Kingdoms of Ohm: The Dark Inferno #2

Agnes, Dearie

Clop! Clop! Clop!

The sound of hooves echoed across the pinewood forests of Jorryn. The speckled morning sun spilled fresh shades of yellow and white to pattern the grounds and those who slipped quietly through it. Like the knight and his trusted steed.

He was armored to the fullest; silver and black metal danced across his whole body, and a thin layer of feathers ruled up his helmet like a mohawk. Where the skin touched starlight was chainmail, which jangled against the armor like small church bells. A simple design, but quite protective.

Despite his long journey through mountain passes and jungles, the male kept his bearing, awake and alert at his surroundings -- a sword on his right hip, and a dagger hiding in a sheathe just a few inches below that. The horse didn't carry as much; just a few facial features, but nothing too extreme so that he didn't overheat.

The two took their time scouting a region of dead trees caught from a strange fire that happened here, and smelling the soot and ash particles that remained behind. Lightning strike? Wondered the knight as he looked from above. The smoke seemed unusually placed; Jorryn was quite tropical around this time of year. Still, not everything garnered his interests to the fullest, but he enjoyed the time he spent away from the castle, and those mangy, smelly-

"Knight..."

His thoughts cleared the second something dark stepped foot into the path, nearly scaring the living daylight out of the male. It only took a second to panic, and two to fall into a trance-like state of despair once he made out the figure. The creature sized up the male and his horse, it's disfigured maw curling upward in a nightmarish grin.

"Woah..." The knight pulled at the harness, urging the horse away from the smiling creature. He kept an appropriate distance, enough to run if needed to. But the creature before him didn't seem to move at all, despite the terrifying look on its face.

He fought for his first words. "B-Beast of Jorryn. I am Sir Morris, knighted to the King and Queen of the Kingdom of Cerrebethia. I ask that I please pass so I may continue my travels to the Kingdom of Az'hark."

The creature didn't answer. It just sat there, grinning.

"Might I ask why you impede my path?" He tried next, a little louder.

Nothing again. That worried him more than anything.

"Beast, do you not heed my calls?" the male called again, turning the horse diagonal to show his sword. "I ask of you to move. Speak if you understand!"

All of a sudden the creature sank into the ground, leaving behind a wisp of black smoke to trail in its wake.

His eyes widened, his trembling metal fingers slowly coiling around the reins again. "*Tsk-Tsk*, b-back up, girl."

The knight stared at the spot for a time, unable to deter what to make of this magic. He looked behind him, then back at the space where the monster sat. It looked safe. No. He wasn't going to risk it. Feeling safe is just what animals want before they pounce. It had to be a trap.

"Come, now. We are taking the other path." He took one more peek behind him before urging the horse to turn around, right toward a strange black shape. "There's too much-"

The knight wasn't able to finish in time. Ripped straight off the clutches of his noble steel by a black shape, he rag-dolled back-first into the ground with a pained grunt, losing his sword and his bearings all the while. And the horse he trusted so dearly sprinted into the forest with a caterwaul of terror.

He wasn't aware he blacked in and out of consciousness so quickly; even his brain wasn't fast enough to render what happened. The knight woke up wheezing, the air having left his lungs from the initial landing. And he whined like a lost child when his vision became clearer. That, and his horse was gone. Panicked at his loneliness, he started blindly throwing his hands around for his weapon of choice; it wasn't there.