The forest stretched endlessly before them, it's canopy filtering the fading light into threads of gold and shadow. Ammon walked his clothes torn at the edges, his steps unsteady but determined. Ayden followed close, his usual confidence dulled by exhaustion. The scars from Lake Orcas still burned within them.
They had been traveling for days, towards Elarion, the kingdom of abundance, where the heirs of the seven nations were to meet. But the journey has taken more of their strength than they could spare. When night creeped in, they stopped at a narrow clearing.
A small fire cackled to life.The Warmth brushed through their weary faces as Ayden tossed dried meats into the flame.
For a while, there was peace, the type that comes after chaos. The whispers of wind through the leaves, the soft hum of embers, the rhythm of quiet breathing. But peace as they have learned, never linger long in their story.
The first sound was faint- a faint growl, carried by the night breeze. Then another closer, Ammon's head snapped up. The fire light flickered in his eyes, now sharp with alertness.
"Ayden"
Before the warning could finish, shadows moved between trees. Glowing eyes blickered into existence, yellow and hungry. The beasts circled around them, snarls rumbling like thunder.
Ammon rose instantly, sword in hand. "Stay behind me".
"Not a chance", with a sweep of a palm, ball of flame, burst into being, hovering like stars ready to fall.
The first beast attacked, steel met flesh, fire roared. The air stench smoke and scattered roar. But, for every beast that fell, two more took its place. They were endless.
"We can't hold them!" Ayden shouted, his flame growing wild, desperation feeding their heat.
"Then we run!", Ammon said striking one aside dashing through the opening. The two fled into the darkness, the forest blurring around them as snarls close in from every side.
Just when the sound of claws grew deafening- something cut through the night.
A single blow binding arc of flame, fell from the sky slicing between them and the chasing beasts. The ground hissed were it landed. Silence grew with every heartbeat, then exploded.
Blades of fire- countless spinning alive, appear from empty space, tearing through the horde with brutal precision. The remaining beasts flee, but found themselves in the air, by some unseen force, engulfed in searing flame until nothing was left but ash remained.
Ammon and Ayden froze staring into the darkness where the flame had come. Smoke curling upward, the forest deathly quiet.
Ayden's voice tightened into a whisper, "that was not me".
Ammon tightened his grip on his sword, eyes narrowing through the smuldering trees, somewhere beyond the smoke, a figure moved- distant, deliberate and watching.