The Awakening

Chapter 1

            The moon light was dazzling-bright enough to cast shadows. The whole Gergon Village was wrapped in deathly silence. The cool night air touched my cheeks as I ran fast into the woods.

            "This is my last chance to escape," I said to myself while I pushed my way through the verdant leaves and branches. As I was running, I saw a dog like animal charging behind me. It looked less like a dog and more like a vicious wolf wanting its prey. Fear passed through my body, but I ignored it because all I wanted was to escape from my mother.

           I ran as fast as I could but the wolf caught up to me with ferocious looking teeth trying to bite me. I fell on the ground grabbing its neck. My mouth opened in pain as its sharp pointed claws pierced into my chest. I tried to shake it off but it didn't let go. I was about to lose hope when suddenly an arrow stuck in its head splashing the blood on my face. My heart froze in shock. I felt the tears of pure terror streaming from my eyes. Seconds later, I lose consciousness.

         My eyes flicked open. The sky was bright. I moaned from the tapping of sunlight against my face. I wondered how I'd been sleeping. I precipitously remembered something that had happened last night that almost got me killed. I winced when I touched the bruises on my chest. I could still feel the pain from it.

Suddenly, a voice broke my thought.

" We should take her with us"

" What? Are you a fool? We don't even know her"

"What of it? She's a lady villager. She might provide us with some information about this village"

"We can't trust her Baxter , she might put us in danger"

"No she won't "

"How can you be so sure about that?"

"I have a hunch that she can help us"

"This is madness! You're risking our lives with a total stranger."

"Am I going to have to listen to your bickering all day?"

"It's his damn fault for deciding what is good for us. He's not even the leader of this group."

"Okay, what if all the six of us get to fuck her'

"That's not gonna happen"

"I should have let her be eaten by the wolf"

               I closed my eyes and pretended that I was still unconscious. Last night, I almost got myself killed by a wolf and now I am surrounded by these outlaws. "What will I do?" I asked myself as trembled in fear.

"Don't you lay a finger on her"

"Stop it Zed, you're making things worse"

"Don't give me anymore reasons to kill you Baxter"

There was loud thud coming from the ground. I didn't know what was going on. "Are they fighting?" I wondered. It's a good thing that there are not getting along. Part of me waits for them to kill each other so I could run away while they're distracted.

While they were fighting, I quickly got up and ran as fast as I could. My heart beat was accelerating as I sprinted into the forest path. I didn't even know where to go. I was desperate to get away from those bandits. My heart and feet were pounding. I almost tripped and stumbled out of fear. The wind was hitting my face. I weaved through the trees then suddenly I heard the clattering of hooves. "Ba da rump ba da rump ba da rump"

I jerked my head to get a quick glimpse of the men on the horseback. "They are the Royal Guards of the Palace!" I said out of surprise. I paused running and gasped for air. I felt a sense of relief when I saw them. " Maybe they came here to rescue me,"  I said to myself.

"HELP!"  I shouted.

"Over here!" I shouted again as I waved my hands in the air.

Seconds later, they found me. I heard the breaking sound of twigs as the Royal Guard dismounted from their horses.

"Please help me, I am Dorothea, the  daughter of the chief of this Gergon Village, some bandi--"

A fist abruptly made contact on my face.  I stumbled back with the taste of blood in mouth. Tears stung in the corners of my eyes but I blinked them away. One of the Royal Guards slowly advanced near me pointing the tip of his sword between my eyes.

"Wait! I'm telling the truth , my father is the chief of this village and he will reward you if you return me to him"

He looked at me with his devilish grin and they all laughed at me.

"HAHAHAHAHA!"

"Our Master is right, she's the spitting image of Jianna" the Royal Guard sneered.

"Kill her now"

"Wait please don't kill me," I pleaded.

He was about to slash me with his sword and the all of a sudden I heard a whosh sound cutting through air. It hit the skull of the Royal Guard making a crack sound. They were startled and quickly unleashed their swords from the sheaths. I pressed my hand across my mouth as the river of blood had appeared out of the nose and mouth of the Royal Guard.

"Show yourself coward!" one of the Royal Guard blurted out.

An eerie silence hung in the air. The Royal Guard formed a defensive stance. I heard a crunching of footsteps. Finally, they revealed themselves from behind the trees. I was baffled when I had noticed that they were the same bandits whom I saw a while ago.

"Hey beautiful lady villager, just wait there , we're gonna save you," said the bandit that has a large chest that curves outward.

"Are you nuts? Do you think you can defeat us?  You are clearly outnumbered. You are just six and we are 18 figh---"

Before he could even finish talking, an arrow was shot hitting the chest of the Royal Guard. He dropped down dead and that was the signal of their fight. They swung their swords in the air and launch to attack the bandits. I could hear the resonating sound of their swords as it collided. One of the bandits was throwing knives slashing the flesh of his every target. One of them was really huge. He's not even using any weapon to attack the Royal Guards. He was about to be stabbed by the sword but he still managed to get it from his attacker. He hastily gripped the right arm of the Royal Guard and broke it. The Royal Guard kneeled down screaming in pain.

I stood up slightly trembling. I could hear the thrumming of my heart against my chest. I hid behind the tree. After a few seconds, I drew a deep breath to calm myself. Then there was a total silence.

"You are safe now," a familiar voice broke my thought.