My heightened sixth sense of danger suddenly alerts me to something stalking me. I slow down from my run to quickly reevaluate my surroundings. I don't see anything, but I can sense some sort of creature stealthily prowling through the undergrowth around me.
I anxiously summon a sword to my grip in a flourish of sparkling white magic.
Suddenly I see a gray clawed paw step out of the shadows, the rest of the creature swiftly bounds into plain sight right in front of me with a gravelly hiss.
I stagger back a step in alarm as I look this beast over with a pounding heart.
This thing is covered in plates and ridges that hide its eyes from view like a visor. It's maybe four feet, not the tallest or scariest but still frightening all the same. It has a wide mouth full of sharp fangs and its long, boney arms have a glider-like skin flap hanging beneath them. Its dauntingly long tail looks like a scorpion's with an enormous, barbed hook on the end of it.
"Stay back!" I warn, slashing my sword at it. "Back!"
It hisses and hop-jumps closer to me.
"This is your last chance, dude!" I swing my sword again.
The monster crouches down with a hiss, shaking its barbed tail which creates a distracting rattling sound. What the -
The monster abruptly lunges off the ground, swiftly unfolding its arms in mid-bound so its glider wings expand in front of me before it suddenly crashes down on top of me.
I shriek as I fall down but, despite my head roughly bouncing off the ground, the Amulet prevents me from feeling any pain from this endeavor, much to my immense relief.
I anxiously bring my sword between our faces as the monster lurches forward again, fangs gnashing for my face.
The monster's jaws snap down over the blade. Blood suddenly gushes from its mouth and falls into my face and it screams and jumps off of me. Oh god, disgusting!
I back-roll up into a kneeling position and it flies at me again, spitting blood. I jump quickly out of the way to miss another direct hit but now its tail lashes back around and catches me right in the midriff.
The force of the blow has me flying off my feet. I crash land deeper into the woods a few meters away. Once again, my Amulet absorbs the impact and displaces the pain before it can even seize me so I swiftly fly to my feet and now take off running. The monster behind me gives chase, I can hear it wildly hopping over the rough ground on its hind legs.
I come to an abruptly halt, ducking with my hands over my head, and now the creature sails over me again. It lands to the ground with a thud and whips around to face me but I'm ready for it this time.
I swiftly summon earth and suddenly the tree branches reach down to seize the monster before it can spring again. It snarls and thrashes in its restraints but I'm already running again, leaving this thing far behind me. By the time it chews its way through those branches, I'll be long gone.
♣ ♦ ♥ ♠
I slow down, it's been a few hours and now I'm finally at the base of the Vorpal Volcano.
It's really amazing how much ground I've covered in only a few hours. It probably would've taken me all day to get here without my Amulet but with it, I never tire so I never need to stop for breaks.
I do take a moment now though to examine the ancient volcano. Despite being crushed in the middle, the sides of this thing are still crazy high, so I definitely have my work cut out for me climbing to the top.

YOU ARE READING
Behind My Shadow - Book Three
FantasyThe day has finally donned for Adara to complete the sacred Eighteen Labors of Alice to prove her merit to Raetri and secure her rightful place on the Vorpal Throne! But Adara feels like she's playing against a stacked deck. While struggling to conq...