There was dirt and dust everywhere, I looked around in my new room and found that Henry was dead and Felpem was badly injured and had blood spilling out of him. There were cries for help and people shouting orders. I got up and grabbed my sword and put on my armor and looked around the room. I told Kamohn to help Felpem, I also ordered Dany and Jelop to find any men or women who can fight and travel east until the reach the river at the base of a large tree. I looked at the girl in my dreams and I said, "Kaleshie find Kloff and what is left of his team and meet me at the training center." She looked at me and replied, "I told you that you know my name." She was gone and I was left with Kamohn and a dying Felpem. I looked at Kamohn and he just shook his head and looked down, Felpem wasn't going to make it. "Stay with him until….. Then gather who you can and head for the East River." Kamohn said, "Got it…. Where are you going?" I looked at him with a smile and said, "I'm going to find something to kill."
I ran into the hallway and saw burning bodies and people fighting the demons. I heard a low growl and I quickly turned and kneeled defensively. I very large black dog cocked it's head sideways and looked at me now whining I stood up and it flinched, I smiled because I realized the dog had only growled out of fear. In a very stern voice I said, "Come." The dog ran to me and sat down, I knelt down and saw his tag had said his name was Caine. The dog jumped forward on to a demon and bit at it's neck, I lifted my foot up and stomped it down on the demon's head as hard as I could. I crushed it's head with ease. The dog sat again and was looking at me… wanting an order. I pointed at three demons at the end of the hallway, I whispered get'em and the dog charged at them, I followed quickly behind with my sword drawn Caine tackled one demon and the other dropped with an arrow in it's head. I jumped in the air and stabbed down killing the last demon in the small hallway. I turned around to find that Kaleshie had a bow in her hand. She said, "Kloff and what is left of the others are at the center trying to defend it. We are to go to the East River, Kloff's orders." She smiled as I said, "No, we are to help Kloff and make plans to fight and regroup at the river. You take Caine and move quietly to the Center… I'll be right behind you with Kamohn. Felpem is a dead man. Go quickly!" She was off and Kamohn came out into the hallway, he gave me the look that said, "He's dead" I said, "Grab your stuff, quick, we must help the others." He ran towards me and said, "Let's go." We ran quietly till we were a few yards from Kaleshie and Caine. We stopped at a pile of rubble We watched as our own people got slaughtered in front of us. I looked at them and said, "Kaleshie, you and Kamohn Stay here for ten minutes, Caine and I are going to send people your way, you must take them to the East River, take the Gendo Pass to get there, It is safe and well hidden." I called for Caine and we made are way down the rubble into the madness. We killed demon after demon but more and more came. I saw Kloff, he was hurt but still fighting. I point to Kaleshie and Kamohn, people start making their way to them. I saw them leave, I stayed with Kloff and a handful of other men and fought them off. We were bloodied up and close to death but we pulled through and killed the demons. There was only Kloff, Caine, Glano, Jelop and Mikah. We went into the Center and stocked up on weapons and got some rest. Two days passed and we went to the cages and got some horses, we tied a cart with weapons and water on it and made our way to the East River. Instead of taking Gendo Pass we took The Dark Forest, It is filled with demons and very small tribes of humans, we were trying to find them before they were slaughtered.
We found some tree top homes and domes underneath the ground, we explored the domes and found nothing. We then climbed the trees and found few dead bodies of small children and the elderly. Kloff said," The demons are killing those who threaten them and those who are of no use to them. We will stay here tonight, no fires and make little noise. Find a hut and get some sleep we will move out as the sun comes up… Mikah Glano, you have the first watch. Wake him and his dog for the second watch. Jelop, you and I have the final watch." I took Caine into a small treetop house and fell asleep on a bed made of soft leaves and grass. Caine jumped up right next to me and fell asleep, I threw a rather large blanket over us, the blanket was thin but my new friend kept me warm. He slept as I listened to him breath in and out and about every 8 breaths he took one very long one, I watched him sleep, curled in a ball nuzzled into my side, I decided that I really like this dog.
Glano came into my room and motioned for us to take their place. I woke Caine and we went out and watched the ground below us. We saw a scout group of little dark creatures and then a small distance away was an army of about 30 demons, Caine and I didn't even breath as the walked by. I woke up Kloff and Jelop, Caine jumped on Glano and he woke up Mikah, I told them what I had saw and we traveled through the tree city and heard screaming. We found ourselves at the end of the city of trees and we could see that a small village of people was being killed. The men that fought back, the children and old people were being slaughtered as the women and other men got chained up. Caine and I jumped down from the tree and landed horribly. Kloff and Glano followed, Mikah and Jelop stayed up and drew their bows. I ran at three demons about to kill two children, I stabbed one and sliced through it embedding my blade deep in the other's side, I took my dagger and stabbed the third in the neck. I grabbed my sword out of the demon's side and Glano now charged at a few demons with Kloff close behind. I heard a howl and looked around, it was Caine, he was in some bushes. Two arrows flew right past my head and both buried themselves deep into a very large demon's chest. Dogs and wolves of all colors and shades came out of the darkness and started to kill the demons, they were barking back and forth to each other and taking down one demon after another. I look around for my men calling to them, they ran into the forest.. We fought off the demons and then regrouped near a cave. We had some small rations of meat and some bread. "Where are we?" Glano asked. Jelop drew out a map in the dirt in front of him, he circled where we where headed and then drew a rectangle in the area of where we were. Kloff stood up and said, "Sleep now, Glano, watch with me tonight. You," he pointed to me, "and Caine get sleep." So Caine and I went to lay down on the cavern floor, I fell asleep fast.
…
I saw the river and all the people, they were in a panic, I looked around and I was a demon, I was leading an attack on them! We charged at them and completely slaughtered them. I looked down at Kaleshie and drove a spear into her neck and her blood splattered all over me.
I jumped out of my sleep and Caine was looking at me curiously, I shout, " Wake up, we need to get to the river now! Jelop, what is the quickest way to the river?" He said, "The Window, it is a very large clearing treeless and tons of hills, it is hard but the quickest way." We ran to the clearing and Caine suddenly stopped and we posed for battle, then a small group of humans showed themselves to us, a man, he looked to be the chief stepped forward and said, "We are the Flimonek people, I am Chief Druno and these are what is left of my warriors, we are here to help you, we have been watching you and we want to join you." I walked into the clearing with Caine and Jelop, Kloff talked to the chief, we made sure it was safe. I motioned for them to follow, and I watched the Flimonek warriors come out into the clearing and there was a lot of them, I asked Kloff how many and he told me that there are 397 warriors left. We ran through The Window and we saw the river and all the people standing over the other side and they were making camp. We marched to the river and the people were excited to see us, I ordered all of the archers to the other side of the river by the people, I had some swordsmen stay over there incase of a demon getting across. Then we made camp on the river bank. No one slept that night, at dawn we all rested because the demons don't normally attack in the day. We did have a few men stay up just in case they do decide to attack. By the time everyone was rested we were in the later hours of the day. My crew, Kaleshie, Dany, Jelop, and Kamohn… Felpem and Henry are dead I thought to myself.
Kaleshie walked away with me and said, "I missed you…" She hesitated, "I was worried, I am happy to see you are in one piece." She smiled. "Orders sir?" said Kamohn. I smiled and said, "Just stick by me when they attack."
We ate and had some fun, then out of the trees the birds went crazy, fiery arrows blanketed the sky like a swarm of locusts We all lifted up our shields and tried to block most of the arrows. I felt a sharp pain and a heating sensation in my side, I was hit by an arrow, the sensation was moving across my whole body, I felt like I was on fire. My vision blurred, and my hearing sharpened. I can hear fighting, swords meeting armor, yells of pain, all I can think of is my crew and pray that they are okay.
I can't hear anything anymore, it is silent, I don't know where I am, then I realize I am unconscious. I fight my body to wake up. I am loosing the fight…. I look down at the battle, I see dead people floating down the river, demons starting to cross the river and my swords men doing their best to fight them off. I hear yelling I look over and Kaleshie is ordering the people to grab what they need and to run east into the forest. I wasn't dreaming! I am awake, I can't move and I can barely speak. Kloff stands over me and yells for Jelop and Kamohn to come and get me. "He's alive?" asked Jelop surprised, "He was hit with one of those poisonous arrows." I turn my head and see Dany laying next to me. Her cold eyes looking into mine, she had been killed. "Dany barely a teenager, had died today" I thought to myself. Jelop and Kamohn lifted me up and we walk south along the river, I watched Kaleshie and the rest of the villagers disappear into the forest.
We walked for miles and miles I blacked out and when I awoke it was dark out the ground was damp and cold, the cavern was small and narrow, we had no fire but I was warm, there was a large fur pelt over me and I saw Kamohn and Kloff staring into forest, watching it, carefully. Jelop was asleep across the cavern. "Where's Caine?" I thought to myself. I slowly got up, my strength was depleted, I looked at Kloff and said in a scraggly voice, "Where is Caine? Where is my dog?" He looked at me and pointed at
What looked like a pile of bloody meat, I dragged my body to it and watched its chest rise and fall. It was Caine. I fell to the ground and through my arms over him, I took my pelt and put it over him. That night I watched over Caine, his front legs and chest were tore up, the meat just hanging there. His back legs and sides got tore up too. I sat there and thought of the last time I saw him; the arrow hit me, they charged, Caine stood by my side as did the rest of my crew, they protected me. The fight got intense, my crew dispersed but Caine stood there and fought off the demons and their dogs. He went down next to me.I snapped back into reality because of a cry in the distance. I got up and grabbed my weapons and armor. But Kloff put his hands on my shoulders and forced me down. "You are not going anywhere." He said. I dropped my things and went to lay down next to Caine.
I slowly drifted off into sleep, thinking about Kaleshie and Dany, praying that the people are safe. I wondered who's cry I had heard, I looked around one last time, Kloff was sitting down and Kamohn was walking out of sight. My eyes pulled themselves shut despite my efforts to keep them open to see what was going on.
…
I am surrounded by white, the wind blows but it is warm, it snows, but the flakes that touch my skin are hot. I look around and see a blotch of black moving away from me, it is the demons, running. I know something isn't right, the demons don't run from us. I franticly look around for what they are running from, I'm atop a volcano! The snow is hot ashes, the wind is hot because of the lava. There was a steep incline on the mouth of the volcano at the top was a large cave. I slcaled the hill and walked into the cave, there was a small pond at one end of the cave. The volcano exploded with fiery blasts of rocks. Nothing even came close to hitting the cave, it was safe here. I knew we had to come here
fast.
...