And to Darkness You Shall Return.

Tabitha - Chapter 2: First Impressions

Both of them nearly jumped out of their skin.

"What on or under the earth was that?" Tabitha asked as they spun around, looking for the source of the sudden, ear-piercing scream followed by the loud crack of an arrow sticking in a tree. 

Then she saw it, standing outside a ruined house was a boy, no older than she, with an arrow nocked in his longbow and aimed right at... Grelf.

The boy opened fire, Grelf was facing the opposite direction, unable to defend himself, but Tabitha could. She slammed her staff into the ground, and a wall of stone erupted from the earth in front of them. The arrow shattered against it.

Another arrow came forth, and this time it was Grelf that came to her rescue. He seemed to move as fast as the arrow itself, slicing it in halves that parted around them both. He then slashed his sword, and a wave of fire rolled towards him as the boy took cover.

After he was out of sight, Tabitha placed her staff on the ground and began to chant in an ancient language, the tongue of magic. The engravings on her staff started to glow. 

Then, an earthen hand burst out of the ground, and the stone golem clawed it's way out.

"What would you have me do, Mistress?" it asked, in an impossibly low voice. 

"What, no hi? No 'Hey how've you been?' so serious all the time, it's been what, two months since I've last summoned you?" she said playfully.

"Tabitha..." Grelf said in a voice an impatient parent might use to remind their child of what to and not to do.

"Okay, okay" she continued "There's this kid hiding over there, and we don't know who we is or what he wants. Could you maybe, go and get him for us? Oh and try not to hurt him ok?"

The golem bowed and walked over to where they had last seen the boy.

"You shouldn't ask your golem to spare the boy, he could be dangerous." said Grelf guardedly.

"Or," replied Tabitha "he could just be alone and scared. He is the only person we've seen up here so far" she said with a shrug. "And my golem does have a name you know." she added.

"And what would that be?" said Grelf with only a hint of curiosity.

"Montem!" answered Tabitha with a smile of self-pride.

Grelf stared at her for a second,and sighed before asking "What are we going to do with him, the boy?"

Tabitha thought about it for a moment, then once again shrugged her shoulders "I dunno." and smiled. 

With Grelf rolling his eyes, they both turned their attention back to Montem, waiting for him to return, hopefully with the boy.

(Leo's Perspective)

 When Leo saw the beast clawing it's way out of the house, he did what any sane person would do: he ran back into his house flailing his arms in panic. 

Then the thing appeared at the door. Leo quickly aimed an arrow and let it fly. It stuck in the humanoids chest. But it simply snapped off the shaft and kept walking towards him. Not knowing what else to do, he grabbed for his father's sword.

The golem recoiled at the sight of it. Leo noticed this, and swung it experimentally at the golem, who stepped out of the blades reach.

"Yeah! You'd better back up!"

But then the golem ripped off a plank from the floor and used it to knock the blade out of Leo's hand.

This is where it ends, whispered the voices once again, he is too powerful and you have nothing to protect yourself with. "Oh shut up" Leo said aloud, confusing the golem, but it continued it continued to advance.

Leo was defenseless, and it was useless to try and attack the golem, so the golem took him without any more of a fight. Then, careful not to touch the blade, it picked up, and sheathed his sword.

"Put me down ya big brute!" Leo demanded as the golem carried him over his shoulder back to Tabitha and Grelf.

"Hey!" came the voice of Tabitha "Don't call him a brute!" she pouted. As Leo was set down, he whirled around to face her.

"What else would I call him!?" Leo said angrily, and would've attacked her if the golem wasn't holding his arms behind his back, "But he is! He-" His sentence was cut short as he saw her face up close and personal.

She had pinkish-green hair, and a slight tan. Her face was made of delicate features. But the most interesting thing was her eyes. They were a light blue, with a green tint lining her pupil, but the pattern lining her iris made it look as though he was staring into a kaleidoscope of the two colors.

"He... uh" but then snapped himself out of it, realizing he shouldn't be daydreaming at a time like this.

"Never mind! You need to leave! Haven't you done enough already!?" yelled Leo, grabbing at his sword in anger, and then remembered he didn't have it.

The two looked at each other uncertainly "Ummm... what do you mean?" she asked.

Leo practically blew steam "Oh don't play dumb with me! I know what kind of people you are. Who are you, and why did you come back here?"

"First of all" the man started "We've never been here before. As to who we are-" He stepped towards Leo "We could ask the same thing to you." 

Leo shifted the weight on his feet nervously at the sight of him. Now that he was closer, he could see his face underneath his hood. He was an older man, possibly in his late fifties, with dark skin and a steely gray beard. But his age aside, his facial expression and size alone was enough to intimidate anyone.

"Th-This is my home! The one that you destroyed almost 14 years ago!" Leo said, but his voice wavered just a bit.

Grelf studied Leo for a second, then said "I don't have time for this." waving his hand dismissively "The boy's delusional. Tabitha, let's go." and he started to walk towards the end of the village.

"Wait!" said Tabitha "Shouldn't we... you know, if he really is delusional, we should help him! Plus, it can't be fun to stay up here all alone... maybe" she started "Lumino could help! He's got lot's of spare house rooms and-"

"No" Grelf interrupted her in mid-sentence "We have neither the resources nor the means of transport for a third person, and I doubt this boy is a mages offspring." 

Tabitha glanced at Leo, then she looked down at her feet.

But as quick as thought itself, she perked up and said "I can take him! After all, we do have two horses!"

Grelf looked at her, confused "What? He's not riding my horse if that's what you're thinking."

"I know." she replied quickly.

Meanwhile, Leo looked back and forth between the two and finally said "No way! I'm not going anywhere with you! And what do you want with my mountain anyways?"

Tabitha looked hurt, and Grelf glared at him. 

"First off, this isn't your mountain, second, that's none of your business."

"It may not be my mountain, but it's my home!" Leo spat back at him.

Grelf's chest swelled up threateningly "If you must know..." he said slowly "We are looking for something that should have been destroyed long ago. That's all I will say about it." He then turned to Tabitha "As for you, very well, you may take him back to Guild Master Lumino, just keep an eye on him."

And with that he walked off, towards the path that led to the top of the mountain. Leo remembered the legends of a vast cave at the top, housing a monstrous creature. None were said to have ever come back down from there alive. Of course, that may have just been an old wise tale to keep kids from straying too far, but still...

Well, no time to worry about that, he was trying to decide whether or not to go with this stranger, who seemed to be very dangerous. Yet, she couldn't be with the people that came to his village so long ago, or he definitely wouldn't be alive. But it could be a trick. 

Finally Leo decided to just go along with it instead of jumping to conclusions, seeing as that almost got him killed a few minutes ago.