SA: Basically all my AU's

Monster AU (Part One)

Ships?? Non so far. Four fallen duh, mostly Rollan's side though.

Rollan was warned again and again by the elders.

The forest holds demons.

Rollan always laughed at the thought. The elders were falling off their rockers. Sure, it was true that there was sightings of half animal creatures and such, but no one ever died or disappeared.

Until this summer. A group of hunters were going out to the neighboring town, a weeks walk away. When they came back...

They spoke of horrible things. Winged stoned figures swooping from the sky and dragging villagers away. Shadows creeping across the ground swallowing houses whole. And fire. The whole village was on fire.

Needless to say, the hunters booked it back to Amayan and told everyone to never speak of Steriol again.

That town was gone.

Rollan didn't believe a word they uttered. Amayan elders did not approve of the trade agreement between Steriol, but the Steriol Leader wouldn't change the terms. The elders were always looking for a way to shut down Steriol and get rid of the trade all together.

Wouldn't be hard to convince a few hunters to make up some random tale detailing the death of every citizen.

That was until citizens in Amayan started to disappear as well. Hunters wouldn't return, traders were never seen again, and kids were wandering into the forests to never be found.

Panic was in an uproar and Rollan knew what to do. Avoid the music, avoid the floating lights, and stay hidden during the night. Every single day he did that. He hid at night and in the morning he would ignore his name.

He was safe for now. That was until his mom was the one to go missing. Rollan felt so stupid, his mom was talking about the lights and pretty music over supper and Rollan didn't notice the signs until it was too late.

His mom was gone and he could've stopped her. That made it his responsibility to find her, no matter what the elders said.

"Rollan!" One of them roared pounding on the house door. Rollan rolled his eyes and shoved his dagger in his boot and some food in his bag. They've been knocking for the last half hour, they should know to give up.

"Your mother is dead, you can't save her!" Another one yells.

"She's not dead!" Rollan swears through the closed door separating the adults from the kid, "and I'm going to find her!"

The elders start pounding harder and Rollan steps back with the lock starts to shudder, "that's my cue."

He bolts up the stairs and grabs a lantern and match. Opening his window he sticks his head out to see one of the woodsmen using an ax to open the door. Rollan frowns, why do they care so much about getting to him? He waits for the elders to stream inside before leaping down and sprinting to the woods. The sounds of yelling fade away as Rollan runs deeper into the foliage.

Rollan slows down once the sounds are completely gone and lights his lantern. Spinning around he takes in his surrondings. Trees with bright green leaves wave lazily in the cold night air and the stars and quarter moon reflect off a stream to Rollan's left. Maybe it was stupid to leave at night, but Rollan was getting desperate. The elders weren't doing anything to stop the disappearances and wouldn't offer any help.

Rollan hears the far off sound of giggling and sweet music. He's legs want to drag him towards the sound, but his brain shuts them down. He walks in the opposite direction and blocks the steadily growing in volume noise. Rollan feels eyes following him and his heart starts racing, putting him in fight or flight mode.