My heart surged as I waited for the shodowy figure to reach me and spike me with something, I instantly assumed it was hostile. The way it appeared was strange, there was no sign of the hooded figure prior, they just looked as though they stepped out from the darkness.

The figure didn’t look too tall, perhaps that was simply because I was hanging around upside down and all the blood in my body was rushing to my head, perhaps it was affecting my perception, but the hooded figure seemed like they were around four feet tall.

“Get back!” I said, flailing around trying to make myself look as intimidating as possible and failing miserably. The hooded figure remained shrouded in darkness, unnaturally so, I couldn’t make out any discernible features on their face. It was as if the entire space beneath the hood was a deep blackened void, and I wondered if whatever this was some kind of spectre or something.

The figure didn’t do anything it just simply stood, frustratingly out of reach and raised its head before tilting it to the side as if it was examining me.

“I said get back,” I swung an arm pathetically, reaching no where near where the figure stood.

They continued to stand and watch for longer than I would like before gliding across the ground to the tree that I was hanging from before removing a blade and cutting the rope.

With a thud, I a crashed into the ground like a sack of potatoes, shoulder first, it was a miracle that I didn’t land on my head, the pain in my shoulder was enough to distract me.

“What the hell!” I said, furious at being strung up in the air like that. The figure turned around and moved across the ground towards me at an accelerated speed, it was if they were floating, their movement silent. “Who are you? What do you want with me?” I readied myself to strike out but in truth I had never punched a person, even if I still wasn’t sure what this thing was.

The figure raised their hands to their hood and lowered it slowly revealing a young child, they had a mess of dark red hair, curly, frayed and unkempt. Her face was one of curiosity and naivety, her face mottled with a plethora of freckled from the bridge of her nose and across her thin cheeks.

“You’re just a kid huh,” I said, she must have been no older than eight or nine at a guess, her height and tiny frame making sense now.

The kid continued to stand silently again tilting her head as if she was examining me. She took a natural step forward this time revealing tiny uncovered, dirtied feet that crunched against the dried leaves on the ground.

I sat up and brushed the dirt of my arms as best as I could, my shirt was already ruined with dirt and debris.

“What’s your name kid?” I asked.

She didn’t say a word back to me, she did however take a step forward and offer a hand.

Tentatively I accepted and stood back to my feet, curious as to who this girl was and where she came from.

“Where are your parents.”

She didn’t answer again, she just gave me a kind of goof ball smile as if she was excited to see me but didn’t know what to say.

“Silent type eh,” I said, “Well my name is Silas,”

The girl stepped back from me as if my movements had startled her. She then raised her right hand and waved it to the side as if she was waving at me.

She then started moving her hands around and it took me a few moments to understand.

“Sign language,” I said as it dawned on me. I had no clue what she was saying, she was animated, so clearly she was trying to explain something to me. The only experience I had ever had with sign language was seeing those small guys in the corner of the tv, often during the news or weather. “So you can’t speak,” I said, pointing to my throat as I spoke.

The girl shook her head, before becoming animated again, there was an urgency about her, whatever she was trying to say, her wide eyes told me that it wasn’t necessarily a good thing.

“What is it? I don’t understand what you are trying to tell me?”

The girl looks over her shoulder, then back at me, her hands becoming more animated.

“I don’t understand what you are trying to tell me,” I can see her frustration growing as is mine. “Are you trying to warn me about something,”

The girl stops and nods her head, she then pointed at the rope that I was dangling from just a few moments before sticking her tongue out and bringing her thumb across her throat.

“You didn’t set this trap?”

The girl shook her head vigorously, before looking over her shoulder agin.

“Then who di-“

Something flew past me, grazing my arm, “Shit, what the hell was that,” I brought my right hand up to my arm, clasping where a deep burning feeling was erupting. My blood, seeped through my fingers, its thick tacky texture near causing me to faint. When I looked behind me I could see what looked to be an arrow bedded into the tree trunk behind me.

As I turned to look back at the girl she shot towards my Raven before vanishing right in front of my eyes again. It was as though she stepped through a trap door, dropping down through the ground as though nothing was there.

“What the fuck!” I said, with no clue what to do. The feral noises of who ever it was that shot the bow came into earshot, shouting and cheering, shouting out in a language that I did not understand.

Not taking any chances I turned and ran, at twenty seven years old I had never had a fight before. I had always avoided the confrontation, I wasn’t about to flip that today with a bunch f cross bow wielding maniacs.

As I surged past the trees arrows shot past me, bedding into the trees as I passed them, I was just grateful that their aim was off. I kept running as fast as I could and as hard as I could. I had no clue which direction I was going and I did not care as long as it was away from whoever it was that was chasing me. Wild cackles, hoots and shouts echoed around me when I realised it wasn’t behind me I slid through a pile of dried leaves to a stop.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

“Shit!” I said, they were trapping me, penning me in like a wild animal an dI had fallen for it.

From behind the trees two men stepped out from behind thick trunks. They were around the same size as each other, no taller than a pre-teen, both had no tops on, with scrawny bodies that were etched with scars and tattoos. They were wearing black leather, studded pants that reminded me of steampunk. The one on the right had a thin leather strap across his chest and over his shoulder. As if this wasn’t strange enough both were wearing masks, revealing large green, glowing eyes, constrained behind black, spiked masks. The spikes them selves had no order or co-ordination, they differed on each of the masks and I couldn’t tell if they were mad from bone or nails, I didn’t really care. I just focused on not trying to piss myself as they looked at each other and spoke in a language I didn’t understand. The one on the left held a cleaver in his hand, worryingly it was rusted and blood stained, the one on the right, he had some kind of net in his hands. Above their heads I noticed little red health bars and above that the words;

*Terror - Lvl 3*

*Great* I thought, literal terrors as if their outfits didn’t say that enough, whats more they were both a level higher than me. There was no way I could fight them both, solidified that I didn’t have a weapon.

Well they either want to capture me or kill me, I thought as I raised my hands.

“Listen, I don’t want any trouble.” I said, my voice trembling.

The man on the left said something to the other and they both started bouncing on the spot, excitedly, like really excitedly, like they could not contain their excitement.

I moved my weight to my right, ready to make a run for it but a branch broke under my foot causing the man with the cleaver to shout what I presumed were profanities at me, he waved the bade at me in a way that told me not to move. I had no clue what to do next, the shouting voices behind me were catching up, meaning it was only a matter of time before I was likely dead.

The two Terror’s edged slowly towards me, their eyes fixed firmly on my position, their knees bent like they were ready to pounce at any moment.

“Come on guys, let’s not do this,” I said as if these lunatics would suddenly see sense at my pathetic attempt to calm the situation. As expected they ignored me and continued to advance on my position.

A frenzied cry came from right in front of me, it was childlike, guttural and terrifying. Out of nowhere the girl that cut me down from the trap dived out of my Raven, just has she vanished into the ground she sprung out of it. This time though she had a hooked blade in each hand,

*is that a scythe?*

She leapt straight into the chest of the Terror on the right hand side, the one with the net and catching him off guard she slammed both of her sythes into his chest before franticly stabbing him over and over. Blood sprayed everywhere and I could do nothing but stand there in shock as the girl shredded the Terror like he was nothing.

The remaining Terror didn’t even hesitate, like what we just witnessed didn’t phase him at all. Unlike me who was rooted to the spot as if my legs were made out of stone.

The Terror swung its cleaver at the girl but she brought her legs up on the one she had just butchered and kicked off him doing a backflip out of the way. She then jumped towards the Terror, grabbing hold of one of the spikes protruding from its mask. She snapped its head downwards as she disappeared into the Terror’s Raven almost folding the man in half as his face smashed into the ground with a satisfying crunch.

The Terror tried to stand but as he used his arms to brace himself and push up of the ground, the girl reached up from the Raven and drew her sythes across the Terror’s throat. Crimson blood showered the girl as she pushed out of the Terror’s Raven pushing him backwards into the tree, where he slumped into a sitting position, his head cocked to the side, his chest red, she had killed them both and I could not be more grateful to her.

The other shouting voices were growing louder as they drew closer on us, there sounded like there were a lot and as dangerous as this kid clearly was I didn’t have a clue if she would be able to fight everything.

“Thank you,” I said, “Again,”

The girls face and clothes were soaked in the Terror’s blood, she was breathing heavy as she gathered herself. She then strapped her sythes to her back before starting to animatedly waving her hands at me, again I presumed this was sign language, her face just as expressionate as her body language as she tried to explain something to me.

“I don’t understand what you are saying,” I said. I was as frustrated as her. “Whatever it is, I am pretty sure that there are more Terror’s on the way, do you know anywhere where we can escape?”

Above the girl a name appeared.

*Raven Lvl 4*

“Raven,” I said, “Your name is Raven,” the girl smiled, her eyes widening at me speaking her name. She nodded her head before running unto me and grabbing my hand.

“You wan’t me to follow you?” I said as she started tugging at my hand for me to follow her. I did as she wanted and followed her as she pulled me towards the tree by the dead Terror.

She knelt down and touched the Raven, as she did everything around us became shrouded in darkness. In the corner of my vision a little red icon started blinking, it looked like and eye with a line through it, a timer started counting over the top of it, counting down from sixty. As I focused on the icon, a message popped up.

*Blink - Your enemies cannot see you - The light of this status effect depends on the level and skill tree of the person casting it.*

“What the,” I said but Raven looked at me disapprovingly and brought her finger up to her lips to shush me.

I did as I was told and did my best to breathe as quietly as I can, which was more difficult than you think it would be given that I had adrenaline coursing through my body like never before.

Within moments a whole posse of Terror’s entered where we were, I counted at least twenty of the little bastards, each of them clutching onto vast and equally terrifying, rusted weapons, from maces, axes and pikes. They looked around them, communicating with each other but like the two that Raven had killed, I had no clue what they were saying. They started pushing each other before the ground shook around us.

Heavy footsteps just beyond the group of Terror’s, a terror that was much larger walked through the middle of them, his frame more muscular, his mask more of a spiked helmet, like one a knight would wear if crudely put together by an amateur blacksmith. He walked to the two dead bodies before kneeling down and inspecting them.

*Fuck, fuck, fuck* I repeated in my head, the Terror was huge and one that I really did not want to come face to face with. The little ones were bad enough.

The large Terror let out a battle roar and the rest of the smaller ones cheered in delight, he then gestured to the trees.

I looked in the corner of my vision, the blink icon started flashing as it counted down from twenty.

The Terror’s started cheering and rooting into the air like howling wolves as they ran into the thicket of trees, I presumed in pursuit of us.

The Terror gave one last look around before following them, leaving me and Raven hidden, the blink effect timer counting down faster than I would like until it eventually hit zero.

My shrouded vision cleared in an instant and it was as though the noise from the wind and the trees became clearer, like background noise was being muffled that I hadn’t quite realised.

*side quest unlocked*

The message appeared at the bottom left of my vision.