Spirit Fire

Prologue

Thirty Years Ago

"Careful," whispered the man in his ear, "any sudden movement and we'll be dead."

The man gulped as he stared up at the clear blue sky. A beautiful day. A beautiful day that would be filled with death. The start of a war for freedom from the oppression that hung over his and his comrades' heads like death. Slowly suffocating them with every passing day of oppression that pressed upon them.

His palms grew sweaty as he clenched the trigger handles tighter and tighter with each passing moment.

Together the two of them stood in the shadows of the trees, shrouded in the deep shade of the towering trees. Awaiting the sound of their target. If their source was correct, then their target should be passing by any minute now.

Minutes turned into an hour later than they expected to wait. Their target was nowhere to be seen. Dread filled his being. Something was wrong. Their source couldn't be wrong, could it? How could it when all their information was coming straight from their target's own ranks?

He looked to his comrade, finding him in deep concentration.

"What—," he started only to be interrupted by the bellow of thunder.

Looking up he saw their target. A great mighty beast of power and strength.

Their ballista paled in comparison to the beast that was approaching overhead. But it had to do the trick. It had to. Why else would Her Ladyship issue the ballista to them if she didn't think it was capable of killing something that huge? Unless she wanted them to die. He did something wrong and now he was going to die.

"Shoot." His comrade whispered harshly in his ear.

He was so caught up in his own mind that he didn't register being shoved to the ground before he hit the ground.

Watching, he saw the bolt leave the ballista and arrow straight to the beast above them. The bolt flew true and struck the mighty beast with a devastating blow right through its heart. The beast roared, a sound of pain and fury that echoed off the mountains surrounding them.

The great beast stayed in the air for a moment before crashing into the earth, shaking the whole entirety of the land around them. He swore he saw the mountains tremble from the impact of the beast.

"Come on," his comrade said, tugging him to his feet. Together the two of them approached the fallen beast and its Rider.

He watched carefully, afraid that the beast was still alive and just waiting for them to approach so it could eat them or reduce them to a pile of ash. His heart hammered in his chest the closer and closer they got to the beast. Briggan help him.

In the ruins of broken limbs and blood, he saw a figure struggling to disentangle themselves from the ruination and death around them.

His comrade drew his crossbow and had it aimed at the figure, ready to put a bold in their back. But, somehow the thought of killing this person like this didn't sit right with him. However, they already killed the beast, so why not just put its Rider out of their misery. That is what Her Ladyship tasked them to do, was it not?

He opened his mouth to say something to his comrade but was interrupted by the howl of madness and the Rider was upon them.

P.S. If anyone wants to adopt this character and give him a name go ahead. Just be aware that he is in his teens when this happens and the main events of this story take place thirty years later.