The Pale Man Rises

THE PALE MAN RISES CHP. ONE

                                                               Prologue: 

The ghostly white monster was in a panic as the incensed earthly tribesmen in their truly bizarre dress, many holding torches, raced through the dark night in pursuit of him. He plunged ever deeper into the dark, forbidding, forest.

It was very dry at this time of year and the fact some of the Indians, which they were referred to by the more advanced civilizations on this version of the Planet Earth, were carrying torches and which clearly defined how determined they were to either kill or capture this strange creature that lurked about in the forest, and had been seen for some time now stalking their villages and their children with increasing intensity and for the most accursed of motivations.

Any errant flame from one of those torches might set alight the undergrowth or the dry needles of the pine trees that was the most dominant species in the great swath of forest before them. And the fact these Indians were willing to take the risk of starting a fire during such a dry period and could thus pose a terrible threat to their villages and other personal belongings meant they wouldn't halt their pursuit of him until they succeeded in triumphing over him or he dispatched them, which seemed implausible based on the numerical advantage they had over him even with the fact of his other worldly powers.

The Indians with the torches never veered from the path of the many trails they had blazed over the years. Whenever one was ever begun the tribesman who had set upon that task always made the effort to trim back the overhang of the trees and push back the bush that boarded the path before them to prevent any fires in the event of a lightning strike or they would have an occasion to have a torch with them in there and compelled to investigate some strange goings on near about or within its confines.

Some companions moved with these torch bearers not only as an aide should something go awry with the torches and required their reaction to salvage the situation or to prevent it perhaps from starting a conflagration or to take their place for whatever reason that might arise.

The greatest number of warriors involved in this pursuit for the most part raced through the dense forest within range of the various trails at a high speed avoiding any obstacle that might interrupt their progress. And during this entire drama these same Indians would hurl a lance at the being hoping to perhaps pierce the creature's flesh. Others fired arrows from their ever present bows for the same purpose.

Most were bare chested and having an array of war paint on to ward off any demonic spirits who might be standing in the wings and would welcome any opportunity to engage with the Indians for the benefit of this Evil Spirit that was in flight before them, if somehow he might evoke them into this reality.

Suddenly now the wind seemed to shift and the noise it made as it moaned through the trees of this primordial terrain sounded eerily disquieting and unnerving. Eventually their pursuit came even closer and the beast in his turn improvised his line of flight. Then just as suddenly the Indians halted their pursuit and it seemed were prompted to do so by the position he found himself presently in standing there on a pile of woods and leaves.

Though it was dark the beasts vision was its most renown in such an environment. In truth bright lights in excess were an anathema to him.

Immediately now however he heard a cracking noise below him, it was coming from the debris and leaves beneath his feet. And now he felt some movement beneath him. His feet were unsteady in that spot. He had to try and catch himself lest he would fall down. And now the noise took on the sound of some real tumult and as he had come to expect, since he'd witnessed the Indians briefly halting and delaying their capture of him, he began to fall through the deep channel the Indians had dug there and disguised well enough that someone unawares might in a frantic sojourn through the forest would fall into the trap they had set for him.