It's hard to sleep, only dressed in my pants so im comfortable at the least, the temperature of the room is perfect and the sheets aren't the best, but they're soft. It's the voices, the heartbeats, every single creak or click in the night. Mileenas's room is above my own, if there's something Reiko knows, I'll hear it, along with some rather unpleasant sounds. I turn myself so that I'm facing the bed, holding my pillow over my head. This helps slightly, I can't hear heartbeats. Voices still linger, like whispers. This will have to do for tonight.
Im running in the middle of a forest. The sun is setting and fireflies begin to loom over the trees. This is a dream, I'm aware of that, but I keep running toward the screams of my mother, I can save her this time. The trees disappear as I run through a grassy field. In the center, a pack of twelve wolves devour my struggling mother. I'm too late, she's gone, my father is gone, my grandfather Samuel...all of them, I'm powerless to stop it. I stop running, falling to my hands and knees I curse myself. The wolves often showed defiance against my father Mason, they always denied him as the alpha. Now they killed him along with my mother and grandfather, leaving me the only survivor of this massacre. I can hear my mother's voice echoing in my head, my grandfather's blood splattered in her face, the terrified look In her green eyes as she yelled,"Run Nathan! Don't look back!" I was only six years old then, picking berries in the forest with her and Samuel when I heard my fathers screams. Even now as an adult what could I do? It's all in the past. I look up at what's left of her body, blood everywhere, limbs scattered as the wolves fought for her meat. Suddenly the wolves fall to the ground, at the center of them, along with my mother's corpse was a snarling wolf. It's fur a light grey, it's eyes glowing yellow. It sat on the ground and stared down at my mother quietly, then turned toward me with a pained look in its eyes. I awake to the sound of a guard pounding on the door. "Get up! You're coming with us on a supply run, be out of your room by sunrise, or we are going in after you!" I get off the bed as the the guard's footsteps get further away.
I get dressed in my usual attire and sling my sheathed katanas over my shoulder. The sky is a dark shade of blue, with the sun rising. My dream is vague yet memorable, I feel as if it has more depth than usual. I try not to think about it as I put on my mask and hood, but seeing the horror on my mother's face opened old wounds. Footsteps are approaching from the corridor, opening the door I see Mileena walking toward my room. She stops infront of me and puts her hands on her hips,"You don't seem happy to see me." she said. "What do you want." I said rashly. She raises an eyebrow,"A bit snappy soldier," she said,"Reiko was right, you are undisciplined." Controlling my temper is becoming an issue, I need to stay calm. "I apologize Empress, what are your demands?" I said. "I have none, but, Reiko demands you are away from the castle when K'etz arrives." she said. I shut the door and walk past her responding,"Your lover proves to be envious, Empress." She sighs,"Reiko fought many battles, while you lost your second." she said smugly,"You are not fit to label him, not even fit to bear a weapon." I stop in the middle of the corridor clenching my fist, I could feel a stinging pain in my knuckles. "As far as I'm concerned I've lost everything." I said bitterly,"You should've left me, you should've let me to die. " She glared at me, "I won't make that mistake again." Mileena said gravelly. Reiko turns to the corridor where we stood, "Soldier, they are waiting, pick up your feet." he said roughly. Mileena walks to reiko giving me a smug glance, she holds on to Reiko's arm,"Nathan was just leaving darling." she said. I pass by the two and leave the castle silently.
Outside the castle was a squad of three red dragon soldiers, awaiting my arrival on their taigores. "Finally,"said the squad leader impatiently, "a few more seconds and I wouldve busted your head open. Get on the taigore and let's go." He pointed to a taigore with a saddle on it. I sat on the saddle and grabbed the reigns. The beast began growling, I could hear it's heartbeat rising in anger. "Better get him to like you," said the squad leader with a chuckle,"you're gonna need someone to watch your back in the living forest, cause none of us will." They chuckled as we began our journey across the Golden Desert.
Nearly nightfall, the forest can be seen a little ways from the part of the woods we were in. "Why the living forest?" a soldier asked the squad leader. "Dunno," he said,"geuss they know ain't anyone crazy enough to go in there alone." We stumbled across a corpse, we dismounted the taigores to let them eat and regain their strength. I could hear many of the creatures in the forest, mainly the trees into the distance. My father ran into the living forest when the wolves began hunting us, he had a gash on his leg and disappeared in the fog, that was the last time I saw him. "Hey newbie, go scout ahead," the squad leader said,"make sure none of Kotal's men are in the forest." I walked half a mile closer to the forest. There was one tall tree, it's bark withered yet strong. I unsheathed my knives stabbing into the tree, climbing to the top. Sitting on a branch I could see the rest of the woods we walked through. With the sun setting, the trees' leaves gave a suave orange glow. On the other side, the living forest is nearly engulfed in fog, it gave off the smell of decay, I could hear each growling tree. There were no human voices, no soldiers as far as the eye could see. I jumped branch from branch to the bottom of tree and began making my way back to the squad. They were talking about something Reiko said, thinking this could be useful I stopped walking, focusing on their voices with my eyes closed. "Can't believe we're getting paid that much." one soldier said. "I say we wait till after we get the supplies,"the squad leader said,"the taigores will be hungry again, so when we fight him, they'll join in and eat up the evidence." They argued for a brief moment about who would get the bigger share of koins. "Enough already," the squad leader said impatiently,"Reiko told me to kill him and I called you guys to join in, therefore I get the bigger share." I didn't mention their conversation on my arrival to the camp, we just mounted our taigores and resumed our trek.
Stars are shining in the night's sky, with the full moon at its center. We were only yards away from our destination, I ended up leading the squad through the forest. My ability to see in the darkness proved useful in the forest's depths, it helped me avoid many of the trees. We stopped and I took another glance at the map,"The supply crates should be right below us." I said to the squad. I dismount my taigore and feel the ground with my hand. The ground was dry and soft,"Dig here." I said to the squad member. "Hell no, you can see the dirt you do it." He throws a shovel at my feet. "Typical," I said picking the shovel up,"you are as childish as you are lazy." Stabbing the shovel into the ground I began to dig, eventually digging a 6 foot deep hole, 4 feet wide. "Supplies there?" the squad leader said walking up to me. "Yes," I said, "right where the map s-" the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end, I could here the whistle of a blade. Catching the squad leader's hand as he tried to stab my head with a knife, I snap his wrist, trip him, and stab the knife into his heart. The others take out their electric tonfas and run at me. I throw a knife through one's head, the other swings at me with his tonfa. He grazes my neck as I attempt to dodge him, he lunges at me and I uppercut his jaw. He falls on his side, I take out two of my knives and throw them through his hands. He screams in pain, lying on his back. I lift him by his neck and slam him on a tree, with its mouth inches below his feet. "Why did you all try to kill me?!" I said furiously. "I-I don't know man!" he said. Now I know what a heartbeat sound's like if someone is lying. I lower his body so that the tree chews his feet off, the man screams loudly. "Did Reiko pay you to do this?!" the man cowered in fear. I lowered him threateningly,"Yes!" he yelled,"yes he did! Now let me go!" The man was telling the truth, but why would Reiko want me dead? I snap the man's neck and throw him in a pile with the rest. The taigores ate what remained. Mileena must know of Reikos treason, I thought to myself while mounting a taigore. My home village is only hours away, family first, then I'll confront Reiko.