Dragons of the Apocalypse - An Achievement Hunter and Ray Narvaez Jr. Fanfiction

Chapter VIII: And Then There Were Three

Gavin landed in a small forest valley and began to set up camp for the night. This was how his life had been going for about a week now. Travel during the day, camp out in some random location at night, repeat.

Draping the blanket he slept on over a large tree branch several feet above him, he started to hang his supplies from other areas of the huge tree. This is what he had been taught to do when he went on his journey to Mount Coronor. They told him to sleep in the trees and keep all of his belongings off the ground at all times. Gavin didn’t know why, but he followed the instructions anyway.

Gavin rummaged through his pack after his camp was set up, pulling out a few slices of dried apple. He was about halfway through his food supplies, and could only hope he would be at his destination soon; he never liked practicing hunting, and shivered at the thought of the real thing.

As the sun began to settle beyond the horizon, Gavin hoisted himself on to the branch where he had put his blanket, and easily balanced himself on the branch. He then placed his pillow behind his head and relaxed, looking up at the semi obscured stars over his head. He sighed to himself and shifted slightly on his bed for the night, curious of how close he was to Mount Coronor.

That was when he saw the shadows. Two shapes blocked the stars for a few moments, easily gliding over the forest and through the night. Gavin hadn’t seen another creature since he left his home, and didn’t know if he would be able to remember his training in the heat of the moment, especially if he had to fight another draconian.

Then he heard the sound of two sets of feet landing on the forest floor. Then the faint sound of voices. Then footsteps becoming louder. Gavin shuddered; the shadows were getting closer. Gavin, for better or for worse, decided to make a stand at that point.

He quietly opened his bag from where it hung from the tree and grabbed the ancient bow and its corresponding quiver. He notched an arrow in the bow and aimed, waiting for the shadows to appear. Which they did.

Two humanoid figures appeared in the clearing, walking side by side. Gavin couldn’t tell what the creatures were because of the darkness of night, but he aimed the bow anyway, and held his breath. He checked his aim for a moment, closed his eyes to steady himself, leaned slightly to the left, and just as he was about to release the arrow, which was drawn back…Gavin fell.

He tumbled from the tree branch he was perched on and landed on his back, letting out a noise akin to a squawk as he fell.

The noise catching their attention, the two figures turned, suddenly tense and staring straight at Gavin.

The smaller one moved first, his hands moving fluidly, obvious channeling a breath power, while the other went for something on their belt. Gavin then decided to get up, making a move to push himself up off the ground, when he suddenly found he couldn’t do so. He noticed that the smaller shadow had his hands clenched in fists, as if he was holding something. Gavin turned his head to the right to see that he was pinned by vines, which were holding his arms, legs, and wings. This was obviously done by the one shadow.

After that was when he felt cool metal against his skull, which must have been some sort of weapon. He clenched his eyes shut, waiting for a gunshot or a sudden movement, but there was none. He opened his eyes and looked around slowly, which was when he heard a gasp. Suddenly he was free and no longer threatened, and a hand was reaching out to help him.

Taking the hand tentatively, Gavin used his other hand to dust himself off. “Well, I bollocksed that one up, didn’t I?” Gavin joked, cracking a silly smile that the two attackers probably couldn’t see. Then there was a small light illuminating the three, a match to be specific, and they could finally see each other.

“If you just told us that you were a vessel, we wouldn’t have tried to kill you.” Gavin looked at the two people in front of him. One of them looked slightly older than the other, with dark hair, deep green, pupiless eyes, and two whiskers growing above his upper lip. The other was a couple years younger, with large ram horns protruding from his head, a gingery beard and hair with some spots of blue, and pupiless light blue eyes. He was also the one holding the match.

Gavin smiled in apology, catching a sight of the pistol in the younger man’s other hand. “Well,” he said, unsure of what to say to his fellow vessels, “I’m Gavin, it’s nice to meet you.”

Gavin learned that the two men were Jack and Geoff, the water and life vessels, respectively. They shared his love of technology and video games, and seemed intrigued by his passion for slow motion and cinematography. And though they were definitely annoyed by his weird way of speaking, odd questions, and dumb stories and actions, they enjoyed his presence, and kind of had to warm up to him. I mean, they did need him to save the world, after all.

They just hoped that he wouldn’t get them killed before they did.