Nikolai Petrov
Once upon a time there was a man named Nikolai Petrov. He was a librarian, working for the governing forces of the USSR, in the oblast of Kaliningrad. Sandwiched between Lithuania and Poland, it was what he knew as home.
One fateful day on November 9th of 1989, at the age of 23, he was involved in the events taking place in Berlin. During this event, he was there as a record keeper for the USSR. Once the proceedings were over, he began to walk back to his car, stopping inside a store to purchase a pack of cigarettes.
While he was headed back out, the door opened into a strange world he had never seen before. He was pulled through by a strange otherworldly beast, wrapped in a cloak of gold, with stag horns protruding from its head. It grabbed him with a cold and unforgiving grip, and pulled him into this strange cruel world. The door disappeared behind him.
He found himself in a library, indescribable in size, the being looked at him with its icy gaze and said, “You work here now, you will read stories to my daughters.” It gestured to lovely daughters with smaller horns, with similarly icy eyes.
It continued, “I am the Erlking, and you are now my record keeper, my librarian, and my daughters story tellers.”
He looked up into the nearly endless bookshelves, seemingly infinite in height, going on into the clouds and clearly beyond. He looked to the children, their seemingly solid ice eyes, and their horrifying smiles. He considered all that was put in front of him, and wondered if running was an option. He turned to look to the door, and realized it was not even behind him anymore.
He accepted his fate, realizing there was no hope left for him to escape.
After what felt like an eternity of reading the demon children, after what felt like an eternity of hearing the same once upon a time over and over. He saw an opportunity.
While reading a story to the children, one of them lamented, “This library is boring, I cannot stand to be here anymore. I want to be part of a story, one other than my fathers.”
He darted to his feet and said, “Then I shall make you a story, weave it from the fabric of this world, and the world I came from.” He realized this must be convincing, lest he be killed by the very beast that enslaved him. He continued, “All you must do is take me to my world, and you will be part of the greatest story I have ever written, and I will be your narrator!” The children, their icy eyes alight agreed, and in that moment he had formed a pledge, one he must uphold. The children started to their feet, and faster than he had ever seen them move previously. They ran to a door, a door that had not previously been there. One of them touched it, and a gate opened to another strange place.
“This leads to your world,” one of them said, “and once we get there, we will be part of a grand story!”
He ran through the door, and ran, and continued to run even when his legs felt like they were going to give out. The children could not follow, their dresses were too heavy, their shoes were too large. Without a horse like their father, they were incapable of following a man at full gate.
He reached a strange place at the end of the path he had followed, their were different beasts, only similar to the previous beasts in that they frightened him. One of them saw him, and staring with intent it spoke with a gaped mouth, “You’re running from your keeper.”
Nikolai did not know how to respond, but assumed the creature was right, and nodded. With that, it touched a archway of stone, and gestured to an open field, but he recognized the fields contents. It was wheat.
He thanked the strange creature and dove through the door. It closed behind him, but the arch was still there, it was part of a tree. He looked around, he did not know where he was, or how he was going to get home, but he knew he had to.
He found the road, he charged towards the first signs of civilization, looking to find any person who could help him make it home. He found a small hamlet, filled with people bewildered by his presence. He was quickly approached by a man in a police uniform, but his badge was german.
In German, the officer asked him, “Are you alright? Where did you come from?”
Speaking broken shaky German, he returned with, “I am from Kaliningrad, and I do not know where I am, help me please.”
The officer looked shocked and horrified, he called Nikolai a cab, and asked him, “Do you have any money on you?”
Reaching into his pocket, he fished out his wallet, seeming surreal that anyone would ask that, he realized he actually had quite a bit of Rubles from going to Germany all those years ago. Years? Was it years? Or days? Weeks? He did not even know anymore, time was no longer right with him.
Getting back to the task at hand, he nodded at the officer and showed him the wad of crumpled notes. The officer nodded in near bewilderment, and put him into the cab. He turned to the cab driver, and told him to take Nikolai to the Russian embassy, the cab driver nodded in understandingly.
The ride was long, and difficult, Nikolai saw the German countryside, saw the cars and the more modern buildings. He asked the cab driver what year it was, and in a surprised and confused voice said, “1992, what year did you think it was, sir?” Nikolai looked down at his hands, and suddenly felt out of place.
Reaching the Russian embassy, he handed the cab driver a fistful of rubles. The driver looked confused, and said, “Where did you get these? I thought these all disappeared when the USSR dissolved last year?”
Nikolai, with a shocked look on his face said, “I’m sorry? Never mind, will that work as payment?”
The cab driver hesitated for a moment, and said, “Yeah, it works, hope you can get back home safely, you look pretty roughed up.”
He walked into the embassy, seeing Russian writing on the walls felt calming, his mother tongue was calming. He walked up to the first official looking individual he could find and held up his I.D.
He spoke in Russian for what felt like the first in years, “I am Nikolai Petrov, I am from Gusev Kaliningrad. I would like to return home please.”
The guard looked at his I.D, mouth agape, and brought Nikolai into the back room. He sat Nikolai down, and said, “I’ll go get you some clothes, I’ll bring back some food and water too, and I’ll make some calls. Do you know how long you’ve been gone?”
Nikolai looked back at his I.D and said, “Four years.”
The guard nodded and closed the door. Nikolai wondered what happened to his Babushka, to his friends, to his job. He was afraid.
A few minutes went by and the guard returned, he looked at Nikolai and placed a photo on the table. Nikolai recognized it as himself, only slightly older, and definitely in better condition.
The guard said, “Sir, I know you’re saying you’re Nikolai Petrov, but Nikolai is still at home, he’s taking care of his Babushka.” Nikolai was shaken, “But it’s okay, I know that you’re not human anymore, let me explain everything to you.”
The guard was apparently an ensorceled mortal, a friend of his was a changeling. He told Nikolai everything about it that he could. Explaining what his fetch was, what the true fae were, and explaining that he needed to become part of a freehold, and fast.
“I’ll get you back to Kaliningrad if you’d really like, you can kill your fetch, and take their place.” The guard told him.
Nikolai looked down at his picture of his Babushka, “No, take me to Tambov, I’m not going to be the same after this, and I don’t want Babushka to worry about me. I have friends there, I will be with them.”
The guard looked displeased, but understood where Nikolai was coming from.
Nikolai made it to Tambov, with no problems, met up with old friends that had moved there, joined their group and began his career as an illicit enforcer.
Not much was to be said of him, until 2010, when the freehold he was a part of collapsed. Several of the changelings were headed for a place called the Cereal Box, in the United States. So he sold most of his possessions, purchased a ticket to Chicago, and found his way to Battle Creek.
Short Term Goals:
Become harder to kill
Obtain at least 10 books from my previous collection
Long Term Goal:
Become a powerful Autumn court member.