Dawn of Darkness

Chapter 2

{So this is the second part that I wrote for the NaNoWriMo. Enjoy!}
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The Husk ran blindly into the clearing, roaring and growling with the crude sword it carried held high. It had found nothing, only the strong scent of the elf that was to be its prey, but that elf was no where to be seen.
How could it be that the elf just vanished? The Husk's small mindset was not able to comprehend the mere thought. It was the offspring of war, bred to only kill and destroy, not think. That was left to it's master, who had commanded it to kill any life within the forest.
It looked around itself warily, looking for its prey, to no avail. It had no clue as to where the elf would have gone without leaving another scent to follow, only up. But why would it go up? Another question prodded the Husk's mind with no answer.
The question fell to the back of its mind as it smelled the air. The Husk had been following the elf due to the large amount of fear seeping from it. But now, aside from the strong stench of the elf's fear in the air, another scent filled the air. Determination. Raw determination.
The smell of determination began to overpower the scent of fear, originating from the Husk's left. It turned to see where the new emotion had seeped from, but had found no point of origin to the source. The only other place it could have come from.
By the time that it had found out what it had run into, it looked up to find a flash of light heading its way.

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Theron had waited for the perfect moment to strike, with a renewed determination to kill the monster that had been chasing him. The Husk blundered around the clearing aimlessly, clearly looking for him, but he hadn't seemed to look in one of the most obvious places for your stereotypical elf.
Theron found it amusing at how seldom people looked up at their surrounding. This Husk clearly did not know what was coming his way.
As Theron aimed his bow, and its nocked arrow, in the direction the Husk, it stopped and turned around, looking right in his direction. His heart leaped in fear of being noticed, but he had the advantage at the moment. At any moment now, the Husk would notice where he was and see the bow aimed at him.
It's now or never, Theron thought, breathing as slowly as he could to avoid being noticed. It's now or never.
Theron let his final arrow loose like it was second nature, watching it fly towards the Husk. He saw the light flash off the iron tip of the arrow, and knew that the reflection would get the attention of the Husk, which it did.
The Husk strafed to its left deftly, but, fortunately for Theron, was not fast enough to dodge the arrow completely. The arrow buried itself into the Husk's right shoulder, contorting the Husk's grotesque face into that of a nightmare. It howled in pain when it saw the arrow, and grabbed it by the shaft, dropping his sword. It pulled it out in one swift yank, leaving a hole in its shoulder.
Theron looked at the hole in interest, pondering over how something was able to withstand the extreme pain that would have come with the removal of the arrow. He wasn't given much more time to think about it, as the Husk had regained its sense and had picked up its blade. It had started running towards the tree in which Theron was perched in, and had left the elf with almost no time to react.
Out of pure reflexes, just before the Husk attacked the tree, Theron jumped out and landed square on his feet, behind the Husk. He didn't normally jump from trees, despite being an elf, and it gave him the energy and adrenaline to fight.
He turned to face the monster, pulling out his daggers again, and stood his ground. He didn't want to run anymore, thanks to the help of the adrenaline racing through his body. He wanted to finish the fight that had started only an hour ago.
He saw the Husk turn to face him again, growling and roaring to make him falter. But Theron stood his ground and stared down the other figure. He yelled back at the Husk and began sprinting in its direction. Bringing his daggers down to the sides of his body, he ran like an arrowhead, and jumped into the air. He raised the daggers above his head and brought them down in a deadly arc as he fell, aiming straight for the neck of the Husk.
It saw it coming and brought its blade up to block against Theron's attack. The blades clashed in a ring of metal on metal, startling any animals that might have been nearby. The force of the blades connecting made Theron cringe as he felt the vibrations course through him. It threw him off for a quick second, enough for the Husk to strike back.
It threw all of its force into its blade, thrusting forward to throw Theron off it. It worked. Theron was sent careening backwards from the strike, falling on his back, his daggers thrown from his hands. He felt his head hit the ground, connecting with a solid thud, and heard his bow snap on his back, feeling the wood frame splinter as he landed on top if it. He was done for now, left defenceless as he was sprawled out on the rough ground, in front of the Husk.
The Husk advanced towards him slowly, a murderous snarl crossing its malformed lips. Theron started up on his arms, crawling back in fear as the monster moved ever so closer towards him. He felt delirious and dizzy as he crawled back, the concussion of his head hitting the ground kicking in. Looking back to find where his daggers had been thrown, Theron saw them lying near the tree he had first attacked from. They were too far for him to reach, and even if he did reach them before the Husk attacked, he would be able to fend off another blow.
There was nothing that he would be able to do, only hope for a swift death at the hands of the Husk. How somber that sounds, to die at the hands of a monstrosity that never had been seen by any living thing in this age. To know that all those that protected him and cared for him wouldn't know that he would be dead in only a matter of seconds.
He had stopped moving when he thought about those who he cared about and who cared about him, and felt a tear roll down his cheek. He looked up to find the Husk standing on top of him with that same face, only a cruel smile replaced the snarl. Its blade was held high once more, glistening in the light of the sun. Theron closed his eyes, knowing that his death was inevitable, and waited for the moment to come.
Just as Theron shut his eyes, he a quick flash crossed his vision, like fire had just flew straight past him despite his eyes being closed. A small bang occurred shortly after, quickly followed by a grunt and a gurgle. It was cut off shortly after, leaving silence again.
Seconds passed, and no feeling of death washed over Theron. There was no blade that came whistling down. No snarl or growl of triumph. Nothing. Theron pondered over why there was nothing, he should have been dead by now.
Ever so slowly, he opened his eyes to see only the bright sun blinding him. There was no Husk towering over him, with its blade bathing in the light of the sun. It was as if the Husk was never there. How could it have just disappeared? Theron pondered, not completely understanding all that had happened around him.
He raised his head slowly to see the rest of the clearing, and stopped dead. The Husk was there, though it wasn't standing anymore. It was lying on its back, that bitter smile washed off its face and replaced with what seemed like shock, unmoving. Its blade was with it as well, dropped right in front of Theron.
He slowly raised himself from the ground and balanced himself, still feeling highly dizzy from the induced concussion, before further eyeing the Husk. It was seemed that there had indeed been fire involved, the chest of the Husk had been burnt, leaving the cloth it wore in rags. It was repulsive to look at, the charred flesh and burned skin of the Husk. But where had the fire come from? Who or what had sent it at the Husk?
He turned his head away from the sight, not wanting to see it any longer. Seeing his daggers lying on the ground, he staggered over and placed them back into his scabbard. He also saw his bow, or what was left of it. The oak frame had snapped in two, only connected by the thin drawstring. He groaned a little, knowing that it would take him a long while to carve another one as useful as his bow, which was now unusable.
To his right, a flash of colour caught his attention, a pale blue against the natural green of the forest. It was as if there had been someone that had been watching him and the Husk fight. But maybe it was nothing, maybe it was just his mind playing tricks with his eyes, so he ignored it. Who would be this deep in the forest? Only the elves ever ventured this far, knowing the dangers and powers the forest emanated. But elves never wore blue, they only wore colours that blended in with the forest, greens and browns mostly. It allowed the elves to become one with the forest, making them almost invisible to the eyes of creatures.
Theron decided to ignore the brief flash of colour, and stumbled over to pick up the remnants of his bow, then slowly walked over to quickly see if the Husk was actually dead. He didn't look at the creature, he didn't feel like retching, but rather he kicked it. There was no response from the creature, so he felt slightly relieved at that. But there still was the feeling of dizziness he felt,
Where would he go now? There was no need to find the hunting party anymore, the Husk was dead. Back to his village was most probably the best solution to where he would go. But it would take him almost twice as long to arrive, though he was willing to take that chance. He would do anything to be away from the awful sight of burned Husk.
Walking back over to where the broken pieces of his bow lay, and picked them up. Turning back the way he had entered the clearing of trees, he started walking, or stumbling, his way back home.