Michael liked the night. He especially liked the canvas of stars that would twinkle upon him from outer space. Here at night everything was so much sharper. The night had a quality to it which attracted him like nothing else ever had. Sometimes he would just lie down on the roof on clear full moon nights and go to sleep under the light of the stars and the moon. The eighteen year old had graduated from high school, and this midnight walk in the forest surrounding his family property was his own way of celebrating.

    So when the attack came he was completely unprepared. Something heavy struck him on the stomach, propelling him nearly 10ft backwards onto a tree. Acting on instinct he rolled himself sideways. As a fighter Michael had very good instincts. He listened to it now and pushing himself back on his feet, took off from the trail into the tree line. He caught a low overhanging branch, and using the strength of his arms alone swung himself upwards. Before he could jump into another one, the branch was sliced off with something sharp and invisible and he fell back on the ground.

  ‘Fucking finally……’ thought Michael. He turned the fall into a roll and grabbed the sliced off branch. In the process of getting upright onto his knees, he whipped the branch to his right in a smooth sideways motion which was nearly instinctive and demonstrated his years of kendo training. It struck something obviously soft and alive. He was able to look at his attacker properly for the first time. What he saw   surprised him and nearly cost his life for the moment of surprised hesitation. His attacker was a girl and clearly not human. She had prominent pointed ears, piecing scarlet pupils and full cherry red lips. Her features were exquisite, her beauty otherworldly. She was wearing a red tank top and blue jeans which showed off her curves in all the right places. A pair of boots hid her feet and protected them from the harshness of the ground. She took advantage of Michael’s surprised immobility and nearly gutted him with her scimitar. Her preternatural speed whipped her midnight black hair, tied in a neat ponytail wildly about her as Michael found himself scrambling to avoid being gutted like a fish, his usual grace forgotten. He found himself unable to contend with her speed, her movements a blur even to his trained eyes. Michael fell back on his instincts. She lunged forward once more, her scimitar blurring into a web of steel. Michael avoided the weapon by smoothly moving backwards and sideways. Now that the surprise of the fight and his attacker was gone he fell back to his training. He dodged the attacks by a whisker and retaliated with sharp blows, which were accurate despite being placed in the dark. The first blow on her inner right wrist disarmed her, forcing her to drop the sword. The second was a jab at her stomach. Michael nearly stopped at her pained grunt which somehow seemed to pierce him almost physically as he felt a sharp pang of regret. But he forced himself to continue, to push forward his hard earned advantage. He whipped the branch upwards and sideways catching her on the right cheek. He couldn’t help but feel remorse at the bruise that resulted.

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   She glared almost hatefully at him and as Michael opened his mouth to ask her who she was, she yelled out suddenly at him. Her voice seemed to resonate with the light breeze which had been blowing among the trees.

             “Never! Never! Never! Never! I shall never submit to you.”  A sudden strong wind formed up all of a sudden at her words, whipping up the earth and dried leaves. They settled down as the wind eased back down to a gentle breeze. In the meantime the girl had disappeared. Michael suddenly collapsed unconscious to the ground as a bone deep exhaustion came upon him.

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