The Light

They lived in the woods.

The Tótason family were a unique kind of people. Two adults, a teen girl, five kids, all with pure white hair. They lived in a cabin that seemed to be tossed into some dark corner of the woods with no roads leading to it. They looked like any ordinary mountain-dwelling family, but they were far from it.

The girl, Nóri, did most of the household chores while the mother, Marísa, did all of the cooking and Morgan, the father, hunted. The rest of the kids did whatever chores they could, but their main task was to learn everything they could about the world and, most importantly, survive.

The Tótason family’s unique qualities rarely come out, but their presence is the reason they have to live so far away from the rest of the world, and why it’s so hard to survive.

One day, Nóri was gently nudged awake by Morgan and she opened her eyes wearily but shot them open the moment she saw how early it was.

“Is this really happening?” She said, sitting upright, trying her best to contain herself.

Morgan put a finger to his lips and smiled through his beard. “Happy birthday, Nóri, go get your boots on.”

She tried not to squeal as she briefly hugged him and ran over to the front door. As she laced her boots, Morgan put his sword's sheath around his waist and threw his fur coat over his shoulders. Nóri instinctively grabbed her ax on her way out, but Morgan stopped her.

“You won’t need that, take this instead.” He said, handing her a long, wooden box. “Open it outside, though.”

Her eyes widened and she bolted out the door, Morgan chuckled to himself and closed the door behind him.

Nóri knelt in the snow and opened the box. It was a bow.

Instead of cheering or screaming, she remained silent as she held it in her hands, feeling the grooves in the soft wood and the tightness of the string. “It’s beautiful.” She said, unable to look away from it.

Morgan handed her a quiver. “Give it a whirl.”

She pulled an arrow out, put the nock on the string and pulled it back to her cheek. She took a deep breath, it felt natural, as if it wrapped around her like a cloak, as if she’s had it her entire life. She let go of the string and the arrow embedded itself into a tree, splitting every fiber from the bark to its core.

“Very good!” Morgan laughed, “You’re a natural.”

“Dad I…” She said, looking down at the bow again. “I don’t know what to say.”

He smiled. “You don’t have to say anything, just don’t tell your brothers about this, you know how jealous they’d get.”

She hugged him, “Thanks, Dad.”

“Don’t worry about it.” He said, patting her back. “Why don’t we put it to use? Your mother needs some food to cook with tonight.”

“Okay!” She said excitedly, trying to put the quiver on before Morgan had to help.

For most of the trip, Nóri eagerly led the way until they came to a saddle that overlooked the entire valley. She could see smoke rising up from the distant town.

“Dad, have you ever been in the town?” she asked, dusting the snow off of a fallen tree and sitting on it.

“Once, a very long time ago.” He said, sitting next to her. “Your mother and I used to live there.”

“What was it like?”

“Different.” He said. “In towns, people work together. Like how I hunt, you get firewood, and your mother cooks. Everyone has a job that keeps the town alive.”

“Why did we leave?” Nóri said. “I mean, why haven’t we gone back?”

“You know why we haven’t.” He said, staring down through the valley.

“But we haven’t seen any of them in years.” She said. “Maybe they went away.”

“They’ll never go away, Nóri.” He said, standing up. His tone told her that the conversation was over.

After a painfully long silence, Morgan knelt down. “Come look at this.”

She came up alongside him and saw a pair of hoof prints.

“Must be a big one.” He said. “Couldn’t have gone too far, they look fresh.”

“It must’ve gone to the lake.” She said, looking over a distant hill.

He smiled at her. “I knew you were a natural at this.”

She smiled back at him and they followed the trail.

As she followed the tracks, she looked around at the endless wave of mountains, wondering how far they go, and what might lurk in them.

“Dad?” She said. “How far have you gone when you’re hunting?”

“Very far.” He said with a grin. “I’ve even been as far as three days can take you.”

“Really?” She said. “Where do you sleep?”

He patted his bag. “In this tent. I bring it whenever I go out. Now be quiet, I think we’re getting close.”

Nóri felt herself crouch as they came closer to the edge of the lake. She followed him until he stopped behind a rock.

“Look.” Morgan whispered, touching the snow by the tracks. There were drops of red that seemed to glow in contrast with the snow. “Something injured it.”

While he inspected the tracks, she looked over the rock. When she saw it, she slowly stood up and dropped her bow beside her.

“What are you doing?” He said, “You’ll scare it away.”

“No, I won’t.” She said, Morgan followed her gaze and saw the moose, laying against a tree, with its chest cavity torn open.

She found her bow and began stalking toward it, fitting a new arrow in. All around her there were chunks of organs and bones, as if the moose had exploded. The blood splatter even seemed to fan out from the corpse.

“Nóri, don’t get any closer.” He said, following her cautiously. “Let me handle this.”

She said nothing as she approached the body, but Morgan did not stop her. He must have thought that it would make them vulnerable if he tried to force her back.

She was about to put the arrow away when she heard scratching coming from inside the corpse and she raised her bow. She barely had a second to release the string as the creature leapt out, spraying more blood onto the snow. The arrow in its face forced it to stagger back as it howled. Morgan pushed her out of the way and sent his sword deeper into its head. With a final gargle, it collapsed to the ground. He wrenched his sword out, sheathed it, and helped Nóri up.

“What was that?” She said, staring down at its bloodied face that seemed to be perpetually grinning.

“The reason we can’t go into town.” He said.

Her eyes widened. “Really? I’ve never seen one of them before.”

He nodded. “Now you have.”

“What do we do?” Nóri asked.

“We go home, as fast as possible.” He said. “From what I know about these things, they don’t hunt alone.”

Nóri jumped when she heard the sound of ice breaking, and turned to see more creatures tearing through the center of the lake, b-lining toward them. Morgan turned to her and grabbed he shoulder.

“Listen to me, you have to run, don’t worry about where you go as long as it’s away from here.” He said. “Trust me, I will find you.”

He pushed her away and she sprinted as fast as she could, deep into the forest. The howling grew to surround her and she pulled her bow out, shooting one as it ran by a tree in front of her. She kicked it out of the way as she ran and ducked under the clawed hand of another. She heard their whispers as they darted through the trees and slashed at her hair.

Suddenly, she slid to a stop. She was at the edge of a cliff. Slowly, she turned around to see the creatures as they swarmed around her, staring with their pale eyes.

This couldn’t be it, she had to do something. She fitted her bow as the creatures chattered, almost as if they were laughing. She tried to aim the bow when she felt a buzzing sound in her head and her vision blurred.

“Not again, not now.” She said as darkness clouded her vision, consuming all but the face of the creature. But its expression was different, was it terror?

She woke up to a small moose, licking her face. She gently pushed it away and sat up. It was a baby, most likely seven months old. She looked around. There was no cliff, no monsters, and no lake. She looked up. The sun was on the opposite side of the sky, it was already getting late. She slowly stood, it was dangerous to be so close to an offspring with the mother nearby. But she saw nothing. She looked down, the moose was still licking her leg.

She patted its head. “Where’s your mamma?”

The question answered itself when she remembered the dead moose by the lake.

She saw the clouds start to turn red as the sun set. She knew it would be too late to make it home before dark, so she started collecting firewood as she went. The geography was much flatter, so she assumed that she was in the valley. Eventually, she came to a clearing and looked east where the sky grew darker and saw the cliffs.

As desperate as she was to get home, she had to piece together what happened, so she turned and headed for the cliffs, collecting more wood as she went.

When she got there, she followed the cliff face until she found the place where the creatures surrounded her. Even though it was dark, she could still see the massive fissure that split the cliff face in half.

Nóri had the strange blackouts before, but none of them were nearly as destructive. She knew she should have told someone, but she didn’t want anyone to worry. She felt something bump her leg, it was the moose calf.

“C’mon buddy.” She said, “Let’s make a fire.”

She followed the cliff side and found a place were a flat boulder leaned against it, leaving a perfect shelter underneath. After she built the fire, she set her coat by it to dry and sat on a rock by one of the entrances. She put her bow, quiver, and hatchet by her feet. She didn’t want to take any chances.

The calf came into the shelter wearily and curled up against her leg.

She patted its head again. “We got a long day tomorrow.”

She set her bag on the rock and laid her head against it. It was far from comfortable, but it was enough for her fall asleep.

Nóri’s sleeping mind wasn’t sure if she was home or not, sleeping on the floor by the furnace or on her bed. Her mind didn’t seem to stop thinking, even when her body was asleep.

But then, a sound from the real world broke through it all.

“Wakey, wakey.” It said

Nóri never woke up so fast before. In a single move, she was up with her bow, trained on the creature across from her at the other entrance.

The creature whooped and cackled, hopping on its rock like it just witnessed a pleasant birthday surprise.

Before she let go of the string, it spoke again. “Don’t be a bore, I’ve come to play a game with you.”

“I’m not really in the mood.” She said, shooting an arrow that barely missed, but the creature didn’t move.

“Please play with me, it gets lonely in the dark.” It said. “Besides, it’s a game of questions, and I know you like answers.”

She wanted nothing more than to shoot it where it sat, but it was clearly not a threat to her. But still, she pulled her hunting knife out and held it close.

“Why do you keep following my family?” She asked.

“Because of you.” It said.

“What?” Nóri said.

The creature cackled. “My turn!” It said. “How many people have you eaten?”

“None.” She said.

The creature was visibly confused. “None?”

“My turn.” She said. “What are you?”

“We are you.” It said. “You were born from the light, we were born from the darkness.”

“That doesn’t make sense.” She said.

“Maybe it doesn’t, but it’s true.” It said. “Do you know that your parents lie?”

“What?” She said, “No they don’t.”

“Answer the question.”

She sighed, “No, I didn’t know.”

She looked back up at it, “Last time I saw you, what happened?”

“You used your birth power and destroyed us.” It said.

As the creature opened its mouth to ask the next question, its head exploded.

Moments later, Morgan came in, holding a shotgun.

“Dad?” She hugged him before he could say anything.

“I am so glad you’re alive.” He said, hugging her tighter. “I’m gonna take you home.”

She looked outside, at the darkness where the moose calf must have disappeared into. “Not in the dark, not when those things are practically invisible.”

“Of course, we’ll stay here for the night.” He said. “You picked an excellent shelter anyway, I taught you well.”

She looked down and remembered what the creature said.

“We need to talk.” She said, and to her surprise, he did not seem confused, almost like he expected it.

“Sure,” He said, sitting down, “Go ahead.”

“The creature you killed.” She started to pace. “It came to talk to me, not to kill me or whatever, just to talk. And it told me that you’ve lied to me, but I don’t know….”

“Yes.” Morgan said. “It was right, we’ve been lying to you. We’ve been waiting to tell you the truth for years, but we weren’t sure what the right time would be. But now the time has come.”

Nóri silently sat down, waiting.

He gave a heavy sigh. “A long time ago, when your mother and I lived in the town, an old sage came and made a prophecy, about a girl who would be born under a solar eclipse. The eclipse started precisely when your mother went into labor, and it ended as soon as you were pulled out.

“The sage said that the child would be born with extraordinary powers, but upon her creation, otherworldly monsters would rise up as a result. The townspeople immediately banished us.”

“I’ve been having blackouts.” She said. “I would wake up in another place, and wherever I was last would be destroyed. I must’ve done it to those creatures yesterday.”

Morgan nodded. “I saw the damage when I went looking for you.”

“So,” She said, “I’m the reason none of us can live normally?”

He smiled. “Yes, and I’m glad.”

She looked up. “What?”

“I’m glad.” He repeated. “I’ve said a lot of good things about the town, but your mother and I weren’t very popular. We were poor, hated and I felt like everything I did was for the town. Now, everything I do here is for my family. Here, we have a future.”

After a long pause, he looked up at the moon. “It’s getting late, and we have a long day tomorrow, we should get some sleep.”

“Dad?” She said finally, “Thank you, thank you for everything.”

Nóri fell asleep before she could hear his response.