A Sword For Gold

Chapter 6 - Control

It was a cold, stormy night.

The downpour of rain was much more than all six of them had expected. Maraxus and Cora walked side-by-side in the middle of the entire group, with Baros shivering coldly behind them as they pressed on, while Kaleb trudged ahead of the entire group, being the most valiant and the physically strongest amongst all of them.

"Vaelia, Master Zel," Kaleb called out to the rear end of their hunting party, as he paused for a moment before continuing to move forward, "Do you sense any monster or anyone that's been following us?"

"The weather is much too harsh right now, Kaleb," answered Zel, as he pushed back his soaking wet black hair to avoid them covering his face. Master Zel may have been their hunting master and mentor, but in truth, he was only a good nine years older than Vaelia, who was the oldest among their group, making him around the same age as Velenya Martel, whose existence, back then, they had absolutely zero knowledge of.

"Master Zel is right," echoed Vaelia, as she lifted her hood, no longer giving a damn if her raven black hair had gotten wet, as long as the hood would not be distracting her. "With this weather, it's hard to sense a thing around us. Keep your eyes ready and steady, everyone."

"Tch," grunted Maraxus, "I'm getting a bad feeling about this," he said anxiously, as he drew his two swords.

Before Kaleb could continue marching forward, Zel was quick to prompt him against that, as he moved to the front of the group and placed a hand on Kaleb's shoulder, firm with a grip.

"You guys feel it too," said their master, "Don't deny it. You feel it. I can feel it too, and neither Vaelia nor I can sense a thing around us. Something big is coming. We make our stand here."

The group looked around themselves, familiarizing themselves with the rainforest's territory, despite it being a dark, stormy night with only but glimpses of the moon and the stars, and Kaleb's slowly fading torch to provide them with light. They familiarized every tree, every rock, every branch that they might possibly step on in case they were about to face-to-face with a monster that was dangerous to fight at their current situation.

Little did they know what would come for them.

"Vaelia, hurl a fireball ahead of us," suggested Zel, seeing as they needed even the slightest knowledge of what kind of enemy they were about to face.

"What?" Vaelia protested embarrassedly, "But it's raining! My fireball isn't strong enough to survive for more than five seconds here!"

"Then, that's okay," encouraged Master Zel, "Whether what we're facing is a human enemy or a monster, it will always react to something glowing in the forest, even if it's just for five seconds. It's better to face our enemy now, than run into them in the dark, so, we're drawing out our enemy. Prepare yourselves, most especially you, Baros."

Master Zel then drew his khopesh and his other short sword, while Cora nocked an arrow, ready to shoot at whatever came out of the shadows. Kaleb and Maraxus steeled their stances, while Baros hesitantly drew his own sword, his hands trembling as he moved his fingers, arms and hands even an inch.

"Now, Vaelia," prompted Zel, to which Vaelia nodded, as she generated a modest fireball in her hands, around the size of a human head, and hurled it forward to where the entire group had been facing, its glow slowly fading out and into the shadows as the harsh rain slowly extinguished her fireball with every second that passed.

Before five seconds had passed, however, a slight booming sound shook the rainforest ever so slightly, and the ground trembled just a bit in response to the blast that emanated, followed a high-pitched shriek that sounded like it could pierce every living creature's ears for miles.