uprising of the wraiths

DREW

The midnight breeze is blowing gently through my tousled brown hair. My green eyes scanning the darkness for signs of animals passing through. The sound of the wind blowing through the trees, and the leaves rustling, giving off an eerie feeling. The forest feels empty. It is very unusual in these parts. I am still pondering this when the air turns cold, the bitter wind whipping against my face. suddenly, a loud shriek of some creature I know doesn't belong in these woods, split  the silent night air. I turned, searching for the source of the noise. ‘There’ I thought as I see a flicker of flames, licking through the dark forest. The animals aren't gone, I realize. They are hiding from whatever made that sound! I can feel the animals now, hiding in the darkness, frozen with fear. With a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach, I begin running towards the fire, pondering what I will find there.

          Does the fire belong to whatever made that horrible sound? Trees race past, sending long shadows into the gloomy bushes. As I near the fire I curse under my breath at what I see. A single, large tent stands tilted, almost toppled on the ground, shredded. There are slashes, tearing through the fabric, dripping black ooze. It is as if a ghostly being made those cuts. The whole camp is ablaze, glowing with fire. The trees around me are also on fire, blazing white hot. But thats not what surprised me the most. Sitting by the fire is a girl, who looks about 13. She has long blonde hair, with sapphire blue eyes. She is only two years younger than myself.  She is completely surrounded by wraiths, their weapons, made of pure fire glow brightly in the dark forest.. They are cold, dark creatures. She looks a little frightened, but I can tell she is fierce.

         I run towards the girl, making my battle axe visible. It is a beautifully crafted weapon. Made from black silver and trimmed in gold designs on the handle, and blade. The axe is double bladed with a reinforced iron edge, also black. It was a gift from my father, he gave it to me the night before he left for the war against the trolls. It is a magic weapon, able to go invisible or visible whenever I need. I race towards the wraith closest to her and sent my axe through his black evil skull. Ugh, its like the battle of Dwear all over again. These aren't normal wraiths, they have physical bodies. The wanderers, captured and tested on wraiths, and found a way to give them physical bodies, and minds of their own. This was all before the wise rose up to defeat the wanderers. I look at the girl seeing hope shining brightly in her sad eyes. She leaps up raising a  broad sword and beheads the wraith that was charging toward her. I focus again on the battle, raising my axe and slashing through the chest of a wraith. The wraith falls to the ground in a puddle of black goo. One of the wraiths throws a big ball of dark magic, and I duck to avoid the flying obstacle. The wraith sends a cut to my left with his Jagged flamed sword, and I slash my axe towards his weak sword, cleaving it in half. I immediately slash again, towards his head this time, sending it clean off, falling to the soft earth. I hear a loud shriek behind me and I turn quickly, to end the wraiths life, but all I see is the point of the girls bent broad sword protruding from a wraith, with his skeletal hands still gripping the fiery  mace above his head, about to send a killing blow to my head. The wraith fell to the ground, melting into a puddle of black goo. That has never happened before, I thought surprised. I shrug the thought away, and send a nod of thanks to the girl before turning toward the last remaining wraith.

         I raced towards the creature, the girl right beside me. The wraith turns to run, but all that got him,was an axe to the back and a sword through his stomach. I jerked my blade free, cleaning it on my shirt. I will my axe to disappear as I put it on my back. I stand in the clearing, quietly studying the forest around me, still blazing with fire, and littered with the bodies of dead wraiths, and puddles of black goo, Where some wraiths exploded. “Thanks, you saved my life”  I say to the girl, a little awkwardly. I was never good at talking to girls. Or anyone for that matter.