Hey all! Little intro here.

Tuth be told, I'm new to this, ALL of this, meaning writing. I could use some critizism and would really appreciate some help. That being said, please go easy with it; I'm sensitive.

I'm also unsure how this site completely works so tips on that would also help.

Thanks for clicking, I hope you enjoy!

1

ROOKIE MISTAKES

I'm in as deep as I can get. I've played out in my head a thousand times and this never once crossed my mind as a real possibility, not like this.

My, so-called, friends and I were contracted to out by the town heads to head off into the mountains and slay some rogue blangos that had been a little too close to the town the past few days for anyone's comfort. We took everything we thought that we'd need; food, weapons, water, bait and so on. We tracked the things up to the snowy peaks, deep in the mountains, marking our way with tall, firmly planted stakes.

That was my idea.

We followed tracks that twisted through the mountain paths, and led into a cave that tunneled through the mountain. The cave led all the way through and we found them wrestling around near the edge of a steep cliff. We spread out and hid behind some rocks in the opening of the cave and began to whisper and hype ourselves for what should have been an easy cornered kill. The area was cut off by the formation of the cave and the cliff face. There were only two ways out, the cave, which we had blocked, and the cliff.

We were all newbies, fresh from the local hunting school, but the others had all been taken out for field hunts against the wild monsters of the world, not the half dead caged ones or the training dummies we normally faced. I work primarily on the farm, and the harvest was being brought in that particular month, so I never got to go out. Despite missing what some would have called a vital part of the course, my 'home front duties' gave me some leeway and I was allowed to move on with the rest of my class. Now we were on our first contracted, officially sanctioned hunt. Not actual guild stuff but I was in the wild. Being that it was my first REAL hunt, I was excited, to say the least.

My "buddies" pushed me out in the open, encouraging me to take first blood. I didn't want to lose the chance to brag back home about that, so I stepped out from my spot, stood strong and drew my great sword. I called out at the blangos to get their attention. They stopped fighting each other at once and turned to me in unison. They either saw me as threat, or new chew toy, I couldn't tell. They clustered together, the biggest of them in front, and started to circle me, to size me up. I started walking opposite of them, sword at the ready, waiting for one to try coming closer. I looked for everything the instructor back home had told me to look for in a blango before a fight; size, complexion, whisker and fang length, anything that might separate them as developing blangongas. No one had sighted a blangonga with the pack, which means that it was either an orphaned family group, or a pack running wild without a leader.

Monster packs always have an alpha; it's an ecological law. As soon as the initial leader dies, or is defeated in combat, another member of the pack starts to take on the physical characteristics it needs to; fangs on a blanganga, large crest on a giaprey. Both are good examples. In any case, pack leaders are stronger than the rest, and taking them down proves you are stronger than the rest.

The thought of slaying a boss monster on my first hunt sent a shiver of excitement through my spine. I couldn't stop my lips from pulling into an eager smile.

I was near the edge of the cliff, somewhere near where the blangos were when we started the circle, and they were where I was. I looked at the rocks my pals were behind to see if they wanted a signal or if they wanted to give one. I saw the top of a head and one set of eyes, from the guy I didn't really know in our group, peep out from behind. He gave me a look and a nod that said go for it, and I did just that. I gripped my sword tightly and took one step forward, and stopped when the front blango roared and leaned forward on its knuckles. I braced myself for a full force tackle using my sword as a shield. I closed my eyes and waited for the impact. I kept there, compact, as I heard the crunch of snow beneath feet, but it sounded different. I opened my eyes and looked over my sword. That stupid snow monkey turned tail and ran down the cave, with the others following right behind it. They all darted right past the rocks and my troop started to chase them into the cave, shouting war-cries; they said they would on the walk up. The guy I didn't know looked back at me, glaring at me before darting off into the cave like the others.

My sword slumped down into the snow with a crunch as disappointment swelled over me like an all consuming fire. I felt like the lowest thing in the world. I wanted to just sit there and mop for a while, but realized that I was part of the team and I had to give chase too. I strapped my sword to my back and made sure everything was tight. I knelt to check my boots when a muffled noise, followed by a crack, echoed out of the cave. I got up and headed for the cave, calling out to my party.

Out of nowhere, a literally booming gust of wind ripped out of the cave and blasted me off of my feet. I landed face first in the snow. The gale normally weakens after the first rush, but it kept at full strength. I tried to fight against the continuing wind but it just kept pushing me as I dug into the snow and the ridged icy stone beneath. I kept clawing with all four limbs straining to hold on, but I kept sliding back. I remembered the cliff behind me and panicked. I didn't see how far of a drop it was, but I sure didn't want to find out. I tried harder and harder, bending the tips of my plated gloves and boots. I held myself in place, long enough to feel safe enough to look into the cave. I lifted my head up to see nothing but the snow whipping in the air, forming clumps of solid ice. Something spewed out of the cave, something wet. It splattered on my face, across my eyes. I yelled in distress, but there was no point, I couldn't even hear myself over the thrashing wind. In my blindness, a ball of heavy snow and ice crashed against the top of my head. The shock of the impact made me flinch, and I lost my grip.

In that moment the wind picked up into an even more powerful blast. The current went under my body and lifted me off of the ground, and just like that I was limp in the air. I twirled for a moment before I knew I'd flown off the cliff. I could tell. I wasn't as loud, and I felt like I was falling.

I blacked out before I hit the ground, and woke up plowed three feet deep in soft snow. Some storms had hit the area recently, nothing worse than light snow fall, and that must have saved my life. I strained to stand, thinking my body must be in worse shape than I guessed. But when I got to my feet I realized the storm from up top had followed me down here.

I looked up to see how far I'd fallen, but the storm whipped up so much snow, I couldn't see even four meters ahead.

Now I'm at the bottom of a cliff, recovering from what probably should have been a fatal fall, I don't know how long I've been here, and I don't even know where here is! I don't know how this can get any worse.

And then I hear the screeching call of a giaprey.