Lightening forked across the sky, immediately followed by resounding thunder that made the entire region tremble. She walked through the desolate village. The dead bodies of her fellow villagers leered at her as she passed.
A female's face suddenly stared directly in front of her; the woman's eyes still wide with terror, crimson streaked across her face so it seemed that she'd cried tears of blood. Her mouth gaped, a trickle of blood dripping onto her forest green tunic; soft lips were still twisted in an _expression of pain, anguish, and hatred. Her bloody hand still gripped her sword.
She heard movement behind her, and twisted around to face it. Terror gripped her heart at the monsterous demon towering over her. A huge, black form loomed over her. Lightening glinted off of hard, scaly, leathery skin that was tough as steel. Huge wings towered behind the creature; they seemed to be made of fire and shadow. One thick, muscled arm weilded an axe that was even longer than the demon. The fingers gripping the handle of the axe were long and thin, nearly bone-like, ending in deadly sharp black claws. Although it was built in the like of a man, its lower body was raptor-like. Thick, powerful hind legs bent foreward, as though it were meant to be a four legged animal. Unlike a raptor, however, it brandished a long, thin tail that ended in a deadly spike. A dragon-like head stared down at her, twisted ram's horns sticking from the back of it's head. Behind a long, black snout, between smoke curling from slit-like nostrils and over lips twisted in a cruel smile was what captivated her. It had no eyeballs; the fiery inferno that filled it glared from its empty eye sockets.
"Kirra!" it screamed as one powerful arm swung the axe over its head and brought it down to crash upon her like a hammer to an anvil, and she leapt to the side, misbalancing and throwing out her arms to break her fall. But when she came to hit the ground, she kept falling. She found herself in the sky, dropping toward a dark expanse below her. Lightening flashed behind her and illuminated a dark forest extending as far as she could see. She landed hard in a small clearing. She stood warily. The trees were so tall that she couldn't see their tops, only blackness. Suddenly, the huge yellow eyes of many giant creatures appeared in a semi-circle in front of her.
One of the creatues, larger than the rest, emerged from the trees. It was a gargantuan wolf. One eye shone a rank yellow, a cat-like slit its pupil. A white scar showed above its right eye; the eye was a pearlescent white. It was crouched low, its huge paws gripping the ground. Its thin tail lashed across powerful hindquarters. Its fur was black; it rippled and seemed alive as the powerful muscles underneath it flexed and tensed. It growled menacingly. Its upper lip curled into a snarl over yellowed fangs. Its gray-pink tongue lolled out; she could smell its putrid breath from the few feet that separated them. Uncontrollable fear and panic gripped her heart.
She turned and ran; the sounds of many padded feet reverberated through the forest as the pack gave chase. She twisted and turned through the forest, plunging deeper into its heart, all the while the trees all appearing the same. She ran with panicked adrenaline, but her pursuers got neither closer nor farther away. Finally, she tripped and fell. Looking ahead, she saw it was a dead end. The wolves circled in around her. She rolled onto her back as the wolf leader approached her. She threw her arms up and gave a small scream as he opened his jaws only inches from her face.
* * *
She awoke with a gasp, sitting straight up. Her head smacked abruptly against the ceiling of her temporary home. She rubbed her head where it had crashed into the tree. Groaning, she pushed her ebony hair out of her face and ran one hand over her forehead. She was drenched in sweat. She reached over and disentangled herself from her bedroll, then lay on her back on the cool earth. The sky gradually lightened, shining between the intertwining roots around her that arced over her and formed a canopy that became one of the most ancient oak trees in Alagaësia.
She sighed and rolled over. Rolling up her bedroll, she crawled through the small opening in the trees' roots that served as her front door, blinking as the soft sunlight blinded her. She pulled her long, black hair back with a thin strip of leather and stood. She was short, barely five feet. Her limbs were thin and long for her size, and along with her thin form, she appeared taller than she actually was.
She walked to a horse that was tethered nearby. It was Lika, her red chestnut mare. A slim strip of white shone in the middle of her nose, her ears perked foreward. Her eyes shone a soft, intelligent shade of brown. The mare shook her head softly, her feathery mane scattering lightly. She blinked softly, stepping foreward on slim, fleet legs. The mare was small for a horse, but the perfect size for her rider.
The girl untied Lika and mounted, turning her to a faint trail that led south. The forest around her was the oldest forest in Alagaësia. The towering trees that surrounded her were three times as big around as she, and hundreds of times taller. Filtered golden sunlight that managed to escape the thick foliage dotted the forest floor, illuminating the huge leaves and needles of the surrounding trees that had fallen in past years.
They were near the edge of the huge forest, and the trees were far apart, the going easy. Lika nodded her head contentedly as she walked. Her rider pulled a half loaf of bread and an apple out of her pack, eating them while she traveled. The bread was light and soft, the apple ripe and sweet. She fed the core to Lika and leaned back in the saddle.
She was content, for a time. The path was soft, the air calm and pleasantly warm. Somewhere above her, a bird chirped happily. Suddenly, a thin, creeping feeling went up her spine, sending her into a state of uncomfortable wariness, an unsettling fear rested in the pit of her stomach. She glanced around; the forest's pleasant airiness turned to shifting closeness as she recalled her early morning dream. The air held a note of intensity comparable to the galvonic air in the pretense of a thunderstorm.
She shifted Lika into a swift trot; the sudden change in the atmosphere was unsettling, but the intensity and clarity that she remembered those horrors was even more so. She frowned with thin lips, her brooding, blue-gray eyes shining with confusion and a hint of fear. She tucked a lock of her ebony hair behind one ear and patted Lika softly. She glanced up, relieved as the forest came to an end.
She pulled the mare to a stop and glanced across the wide plain that stretched before her. An endless expanse of blue sky stretched above her, dotted with feathery clouds high in the atmosphere. They were called 'mares' tails', for that was what they looked like. Directly in front of her, south, the plain continued for about six leagues, after which it merged with the Hadarac Desert, which dominated much of the center of Alagaësia. To either side, the plain stretched along the edge of the Du Weldenvarden forest as far as the eye could see.
She turned right, heading westward along the forest edge. After a few days' journey, she would reach Gil'ead. The large city was a place where hunters gathered to trade in pelts and meat for supplies, as well as a training center for the king's army. She disliked the town's second use, but it served as her gathering spot. Once every month or so, she would leave the wilderness to buy supplies, as well as tools and weapons, if the need arose.
In the early morning, the horse and rider came upon three deer grazing on the coarse grasses that grew on the borders of the forest. They glanced up, two doe and a buck, eyes wide, and frozen to the spot. She pulled Lika to a stop and slowly, fluidly pulled a bow from her back and knocked an arrow. She let it fly, and it embedded itself in the buck's chest. The doe ran as the magnificent creature fell to the earth.
She spent the rest of the day curing the hide and preparing the little meat that remind on the animal. It had been a harsh winter, and spring was slow in coming. Two days later, the meat and hide were wrapped in separate cloth, its antlers wrapped with the pelt. She stored them in her saddle bags and continued on her journey to Gil'ead.
