Coming Of Age: The Warrior

Prologue

Exhaustion and an unexplainable numbness. Those were the only things that I could feel. I was completely and utterly exhausted, while the numbness that spread throughout my body killed any pain. But I couldn't stop, not yet. I tightened my grip around the bundle in my arms, my heart hammered in my chest so hard I feared that it would tear right through my flesh and bone.

The roar of the fire mixed perfectly with the howls of triumph. We did it, we killed the demon's and won the war. Tears threatened to spill from my eyes but I shook it off, safety first cry latter, was my mantra. And like the warrior I am, I fought my tired muscles, my sore body, the wound on my left side that was oozing thick red blood from three deep claw marks every time that I moved. Simple things like my hunger and my thirst were easily forgotten.

Panting, I ran past trees, almost half blind with my blackening sight. For a moment, I thought that I wouldn't make it. Until I saw it, standing tall and proud in the middle of an open field. Using what little strength I had left, I ran up the balcony steps and slammed the door open. The chatter and laughter died instantly, countless of eyes stared back at my tilting form. With a sigh of relief, I relaxed, but in doing so I began to fall. I never reached the ground, instead I landed into a pair of arms.

I heard shouting, but I couldn't understand anything, everything was disoriented and blurred. I knew, I knew I was fading, so with what little strength and will power I had left, I cracked open my drooping eyes. The words were a mumbled whisper, so quiet to my ears that I thought I didn't say anything at all. "Protect my daughter," I heard nothing but as I gazed into the warlocks golden cat eyes, I read the promise that they held before the darkness threatened to swallow me whole. And I let it.