Hey all! You may have been wondering what I was doing all this time, not posting any new updates to Colony 351 (when I said it was going to be updated less frequently than Thunder, I didn't mean this slow!), well I was making this.

Note: This isn't one of those sappy stories, where everything's alright at the end, where it goes happily every after and all of the characters skip off into the sunset. No, this is a dark, dreary story of delusions, paranoia and legendary creatures. This, is Skolver.

Part 1: The Hunt

The ivory moon rose over the icy taiga, illuminating the trees in a pale light. I searched from my mountain camp once more for the elusive Skolver, but even from this vantage point he was nowhere to be found. I sighed. Another day’s work wasted. I fear my team doubt the very existence of the Skolver, although I am above such suspicions. I have seen him myself, in this very forest, as he took my mother’s life.

I remember him now, with his teeth that seemed to be made of icicles and not bone, and fur reminiscent of freshly fallen snow. I am still unsure of why he left me alone. Perhaps he didn’t see me, fearfully watching from my hiding place. His intentions are irrelevant however. When I stood over my mother’s grave, I swore on her life that I would not rest until his blood stained my hands. My team sit separately, chatting and laughing while I sit alone in my tent. I don’t think they entirely trust me. I didn’t even bother to learn their names. I think we both know that this cannot last. Sooner or later they will desert me, leaving me alone in this icy forest, bored of my fruitless quest for vengeance.

I think that the only reason they’re still here is because they were issued a direct order from Kora herself. Something about my help being invaluable in Operation Crimson Hammer. It was nothing really. Just a distraction from my pursuit of the Skolver. Merely thinking about his name fills me with spite and anger. “Echelon?”, I turned around to see a member of my squad snooping into my tent. “What do you want?”, I reply, half expecting him to pull out a knife and run me through with it. The knight holds up a plate of barbecued Chroma, “I thought you might be hungry”. I scowl at him and wave him away. It was probably poisoned anyway, just another plot to get rid of me so that they can return to Haven. Sometimes I envy them, for I have nothing to go back to. No friends, no family. I usually snap out of it though. Such thoughts can only distract me.

We search the woods again in our usual manner, fanning out with a flare gun in case one of us finds him. Besides a few wolvers, we see nothing. I can sense that my comrades are growing restless. I grab my Flamberge and begin poking at a bush, looking for clues. I heard a soft yelp, and a Frostifur stumbled out. I noticed red patches down its leg. The wolver whimpered, trying to hobble away. I raised the sword, frustrated at my the lack of findings, and prepared to put the hound out of its misery. The Frostifur, upon seeing my intentions, yowled for help from its pack, but none came. It was like me. Abandoned and alone in this icy hell. Confused and scared and determined to survive. It begged me with longing eyes not to end its life so soon but I felt no remorse, when I mercilessly impaled him through his skull.

I cleaned the blood off the blade and slid it back into my scabbard. I had a feeling that it wouldn’t be the last death today. I was about to go back to combing through the forest when I heard a fizzling sound, and then a crackle. I looked up towards the sky to find a flare coming from the northeast. Someone had actually found something? I was almost glad. Almost. I sprinted towards the source, running past the curious frostifurs wondering where the mysterious fire had come from. I pushed through a bush into a clearing where a knight lay, covered in blood. I ran towards him, and checked his pulse. He was dying. I recognised him, from last night. He was the knight who offered me some food in my tent.

His eyes flickered open, seeing my face. He whispered, choking blood, “Skolver”. I whipped around to see the ice-blue beast which haunted my nightmares. I whipped out a Magnus and fired several rounds off towards it, but with little effect. The shadowy figure disappeared as suddenly as it came. The other knights came through to the clearing. They obviously hadn’t seen him. I looked down to the dying squad member, who was still coughing up reddened bile. He would probably die in a few hours, no doubt about it. He had warned me about Skolver, which I supposed counted for something, if very little. The least I could do for him was to end his suffering. Much to the other knights’ horror, I pulled out my Magnus, aimed it towards the wounded knight and pulled the trigger.

They journey back to base was quiet, but I could feel the others’ thoughts, piercing through my mind like daggers. They don’t understand my thinking, why I am so ruthless and calculating, sacrificing an untold number of lives just to end another.They hadn’t gone through what I have. How could they know? The knights stayed quiet, almost as if they thought that if they spoke they’d be next to provoke my ire. If only they knew about my father, curse his soul. He used to be a kind father, someone I could look up to for guidance, until my mother’s death. He neglected me, taking up drinking after that. Despite my begging, he quit his job and stayed at home drinking away the pain.

Once, sprawled on the couch at home when he barked at me to fetch him another volt oil cocktail from the fridge, he said that he hated me, that he wished that I was never born. I ran way from home after that. I made a living on the streets, when a kind Stranger took me in as his apprentice. It was with him that I learnt how to survive, how to kill a Chroma from sixty paces and lastly, who the Skolver was. He told me that the beast who killed my mother was, according to my description, a legendary monster who was known to inhabit the forest. He took me to the Advanced Training Hall where I honed my fighting skills and then joined the Spiral Order. After that, it was several decades of missions and sieges of gremlin munitions centres until I became a Vanguard. Then, I began to hunt for the Skolver.

We arrived at our home base where we all returned to our tents. I could tell the other knights were on the brink of leaving. Good riddance. I went to sleep that night and dreamed of the Skolver laughing at me, taunting my lack of successful findings. He slowly stalked towards me, softly growling at me. He suddenly leapt forwards and bit me, causing me to wake up with a jolt. I looked around, flustered, but all of the tents around me were empty except my own. I cursed, and spit at the ground. The cowards had left me, alone, to survive the wilderness.

The trek to the waterfall was long and arduous, but I considered it worth it. It was the only place unexplored. If the Skolver wasn’t there, then I didn’t know where else he would be. My remaining supplies, or lack thereof, would be a problem. There were only a few scraps of Chroma jerky and a small box of Jelly. They would sustain me for a day at most. I only realise now that this is a suicide mission. I will not survive the encounter. The only thing that remains to be seen is whether the Skolver will or not. I pray to the gods of revenge that they will grant me this small piece of retribution in exchange for my life.

I trudge through the snow, still looking for the Skolver. I had finished my rations a few hours ago and the effects of hunger had begun to take their toll on me. I began seeing shadows watching me from behind the trees and wolvers turning into icy mist when I looked at them. I stuffed my hands into my coat to delay the inevitable frostbite. I can feel death knocking on my door now. All I can do now is to barricade it with thoughts of vengeance. I stop for a moment, feeling exhausted beyond measure and collapse into the frost. As I fall into the snow I hear the howl of a beast piercing the night.

Part 2: Revelations “Don’t worry. You’re safe here,” said Feron slowly, trying to calm down the exasperated knight. “But he... He just killed him!” the knight replied, clearly in distress. Feron maintained his composed demeanour even though he too was as disturbed about Echelon as the knight. Feron leaned forwards, “Tell me what happened. From just before the event”. The knight looked at Echelon in the hospital bed, seemingly half expecting him to wake up and strangle him. “Well... As you know I was part of the squad that Kora ordered to accompany Echelon”, the knight managed to get out, trying to remain calm, “One day, we were ordered to spread out through the forest to look for some beast who killed Echelon’s mothe-”. “There is no such beast” interrupted Feron, “But carry on”.

The knight stared at Feron mystified, but continued, “Well, as I was saying, he ordered us to look for a beast and so we split up, each with a flare gun. A few hours into the search, I heard a loud fizzle and looked up to see a red trail in the sky. I followed the trail to a clearing where I saw my friend Chive on the ground, with Echelon standing over him. Echelon seemed to have stabbed him, so I hid in a bush so that he didn’t see him. I watched as Echelon spun around and shot several bullets towards my left. I looked to see if there was anything there but there wasn’t. He was just shooting at thin air. I went up from my hiding place at the same time as the others coming through to the clearing. Echelon looked towards where he was shooting and stamped his foot in annoyance. He then, to myself and my comrade’s horror, pulled out a Magnus, aimed it at Chive and pulled the trigger”.

Feron winced. He had heard the story before from the recon team but they didn’t feel for Chive as much as the knight, his friend. He almost wanted to let the knight go back to the psychiatrist but there were still questions to be answered, “What happened after that?”. The knight took a deep breath and continued, “Well that night, the other knights and I agreed that Echelon wasn’t sane and so we went back to Haven to get the recon team. When we got back to the taiga we found Echelon lying in the snow, murmuring about failure. The recon team pulled him onto a stretcher and then carted him off to Haven”.

The knight looked at Feron curiously, for he too had some questions, “Why would he do such a thing? No knight in their right mind would be so determined that they’d kill to do it?”. Feron sighed, “Well Echelon isn’t exactly in his right mind”, he said, choosing his words carefully, “When he was young, in wintertime, his mother would often take him to play in that same forest to have snowball fights and build snowmen. The family weren’t doing very well financially, though there was a high life insurance benefit fee on Echelon’s mother’s life. His father plotted to murder her and claim insurance while she was playing with Echelon in the snow, right in front of Echelon”.

Feron paused, seeing the pained expression on the knight’s face then continued, “For some reason, his mother knew what was happening and hid Echelon behind a rock to keep him safe. He watched his mother get shot in the head by her husband. The plan failed though. Although we didn’t find out about the murder until very recently, the benefits of the insurance went to Echelon, which could only be claimed when he was 18. Watching from behind the rock, Echelon couldn’t grasp the fact that his father was a murderer and in his head, turned the killer of his mother into an icy wolf instead of his father. His father took advantage of this and continued life as usual, despite the consequences. Echelon developed a condition known as paranoid personality disorder. He became extremely distrustful of strangers and made very few friends. His mind altered everything he saw to further convince him that the Skolver was real, making his memories distorted and corrupted”.

Feron himself was barely keeping himself from welling up in tears, as he got out the last few words “ He thought he was doing the right thing”.

I lie in the hospital bed, watching the blur of motion of the doctors and nurses as they give me drugs to ease the pain. I know I am dying. Sooner or later the ice in my blood will block up my veins and stop my heart. My only regret is that I couldn’t say sorry. Sorry to all the knights and the innocents I have killed. The friend of Chive told me what happened. I think the drugs they gave me cleared out my head too, letting me understand. I still can’t believe that my father killed my mother. He is the true monster here, not all the wolvers I have slain over my adulthood. Not even the imaginary Skolver, who I now know was not the culprit. My vision goes dim. This is where it all ends, where my life comes to a close. My heart stops and I only have time for one conscious thought.

Goodnight Cradle