18 years later...

⚠WARNING⚠
Strong language ahead (thanks Lambert)

Hmm... they where right. Something did come by and tear these people to shreds. I thought as I analyzed the cart wreckage. Bloody bodies strewn about, many shredded beyond recognition. I swept my amber eyes around the scene until they befell a mostly intact corpse. Crouching over it, I was able to see small details that most normal people wouldn't notice.

No sign of struggle, surprising, since this looks like a massacre. His steps from the wagon are uneven, slow, like he was walking in a trance... interesting...

I then started analyzing the wounds themselves. Broken spine, something big must have done that. Something big, and something that can hypnotize. He has a leg and an arm torn off, but unlike the rest of the bodies he was left intact. Surprised he didn't take the whole body... and what's this?

I found something clutched in the mans right arm. It was a sword, but not steel... no.... Silver.

I looked up to his face, at the eyes and indeed, they where like my own. Amber, and cat like. I checked the neck and chest areas of his corps and found exactly what I was looking for. I lifted a pendant off his chest, like wolf head medallion, but it wasn't a wolf. It was a bear. From the School of the Bear, a Witcher. Like me... that explain why he wasn't shredded. I thought glumly as I dropped the medallion back onto his chest. Probably wounded the monster bad before dropping dead himself, it ran away to lick it's wounds. The scent of his corps his much fresher than the others so he must have come either during the massacre or right after.

I then turned my attention to the blade. Blood. The monster's most likely. And... what's this? I decided to reach for the blade and pull off a lock of brown hair... or perhaps fur?

I doubt that I'd find a beautiful brunette sorceress by following this trail... so, with that thought in mind, the I brought the fur to my nose and inhaled deeply. A rancid, putrid oder raced into my nostrils causing me to choke up and started coughing like Hell. "DAMN!" I exclaimed within fits. "What did he do? Roll in cow shit, dead corpses and sulfur? *cough* *cough* Well, at least the scent is strong enough to follow-"

I was so focused on the smell, I didn't notice that I wasn't alone until my ears caught the sound of a snapping twig from across the scene. Quicker than a normal person's eyes can register, I whipped around and drew my sword. Monster or not, my silver blade is sharp enough to cut down either if they pose a threat. The smell of the monster fur was still in my nose, but another smell came through. Earthy but not like the other creature. Not like the fur, it was familiar to me. One I've known for years. And, when I focused more, I could hear it's breathing, a child... or what seems to be a child.

I sighed. "Rebecca, no use hiding. I can hear and smell you."

Silence greeted me, but I could hear a sharp intake of breath. I sighed again and rolled my eyes.

"Holding your breath is not going to work. I can hear your heartbeat. Not lying."

And indeed, I wasn't. Her beat was quick, but not a scared quick. Her breathing didn't show fear, so my only conclusion was that she ran. I sheathed my blade and stood straight, glaring my eyes, crossing my arms, and emitting a low growl.

"Arrgh! No fair! You Witchers are no fair! You and your supernatural hearing and... and sense of smell and... and all that!" A little girl's voice burst as a figure jumped out from behind the bushes. She was the size of a child and looked to be about 7 or 8, yet her skin was a pale blue and her large eyes a shade of gold. She had long, surprisingly well kept hair as well as surprisingly clean clothes. She was a Godling.

I crouched, my hands clasped together and my menacing glare turning to a playful smirk. "Well, if you hated me and the other Witchers so much, why do you follow me every where? Live in Kaer Morhen? Let Ciri tend to your clothes and hair?" I asked with bemusement.

"Well..." Rebecca started, shifting uncomfortably. "You... well..."

I raised an eyebrow, withholding my chuckles.

She then smiled, glanced up at me and said, "I do like you Percy, it's just sometimes, you ruin the fun."

I laughed, "well Becky, that's just another part of my job description. Monster slayer, expert horse racer, party pooper-"

"I know you're just going to tell me to go back to Kaer Morhen. But I'm not! It's boring! Especially since my favorite Witchers are always gone! Geralt is out, Ciri is always either with him or in another dimension and you are always doing something! All I have is Eskel, who is nice, and ploughing Lambert!"

My eyes went wide and I recoiled slightly. "Damn, for not liking him much he does teach you colorful language-"

"Lambert didn't teach me that one! He taught me fuck, and cocksucking, and shit, and-"

"I have half a mind to wash your mouth out with soap-"

"Geralt taught me that one!"

I chuckled and shook my head. I gazed off towards the forest, watching. Just to make sure whatever killed this caravan didn't come out and intrude on our conversation. "Of course he did. Perhaps living with a bunch of Witchers wasn't the best thing for a Godling..."

"So I don't have to go back to Kaer Morhen?" She asked hopefully.

"Oh, you're going back. But I don't have time to convince you so you'll have to do exactly what I say. Got it? Exactly. Because right now, I'm on the trail of a big bad boy."

"Oooo! What is it? What is it!? An ekimmara? A leshen? Oh! A cyclops! Always wanted to see a Witcher take down one of those guys! Their like, a hundred times your size!" Becky exclaimed as she clapped her hands enthusiastically. I dropped my head and shook it before sighing.

"No, no, and sorry to disappoint you but also no. Everything points to a fiend. Speaking of which, I need to sniff it's abnormally rancid hair sample again to regain it's scent." With that said, I stood up once more. Brushing off the dust that collected on my armor from Kaer Morhen and my brown hooded cloak. I took the hair sample from my satchel, the one on the right that holds my potions and ingredients, and took another whiff of the stench. I  scrunched my face and coughed again. "Akh! Disgusting!" I muttered.

I was just about to follow the scent again when Becky cleared her throat. I sighed and turned towards her. "What now?"

She extended her arms and yelled, "horsey horsey horsey!"

"Now!?" I snapped causing her to chuckle. "I am hunting a monster seven times your size and you want me to give you a piggyback ride!?"

"Yep!" She replied, popping the P.

"I don't have time for this-"

"If you don't! I'll... I'll... I'll tell everyone how much of a softie you are!" She called as I walked away.

"Oh yeah?" I called back without breaking a stride. "And who will listen? Go within feet from the nearest village and they'll throw stones and pitchforks at you. Trust me. It's not pretty."

"Please!" She begged and rand after me.

"No." I replied as I thought. Do not look at her.

"Please?"

"No."

"Please? Please? Please? Please? Please?"

"I said no!" I roared and turned to her. She widened her eyes and gave me the largest, most heart melting puppy dog eyes ever seen by man or Witcher alike.

"No." I said again, quickly turning my back and crossing my arms. "No, na-ah, no way. I'm a heartless Witcher that won't work on me..." I stealed a glance again, then looked away. "No way, gotta fiend to catch. No way, I am going to let a Godling ride on my back while I'm on my way to my and their potential death!"

~☆~

"You and Geralt can never resist!" Becky said a few minutes later. She was resting upon my shoulders as I trekked the Amell Mountain range. I grunted in response as I continued to follow the scent.

"Hey, remember how we met?"

"Uh-hu. I saved you from some bandits. The people you used to live with sold you for some food and you became some sort of oddity to them. Had to kill them all, loot the keys from their corpses and rode you back to camp. I also remember I was scolded terrible for taking Roach, Ciri laughing and trying to defend me as she stroke your hair. Of course I'd never forget the day my life turned to Hell- ouch!" Becky hit me right on the head.

"Not nice!" Rebecca said as she laughed. Just then, we made it to a large cave entrance.

"Shh! We're here." I whispered as I held my hand up. Becky immediately stopped laughing, I knew her face immediately morphed to fear as she saw the gaping maw.

"You... you can do this. You are the best Witcher ever!" We heard snarling and a roar coming from inside. I grabbed Rebecca and gently set her down on the ground before unsheathing my beautiful, master crafted silver blade.

"Looks like an old mine, these mountains are known for their jade and jasper mines..." I whispered.

"Stay here, don't follow. Not even if I sound like I need help." I said, making a halting gesture with my hands.

"Okay," she promised, then gave me a quick hug. "Be safe big brother." She whispered. I returned the gesture, but didn't make any promises before entering the ominous cave. Don't make a girl a promise you cannot keep.

~☆~

It was a while before I had to finally take a cat potion. And not a moment too soon. For laying mere inches before me, was the monster himself. My previous assumptions where correct. It was a fiend, and it was badly wounded. I quickly yet quietly scrambled around my potion bag until I grabbed what I was looking for. Relic oil.

I coated my blade with the oil and got prepared to use quen. As expected, the fiend's eyes snapped open as he most likely sensed another presence in his lair and smelt the oil coating my blade. As he stood, rising higher and higher over me, my only thoughts, and words for that matter where, "damn you're ugly."

The comments seemed to not please the fiend, for he roared at the intruder. His breath smelling like death and decay causing me to cough. "Wow, gotta take care of your hygiene buddy, it could be the death of you."

It roared again and jumped back, it paced a little as I got in a defensive position. Then the creature charged. I lept to the side and swiped my blade at the foreleg closest to me. Blood splat everywhere as the blade severed the leg. It yelped, staggered, but didn't fall and recovered. It glanced back at it's leg then back to me. It roared with anger and charged again. This time, I dove under it, rolled, and slashed at the creature's underbelly. The fiend screeched again and whipped around to face me. It started to open it's third eye, which was exactly what I was waiting for. I quickly reached a small knife which was dripping with relic oil just for this purpose.

The eye opened.

I threw the knife, closing my eyes.

And it hit it's mark.

The fiend roared which caused me to open my eyes. My knife was jutting out of the monster's third eye. It became frenzied, it's last line of defense destroyed and now it was in survival mode. Kill, or be killed. It charged me and swiped his front claw at me. The impact knocked me off my feet and broke my quen. As the magic shield cracked, it caused an explosion. Injuring the fiend while rendering him temporarily blind. I recovered quickly and charged the monster, launching onto it's back, ran up it's spine, and stabbed my blade into the monster's throat. It reared and roared with pain and fury.

I had just enough time to cast another quen before the fiend flipped and smashed his back into the ground. My shield exploded again, launching the fiend corps off of my body and causing it to land a few inches away. I sat for a few seconds to catch my breath, then I pushed my way up again and walking towards the fiend. I took out my silver blade from it's body and raised it over my head. I stared into the beast's lifeless eyes. This monster was nothing like Rebecca, it killed innocent people. It had to die. So, I brought my blade down, severing it's head from it's body.

~☆~

"Wow, 150 gold?" Rebecca whispered. She sat in front of me as we rode back towards Kaer Morhen. "Yep. Surprised they didn't try to cheat me. Usually those villages do..."

Just then, a bright green light appeared right in front of me. My midnight black mare reared and cried out in fear. Instinctively, I grabbed Becky with one arm and the other gripped the reigns. "Whoa there Àvyssos, whoa girl." Like always, she obeyed instantly. No need for Axii at all. When I felt things where safe, I released Becky and glared at the source of the light.

"Ciri!" Becky cried with joy as she jumped off Ávyssos and ran towards her.

"Hey Becky!" Ciri called as she crouched to her height and received the godling's hug. When they pulled apart, Ciri's face turned serious and she gazed up at me. "You need to return to Kaer Morhen. Now."

"Oh shit. What did I do now?" I groaned.

"Nothing." Ciri said, yet she still had that look like she'd just seen the wraith of her mother. "But someone is there who really needs to see you."

"Okay, well, I'll be there in a few-"

"No Percy. Now."

And just like that, Ciri teleports herself, me, Rebecca, and Ávyssos into Kaer Morhen's grounds.