Igor was a soldier in Stalin's army posted in Moldavia in the early days of the war. While he began as a loyal Russian, his stomach was soon turned by the day-to-day business of executions, deportations and other repressions. Eventually, when instructed to execute a local priest, he instead fled with the old man deep into the woods.

Igor tried and failed to keep the old man alive as they evaded Soviet forces in the midst of the Moldavian winter. Eventually, as he wandered dazed, half-starved and half-frozen, he came across a tiny little hut propped up on gnarly chicken legs.

Inside, Igor found a horrible old crone with spindly arms and a cavernous mouth. Her laugh was screeching nails but her home had fire and meat. She noticed Igor's uniform and inferred that he was a soldier, and that since he was a soldier, there must be a war.

The two eventually cut a deal. The Crone agreed to feed Igor and tell him how to escape his pursuers, and in exchange he would let her ride his body, bond with his soul, and conduct her bloody pay with these wicked men called 'Nazis.'