PROLOGUE

– CHAPTER TEN –

– CHAPTER TEN –

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As they walked through the plains of the savanna, the village growing farther and farther away, Luke looked at his surroundings.

The terrain was beautiful. The greenish-brown grass covered the landscape like a blanket, with sparse acacia trees adding a sense of life. Before the raid, he had always thought that what was outside the village was dull and boring. Now, he realized that wasn’t true at all.

The sun was already low in the sky. He debated turning back and sleeping in the village again, but decided to press on through the night instead. The longer they traveled, the closer they got to their destination.

As night approached, he thought to himself about a name for his dog. He just had to come up with something.

While he was pondering this, he and his soon-to-be-named friend crested yet another hill. From the top, he saw the most beautiful view he had ever seen.

The mountains in the distance, covered with mist, and the reddish-pink sunset behind them mesmerized him. He stood there, watching the sunset slowly fade into darkness, in awe of the beauty before his eyes.

I have to admit, if none of this would have ever happened, I would probably never have seen this.

Finally, he looked down at his dog, who was already sleeping soundly.

“I know what I’m going to name you.”

Before he said it, he looked again at the misty mountains, just before the sun completely disappeared, replaced by the moon.

“Mist.”

He looked down again, finding his dog still asleep. He smiled and shook Mist awake.

“Let’s go. We’ve got to keep moving if we expect to survive the night.”

This was true. Though the only monster he’d ever seen in person was a zombie, he had heard of many other frightening horrors, such as skeletons, phantoms, and a few other monsters.

As he and Mist walked on through the savanna, getting closer to the mountains with each step, he looked around for any sign of danger. Surprisingly, there weren’t any nearby monsters. In fact, there weren’t any monsters that he could see.

That’s strange.

He slowed his pace, listening for anything unusual. At first, there was nothing, but then he heard something.

Cssh!

He stopped walking, his ears listening for the sound again. It took a minute, but then he heard it again, this time closer than before.

Cssssh!

Looking around, he searched for the source of the noise, but there was nothing.

CSSSSH!

He jumped, as now the strange sound seemed to be right in front of him. Mist growled as well.

Then, something bit his shoulder. He gasped at the sudden pain, then drew his sword and looked around again. He looked up at the sky, then realized what was happening.

There were three, scary-looking creatures circling him overhead. They each had odd, ruffled gray wings and menacing green eyes, which were fixed directly on him.

Phantoms.

He’d heard stories about these monsters, and how sometimes a person would get surrounded by dozens of them. He was lucky; all he had to fight was three.

He put away his sword and drew his bow instead, notching one of the three arrows. He aimed at one of the monsters and released the arrow.

It missed.

Notching the second arrow, he again aimed at the flying menaces. Firing the arrow, he was angry to see that he again had missed.

Note to self; need archery practice.

He readied the last and final arrow, Drawing the bow back and aiming. Any second now, they were bound to start dive-bombing him, and he wasn’t sure he could take on three at the same time at close range.

If I can at least kill one, It’ll be easier close-range.

He released the arrow, everything within him hoping that it would find its target.

CSHHHHH!

Upon being struck by his arrow, one of the phantoms plummeted to the ground, unable to move. He had shot one.

Relief washed over him. If he had missed, it was likely that he would’ve been a goner.

Looking back up, he saw that one of them was diving. It was picking up incredible speed, but luckily, it was moving so fast that it wouldn’t have time to change direction. He stepped back, putting his bow away and drawing his golden sword, and watched as it attempted to slow its speed, but to no avail. It struck the ground hard.

He quickly moved towards the phantom, taking advantage of its lack of mobility, and stabbed it with the tip of his blade. It disappeared with a puff of smoke.

CSHHHHHH!

Another one down.

The last one, seeing that its friends had perished, fled. It pumped its wings up and down as fast as possible, and soon flew out of sight.

Phew.

Looking down at Mist, he saw him fast asleep.

“Is that all you do? I was in the middle of a life-threatening battle, and you slept through it!” He joked as he ruffled his fur.

He scanned the surroundings again, his imagination making every tuft of grass seem like a deadly monster. It had been a close call with the phantoms, and he didn’t want to have any more near-death encounters in one night.

He had to admit, he was scared. And it took a lot to frighten him.

He gripped his sword tightly and trekked on, eyes always alert. If they weren’t interrupted by any more monsters, he estimated that they’d reach the base of the mountains by the end of the night.

“Were making good time, aren’t we Mist?”