covered woods. Landon caught himself anticipating touring the little town before leaving, but a small part of him couldn’t help but feel that he was never going to come back here. He followed Aries and Sophie down a series of steep and snowy slopes, nearly falling half a dozen times before they came to a clearing.

“Put that mask on.” Sophie warned, donning her own mask. Landon remembered the image from the night before and his heart nearly skipped a beat. The mask was hideous looking, like a wood carving of a tortured demonic face. Surrounding the mask was a mane of green and brown moss. Landon looked down at his own mask and saw that of a corpse with the lower mandible missing. He noticed in the middle of the forehead of the mask was a small clear quartz crystal imbedded there. He picked at it and Sophie smacked his hand.

“Don’t touch that. It juices up the mask. You are going to need all the help you can get.” She said, grabbing the mask and planting it onto his face. Somehow, despite there not being any form of string or elastic band to hold the mask in place, it latched onto Landon’s face. After a moment of panic, it felt as though the mask wasn’t a mask at all, but simply a part of him. He ran his fingers along his face and felt a little better at the fact that he could put his fingers beneath the mask and tug it off if he wanted. The world, though already bright from the sun glistening off the snow, seemed somehow brighter and more alive. Dancing fractals of light flitted and fluttered in the air despite the lack of wind.

“You good?” Aries asked, glancing over at him and smiling as Landon’s head turned this way and that looking at the subtle change in the world.

            “Yeah… there’s just little light things all over the place.”

            “Will-o-the-wisps.” Stated Sophie matter-of-factly.

“Before we go on, there is something I need you to understand. And I don’t mean for you to merely take this as a cautionary tale. I need you to fully feel the weight of these words.” She took a breath. “I’ve lost people dear to me. Best friends and family in these woods. You need to understand that the slightest sound of your voice could awaken things you couldn’t possibly fathom existing. Things that Aries and I are woefully unprepared to take on. Should any of these entities awaken and find us, we’re all dead. Dead in the worst possible ways. Do you understand?”

Landon nods, and as he does so, Sophie pulls out a very sharp dagger and places it against his throat. Landon tries to take a step back, but she holds him in place. He can feel the pulse of his carotid artery dancing dangerously against the sharp blade.  

“I’m going to ask you again. You are not to say a single word while we are out in these woods and follow every single order my brother and I give you. Understand?”

Landon nods carefully, taking in her words.

“Good.” She says, her eyes still on him as she turns to take the lead and heads off into the forest.

            “Oh, and don’t follow the sparkly lights, or you’ll definitely die.”

            Oh, ok. Cool.  Landon thought, carefully eyeing the glistening puffs of light as they wandered in and out of his vision. Aries pulled something out from behind him and Landon realized that it was a mask of his own. It was much different than Landon or Sophie’s screaming demon masks; it was in the shape of a ram’s head and in the center was a circle with a star in the middle. At each point was a series of different colored crystals imbedded into the mask. Beneath the jawline was a tangle of Spanish moss.

            Whoa! Why does he get the badass mask? Landon couldn’t help but think. He didn’t dare speak aloud though he really wanted to. He shuddered slightly, still feeling Sophia’s blade against his neck.

            Aries turned to him and Landon nearly jumped. The effect the mask had on the man who was already imposing, made the guy positively scary as shit. The five crystals surrounding the pentagram were now glowing subtly and the eyes flickered with a reddish glow.

            “That’s because I have to kill a lot of things. A lot of terrible, possibly world-ending things. By myself. That’s why.” And with that, the human monster turned and followed his sister. Landon made a mental note not to cross either one of these two.

            Ever.

            They plowed onward through the shin-deep snow, and Landon noticed that the further they went, the air seemed to change, resembling the feeling that he felt when Sophie mended that piece of wood back at the cottage.

            So this must be what it feels like when someone says shit like ‘the air itself was filled with magic.’

            “That’s because it is.” Aries said.

            Dude, can you, like, stop listening to my thoughts?

            “Not when your thoughts are screaming at us.” Sophie snapped, turning her demon face towards Landon, making him jump again. He stayed a few steps behind them afterward, hoping to dampen his thoughts from these crazy people.

            I mean… very powerful and merciful psychic mages, capable of killing me with one blow.

            Landon suddenly stopped, inches away from the wall that was Aries’s back.

            “Don’t move.” Aries said, but his voice sounded like an echo.

            I won’t. Landon thought-whispered, and even his imaginary whisper sounded incredibly loud in the still and silent forest.

            “SHH!” Came Sophie’s echoed voice. “Don’t even think, let alone speak.”

            Landon fought with himself, trying as best he could to keep his mind under control and simply nodded.

            “Hide behind that tree and don’t move until we tell you to do so. Understand?” Sophie ordered. Landon didn’t hesitate and slipped as quietly as he could behind the nearest tree. The air was cold, but something about the situation made the place feel absolutely freezing. It was the kind of cold that seemed to start from the inside and push outwards, something that his expensive, sub-zero winter jacket couldn’t protect him from. It caused his breath to fog up his glasses, making it difficult to see.

            Were they about to be—

            “Cut it out with the thoughts.” Aries demanded, his voice cutting through Landon’s thoughts like the sharp sword Aries was now brandishing. The damn thing was massive, easily taller than Landon. Sophie stood nearby, her wand in one hand and a dagger in the other.

            These two were about to fuck some shit up.

            Then Landon heard the screams. They were far off, but coming closer. Agonized wails of unendurable torture. At first Landon thought they were coming from an animal, but upon peering around the tree, he realized it was one of his friends.

            Jake was being held around the waist by a being that made Aries look like a three-year-old.

            He had always thought of Bigfoot as being a kind of goofy, hairy, dude that was maybe a few feet taller than a man. Possibly eight to ten feet tall.

            You know. Really fucking tall.

            But this beast, whatever it was, was holding Jake like a damn action figure and had to be closer to twenty-five feet tall. Even taller than some of the trees surrounding them. The face was obscured by branches, but Landon could certainly smell of the monster, and he realized that the wind he was feeling was its breath, as it came in warm, pungent waves. The smell put Landon in mind of a week-old bag of rotting vegetables hiding inside a forgotten gym bag full of sweaty clothes.

As the monster approached Sophie and Aries, its footsteps quaked the ground and sent a clump of snow onto Landon’s head. It bellowed something in what Landon supposed was its language, and the deep thrumming of the being nearly caused his heart to stop. It almost felt as though the voice was coming up from the ground.

            Aries, as mighty and big as he was, bellowed back, but his voice sounded childish in comparison. It stopped before Sophie and Aries. It was then that Landon could make out the face, one that would haunt his nightmares for the rest of his life.

He was damn sure of that.

A round mane of matted brown and black fur gave way to a hairy face with a long, bulbous nose covered in what looked like moles and warts, and eyes that were small and sunken. Two yellow tusks shot up from the bottom mandible. The monster opened its mouth to bellow a reply to Aries and Landon couldn’t help but notice that its mouth opened wide enough to fit poor Jake inside without a problem. Then Aries turned to Landon and waved him to come forward.

            Landon just stared at him, feeling like a small child not wanting to come out and greet strangers. He was so scared he felt the slightest movement would cause him to piss his pants.

            Before Landon could move, Sophie marched over and grabbed Landon by the back of his coat and led him out from behind the tree.

            For such a small girl, she was incredibly strong, nearly lifting him off the ground with a single arm. At the emergence of Landon, the massive being gave an earth-quaking start that sent an avalanche of snow coming down from the treetops. It eyed Landon as if he, of all the damn things here, was going to lurch out and bite it.

            “No sudden movements.” Sophie whispered in Landon’s ear as she and Aries presented him to the giant. The Burgodor leaned down and inspected Landon, and that’s when Landon saw that its eye was practically human in appearance. A muddy brown, but with the whites clearly discernable up close. Despite his fear and the choking stench of it, Landon couldn’t help but feel a little intrigued by the monster.

            It resumed its true height and with a great snort, placed Jake onto the ground at Landon’s feet. Landon immediately knelt to inspect Jake’s condition.

            “Stand up. He’ll be fine.” Sophie said, and Landon did as she said, despite Jake whimpering to see his mother.

            It then gave a loud cough, or at least, that’s what Landon thought it was. That’s when ten more monsters emerged from the forest, as if dislodging their bodies from the trees themselves. With them came the six others from the camping trip. Some of them still writhing, much like Jake, but most just limp in the Burgodors’ hands. They placed them down beside Jake and stepped back.

            The Burgodors stood among the snow-covered trees and stared down at Landon and his friends, all alive, albeit some unconscious and some still bleeding. It was in this moment that Landon knew, just knew, that he was never going on another fucking camping trip for the rest of his life.

            He’d be damn lucky to leave his house for several years after this crazy shit.

            “Bow to them.” Sophie growled.

            Landon turned to her, his face twisted partly in confusion, partly in trying not to say or think anything. He was surprised he was still breathing.

            “It’s a form of respect they understand.” Aries said to him wordlessly. Landon bowed alongside Sophie and Aries. The Burgodors began to slip back into the forest, the ground quaking as they went, and before Landon knew it, they were gone.

            The quiet of the forest felt so bright and cheerful now that the tall monsters had left. His friends were back, though a bit banged up, but they were going to be ok.

            “Well, that wasn’t so hard.” Landon laughed, causing Sophie and Aries’s heads to snap in his direction.

            “You fucking idiot!” Sophie roared and dove on top of Landon, knocking him to the ground as an explosion of screams rocked the area. Through the chaos of flying snow, Landon could just make out the swaying of trees and what he supposed was someone screaming in pain. Landon rolled over to the side, landing near Jake and lifted his head. What he saw froze the blood in his veins.

            Aries had his sword in hand, but it hung loosely by his side as something that looked to be made entirely of ice had pierced his abdomen with a blade of ice. It withdrew the shard with a sickening suction sound and cast the massive form of Aries to the side as if he were as light as an empty knapsack. He crashed against a nearby tree, his massive sword falling into the snow.

Landon heard Sophie let out a roar as she charged at the creature, only for it to move aside and easily dodge her swipe with the dagger. The ice creature then descended upon her.

            “No!” Landon screamed, taking an uneasy step forward towards the creature who turned to him. The eyes were hollow icy pits of darkness, and as it turned to him, he saw its jaws unhinge and fall wide, revealing hundreds of dagger-like fangs made for tearing apart flesh. It then flew upon the snow, darting towards Landon in a single fluid motion.

            There was a blast of intense heat that seared Landon’s eyebrows and caused him to fall to the ground once again. A horrible scream echoed through the forest and he saw the ice creature fall to the snow beside him, horribly mangled and partially melted, steam spewing from a burning arrow stuck in its back as it writhed in the snow. The blade it carried was now broken, but it still made a swipe in his direction, missing helplessly. Landon scrambled away as Sophie brought her blade down in a killing blow, right through the skull-like face. It shrieked before falling still. Sophie quickly examined the body before pointing her wand directly at it and melting it into a puddle of water.

            “What the hell was that thing?” Landon asked.

            Sophie didn’t answer, just stared down at the now blank patch of exposed earth it created when it melted. Her demonic mask snapped up to Landon and she shrieked once more and ran over to him. Landon himself shouted something unintelligible as she grabbed his coat by the collar, twisted it, and began choking him. She brought the dagger up and Landon knew this was it. This had all been his fault and she had told him that she would kill him if he fucked this up.

            Aries lay motionless in the snow, a growing patch of red surrounding him.

            What a way to die.

            She raised the blade, ready to plunge it into Landon’s neck.

            “Sophie. Wait.” A voice called out.

            Aries had brought himself up. His mask was off, and he had blood running from his mouth, but he was conscious.

            “Don’t kill him. You know that isn’t the path you want to go down.”

            She growled and raised the dagger again.

             “Sophie.” Aries said again, almost growling himself.

            “He could have killed you.”

            “That’s inconsequential. You of all people know that killing out of spite never helps anyone. And of course, he almost killed us. Look at him! His kind doesn’t know any better. I’m amazed he didn’t trigger the Burgodor Tribe.” Aries winced, “Listen to me, put the knife away and let’s get them the hell out of these woods before something worse finds us.”

            Sophie held the blade high only for a moment, a very uncertain moment, before she lowered it and dropped Landon, allowing him to finally breathe. Sophie went over to her brother and examined his wound. Landon looked around at the six others.

            His friends.

            It’s amazing that they were all still alive, especially with things like that demonic ice creature out there roaming about. The question came to Landon’s mind, but he didn’t dare speak it aloud in fear of summoning something else.

            How were they going to get all of them out of the woods? Especially with Aries injured.

            Landon soon found out as Sophie instructed him to gather materials to fashion sleds for his friends. They shuffled them on top and Sophie used her wand to guide the sleds forward.

            Magic made things so much easier.

            Besides the sound of the sleds gliding along in the snow just ahead of them, the only thing that could be heard was Aries’s labored breathing. Landon wondered if the big guy was going to be alright. Magic or not, getting impaled through the abdomen was no joke. The fact that he was still standing was a testament to how tough Aries truly was.

            Landon saw a clearing ahead and as they passed the trees; he recognized the spot. It was the small hunter’s pull off where Jake and Edgar parked the two cars. They were going to get out of here, finally. That was only if his friends could wake up. Landon turned to Sophie and Aries to thank them profusely, but before he could say anything, Sophie reached out and snagged the mask off his face. He muttered a surprised noise before Sophie waved her wand, the glowing light at the end growing wider and encapsulated Landon’s entire consciousness before the familiar comfortable darkness took him once more.

. . .

            Landon awoke to Jake shaking his shoulder.

            “Dude, wake up.”

            Landon’s eyes fluttered open and he gazed about at his friends hovering over him.

            “What—what happened?”

            “I dunno.” Was all Jake could reply. Landon sat up and examined the area where the cars were parked. He tried to think, his mind a blur of strange images, creepy faces, bright lights, fire, and snow.

            “I think we need to get the hell out of here.” Landon said, getting to his feet and looking around once more. Something was off. He remembered running away from the campsite last night, and now this. Nothing in between. The idea of having no memory of their shitty camping trip scared the hell out of him.

            Fucking aliens or something.

            He then felt his neck and remembered something cold and sharp being placed against it.

            “Let’s get the fuck out of here.” He said again, and the group shuffled into the cars and left.

Landon nor his friends would ever be able to fully recall what happened on their camping trip, but Landon would wake in the middle of the night for weeks afterward seeing a strange, skeletal creature made of ice and feeling a blade placed against his throat. He never went camping ever again.

. . .

Sophie stood barefoot at midnight in the cold forest, breathing in the moonlit air and smelling the wildness of the place. Her patrol route on the southside of the mountain was calm, as it most usually was, but she held her wand at the ready for the off chance that something did happen.

It’s been nine years since the death of Frank Edgewood, the former steward of the invisible masked protectors of the forests of Appalachia, and four years since the Veiled Ones had found their new leader, one of their own.

Aries still lay recovering from his wound in the cottage the two of them shared.

Just eleven of them left now. Sophie thought as she looked about the woods, listening to the silent darkness.

It was almost ten.

The Veiled Ones were not merely lost children anymore. Many of them were now reaching adulthood, and with adulthood came the casting aside of fears, but finding new ones in their wake.

She felt a presence manifest beside her and she could only sigh with annoyance.

“What is it now?”

She turned, expecting it to be the old Enforcer, a familiar ghost with glasses and a bowler hat, known as Abraham Aster, but leapt back in alarm to find someone else entirely standing beside her. He was young, with unruly blond hair and red eyes that glinted mischievously in the darkness. The man, whomever he was, was smiling at her as she withdrew her dagger and pointed her wand at him.

“Who are you and what are you doing here?”

“Whoa there, Sophie! Relax.” The man said, still smiling but putting his hands up in surrender.

“Start talking, now. How do you know my name?” She ordered, grabbing the man by the jacket. He wore a strange black cloak that billowed in the still night.

“I’m a mutual friend of Abraham. A rather old friend, actually, though I predate him by several centuries.” He sighed.

“The name is Jolly, and I am in dire need of some professional assistance, and old Abraham told me where to find the only settlement of mages left in this hemisphere. So, here I am.” She pulled her hand away and studied him. She didn’t trust anyone, hell, she found it hard to trust her own damn brother. Yet, something about this… being, felt different. She could often feel the darkness in the wind; the trees spoke of it, as did the birds. She understood darkness and she did not feel it coming from him.

“So, want to help me stop the end of the world?”