NOVICE - The Guild Trilogy Book 1

CHAPTER ONE

20 years later.

“Eara run!” a male voice screamed from behind, startled Eara dead on her walk. She turned around to see Jareth, her best friend, a young brown-haired lad came running towards her at an unbelievable speed and was chased by the three thugs behind him.

Her eyes widened in horror, ‘For the Creator’s sake, not again.’ she thought, wondering what the hell happened? Tightened up her hold around the strap of her worn out bag she then sprinted to run. “There! There’s another one! After her! Bring her to me. Don’t let them escape!” she heard the leader of the thugs command.

She glanced back to see that the other member, particularly the one who was taller but skinnier, was chasing her. She then turned to a crowded alley hoping he would lose track of her, never mind the people she bumped into. “Get the f*ck out of my way!” she heard him roar, followed by some grunts and screams of whoever maybe it was, but she didn’t mind them. She needed to get out of there as soon as possible. Silently she prayed that her best friend had made him safe somehow. She turned to a which she regretted later on, it was a dead end where there is nowhere to run for the wall in front of her was too high to climb. She decided to get back, but it was too late, her chaser somehow caught up with her.

“You think you can escape, eh?” he said in between his breaths. His eyes glinted with a hideous intention and he clicked his tongue.

“Nah! Not to me.” He added and laughed wickedly as he kept walking towards her like a predator hunting its prey, “You and that friend of yours made a terrible mistake in going against the boss.”

Eara took a step back until her back hit the wall of cracked bricks, “We did you nothing wrong.” She told him while trying so hard to control her voice not the tremble of fear as her right hand searched for something to defend herself. The man stopped in front of her, casting her a wicked smile. She held her breath as her hand grasped a piece of broken brick behind her.

“It doesn’t matter if you did or didn’t,” he said and grabbed a handful of her hair. “ What you have always belongs to the boss. You belong to the boss.” He whispered in her ear before looking at her with a smug face. Eara huffed and smirked.

Straight into his eyes she looked, ”I don’t belong to anyone.” She told him with a firm voice and with all her strength she hit the thug with the broken brick on his head. The man instantly let go of her hair, screaming in pain while touching his bleeding head, and stumbled backwards. Eara used the opportunity to run past him to escape.

“You bl**dy son of a b*tch.” He screamed in agony and frustration. “I’m going to kill you. You f*cking t**t. I won’t let you get away with this.” He added, wiping off the blood on his face as he got on his feet and started walking towards where Eara went with a murder-intent expression on his face.

Out of breath, Eara didn’t know where she was, every corner she ran into was always a dead end. Looked like she had strayed farther away from the town center. Panting, she sat on the corner, contemplating whether she would go back or not. It looked like the thug had already lost track of her. She scanned the place and noticed that there weren’t many people in the area, just a few ragged people, people sleeping on the cold ground obviously drunk and beggars dressed in worn out clothes.

The structure of the houses and buildings were made of wood and junk also, not to mention the foul smell in the air that indicated only one thing.

“Must be the slums.” She muttered and heaved a deep breath. Deep inside her was a relief that she didn’t get to live in this kind of place but in an orphanage. The abbe was kind enough to take her and Jareth in when they were still a baby. The abbe further said he found her in a sacred sanctum when he once travelled to the north. She sighed, and dragged her mind back to the present. She got on her feet and was about to head back when the thug with a b****y face showed up.

“Do you know that I lived in this place when I was a child?” he said with a wicked smile, showing his crooked yellow teeth. “This smelly old place once was my home and I know this place like the back of my hand. Now there’s no place for you to run or hide.” He added, pulled a knife from his back pocket that made her blood go cold and took a step back. She glanced back and, indeed, there was no place she could escape from except towards-

“Ah. The Darkwoods! Good luck with that. That place was known to have many beasts lurking there, lots of people went there and never came back.” He smirked with evilness.

It seemed the air had run thin in the area, that her breath was getting shallow, her heartbeat getting faster. Either way, she’s going to die at this rate, but being with this thug the chances of getting killed are greater than in the Darkwoods means she has way more chances there of surviving. Without hesitation Eara, with all her might, sprinted towards the Darkwoods' direction, not minding whether the thug would follow her or not. She just kept on running towards it til she reached the sloped space that divided the slums and the Darkwoods below. She stopped and glanced back and saw the thug coming after her. With one deep breath she then escaped towards the depths of the Darkwoods, no matter the uncertainty of what might happen to her there.

The place was dark though in broad daylight, because it was covered by the thick canopy of trees. Not a single ray of sunlight can penetrate below. The place really lived out its name, Darkwoods. Just the sounds of the trees, birds and twigs snapping in the background made Eara spin on her back. ‘Damn, I thought he would never follow me in here.’ She thought.

“Do you think I would let you escape that easily?” he said.

“You know, I never believed all the things they said about this place. There might be creatures lurking about these places, but probably nothing that I can’t handle. However, there is one creation that we shouldn’t cross with, and they lived beyond these woods. They’re the reason why some people never come back. However, what you did to me is unforgivable and can only be paid by your death.” He charged towards her with a sharp knife in his hand. Due to fear, it seemed like her feet were glued on the ground, she couldn’t move, her breaths were getting shallow, and her vision blurred as she watched him raise his hand to stab her.

‘Move!’ she thought, and with all her might, forced her body and evaded the attack sideways. She grunted and stumbled on the ground as she lost her balance. A hand grabbed her by her left foot, Eara cried in pain as the sharp knife pierced into her flesh.

“No!” she exclaimed and, using her right leg, she kicked him in his face. He screamed when she hit the part of his wound and his grip loosened on her leg. That was her opportunity to get on her feet and run once again like her life depended on it. She stumbled and fell a few times, but that didn’t stop her. She groaned as she gathered herself up, she won’t die, she can’t, not today. Eara mustered all her strength despite the searing pain in her leg. She carried on.

Step by step it felt like the forest was watching her every move. It was spooky that sent a chill down her spine. She didn’t know how long she had been running away. Eara scanned around to find any signs of the man and sighed in relief when there was none. She dropped herself, and she grimaced in pain as she pulled out the knife from her left leg. Blood oozed from the open wound. Eara threw the knife, tore the hem of her shirt and she held her breath as she wrapped her bleeding leg in pain. She rested her head back on the large oak tree in ragged breathing, staring at another large oak tree in front of her. She frowned, when she noticed something engraved on the tree’s skin, it looked like a symbol of some sort. Intrigued, she went closer to inspect the symbol engraved on it.

Eara looked at the one she rested on and saw the same symbol engraved on it. “Now you are going to die in my hands or in there.”

She spun around, “What’s in there?” she asked. In all honesty, she was not surprised that he had caught up with her.

He smirked, “Oh you wanna know? They looked like us but they weren’t. They were a way more superior creation than us. They can conjure anything that we can’t. Rumors say it's just simply breaching their territory will instantly turn you to ashes.” He answered, then beckoned to the two oak trees.

“The moment you cross those two oak trees, you’ll gonna turn to ashes. So, either way you’re going to die.” He added and laughed hysterically like a madman as he paced towards her.

Eara curled her hand into a fist. If what he told her was true, then she had no choice but to fight for her life this time, but if it was false. “We'll, I've got no choice anyway.” She thought and without any further hesitation she took a step back and then another. Every step she took made her fear rise. Not knowing what would happen, will she turn to ashes? She closed her eyes, her heart was beating loudly like crazy as she waited. Eara waited for a searing pain of flames to engulf her and burn her, but none came. Instead, a soft warm sensation passed through her. Something within her stirred.

Eara opened her eyes to see that she's meter away from the oak trees. She looked at herself and found she was unharmed. Eara looked at the man and saw his jaw drop open. “No.” He whispered, and his face went contorted with anger. He then ran towards her but the moment he walked in between the oak trees he suddenly burst into flames.

“Aaaaaahhhhh!!” he screamed and screamed til he was reduced to ashes.

Eara stumbled backwards in shock. She didn’t burn, ‘Why?’ she thought. All of a sudden, a rush of warmth gushed within her, she raised her arms and saw fibers of golden light traced on every nerve, down to her leg and up to her neck and face. Eara remained on the ground, still pounding of what was happening to her, her every nerve was in shock unable to process the warmth sensation engulfed her.

She breathed rapidly, her mind was spinning, spiraling down as she felt a strange sensation run coarse through her entire body. “Aaaaaaaahhh!” she screamed and cried as the sensation intensified. Her vision became blurry as her breath became shallow and shallow til darkness claimed her, and she lost consciousness.