In the middle of a dark forest, a little spot of light flickers, a small clearing, surrounded by very dense trees. A Brown-haired woman sits near the fire, a tent near her. She was a soldier, judging by her leather and ringed armor and the sword leaning on a nearby tree. She looked in the direction she thought was the way to her queen’s castle, She knew, that cutting through the forest was a bad idea, but being chased by a bunch of mountain dwelling orcs had forced her into the forest. At first, she was surprised that they didn’t enter, But when one brave orc had stepped foot into the forest, It fell over with a loud squawk. She saw that a sliver of wood had sunk into its neck, the orc’s thought this place was cursed… "Yeah, Right."
Whatever killed that orc hadn’t attacked her yet. But she wasn’t going to try to sleep; the “cursed” forest might try to kill her. She, named simply Vy, by her queen, felt the past few days lack of sleep tugging at her eyelids. She closed her eyes, only to rest them for a moment. When she heard a twig snap, she opened her eyes, and saw nothing… What she thought was her eyes adjusting to the dark, was really the shadows that had tried to swallow her whole, receding back.
Something, about this place mad her feel uneasy… “Maybe, it is cursed…” She whispered to herself. Shaking her head, she cleared such thoughts away. She wasn’t superstitious enough to believe in that. Vy moved the firewood away from the fire, and poured water on it, quelling most of the flame. In the dying embers of light, she stripped off the uncomfortable armor she wore; Leaving her chilly in a thin layer of cloth.
A wolves paw print emblem was tattooed to her right shoulder. She slid into her tent, “If I had gone around, it would take me three days, but… Going straight across, should have taken less than a day.” She lay down, something sharp slicing open her leg. “Ow!” Groping around in the darkness, she found her dagger. Cursing her own stupidity, she shoved if out of her way angrily, only helping to slice herself open on her palm. She walked outside, not wanting her blood to stain her bedding. She shook her hand, to remove the excess blood, and wrapped it with a bandage. She stopped, and stared at the large amount of blood she had lost, “Must have cut something important.” As she inspected the blood, it slowly collected into a puddle.
Staring, her mouth hanging open, a little imp appeared. It was sipping her blood, it turned red; otherwise, she hadn’t been able to see it. She growled, and ran for her sword. Picking up the deadly, also wolf insignia covered sword she turned back to the imp growling loudly. About fifteen imps had gathered around the blood puddle. Vy Was surprised momentarily, then charged at them whirling her sword with a practiced ease. It passed through the imps harmlessly, and they looked up, chattering at her.
An Imp slightly taller than the others pointed to her bandaged hand, and screamed at the top of its lungs. She stumbled back, landing on her hindquarters near the embers of fire. A Single imp jumped at her, the rest preparing to follow. But it burst into Black flame when it reached a few inches in front of her. She yelped reflexively, and then stared… She could see the shape of an imp in shadow, and a little blood on the grass. The shadow melted, with a audible shriek or pain. Then a weak smile spread across her face. “The light from the fire?” She turned to face her fire, the embers dimming fast. “Oh… s**t.” She reached out for the pile of wood, but the imps were standing in front of it, and hissed loudly when her slender hand came near. “E-even worse.”
She whimpered. Picking up her sword, she swung it again and again at them in vain, Vy began crying softly… This made the imps chatter more, this time with an hungry sound to it.
The wind blew, and she looked up. The imps were looking right at her, fear in their eyes. “W-wait...” They were looking PAST her. She turned, A shadowed figure was standing behind her. The imps screamed, and began running away. The shadow darted past her, and grabbed an imp in one hand. In a flash of sharp white teeth and a loud crunch, the imp fell silent, its black fog floating from its stub of a neck, and dispersing into the air. Opening and closing its mouth with another loud crunch, the shadow turned to face her, It wore a robe-like cloak of animal fur. After staring at her silently for a moment, it dashed off, and judging by the yelps and shrieks of Imps, killed a few more out of her sight. It grew very quiet…
Vy began to get nervous again, and clutched her sword closer to her, the cold steel reminding her that she was clothed only in her nightwear. It walked back into her view, and hunched at the ring of light around her. It spat something at her, which rolled into the light. She warily took her eyes from the shadow to look at it. A bright white imp skull. The skull slowly melted into shadow. She suppressed a retch… It sat outside the ring of light; and tenderly stuck its clawed hand into the light, the hand blistered, and the smell of burnt flesh filled the air. It reflexively pulled back its hand. “P-please! Don’t eat me!” It seemed to consider her, and a rough chuckle reached Vy’s ears.
“I didn’t come to eat you. Only to partake of your blood. That is what the filth wanted. Those little shadows, those imps are only capable of taking physical form when they drink of others life. I am a much stronger shadow.” She flinched, and moved closer to the fire. “I think I would have preferred my chance with the imps…” Another dry chuckle. She quickly lifted her sword and stabbed, resulting in a scrunch of metal, and she saw the clawed hand that had reached for her, holding the tip of her sword, and wrenched the sword from her grip. The figure pulled back one of it’s sleeves and pushed the blade of her sword on it’s wrists, not even leaving a small cut. “A normal blade is useless.” Vy’s lower lip trembled. “Can I make you a deal, anything?”
It chuckled again. The clawed picked up a piece of firewood, and held it out to her. “R-really?” Vy reached out, and grabbed the wood. She pulled on it, but the demon wouldn’t release it. She took a stronger grip, and pulled harder. She was wrenched forward, and a hand gripped around her wrist. It pulled her away from the light, picked her up, forcibly sat her down on its lap, and held her in an embrace she couldn’t wriggle out of. “I have no reason to make a deal with you… Dinner.”
((This is only the first little bit of the story, I've got fifteen more pages where this came from. It's an old one, but one of my favorites. I'm going to revise this and much of the story after ths point.))
View User's Journal
Ffff......
 |
DemonLink
Community Member |
