What Lurks Behind The Trees

A day is coming

"How many are we now, honestly I've lost count," Rowan said, using his finger to count how many people were sitting in their circle. "Twenty-two?!"

"We were more than one hundred!" Aden said.

"We have to stick together, we can't be losing more men,"

"Hey, keep your voices down, it's night and you know what that means," Alan said.

They all stopped talking in an instant, swallowing down the meat that they had roasted. That's when they heard it, another distant murmur, and they all snapped their heads up and looked at each other, before nodding and standing up to put their things away.

Alan signalled with his hand where everyone must follow him and on their tiptoes, they walked through the trees, away from the sound of slithering that had started to appear from behind them.

Gregor felt his legs shaking as he walked, he was not ready for another Vonk, he was not ready for more people to die, so he transformed his arm, getting ready to attack if needed.

The sound of something dragging on the floor started circling around them, so they stopped, there was no way they could escape this and so they had to fight.

Gregor's eye glinted, he squinted and focused, until he saw it, in the darkness behind the trees. "It's there," he pointed.

"How can you see?" Alan asked, lifting his eyebrows in confusion.

"I don't know, but it's right there," he whispered. His finger followed its head as it went around them until it stopped in front of Rowan. "Rowan move!"

Rowan swiftly jumped away, just before the Vonk pounced at him. He climbed a tree and took out his bow, aiming at the Vonk's red-eye. The Vonk's eyes scanned the place until they landed on him and the Vonk slithered his way.

Rowan shivered slightly, his aim was no longer steady and he started breaking into a cold sweat. He thought his plan would go smoothly. He shot at it, but it did not flinch, its red eyes were piercing Rowan is it came close to him.

Aden lifted his two swords and dug them into its body, the Vonk screeched and snapped its head towards him. Aden smirked and started running around screaming a "Sorry!" at the Vonk. The Vonk followed him, jaw open and fangs on display.

In the meantime, all the other men climbed trees as Aden was distracting it.

Finn came out from behind it and yelling "Hey! I'm here!" and waving his arms about. The Vonk snapped it's head at him and started slithering his way.

The men on the trees waited for the right moment and Rowan aimed his arrow at its eye. Then when the Vonk was close enough, they all jumped from the trees, lifting their weapons up and digging them into the Vonk's body. Gregor landed on its head, and dup his dagger into it. At the same time, Rowan shot its eye with an arrow.

The Vonks screeched in pain and thrashed its head around, Gregor used his dagger to anchor himself on its head. His body was hanging off its head, so he lifted his slayer's arm and gashed it, making it thrash more. He struck it repeatedly with his claws until it screeched one last time and fell to the ground. Gregor held tightly as it hit the ground, afraid that the impact would break his bones.

Everyone jumped off the Vonk and stared at its limp body. One of the men walked up to its face, "This thing is huge!" he leaned closer to look at the fangs when the vonks jaw opened suddenly and grabbed him with its fangs into its throat.

Rowan shot its other eye from the tree and that's when its eyes lost their red colour.

Everyone stood there in shock, their eyes wide and their jaws open. "I thought it died," Aden muttered.

"I think it's dead now,"

"The vonk ate that man," Finn said as if no one just saw that happen, but he was in too much shock to believe it.

"We need to leave! Now!" Alan said urgently, he felt afraid but he did not want to admit it, they had to leave this fraction before something worse happened.

They wiped their bloody hands on the Vonk and followed Alan.

---------------------------------------------------

Venkalth sat, once again on the mountaintop, his purple eyes reflecting the moon, looking at the kingdom below him with Zaveo sitting beside him. Lazarus approached him with his own dragon Zander following him "You seem to love sitting here,"

"Zaveo does, so I do,"

"Venkalth, I have found the perfect day," Lazarus said, smirking proudly.

Venkalth turned his head towards him "And what day is that?"

"The ceremony of the birth of the new heir,"

Venkalth's eyes widened in amusement and his mouth settled into a smirk "That is perfect indeed,"

"Should I inform the rest?"

Venkalth nodded and stood up "We'll tell them to prepare, for that day is not far," he climbed his dragon and sat on his back "Down, Zaveo" the ice dragon stood up, spread his wings wide and used his bulky legs to jump up and fly down the mountain. Lazarus followed them with Zander.

Once they reached the bottom of the mountain, they jumped off their dragons and blinked their eyes to make them disappear. The door at the base of the mountain was hidden to all eyes except magicians. The large gates opened and they both walked in.

It was like an entirely different world, inside the mountains, a city, or a training ground for magicians. The place was huge, high ceilings and marble floors, nothing that indicates that this place was in a mountain. Magicians were training everywhere, summoning their dragons and learning how to use spells and make deadly bombs of poisonous potions.

Venkalth and Lazarus walked around and whoever spotted them would bow slightly, they walked to a stage at the end of the main hall and cleared their throats. Everyone gathered and stood in front of the stage.

"Citizens of the western peaks, we have found a day for us to shine, a day where we will show the world who we are. That day is soon and we must reach our full potential in order for us to get the most out of it. The day the king celebrates his son's birth, is also the day he loses his kingdom." Venkalth spoke loudly.

"Let's show them our purpose and what we stand for!" Lazarus said, lifting his arm up.

Everyone cheered and roared, their time has finally come and their bloodlust reached a peak.

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