Lionheart

The Test Begins

The forest was ferocious, dark and deep. It made Linley feel puny. It was dark thus Linley had trouble seeing, he often stumbled around and fell but then his eyes got accustomed to the dark and he started to see much better.

The forest was as quiet as a grave, no voices could be heard other than a rare crackle of stems or a faint rustle of leaves, Linley did not want to be there. He was scared his heart seemed as if it could come out of his chest any moment.

Although he was scared to hell, he kept a tight grip on his sword ready to draw it at a moment's notice if required. He kept walking following the Map he used to look at occasionally by lighting a small fire. He tried hard but he got lost.

He did not know what to do, he was screaming with fear in his mind his eyes were filled and he was on the verge of crying, he tried his best to keep his agony inside.

As he walked he had an idea, he thought that if he could find a small clearing he could see the mountain and correct his path. The idea satisfied him thus he climbed a nearby tree to search for a clearing. He was lucky to find one nearby.

Delighted he rushed towards it, as he reached it he looked towards the mountain and soon saw it, he was finally successful in finding the correct path.

He corrected course and started walking towards the mountain, suddenly he felt as if someone was watching him, the feeling itself scared him to death, his heart was beating with a tremendous pace, his forehead covered with sweat.

Mustering the strength he had he turned around.

Nothing, there was no one over there.

He took a calm breath and started walking, as he walked further he heard a stem cracking behind him.

This time he was sure that someone was behind him, he turned again but to his surprise, he saw no one. He was too scared to walk, he did not know for sure but something was pursuing him.

Suddenly he heard a sound from ahead of him, this time he did not budge but this time he drew his sword and rushed towards the sound his heart pumping and his breath harsh.

When he reached the source of the sound, again there was no one there. He now knew for sure that something was stalking him. He tried to think of ideas, first, he thought of meditating, but that would just make him vulnerable to attack, then he thought of releasing a huge fireball, but it would just alert the creature.

He could not think of anything, suddenly he heard a sound of sniffing from behind him, he turned and suddenly a huge creature pounced on him.

It was as swift as a snake. Linley could not even slash at it once but was lucky enough to evade the attack. He rushed after it and constantly kept thinking about the creature trying to create an image of it in his mind to defeat it.

It would seem stupid to rush after a weird creature in a dark forest, but it was his best bet, he could not afford to be attacked again and be taken by surprise by something that dangerous.

He ran after it wildly jumping over tree roots and closely evading the rocks on the ground. The forest floor was quite swampy thus it made running even tiresome.

Finally, Linley closed in on the creature and slashed at its legs tripping it. It fell down with a loud thud and before it could recover Linley decapitated it. This was when he noticed the creature.

It was huge had large jaws and flat paws, on them were embedded five huge claws which were as long as a dagger, its eyes were red and a green luminescent liquid gushed from its neck where Linley had slashed it.

Seeing the creature dead, Linley was both excited and scared, he was excited as he was strong enough to kill such a fierce creature and he was scared as the forest had such fearsome creatures and this was just one.

Linley thought that if he would have ignored the creature it would surely have sneaked on him from behind and killed him, it was then that he realized that this test was going to be a nightmare for him.

He walked further from the corpse towards The Mountain of Doom, he did not make any sounds, he wanted his presence to be invisible. He could not risk yet another attack on him as he was still recovering from his first fight.

As he walked he turned around to look where he was and to his surprise, he saw that the corpse of the beheaded creature had vanished. He stood there frozen thinking how could that be.

He was pretty sure he had killed it, thus the only explanation he could find was that something else was there as well, something strong enough to lift such a huge corpse and leave nothing but blood (as he assumed that liquid to be) left behind.

He quickly turned around and suddenly he saw a huge paw descend upon him, it was too late to evade and it hit him, he screamed with pain, a shrill cry of agony.

He looked up and saw the creature near him with probably preparing another attack on him. Linley stood up and shouted," Now, burn to death" and he jumped up as high as he could and cast a huge jet of flames towards the creature.

He could hear the creature scream as he burnt alive, it almost made him pity it but he could not stop, he kept the flame constantly on the creature until the screaming calmed and Linley knew that the creature was no more.

He went to its burnt body and saw that it was similar to the creature he had killed before but much bigger than it, it was the size of an elephant, Linley was surprised that he had even survived that single blow.

He looked at his chest and saw a huge cut there, hot blood gushed out of the fresh wound and it pained like hell. It was then that Linley realized that the creature had barely missed him, his paw had just scratched him.

Linley tried using water elemental magic to heal his wound but he had exhausted most of his magic, thus he had to wait to use another spell. He had never felt more vulnerable, he was receptive to any ideas that might help him, but he was all alone.

He looked around he could feel nothing but fear, although he knew it would not be of much help, he climbed a tall tree nearby and sat there resting trying to tend his wound.

He tore his shirt and used as a bandage, "This will do for, the time being, I guess" said Linley as he sat on a branch, he was tired and wanted to sleep but he knew if he fell asleep he would certainly die.

He barely kept awake, he thought of Theinsford, the streets the children playing, the villagers working and walking, the thing he missed the most was nothing else but his best friend Sasha, he begged to be with her, as nothing comforted him more than her company.

His eyes filled as he though all this and he thought," So, the test begins".