Gaiagon

Chapter 1: The First Trial

“As I ran for my life, I had only one thing going through my head: should I turn around and face the man hunting me, or should I keep running until the forest exited to a clearing? Besides the breaking of twigs beneath my feet, the only sound I heard was the sounds of branches above me springing from someone having just leaped from them. My opponent was obviously a treetop hunter. Suddenly, arrows began to wiz by my head at what seemed to feel like an arrow a second. My hopes for an open clearing to level the playing field began to diminish. Now I was starting to wonder if my hunter was not alone. Was he not actually trying to kill me, but actually trying to make me run to a certain place? Possible to one that had a trap waiting for me? I wanted to stop and face whoever what hunting me, but I knew, even if it was a trap, that is was better to run and hope for a better battlefield than to stay and let him kill me from atop the trees.”

            “I looked ahead of me with my acute, battle-tested eyes and noticed the number of trees ahead diminishing. I was almost out of the forest! I ran even harder, knowing the sooner I got out of the forest, the sooner I could fight back. I drew my shield, in preparation for a possible ambush, and lunged my last step out of the forest, only to find that it was not a clearing, but a cliff! There stretched out before me was an incredibly wide gap between two cliffs, with no bridge in sight. For a split second, it was quiet enough to hear a river below. There was still more open space before I would get too close to the edge to be safe, so I ran a little farther away from the trees. Suddenly, I heard a thud like that of a man falling out of the sky. I turned around to see an elf covered in mud and camouflage. He had his bow on his back, all his arrows in his quiver and his hands on his back, as if he were ready to pull something out. We stared straight into each other’s eyes, as if each one of us was trying to intimidate the other. I could tell from experience that he was waiting for me to get distracted so he could go for the kill. No matter how much I wanted to look at my surroundings to better prepare myself, I knew doing so would be my end.”

            “The next five seconds felt like five minutes. He realized I was a veteran, so his hopes most likely changed from me being distracted to me attacking first and messing up. Knowing that we were at a stalemate unless one person attacked first, I put my left foot in front, my right foot in back, my shield in my left hand and my blade at the ready in my right hand. Our stare-down continued for another five to ten seconds, then I ran shield first at the elf. Elves are notorious for their dexterity, agility, and speed. The elf jumped over me with a single forward flip and skillfully spun in hopes to cut my back with the daggers he had been concealing the whole time. I had fought many elves in my days, and even though he was much more skilled than most of the others combined, he was still very predictable. When I had been staring him down, I was thinking, ‘he will do one of three things: attempt to twist my blade from my hands, jump back to the trees, or jump over me to attack from behind.’ As soon as I saw him jump over me, I knew his plan.”

 “In a period of about two second from his jump, I got on one knee, spun around, and swung my blade to mess up his landing. What he did next surprised me. He landed on my blade and used it as a spring board to make a second jump. The mysterious elf was obviously either a veteran, or a hunter who had obtained a lot of skill over time. Elves live longer and age slower, so it was possible he was much older than me. We stared at each other for a couple more seconds, but this time he made the first move. He dashed at me with his head leaning in forward and his hands behind his back, with his daggers still drawn. He jumped forward with a graceful leap off his own hands and attempted to knock me down with a very strong kick. In the blink of an eye I raised my shield, sheathed my blade, and braced myself. A man in the armor I wore could never dream of dodging such a quick blow. Knowing the kick failed to knock me down, the elf used my shield to jump back and prepare for strike two.”