Seeing is Believing
It was a cold autumn morning, with a cool breeze and a clear blue sky, a small boy sat on a collapsed wall back facing the rising sun, clouds of vapour streaming from his mouth with every breath, behind them was a worn, well used dirt track glistening with frost. The figure stands up; two figures are approaching along the dirt track from the north, feet crunching on the frozen ground.
"Hey, Ryan! There you are, we've been looking all over for you!"
The boy named Ryan turned towards them, he was a small boy, at 4 ft 9 inches, he was the smallest of the three, with piercing blue eyes, dark red hair, a small boney nose and an old scar across his left eye.
"Hey guys" Ryan yawned.
The two boys stood in front of Ryan watching him intently. The boy on Ryan's right was Liam, at 5ft 8 inches he was the tallest of the group, with jet black hair and a long hooked nose. The boy on Ryan's left was James, slightly taller than him, at 5ft exactly but had musty grey eyes and a pig-like nose.
After a small pause James said
"What you want to do now?"
"How about we go to the lake again?" suggested Liam.
"That sounds like a good idea to me, what about you Ryan?"
"Nah I don't want to go."
Liam and James looked at each other briefly then said together.
"Where do you want to go then?"
Ryan looked them both in the eye his eyes glistening with excitement.
"The Demon forest," he whispered
An unnatural silence met this revelation, birds and animals stopped calling, and an icy wind blew towards the west, towards the forest, and the air grew colder.
"ARE YOU MAD?!" Liam and James yelled simultaneously.
"You know the stories about the forest better than we do!"
" that's what makes it so interesting we don't know if the stories are true so I want to find out for myself "seeing is believing" as they say"
"Fine you go and get yourself killed but we're not going with you"
"Chickens!"
"We are not chickens we just aren't going to risk our lives on this"
"Fine I'll go myself but don't expect me to be friends with you when I come back"
This hit James and Liam pretty hard Ryan was their only friend,
"Fine we'll go with you but any monsters of any kind and where out of there!"
"Thanks guys this means a lot to me, see you here in two hours!"
The three boys walked briskly north along the dirt track towards their small village. High in the trees in the forest, branches rustle and something slides down snapping branches in its wake.
"My master will be thrilled to see you" whispered a low hissing voice, and a sleek black figure slinks off towards the heart of the forest.
"C'mon Liam!" yelled Ryan impatiently
"You guys walk too fast!" retorted Liam
"No you're just too slow!"Yelled James
Ryan and James started laughing while Liam stumbled behind them, barely keeping up, slowly Liam fell further and further behind until he was at least 10ft behind them.
"Come on James! You can move faster than that!"
Above them a loud roar resounded in the trees, they heard the distinctive crack of wood and watched in horror as a large tree to their left splintered at the base and fell between Liam and the others, separating them.
"Liam! Are you ok!" Ryan and James yelled.
When they heard no reply, Ryan walked towards the fallen tree and glimpsed a large black silhouette moving in the trees above him, with a loud crash it leapt gracefully from the tree tops and landed on the opposite side of the fallen tree from Ryan, on Liam's side. Slowly it rose up and stood at its full height, as it did this Ryan and James got a good view of it, the creature, over 14feet tall, was covered in black metallic scales all over and had 30cm long sickle shaped claws on its hands but they couldn't see its feet, a long muscular tail swished violently behind it.
"Liam! Where are you! Stay away from that thing!"Ryan shouted helplessly.
But Liam couldn't move he was transfixed by the monsters glowing eyes, lava red with thin black slits for pupils. Liam was shaking hard, his instinct screaming at him to run but his body wouldn't budge, he stood there trembling as the monster advanced slowly onwards him, fangs exposed drooling with hunger for flesh.
Ryan and James could only watch in undiluted terror as the monster locked its jaws around Liam, fangs piercing his flesh drawing blood. Liam screamed, a long painful dizzying scream, he was still screaming as the monster lifted him off the ground swung it's head back and swallowed him whole. Headfirst. His screaming could still be clearly heard from inside the creature's body. Minutes later the screaming abruptly stopped. The silence that followed was almost as terrifying. The monster growled with pleasure and let out an ear-splitting roar. Ryan and James covered their ears and ran back the way they came eyes wide with terror. The monster seeing this movement in the corner of its glowing eye leapt up into the trees and followed them silently.
"I think we lost it" whispered James breathlessly. They both moved behind a large tree and stopped to catch their breath.
"That was horrible, it's all your fault you know if we hadn't came here Liam wouldn't be dead"
"Don't start you two Agreed to come along, I didn't force you so don't blame me!"
"Oh! So calling us chickens and saying you'll stop being our friend isn't forcing us!
"IT'S NOT MY FAULT!"Ryan yelled at the top of his voice.
A loud crack above them struck fear into them. Thinking they were going to be attacked again they ran, sadly in the wrong direction. Further and further they ran until they came across an open area where there were few trees but the few that were there blocked out most light. At the centre of the clearing a large black metallic sphere glinted menacingly.
"Wow look at the size of that!"Gasped Ryan. They both approached the sphere cautiously; James more curious then Ryan spotted a red glow emanating from the top of the sphere.
"Here give me a boost" whispered James not taking his eyes away from the glow.
"Fine" sighed Ryan, Ryan grabbed James around the waist and lifted him rather awkwardly off the ground
"Be Quick James I can't hold you up for long" but James wasn't listening his gaze was transfixed on the source of the glow a blood red ruby glowing brightly. Against his will he stretched his hand towards the ruby
"James what are you doing!?"
"I don't know I...I can't control my arm!"
Almost as he finished saying that his hand connected with the ruby. The ruby's light increased to blinding proportions
"What have you done James!" yelled Ryan dropped James abruptly to the ground and scrambled towards the nearest trees
"James hurry! Get over here!" Ryan was cut off from saying anything else as a loud metallic scraping rang through the forest the sphere was starting to unwind. Two crimson red eyes opened, two feet with 40cm claws slammed to the ground, a long powerful tail flicked behind its vast bulk and a long neck with a huge head rose menacingly from the now draconic shape.
"That things HUGE!" Ryan gasped The monster was 22 feet tall, covered in black metal scales with 35 cm teeth thrusting out of its enormous jaws, the blood red ruby now glowing dimly in the centre of its chest, with one half hearted swipe of its huge muscular arms, they raked sideways, felling the few trees in the clearing with ease. It raised its massive head to the heavens and let loose a thunderous roar. The roar resonated through the forest, striking fear into all who heard it mortal and demon alike. James was still gazing deeply into the ruby, transfixed.
"James are you mad!? Get over here quickly"
James didn't listen; his will had been completely crushed by the ruby's power and was now at the mercy of the gigantic draconic beast. The monsters eyes narrowed when it caught sight of James, it lowered its head to just above James's head and slavered in yearning for this puny morsels flesh. With swiftness not expected of a creature that size it knocked James down with a small blow from its head, placed one huge foot delicately on top of James surprisingly not crushing him but pinning him to the ground, Ryan watched helplessly as it lowered its head slowly towards James and made a move Ryan didn't see, seconds later it snapped its head up, Ryan distinctly heard flesh tear and bones break, James's agonized scream could be heard all over the forest, at first Ryan didn't understand, his gaze absent mindedly drifted towards the monsters head, he saw something it's jaws and only took a second to realise what it was...it was James's arm flopping loosely in the creatures jaws his silver watch gleaming under the monsters crimson eye. The monster swung its mighty head back and swallowed James's arm then lowered its head to finish tearing James apart. Ryan stared in terror for a few moments then dashed clumsily away from the scene James's scream still ringing in his ears, he ran and ran going deeper and deeper into the forest, eventually Ryan's breath gave out and he had to stop, he leaned heavily against a tree, his head spinning from shock, slowly his legs sagged, his eyes faded, his body became heavy and Ryan slumped to the ground in a dead faint, falling unevenly to the forest floor.
Luckily for him he had collapsed in amongst tall grass, making him invisible to all but the closest enemies. Over an uncountable period of time, monsters of all shapes and sizes walked, stalked and galloped past the unconscious boy, blissfully unaware of Ryan's presence, sometime later, the monster that had ended Liam's life approached he was walking slowly this was new territory for him and he was unsure of the size of the creatures in the area, and proceeded to pass Ryan by without noticing him, however at this most inconvenient moment, Ryan started to regain consciousness and groaned rather loudly, the monster came to an abrupt halt, Ears straining to pinpoint the source of the sound. Ryan groaned again, and slowly opened his eyes as he propped himself up his elbows and looked around, he spotted the monster, and the monster spotted him. They locked eyes. In the monster eyes Ryan could almost witness his death. The monster advanced slowly towards him glad for some meat before he ventured further into the forest, Ryan tried to move but his body didn't respond, he hadn't full recovered from his faint yet and his muscles were still not quite usable yet, he tried desperately to move, within moments the monster was upon him, it struck out viciously, slitting Ryan's stomach open, Ryan screamed in agony, blood spurting all over the monsters muzzle and up Ryan's chest, the creature was about to strike at him again, raising its left arm high above its head but it stopped in mid-swing, and looked to Ryan's left, a low resounding growl reverberated towards them, Ryan saw the creatures eyes change, the monster was unsure of this new threat, it stood rock still for a few heart pounding moments then the creature grabbed Ryan's leg and tried to drag him away, the splinter of wood and fast heavy footsteps signalled the arrival the monster who had killed James, who happened to be the largest and most aggressive monster in the forest, it thundered towards the clearing, stopping at the edge and just stood there sniffing the air, after a few seconds it caught the scent of Ryans blood and turned towards him advancing slowly. The smaller less experienced monster roared. The large monster stopped just feet away from Ryan and swivelled its head to its right and stared menacingly at the creature the smaller creature started to back off unsure of the situation the larger monster spotted this weakness and charged. The smaller monster snapped at the larger monster in a vain attempt to keep it at bay, but missed, the larger monster took advantage of this and grabbed the smaller creature by its neck with its jaws, the smaller monster squealed in pain and tried to wriggle free, pupils shrunk with fear, but it's fate was sealed, the larger monster laid one clawed hand on the smaller ones back and jerked it's head abruptly forward, tearing the smaller monsters head off, the neck spurted blood, the larger monster let the body go and dropped the head to the forest floor, the body fell to the ground, convulsed for a few seconds then lay still, the larger monster roared in triumph. It slowly turned round and rapidly approached Ryan. Ryan clawed at the grass, trying hopelessly to get away from the monster. But a sharp pain in his torso and legs told him it was useless. The monster had grabbed hold of him in its jaws. It lifted him off the ground, Ryan shut his eyes, he knew the monster was going to kill him. He waited for the killer bite...it didn't happen, instead it carried him towards the clearing where Liam was killed, his blood still fresh on the forest floor, the monster stopped above a large mound at the edge of the clearing, Ryan thought he was safe for the moment, when a high pitched squeal made him shudder, he looked down and recoiled, down below in the mound was a young monster, most likely the larger monsters offspring, the monster growled, the youngster understood and waddled unsteadily towards it's mum and started to jump up at Ryan, snapping and growling, the monster held Ryan above the youngster for a moment letting the little one jump at him, then it dropped him, Ryan landed heavily, bruising his ribs, he cried out in pain as he lay on his back, his energy gone, the little monster hung back for a moment, darted in a few times to nip at Ryan's open stomach, then darted back, eventually it made up its mind and leapt on Ryan's bruised ribs, before he could cry out, the creature bit into his neck, he screamed...or tried to, the creatures bite had severed his windpipe and jugular vein all in one, all Ryan could manage was a sickening gargle and spitting up lots of blood, his life flashed briefly before his eyes, his eyes darkened as the creatures jaws locked around his head and the last thing he heard was spine chilling crack as the young creature bit down, splitting open his skull and proceeded to devour the contents.