Light of the Unexpected Adventure

Chapter 11 The Darkness

Gabriella's POV

My motivation to get the flaming torch and hopefully the one in need, is shooting through me, being the only thing to hold onto just to give me direction. So I get next to it in no time at all but as I stare down at it, I can see that the flame is large for now, but with it just lying on the ground, I don't think it will last much longer. I pant with panic, looking around, trying to find what is here and needs my help. But I see nothing. My attention is instantly grabbed by the sparks of the flame, popping continuously on the end of this torch and it is all that is heard besides my lungs grasping for air. My eyes pan around me, but I cannot see much at all, even being close to the glow, which is strange because I would assume that I should see something.. unless it's a trap.

I start to panic, looking around, not hearing anything nor seeing anything. That is until I feel a hand wrap over my mouth, holding it shut as I am pulled back and away from the glow, then into the darkness once again. I squeal as loud as I can, which is not loud at all because of the hand gripping over my lips. The hand is strapped so tight over my mouth that it seems to be quieting my yells for help in this obvious trap. So I do what I can to defend myself. I kick my legs while trying to flail my arms, just to try to make some kind of contact with the being behind me, but nothing helps. Whomever this is had a death grip on me that doesn't seem like it will give way anytime soon. Which is terrifying. What does this being want?

"Shhh.. My dear.. The evil is here.. Do not move or make a sound.. Or our demise will be of your own doing." Whomever this being is, whispered this warning into my ear as my eyes widened, but my ears were listening. So it is just silence on my end. There is not a sound, not even a muffled one that comes from me. I feel the hand slowly drifting down, coming off of my mouth wearily but obviously wanting to trust me in this moment that could be bad for the both of us. This action is a mutual trust for each other. I am trusting their word that they are trying to help keep me out of trouble's way and they're trusting my silence. I just hope I don't regret trusting this stranger.

I swallow the lump in my throat, trying to calm my body down in this stressful moment. That seems to be much harder than I imagined, my mind won't stop running and it seems to be taking my heart with it. The one idea that I have held onto is the surprising realization that this person, who knows nothing of the being that I am, is trusting me in what could be a very vulnerable moment.. Which adds a type of pressure to the situation that I never expected. I feel the same hand that was on my lips now latching onto my arm, just to pull me behind some trees.

The arm holding mine shifts forward, indicating that this person is going in front of me. I know it is dark, but my eyes are anxious to see what I can of this person who was calling to me in the darkness. So I take my little chance to look and see what or whom I am dealing with. It's a woman and not much bigger than me. I can't see many details, just the clothing over her female figure, and long curly hair that would give me that idea. Even though I have no idea who this person is or where they are leading me, I still go where I'm led, not feeling threatened at the moment, even though this seems to be a threatening situation.

Taking quiet but quick steps forward, she leads me further away from the torch and behind a large tree. I instantly lean against the cold, rigid bark of the big tree, feeling a type of relief as if this tree is some sort of shield, even though I know it won't do much for me at all if there was an actual attack. My now trembling body tries to use the stability of the tree to calm down, but it is not working well at all because within that short moment, I instantly hear grunts and growls coming from behind the tree. This sound is terrifying, but sending my curiosity to an all-time high, giving me the urge to look at what is making that sound.

I slowly turn as her hand on my arm stops me, but my stubbornness takes over as I slowly turn again, but this time only letting my head peak around the big tree. I instantly felt her grip tighten on my arm out of warning. I take this warning, so I won't let my body go out further. But I still let my eyes wander to the supposed threat at hand. I can't just sit here and listen to the sounds I have never heard before and not be curious about their origins. I need to know what I am hiding from and why.

My eyes locked on the subject making the noise, they widened in shock since I saw what I never wanted to after all the legends told. It's Ogres. We have heard so many scary stories about these beasts and what they are capable of. All I can say is that it is nothing good. I watch as they grunt while checking out the glowing torch before smelling around. I quickly turn back around, hoping they can't smell or hear me. I try to hold my breath, fighting back the urge to gag. Their stench is something I never expected, even though they are not right next to me, their smell covers me like cloth, making me feel as if something dead has decided to make me its bed. I slowly let out a silent deep breath just hoping we are not noticed by those horrible beings.

I never knew that the instinctive thought of not wanting to be noticed was hoping for too much, because before I even know what is happening, the clothing upon my chest is grabbed as I am flung around in the air just like a wild cat when it catches a mouse that came to close to its home. The bad breath instantly covers me with each grunt causing me to squeal before reaching out to try to get it's grip to loosen on me. The large ogre loudly growls before belting out a scream in my face, leaving only droplets of his spit dripping down my cheeks. I cringe with fear and disgust overwhelming me as I strain my arms out towards its face.

The confusion on it's face is surprising so I take this caught off guard moment to poke it in the eye as it screams out again, but this time in pain, it still had the same effect of covering me with spit again as I groaned out in disgust before wiping my face off. His angered self glares over at me as it screams in a type of defiance, before shaking me around in the air as if they are trying to shake me to death or even shake something out of me as if I hold a treasure within. I squeal out, hitting his arm that has a hold of me before a burst of light hits the ogre in his chest, causing him to automatically drop me while being thrown back through the trees, just before his limp body turns to ash.

My body aches as I gasp for air, not expecting a fall like that, I had no chance to even brace myself. I groan out before slowly standing up, my eyes frantically bounce around as I see even more ogres showing themselves in the glow of the light. They are instantly reaching and clawing for me as I stumble back away from their limbs. That is before more bolts of light are seen appearing from behind me as they shoot past, just to hit them left and right. The wall of Ogres are hit with a mirage of lights, until they burst into nothing more than ash from a fire that has been stomped out. This astonishing sight happens right in front of my very eyes. I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't seen it for myself.

I keep questioning if this is real or some sort of nightmare that I can't seem to awake from. That is until the overwhelming stench hits my senses again with the many beings that are surrounding me, even if they are just piles of ash. The burning of their bodies seems to be the main reason this smells so bad. The aroma is so incredibly strong that it feels as if it is burning my eyes as it stings the inside of my nose, just like an onion has done to me before. I feel my eyes water as I instinctively wipe my cheeks to see that not only is there tears but also the sickening spit on my face, proving this is more than any nightmare I have ever been apart of. I have had many scary nightmares in my life, but nothing like this.

I wipe away what I can before covering my mouth and nose with my hands, just trying to get rid of that scent from my system as I hear more sounds from directly in front of me. My head flips up and my arms out, fingers tucked tight into fists as I prepared to fight as much as I can. My eyes ping to the little bit that I can see in the pitch-black night, it's movement between the trees. I squint trying to figure out what is out there when many more terrifying threats run out of the trees before instantly being turned to ash. Bright lights shoot frantically past me as I brace myself to be hit since they are coming too incredibly close not to make contact.

One beast lunges at me as another does the same, I feel like bait dangling out for the beasts to try to feast on. But with every lunge at me, there is a shooting light and then poof as they turn to dust in no time at all. The cloud of ashy dust covers over me and all around, causing me to cough and cover my face in hopes it will help me breathe. "RUN!" I hear from behind me as I take the advice and small opportunity of not be clawed at to turn and run. But only a couple of steps are taken before my ankle is grabbed and I fall to the ground again. I groan out, kicking the claw off of my leg before flipping over just to scoot back on my bottom across the dirt and away from this chaos I never expected to be getting into.

Looking behind me as I scooted back, I see nothing but a light glow of the little flame that was left. I keep scooting towards the sounds of popping and simmering trying to get further from the chaos, but luckily I am getting so much closer to the torch. I glance back to see the torch is dying by lying in the dirt, but still glowing with a small flame, which in my eyes is better than nothing, especially out here. So the urge to get to the only bit of light in this dark place is consuming.

Now that I am next to the torch, the major concerning fear is, what is out there and destroying ogres in the dark? I fear it is only a matter of time before I am in a pile of ash on the ground as well. Especially since I have no idea what I could possibly have to face head on in the darkness since it is currently destroying everything around me. So I am afraid that I might be next by being targeted or in the least, just caught in the crossfire. I watched as the claws of beasts are reaching for me before disappearing one after the other. I try to tuck in my legs, giving me some distance from their reaching, but as I see the arms still reaching for me continuously, I can tell it doesn't matter how far away I get, I will still be a target.

My eyes and head swing around looking at everything surrounding me, hoping I can try to stay out of everyone's reach. That is before my legs are grabbed, dragging me back into the darkness as I gasp out, then yelling in shock. I flip onto my stomach while I swat my arms out on the ground, through the dirt and plants, trying to grab anything that may be able to help keep me here. But each plant that is grabbed is easily plucked from the root, not being strong enough to hold me here.

The dirt and clumps of ground collapse under my grip, so it seems as if nothing is strong enough to hold me here. But I won't stop trying. I swipe out for anything to help as I see a tree from beside me to hopefully hold me in place. I reach towards the tree, so this thing can't destroy me like it has done everything else.