Huntress In The Snow - Tumblr Posts
She wasn’t lonely, she told herself. Over and over again. The loss of her companions was something natural, a part of life. She had seen many deaths in her time. Many battles, a lot of loss, and oh so many, who would never return to their loved ones.
She had always felt sympathy for those mourning. But never would she have expected, now that it had happened to her, for it to be so burning, so fierce and sharp, so lasting and exhausting; robbing her of her will to go on, to keep wandering the earth, how her companions and her had promised each other so many years ago.
But they had promised after all; promised to keep traveling, and help whoever needed aid on their journey, even if but one was left of their guild. And so she continued on, even though they had assisted so many villages already, even though they had given their last possessions to the poor so many times already, even though so many of them had breathed their last breath in service to strangers already ... and so many of them had forsaken their vow already.
No, she would not waver, and she would not falter. She would stay true to their promise. Because she knew, even if they weren’t by her side any longer, her companions were still counting on her.
Her gaze drifted over the cold, white wasteland. In the mountains, from which she had emerged from only days before, she had found a small assembly of people. Having heard of her guild’s vow to help whenever and whoever they could, they had pleaded to her. Their kingdom had been surrounded by vile creatures, spawns of the night seeking nothing but death and destruction. They had managed to flee, but many other were still trapped inside the castle walls.
Not too far off, she could indeed make out the remains of a castle and its surrounding town. However, in ruins and engulfed by smoke; the wind carrying the stench of burned flesh. The creatures must have set fire to the town, having given up breaching through the castle gates to reach their victims.
She had been too late to save the people. But she would not be too late to hunt the creatures down, and slaughter every single one of them. Her snow owl screeched as it flew off ahead to search for their prey from far above. They must have quite a head-start, but she would catch up to them quickly. She was the best huntress, after all, and once she had decided on her prey, nothing could escape her grasp. She might not be able to bring relieve and joy back to the group hiding in the mountains, but at the least she could bring them the message that she had avenged their fallen.
And so she headed off, following the path her owl had taken, following through on her promise from that fateful night, and kept going until her legs would give out underneath her and she could keep on no longer.
(via ArtStation - Armoured knight female, seunghee lee)