What Lurks Behind The Trees

This power

"Hey Greg! How was your chat with the king?" Alan asked and gave Gregor a piece of hard bread.

"They're taking my father. I don't know why." Gregor rubbed his face nervously. "I need to stop them."

"And how're ya gonna do that?" Aden asked from where he lay on his side.

"I need to get out of here."

"There's no way, we're surrounded by four walls. We're practically underground."

"Lemme tell ya somethin'" Aden smirked, sharp teeth showing. "Everyone in this place has been scratched by the venomous claws of the night slayers, that's why we're here, we're still human, the people who get bitten become one of them." He lifted Gregor's chin and stared at his eye. "You..." He then lifted his sleeve and examined his arm "You been bitten kid... and you're still human." Gregor gulped audibly as he stared into Aden's piercing eyes.

"I drank something, f-from a pond. It stopped the spreading of this black liquid in my arms."

Alan looked lost in thought, nodding to himself in realisation "I'll show you something." He lifted his shirt and in the middle of his abdomen, deep claw scars, black and surrounded by swirls of black veins. Aden joined him, lifting his shirt and turning around to show him the claw scars on his right shoulder blade. "I thought I would die." Alan said, tracing the scars with his fingers "The slayer's eyes showed no emotion, nothing, just stared at me while I gasped for what I thought would be my last breath." Alan snarled through clenched teeth "Until my brother stabbed it's eye." His jaw was shaking "...and in return he got bitten by those beasts, in the blink of an eye... saw him become a beast, I watched as his eyes became red, his skin became white as snow, and he was gone, my brother became a tall, ugly creature that followed the call of the other slayers." Alan looked at Gregor "I, more than anyone in here want to leave this place and kill all those beasts. I will kill my brother first to put him out of his misery."

"But we can't leave, don't ya know how many people tried." Aden said.

Alan gasped in realisation and held Gregor by his shoulders causing him to flinch in surprise "Greg! We have and advantage over normal humans!" Alan and Aden looked at each other "powers!" they both said in unison.

"powers?"

"Yes! We are all stronger than normal humans, we have thicker skin and more muscle. Just like the night slayers." Alan said. "We call them powers to make us feel good about our selves." He laughed bitterly.

"How do you know that?"

"Well, when the guards tried to beat us, we wouldn't get hurt." Aden said.

"That's incredible!" Gregor smiled. "But why is it that you haven't used that to escape yet?"

"The guards have swords, they can still penetrate our skin." Aden said rolling his eyes.

"But what I'm trying to say, is that maybe you have a power stronger than ours because you were bitten. Maybe that could help us." Alan said.

"How am I supposed to know?" Gregor asked.

"I don't know. You're going to have to figure it out, or else we won't be able to leave." Alan shrugged. He laid on his side with his arms underneath his head and closed his eyes. "Get some sleep kid, it's been a long day for you."

Gregor huffed and leaned on the wall. How could he sleep when all he could think about was his father? How could he sleep when all he could see when he closed his eyes were glowing red eyes? He laid on the rough, stony floor and closed his eyes, taking it all in, all the horror, all the fear. Once again those red eyes were there, not blinking, not moving, just there piercing his soul with dread. and he drifted off, with this image still in his head.

A stabbing feeling in his left shoulder, the physical feeling of a thick liquid invading his veins. Gregor turned his head slowly and there it was, with its teeth dug deeply into his shoulder and its eyes staring blankly at him. He screamed but no sound came out. He looked around and there was no one there. He screamed and struggled against the strong jaws of the night slayer. Its eyes were coming closer and closer, throat rumbling a deep groan, Gregor's breathing was becoming shallow, he closed his eyes in fear, and opened them with a gasp. He found himself laying on a stony floor, covered in sweat. He sat up quickly and saw Alan and Aden sleeping nearby, hundreds of other people scattered on the ground. He sighed. A nightmare.

Gregor stood up and walked to a big window that was only on one of the four walls. He looked out and sucked in a breath when all he could see underneath was a large lake, miles down, if anyone where to fall they would die before they reached the water. The dungeon was hanging off the edge of a hill where the capital stood, underneath the castle. In the distance, beyond the lake, he could see fields of green, it was breathtaking. Gregor looked at the sky, dusted with silver stars, the moon outshining them all. He wondered if his family was well, if his sister Laina had recovered, if his mother was still sitting by her bed. He wondered if he would spend the rest of his life here, rotting away like some corpse. He remembered seeing his eye in the mirror for the first time, thinking of how demonic it made him look. Then it hit him. Something strange did happen when he got bitten. He blacked out for a moment when the poison struck him, he remembered seeing streaks and swirls of red in his head, he remembered a pain greater than that of the bite itself, a pain that left him with a weight in his blood, a force of some sort. Gregor's eyes widened. There must be something. A power, a strength, a might. He shut his eyes in frustration. What could it be? What could trigger it?

"Ya know many people tried to jump from this window." Gregor clutched his heart from the Aden's sudden presence. "They all failed as you can see. But desperation drives people to do things they never expect."

"I wasn't going to jump."

"I know, you're smart enough not to. Look the sun is rising. Didn't we tell ya to get some sleep?" Aden ruffled his hair playfully.

"How long have you been here Aden?"

"Dunno, months, maybe years, its hard to tell, couldn't keep up with it." He shrugged.

"Why do you think they're keeping us alive?"

Aden shrugged again "Who knows what goes on in that king's mind. Never really understood the man." Gregor chuckled at that.

Everyone slowly started waking up one by one, guards passing them their food, they call it food but it really looked and tasted like cow manure. Gregor sat down and other men started to approach him, asking him about his eye, he got the same reaction from all of them when he mentioned the fox and the turquoise pond "Ya got some magic in ya." they would all say or something along those lines and ruffle his hair or pat him on the shoulder. They were a bunch of good men, of many different sizes and ages, Gregor being the youngest of them all at 18 years.

"Hey Greg! Did you find what that power of yours is?" Alan asked. Gregor shook his head. "Then you're going to have to get used to this place." He grinned.

"Maybe you have to summon it with your brain or something-" Before Aden could finish, Gregor stood up quickly, his mouth slowly curling into a grin.

"You're right." He said to Aden. The red streaks and swirls in his head, they were the power. He closed his eyes and focused. There they were again, filling the blackness of his head with red. He smirked, eyes still closed. Alan and Aden and everyone nearby stared at him in confusion. He popped his eyes open, red eye glowing brightly and left arm growing long and large, nails becoming claws, sharp and piercing. He smirked widely, red eye glinting red. Everyone stared in shock, everyone was frozen, until a hysterical laugh erupted out of Aden.

"Ya done good kid." and clapped him on the back.

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Guys are you ready for some action? Gregor hatched from his egg lol. Hope you enjoyed this part, please look forward to the next parts. I would really appreciate it if you could leave a comment and vote! ^_^