My story, any thoughts?

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Shiori
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Joined: Mon Dec 13, 2010 2:03 pm
Location: In my own little world....

My story, any thoughts?

Post by Shiori »

So here is my story so far... I will probably edit and revise it a lot more later, but I feel its safe to say not much more will change to the prologue of it, but chapter one is still raw and untouched. I also have decided to post part of chapter to as a sort of sneak peak of whats to come. Let me know what you guys think of it if you don't mind, their are about 17 pages or so now so its starting to get long. Here is my description of it.... 18 year old Tear Rivers is an Elf who's life turned upside down after a faithful encounter with a vampire, Damien Crow, on the night of the blood moon..



Prologue:


The air smelled stagnant and stricken with fear. Something in the forest was not right. There were no birds chirping and not an animal in site. There was an eerie feeling about the woods almost ominous. It felt as though something evil had entered the forest’s protective barriers, and the forest did not want it inside its protection. The night seemed to be darker than usual as well. Not a single star shown through the dark thunder clouds above in which occasionally a stream of heat lightning could be spotted, Despite the cloudiness of the night sky the harvest moon hung in the air above, shining its crimson light even through the thickest of trees and darkest of clouds.

I felt the uneasiness of the forest and with it took precaution as I made my way through its masking trees. With the night so dark and no stars to guide my way it was hard to see, but growing up in these woods have taught me a thing or two about them. No, I cannot say I have learned every area of the forest and could roam through it even if blinded. No, I would have to be at least an elder elf to roam an area blind; however, I do know the paths and I know the creatures and plants. I know what is safe and what is not safe. I know what areas are dangerous and what areas are welcoming. I know that if there are no stars and it is the middle of summer you can always count on the fireflies to light your way and that if it is not summer and there are no stars then you should always have a few in a jar from the previous summer as light or too use a torch if there is no rain. However tonight I did not have fireflies to light my way, I had no jar of them, and I had no torch. The other thing I knew was that a harvest moon always meant something bad or evil and that all elves were supposed to stay at their homes on these nights for you can never tell where that bad or evil thing will be or occur. I was not at home…

As I approached the open area of the forest, which I go to every night, I couldn’t help, but to feel like I had made a terrible mistake in coming out into the forest tonight instead of staying home where it was safer. I felt chills run down my spine as I started to approach the opening to the small circular clearing. I stopped for a second before proceeding through to the clearing. I thought about what might lie ahead, what evil or bad happening could lie just beyond these few trees. I almost turned around then found some courage and decided since I made it this far I might as well continue. I stepped as silently as I could through the trees examining the area as I did so. Upon stepping through the trees I was able to see something I couldn’t see from behind them. There was a boy that looked to be around the same age as me up against the old oak tree which I liked to lay under and eat apples in. Something seemed wrong about him though. I cautiously moved closer to the boy very carefully so not to disturb him if he were asleep. At the distance I was at I could not tell if the boy was asleep or awake, and with as dark as it was I couldn’t even tell what direction he was looking at. All I could see was the outline of his body. Even after getting closer to him I could not make out a clear image. I was going to have to be very close to see him clearly, but I couldn’t help but to feel uneasiness about him.

After some thought I decided that if he is injured I needed to help him I couldn’t just leave him there. I moved towards him cautiously trying not to seem frightening and trying not to appear scary. Soon I was close enough to see his face and clothing. I almost sighed in relief when I realized he was looking to the east not the north where I was approaching from. I could see now that he was indeed hurt. He was covered in blood. His clothes appeared to be worn and old. You could see tares in the clothing and that his clothing was fading. He was wearing an old long jacket that’s collar came up around his neck with a small belt on it. He had underneath that a plain black shirt that also looked old and some jeans that were torn to shreds. He was dressed from head to toe in nothing but black. Even his hair was jet black, it blended in with the night so well I could barely see it. Upon seeing all this I was amazed I even noticed him at all with how well he blended. His skin however appeared very blanch and unhealthy.

“Are you all right boy?” I said a bit timidly as I crouched down quietly beside him.

The boy seemed a bit startled by the sudden noise; he must not have noticed my approach. After a moment of recognition and what seemed like some tough thinking as if he had to think wisely on how to answer this question he spoke, “ I am fine, I a sure you.”

His answer was a bit suspicious and I couldn’t get myself to pull away from him something egged me on to stay though my instincts told me to run. With this resolve to stay I continued to question the boy.

“Are you lost? Why is there blood all over you if you are fine? Did something happen?” I asked curiously.

The boy again stared at me thinking on how to answer each question with precision. “I am not looking to go anywhere in particular so I am not lost and the blood came from someone else, someone I knew from a long time ago just died in my arms only a few hours ago.” The boy said coldly.

With this I knew it was time to leave, but for some strange reason I just wanted to push more out of him. He didn’t seem anything like a human boy though he was most definitely not an elf.

“How did they die?” I asked unsure if I would get an answer.

The boy then stated, without hesitation this time, “They were stabbed through the heart, by their own cousin.”

I was silent for a few minutes unsure what to say. Elves are supposed to be good at communication with humans and animals alike, however I seemed to be lacking at the human part of that.

After some thought I asked him, “Why did their cousin stab them through the heart?”

The boy stared at me for a long time debating on what to say or what not to say it seemed. I could feel the tension in the air rising and the hair on my arms rising as I knew I was pushing possibly the wrong character too far. I knew I shouldn’t have interacted with the boy because interaction with humans can be punishable by death. But still I stood my ground holding my stone like expression being careful not to show any emotion that may prove proof at my faltered resolve and waited on his response.

After what seemed like hours of silence and an intense staring contest the boy spoke.

“Their cousin killed him because of what I did to him.” The boy stated in an even colder unearthly tone.

After realizing he was not going to tell any more information and planned to leave his answer as is I felt even more curious.

“What could you have done to him to cause his cousin to take…such drastic actions?” I asked a little confused.

“I turned him into one of the damned.” The boy stated without even blinking still gazing directly at me waiting on my reaction this time.

I was shocked with what I heard a damned would be a vampire! This met I was not speaking to no mere human, but a vampire, a creature of the night. I however tried not to let this new information change my stone face. I knew of stories told in the village about vampires, but I had never met one before. They were supposed to be cold heartless beings that fed on humans to fill their emptiness. By no means could they be trusted. Though I couldn’t help, but to feel his story was true. I couldn’t bring myself into thinking he was lying about such a thing.

Realizing he was waiting for my reply and unable to think of a good one I simply said the only thing I could think of, “I am sorry for your loss.”

The boy seemed a bit shocked at my answer and continued to analyze me for a while longer. His eyes seemed so cold and, yet it seemed like there was much thought behind them, that they had seen a lot in their lifetime despite his young appearance.

Suddenly I heard a shout from a distance, “Tear! Tear! Tear, where are you?” It was the hunter elves. They did all the hunting and also the search and rescues when someone is missing or gets separated from the rest of the village for one reason or another. I quickly turned back to the boy who was still staring at me with an award winning poker face.

“I am sorry, but I must go I wish I could help you with your… loss, but I am afraid I cannot good bye.” I said in a hurry as I got up and began to sprint towards the woods.

From behind me I heard the boy say just loud enough for me to hear it before I got to far away “What a strange girl…”

I soon found the other elves that had been searching for me. They did not say much when I found them just that everyone was very worried. The hunter elves don’t ever say much. They are more of the solid and silent types; they are not fully heartless though, they have had their times where they too have showed affection. Their jobs were to hunt, provide the meat for the village, and to protect it from harm, that is why they would search for anyone that got lost.

The trip back to the village was long and tiring. I was worn out mentally and physically from the night’s events and did not look forward to the long hike back. To get back to River Wood village from the center of the forest you had to cross the northern valley and through the flower meadow, after that you would eventually come across a river. You have to follow that slow moving current to its origins, and there behind that majestic waterfall lye’s River Wood Village. Most do not know of the village or that there even is a crevasse behind the roaring waterfall. For those that do know of the hidden passage though know that beyond that dark narrow passage is an opening to a beautiful small crater hidden away to men. The area is filled with lakes and trees and the sun just ever so discreetly shines down into the area from above. No one would ever discover the place unless they saw it from a skyward view and even then the village houses are so well blended with the rest of the natural surroundings that no one would ever notice the residency of the woodland elves.

As we left the safety of the center of the forest and entered the open valley I could not help, but recall the strange encounter I had, had with the vampire. I was told several times as a child about the horrors of vampires, werewolves, blood orcs, and other such demonic and evil creatures vampires where one of the worst of them because of their ability to be so witty and tricky. Vampires where told to have tricked people especially those of the opposite sex and then feed off of their precious life blood. By all means you should never ever communicate with one of these tricksters.

“What where you doing out so late on a night like this?” Came a deep male voice interrupting my train of thought.

“…I was….” I didn’t really have a good answer, the forest seemed to be calling to me and I simply listened. But how strange would that sound? Even for an elf that was a bit odd, yes we were well in tuned with nature however, not many elves have ever been called to it like this. I certainly didn’t want to seem more like an oddity to the village either. I was not originally from the same Elvin group as the village I stay in and there for I have always stood out. The elves from River Wood Village where decedents of light elves that have taken to devoting their lives to the northern forest region and there for have changed from the usual light elf appearance some. The River Wood elves have gained darker hair browns, and reds instead of golden blond or hair so fair it appeared white. The Wood elves from River Wood also had darker eye colors browns, greens, and hazels, where a light elf would have golden eyes, blue or even pure white eyes (this color I find especially striking.) The River Wood elves have also gained one other very striking feature, they have a slightly darker skin tone still light but with a hint of a tan tint to it, unlike the blanch color of light elves. Even though the River Wood elves where dark looking in overall appearance than the light elves they appeared nothing like the dark elves who have purple or black looking skin and always have dark black or purple hair color, and eyes that are usually dark purple, red, or even pure black.

The hunter elf Rivers looked at me skeptically waiting to hear my reply which I was still pondering. Finally feeling defeated and unable to think of anything witty I answered as coolly as I could, “I wanted to visit the elder oak tree…”

He seemed to ponder this for a while then shrugged as if satisfied with my vague answer. “Well next time try to choose a better night than this, you know better than to wonder out alone especially on such a ominous night.” He said scornfully.

Accepting the scolding I nodded my head in defeat and continued walking. By now we where almost through the valley, which I was glad about, I always hated going through the valley something about it always made me feel vulnerable and threatened. The others around me seemed to not even notice my tension while we passed the last half of the valley nor did they realize the relief I felt once out. We where now at the beginning of the beautiful Flower meadow even at night the meadow looked magnificent. The meadow shined with light from various night flowers, it was natures own light show. When I was younger I always enjoyed coming to the meadow, night or day, it was beautiful. The beauty of the meadow did not stretch far though. I could already hear the gentle water of the river as we began to get closer to it. My ears did not fail me we were by the river in minutes and began following the windy path of it up to where the water fall lay, where River Wood Village waits secretly behind.

It was not a long journey up river before arriving at the roaring waterfall, here we began to carefully maneuver around the crashing water to where a small crevasse lay in hiding. The gap in the rock was just large enough for a smaller human to squeeze through which was perfect for elves since on average we range from 4’11’’ to 5’8’’ in height. The men usually are taller than the women, however I was happy with my 5’2” height, most women did not even get that tall.

We carefully made our way through the narrow opening and found ourselves immediately welcomed back from our long journey. I was greeted by many worried faces of people I knew; I could tell that they had noticed my absence. I was a highly skilled elf after all and would be a great loss to the rest of the village. I was able to shoot a bow and arrow just as well as any of the hunters. I was skilled with a knife and dagger, and I was also a very good collector of vegetation and a hand around the village. There wasn’t a single person I hadn’t helped at one point and time in the village. Everyone knew my name and face.

“Tear!” Came a small high pitched voice from the back of the crowed. Moments later a smaller ginger headed girl emerged from the massive crowed wrapping her arms around my waist. This girl was sort of like my little sister. I started to take care of her when I was 15 years old, her parents died when she was young and I have been the one looking out for her since then. She is like family to me.

I myself did not know my real family unfortunately and was found out in the middle of the woods underneath the old oak tree in the center of the forest by an elder elf, which brought me into the village and taught me everything I know. Unfortunately there weren’t a lot of girls in the village when I was growing up which probably led to my tomboyish hobbies I have now. Along with not knowing my family, were my elven origins lye is uncertain; however it is certain that I am indeed an elf. Unlike the Woodlyn elves of the village my skin is very pale, like porcelain, unkissed by the sun no matter how much I try for it to be. My hair is golden and as smooth as silk, and my eyes, probably the most puzzling part of my appearance, are lilac, neither a dark color nor a light color really. All Elves also have markings on them that they are born with; these markings are always unique and different colors. For me my markings are golden and swirly, they are not visible unless the sun is shining directly on them. This too is odd as well because most people in the village though different have similar markings. These markings are the symbol of our spiritual powers, in other words our magic. Mine I have kept hidden from those here despite my closeness to the village. My powers are extremely different unlike most here that have the power of the plants or water I specialize in healing, and not just any little thing, I can bring back the dead… I discovered this a long time back when I first started to befriend the little ginger head girl. She was stricken with grief and had taken her life I found her dead in a pool of her own blood. I felt guilty and concerned and before I knew it, I had healed her, I had resurrected her from the dead. This secret of mine is only known by her and I.

I came back to the world around me no longer lost in thought and smiled down at the ginger headed girl. By this time the crowed had died down. I decided this meant the girl and I should probably follow suite, so the ginger headed girl and I headed towards the hut which was our home. All the houses in the village looked about the same with only a few differences that one could easily over look unless they were purposely looking for such a detail. All houses were basic huts made out of leaves and wood. They were different than a human house would be. Those houses were too far apart from nature for us. Our houses were constructed, well for the materials they were created from. Some houses being in the trees others surrounding the bottom of the trees even a few hidden under the trees protection. They were enough to keep you warm in the winter and dry from the rain along with cool in the summer. They may seem from the outside somewhat simplistic, but they were actually very complex. I don’t know a lot about their construction (because that happens to be an area I am not very knowledgeable in.) What I do know is that the wood used to create them is from a special tree. The bark and everything is used in the process, mud is also used to help keep everything tight and wind resistant. The outside is decorated with special plants and usually each house is centered on a single tree for support and luck. The plants also around each house represent the family living in it. (Mine of course had a mixture of plants since I had no real family I simply chose what I liked best.)

After passing a few houses and climbing a tree or two the girl and I reached a house off of the ground near the top of an old oak tree. Only this house and the elder’s houses are permitted to be built in a tree, high from the ground and the other houses below. At first I was looked at with jealous and unapproving eyes for this, but soon many accepted the fact or overlooked it. The house was decorated with vines and night flowers. The entrance of the house was covered with vines that hung down and also had a few poisons plants on the sides well hidden by other plants in case of trespassers. Anyone unaware of the presence of these plants would surely be poisoned by them. On the inside a branch went through the building from the right side diagonally. This is where I tended to sit the most and take notes on what the day’s events were like. (Where I would sit later pondering what had happened in the forest.) In the far left corner of the house were two beds made out of moss and weaved plants with fur blankets. On the opposite side of the beds were some decorated clay pots filled with edible plants and various dried meats and beside that was a sack made from a deer’s stomach used to hold my various hunting materials besides my bow and arrows. Closer to the entrance there was a basket with clothing made from animal skins in it. These cloths were both the ginger headed girls and mine.

I stood there in the entrance of the structure for a while admiring the build of the house. This house though small has built up so many memories in the short time period I have stayed here. I thought back to the boy once more and how he said he lost a friend. “Its amazing how fast life can go by...” I said to myself while looking at the ginger headed girl.

After a few more moments of standing there lost in thought I decided I should get some rest. I guided the ginger headed girl towards the two beds and made sure she was comfortable then followed my own lead and laid down on the soft moss and covered up with the fur blanket. It didn’t take long for me to descend into a deep slumber. The whole night I dreamed about the odd encounter I had with a real vampire. I thought of how differently the encounter could have gone and how it did go. That boy under the tree soaked in blood was all that my mind would allow me to think about that night as I shut my eyes to sleep.













Chapter 1: The Bloody Moon Festival

The next day started out as any other day. I awoke early to the rising sun warming my body filling me with energy for the day. I crawled out from under the fur blanket and towards the clay pots in the corner of the room. I opened one of the brown colorfully painted pots and removed a giant sparkling red apple from it. As I began to consume the delicious fruit I grabbed my bow and arrows along with my sack filled with my other hunting supplies. On the sack I had attached a leather strap which I put around my neck and over one shoulder allowing the bag to hang diagonally across my body and loosely to one side. This made my hands free and kept the bag accessible when needed. Before heading out I turned around to make sure that Lilith, the ginger headed girl, was still asleep soundly in her bed protected from the chill of the morning air by her fur blanket. She appeared to be sleeping undisturbed as usual in the morning I was quiet enough to not disturb her sleep. Feeling satisfied by my stealth I headed out the door pausing only to make sure all the plants were well and did not need attending. All of the plants seemed perky and full of life they appeared satisfied for the moment and didn’t look like they need any attention, so I continued onward and descended down the tree. Upon reaching the bottom I noticed a few more people up and moving around. It was the hunters, as expected they were up and ready to go off on their daily hunt for food for the village. Today I was going with them as well, because we will need more food than usual, for today is the day of the festival to celebrate the passing of the harvest moon.

I descended down the long climb from my house to the lush forest floor and was immediately greeted by happy faces. The faces did not seem to suit such serious and slimly built men as the hunters, but none the less it was welcoming.

“Are you ready to play who’s the better hunter today Tear?” said a younger man dressed in a fur vest and leather pants and gloves. He was not as old as the other men, but had a few years on me still. He had short shaggy brown hair and a few scars running across his face. He was always up for a challenge and hated to be beaten at anything, but he could accept when he had lost. Every time I go hunting we play a little game, to see who the better hunter is. Whoever racks in the most kills by sunset is the winner you get double points if you kill something especially large or deadly. For this game we tend to make several trips from the village and back into the depths of the woods, this allows us to catch more game that way because we do not have to haul it around for the full time period then.

I grinned at him to show my enthusiasm, “But of course Nicholas, the real question is, are you ready to lose again?” I chimed gloat fully.

“Hey, I’ll beat you one of these days, so don’t get so cocky, that will be your down fall.” He said with a wink.

With that and a roaring laugh from the group we split up and branched out into the lush forest. We don’t stick in a group for hunts like this unless we are purposefully going for larger pray, such as a bear or mountain lion. Instead for this particular hunt it’s a kill as many as you can; quantity is what we want not size.

I hurried through the forest in a half crouched position firing my arrows at any squirrel or rabbit that I saw. By the time it started to near sunset I had killed fifteen squirrels, twenty-nine rabbits, a pack of seven wolves, one young grizzly bear, and a mature mountain lion. Out of those the mountain lion was the trickiest it caught me by surprise. It had snuck up on me from behind after I had killed off the wolves and leaped at me. I was lucky enough to hear it at the last second and dodged its attack firing an arrow straight into its stomach.

After I killed too many to carry I would take them back to camp or to a half way point depending on how far out I was. This made it easier to kill a larger amount. (If I didn’t know where these creatures liked to roam though it would have been impossible to collect so many.) I had brought in more animals than I ever had that night it was almost too easy. It was as if something had enticed them to immerge from their hiding places.

I already had a very large haul for the day however I wanted to take one more trip out into the forest, I am not sure why I had no reason to go back , there was no way anyone collected more animals than me, however the forest seemed to be calling me almost. It was strange; my whole body seemed to be drawn to the large trees and unknown content beyond them. I knew I shouldn’t go back in, that the festival would be starting soon. It was almost dark as well and even though the harvest moons time had passed it is not highly recommended to travel anywhere at night for a while after its passing. Despite every cell in my brain telling me not to go my body’s lust for the mysterious force luring me into the forest was too much. I took off in a sprint for the dark forest before anyone noticed my return to the village. No one saw my return so they will probably assume that I am still trying to catch more, so it was safe to sneak back into the forest. After I got far enough in I slowed down from my sprint and began to go back into my half crouch, still keeping a fast pace. It was odd something seemed to be drawing me in the direction of my favorite spot, underneath the old oak tree at the opening in the heart of the forest, the spot where I met the vampire. I was not planning on returning to this spot until a few more moons passed, however I found myself heading straight there. I tried telling myself to stop, to turn around, but a part of me questioned why? Why, what am I so worried will be there? Or am I worried about what won’t be there? I shook my head vigorously.

“Stop that kind of thought!” I yelled at myself out loud.

Before I could stop myself from going any further I found myself standing in the open area. I closed my eyes, and opened them again to try and adjust my vision to the now moonlight area. I was stunned a bit at first to see nothing there under the tree, the tree that once sheltered a blood soaked vampire from view. Then just as soon as the shock came it left, and was replaced by relief. Some part of me wondered why this was even shocking in the first place. Why would he stick around? He had no reason to come back to this tree or to stay. And yet a more curious side of me wondered why it was so important to see if he was here or not. Letting out a satisfying sigh of frustration and relief I turned to head back to the village. There wasn’t a point in hanging around here any longer, and I didn’t want to worry the others either.

As I turned to head back to the village though I stopped abruptly as I heard a very light, very soothing voice call out in barely a whisper “What a strange girl…”

I spun around quickly on my heels to be face to face with none other than that of the face of the vampire from last night.

“Huh!” I caught my breath loudly not knowing what to say or do next. I wasn’t truly expecting to find him here still nor was I wanting to, was I?

He smiled to himself pleased with the shock he caused. Then just as quickly as that smile rose up it faded. “Why did you come back here?”

Gaining my composer I calmly looked the vampire in the eyes and spoke, “I come to this place all the time, it is the center of the forest and that tree” I pointed at the tree behind him, “is my favorite spot to relax.” I explained. I was unsure if he would buy my lame excuse, however it sounded better than saying “some unknown force drew me into the forest to this very spot.”

He held his poker face not showing any sort of reaction and responded in the same calm manner that I had used, “Really? Well, my apologize for interrupting your relaxation time.” He studied me for a moment then continued. “Though by the way you’re dressed and covered in sweat it doesn’t look like you came here to relax exactly. It looks more like… you have been out hunting…”

I quickly flushed bright red, I do not know why what he said bothered me so much it shouldn’t he is a vampire full of deception and disseat, but now that he had pointed it out I felt embarrassed and very unfeminine.

“That’s because I was hunting” I declared clearly “For the elves we celebrate the passing of the harvest moon with a feast in order to celebrate the passing of the day where evil roams freely and chaos knows no end.”

He looked at me with a thoughtful expression now, “Don’t most elven women wear traditional clothing to such events and don’t the men usually do the hunting?”

“Well, yes that’s all true, however for the most part I’m a special case, and I always go out with the hunters, especially for large events such as this.” I paused feeling more embarrassment I decided to turn the tables, “And what are you doing here?” I asked with a small amused smile now on my face.

The vampire stood there silently for a few moments thinking about what to say “I came here in hopes of seeing you again.” He said flatly in a matter of fact way.

I was taken aback a little at his statement, but I made sure not to skip a beat. I mentally reminded myself that vampires were lying scheming creatures who could not be trusted. “Why on earth would you be waiting to see if I showed up? Shouldn’t you be staking out some poor innocent victim in the city?” I pointed out.

He shrugged his shoulders in a nonchalant kind of way and replied coolly “I suppose I could be doing that, but humans are all the same naïve and useless beings, you however… you are interesting.”

“… Why on earth am I so interesting?” I shouted now feeling irritated at his laze fair attitude. “Do you intend on… attacking me?” I asked suddenly concerned.

He laughed a genuine sounding deep laugh “Well no, I do not plan on eating you, and you’re so interesting because you seem so unafraid, so caring, so unique… most would run away or try to fight me once they found out I was one of the creatures of the night. You however not being a naïve human, but an educated elf, did not do such a thing even after realizing my true identity. You even came back to see if I was still around.”

“First, off I did not come here to see if you were still around!” I retorted feeling the need to defend myself. “Secondly, I thought you were injured when I first met you, and well you haven’t given me a real reason to be scared or aggressive.”

“I am sure you have heard stories of my kind though, and surely you are not naïve enough to think those stories are wrong are you?” He asked coyly.

Now irritated and feeling bashed on I balled my fists up and grabbed the vampire by the collar of his shirt. “I am not naïve! I have heard the stories, but I am not afraid! You won’t hurt me and even if you tried I would be able to defend myself perfectly!”

He smiled amused with my outburst, a typical vampire behavior, “Well if that’s the case then at least tell me your name, so that I can remember such an interesting elf such as yourself.”

Calming down a bit I loosened my grip on his collar not yet letting go though, “Tear, Tear Rivers…and you?”

“Tear huh, well Tear my name is Damien Crow.” He said not concerned with my remaining grip on his shirt collar. “Now, if you don’t mind with that I should be going and so should you. People will start to wonder where you’ve been if you don’t get back to your precious village soon.” He stated in an almost knowing way.

He was right though I needed to return I was already gone for much longer than I had planned. If I didn’t get back soon then the festival would be over with by the time I arrived. I sighed then released my grip on his shirt and stepped back defeated. I turned to leave and as I left I heard him say one final parting phrase.

“Be careful, Tear demonic creatures like to crush joyous moments in the lives of the living and good souled...”

With those parting words I left without looking back not paying too much mind to the ominous words that the vampire, Damien, had spoken. The trip back as usual was long, not really tiresome just long. However along the way I noticed something strange. Not a single woodland creature was out and about. By this time it was typical to see dear in the Flower meadow area I noted as I trudged through the flowery fields. However, I did not see a single deer, nor any other creature for that matter not even a bat catching bugs in the night’s sky. This unease in the forest instinctually set an unease in myself, I quickened my pace despite knowing I was only a few minutes away from the village now. I reached the hidden entrance behind the waterfall in what had to be minutes, but felt like ages to get to. I began to enter it when I started to hear the screams.

I rushed through the rest of the dark damp tunnel and emerged to a nightmare… There was blood staining the grass and trees everywhere, and fire, fire on the trees and in the fields, and on the people. People were running a mock in a panic screaming in horror. My world was shattered, my home was destroyed, no being destroyed before my eyes, the festival was officially canceled… So many bodies already lied motionless on the ground and several others were following suite. What, or who could have done such a thing? Who would even know where our village was? It couldn’t have been one of the villagers…no none of them would do such a heinous act.

“Tear!” Shrieked a tiny voice snapping me out of my own shock and back to the world around me, the voice came from a none other than Lilith the small red headed girl that I have lived with for years now. She ran up to me with a tear stricken face and panic in her eyes. I wrapped her tiny body in the safety of my arms immediately. I comforted the crying girl for a few minutes before crouching down to her eye level.

“Lilith, what’s going on? What happened here?” I asked in the calmest, most soothing voice I could muster.

“It’s horrible,” she exclaimed with fright, “Blood Orcs came into the village and began destroying it along with everyone!”

“Blood Orcs?” I asked a bit skeptical.

“YES!” She shouted now more urgent “The hunters tried to slay them, but the blood orcs over powered them… they killed off all the hunters and thousands of villagers…”She muttered barely believing herself what she had said.

“We need to evacuate everyone that is still alive.” I said in a calm commanding tone. “You should go ahead and find somewhere safe to hide until I can get everyone safe…go to the center of the forest under the old oak tree and wait for me there.”

I could tell that the girl hated the idea of separation, but she nodded in consent any way and took off through the passage leading to safety beyond the falls. Once satisfied with knowing she had made it far enough out I hurried into the fray.

The village was in complete chaos most of everyone was already dead and if not dead dying. I wanted to help them, I wanted to bring them back, but I something deep within told me it was not a good idea. When I brought Lilith back from the dead I was completely drained of energy after it, and to repeat that over and over again…It was well impossible…maybe if I had more training in it I could, but the thought of bringing back random things from the dead just for practice seemed, well immoral. There was simply nothing I could do here for the ones who passed and I could not heal all the ones dying either. I had to settle with trying my best to get as many survivors out as I could.

I began kicking down doors after doors of houses and checking for any sign of life, sadly most were only grim sites of bodies lying eerily still on the floor motionless and brutally torn apart still dressed in their festive clothing. As my hunt grew began to grow more and more grim something occurred to me, where were the blood orcs?

“Ahhhhh!!!!!” Came a voice from the next house over, it was the mayors house. I tore off to it as fast as I could and kicked through the door. Behind the door I was shocked at the scene.

“Tear! Help, me!” Yelled the mayor and a few villagers huddled in a defensive ball behind him. There were only three of them left in total, and five blood orcs between me and them. I had never seen a blood orc in person and had only heard gorish stories of them. Looking at them now I could see what was so terrifying about them, they were ten times our elven height I would guess around 6 or 7 feet tall for each of them and had a dark red, almost black color skin. They were all very muscular, had short brown hair on their heads and down their spine almost like a main, their faces were blockish with lower jaws protruding farther out than their tops adding to their intimidation, and tusk like teeth that curled around the side of the face. The orcs were indeed a giant threat and had to be dealt with, but could I do it alone? I was strong, but I even doubted my ability to take one two let alone five blood orcs. The orcs had size and strength on me, not to mention weapons of their own. They all had a sword, knife, or club of sorts with them, and clearly knew how to use them. I could not do nothing though I had to at least try to save the other villagers, I owed them that much.

“Hey uglies!” I shouted at the blood orcs while drawing out my bow and arrow. At first their attention remained on the cowering crowd and they paid me no mind. Feeling the pressure of getting their attention fast I drew my bow back and launched five different arrows one after another into the backs of the orcs. The blow did not do much, due to their thick skin however it did enough to gain their attention and that was all I needed.

“Grrraawwwrrrrr!”

Yep I definitely got their attention, I sprinted out the door giving the elder mayor a quick nod as I left and told him one final thing “The old oak.” I knew he would know what I was talking about and just as I predicted received a nod back in agreance. Not delaying any longer than that I rushed out the door and began to make my way up higher into the trees knowing that my smaller stature would give me leverage in that area.

The blood orcs did not take long in perusing me, their attention was fully on me now. They could careless that the villagers were escaping they only saw me the one who annoyingly shot them with arrows. For their large size the surprisingly caught up fast to me and where only a little more than a few feet behind me in my climb, they unlike me had abandoned their weapons at the bottom of the tree and had been able to climb with less difficulty because of it. I was still faster thankfully. I climbed the oak tree with all my might digging my nails and fingers deep into the bark and hauling myself up, it was not an easy climb the tree was large without a lot of low hanging branches and the ones that were low where thin and unstable. I had to reach a spot that was stable enough for myself, but not the orcs, I had to climb higher.

I had almost reached a branch that shot out far over the village that was thin but looked strong enough to support my weight when I felt a tight grip around my ankle. One of the orcs had been able to shoot out farther than the rest and reach me. I struggled to try and kick his giant hands off of my petite ankles, but had no luck. The orc seemed amused with my struggles and laughed a deep bone chilling laugh. He began to yank me down closer to him, and I blanched realizing that this was the end. I had been caught and had no doubt in my mind that the blood orcs were going to rip my body apart with their bare hands and decorate the tree with pieces of my corps.

Shhhhhheeeeeewwww, an arrow shot from somewhere around us had struck the big red hand of the blood orc. The orc yelped in pain and quickly let go of my ankle and looked around furiously. I took no delay in taking this opening to reach the delicate branch I had been climbing too. Once I reached the branch I to began to search the area for the source of the arrow. I found it in moments, it was Nicholas Stallan, he and I were fairly close friends, we always competed with one another in hunting, eating, racing, and well anything else you could think of really. I was relieved that he wasn’t hurt or worse dead, and I was even happier to see him now. I could not let him have all the glory of course, I would never hear the end of it, I drew my own bow back and readied an arrow straight for the blood orcs eye. I pulled the arrow back as far as I could and released it. I hit the mark, at first it seem to have caused any real damage just more irritation, but then slowly the orc began to lose his grip on the tree’s trunk and plummet to the forest floor below. After seeing this both Nicholas and I shared a quick knowing glance between each other and proceeded to imitate the same thing with the other orcs. I lost track of how many arrows I had shot by the time we finished all of them off, but I knew I had to have shot a lot of them based on the spew of them covering the ground below. Both Nicholas and I studied the ground for a while and our work then simultaneously looked up at each other with victorious faces. We were both grinning at both our success and the fact that we had made it through the lethal night. Without having to say anything to one another we headed down from our tall perches and proceeded to leave the village to rendezvous with the rest of the survivors.

Chapter 2: The sun that never came

Nicholas and I approached the exit of the tunnel leading to the village, we both walked in silence. We emerged with grim faces and even grimmer when we saw more bodies lying on the ground outside. It was the bodies of the elder mayor elf and the people that were huddled together for protection inside his house. They must have run into another orc when they got through the tunnel. These people never even traveled outside the village before they didn’t stand a chance… I realized that Lilith’s body was not among them and mentally sighed in relief, but it still didn’t mean she was safe and alive. Orcs sometimes brought back people alive to feed on their flesh later. Nicholas and I did not spend long grieving over the lost lives and continued to the spot I told Lilith to go to. It was a silent and depressing journey and by the time we made it there the full impact of the night’s events was hanging heavily on both Nicholas and my own shoulders.

I shook off as much of the glooms as I could, starting to feel adrenaline rush through my veins once again, and took a step through the trees and into the clearing. Once through I immediately stopped in my tracks, I stood there stunned, mouth ajar, at what I saw.
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