The winter had been much of the same; quiet.

This day was more of the same. The forest was alive with sounds and yet it was dead quiet. No sound that didn't belong existed.

The birds sang and Kilbas' hooves fell on the hardened snow, making surprisingly little sound.
His muffled steps further drowned under the songbirds' voices.

It wasn't that the deer demon or his betrayer were hiding... they simply weren't there.

The Hunter had combed the entire forest all winter and hadn't seen so much as a glimpse or a sign of the elusive pair. The only solution was that they had left.

But they would be back. Kilbas knew it.
He could feel something was about to happen. Something that shaped everyone's futures one way or another.

As further proof, there was that...

A Valkyrie.

They didn't answer to people, the the Clan or to demons... but to Gods.

It was generally believed that an appearance of Valkyries was a sign of a battle to come, and that they decided who died in combat.

But Kilbas knew this not to be true. They were only guides to the battle-fallen. The Hunter believed in making of one's own fate.

This Valkyrie wasn't a stranger to the Hunter. He had been acquainted with her for many a century, coexisting in this plane of reality... but they had never exchanged words.

Kilbas believed that time would come when he dies in battle, and it would be her that takes him to Valhalla. Then, they would finally speak.

Until then, he remained neutral to her presence. She was here only to preserve a balance, just as he was.

Contrary to legend: a Valkyrie being here now wasn't a sign of a battle to come. And yet Kilbas knew in his gut that a fight would happen, and somebody would die.

He knew the Valkyrie felt the same, and so she waited for the dead.

" ..."