Chapter 2: Awaking From a Nightmare

Talon awakes from a horrifying nightmare and he and Willard discuss the next move on their journey. As Talon awakes, he feels as if something is off about himself.

It was a dark and stormy night.  The thunder sounded as if the angry gods themselves were growling deeply.  The rain poured and poured and it seemed like the water would never stop coming from the sky.  The forest was full of smoke, as almost all the trees were burning with a bright yellow and orange fire.

Talon ran through the forest frantically, unaware of what he was running from.  The skilled sniper was not used to being this clumsy.  He stumbled over logs, ran into the trees, and had trouble keeping on his feet. At one point, Talon even fell flat on his face.  It was pouring so hard that the rain almost seemed blinding.  As he ran, Talon stumbled on a log and fell flat on the ground, his face implanted itself into the mud.

The mercenary cursed as he slowly got to his feet.  Before he started running again, he felt the hot air of something very feral breathing behind him.  Talon turned around to see a massive black beast growling at him.  The beast had four legs and a long black tail that was shooting straight up in the air, showing the beast was ready to pounce.  Its eyes were dark red and full of hate and rage.  The scariest element of this beast was its large mouth full of fangs that looked sharper then the deadliest sword.  The beast’s mouth was full of drool and slobber showing that it was salivating over its next meal, which Talon gathered would be him.

Just before the beast would have sunk its massive and dangerous teeth into Talon’s neck, the archer leaped up and started running again.  He withdrew his bow and took an arrow from his quiver, turned, and shot an arrow towards the beast.  The beast leaped high into the air, dodging the arrow.  Talon cursed under his breath, as he realized that the beast was not only feral, but intelligent as well.

Talon kept running until he saw a large stone wall that seemed to be endlessly high.  He knew that the beast was gaining ground on him, and there was no turning back.  Talon reached the wall, turned around and started to shoot a barrage of arrows towards the beast.  The beast leaped from side to side swiftly, dodging the expert marksman’s shots.  Never had the expert marksman missed this much, he could not understand why he was not hitting this beast.  Finally, he took a shot he knew was spot on and would hit the beast in the neck.  Talon watched in horror as the arrow was absorbed into the black beast, who simply kept running, and leapt to attack Talon , who was now trapped.

Talon jolted up in his bed shouting rather loudly and abruptly.  He quickly silenced himself, realizing it had just been a bad dream.  Talon quickly was aware of his surroundings, as the last time he was conscious he was outdoors near a forest.  Now he sat in a rather small bed in a semi dark room, with Willard sitting in a small but sturdy chair in the left corner of the room. 

“That blasted sorceress must have put a sleeping enchantment on me.” Talon thought, “I guess Willard showed up just in the knick of time!  Looks like that big, lady obsessed, man is good for something after all!”

“Wow, you actually woke up!” Willard exclaimed as he rose to his feet.  “It’s about time.”

“How long was I asleep?” Talon asked, as he examined his body.  He was in perfect condition, which was quite impressive as he had previous been severely injured and nearly dead due to his fight with the Sword Master, Kilvren.

“I’d say you’ve been out for at least a week now.” Willard replied as he scratched his head…one could tell that Math had never been his strong suit.  “That sorceress really knocked you out…I think she wanted to make sure you’d stay off your feet and make a full recovery.”

“Of course!” Talon exclaimed as he jumped to his feet, remembering his last thought before he was knocked unconscious.  “We have to go back to Silverthorne…I want to find that Morphus guy and kill him for the trouble he caused me, sending Bruno out to get me like that.”

“Why don’t we put that whole ordeal behind us?” Willard's voice had a more serious then usual tone, as he looked deep into Talon’s eyes.  “I’ve been thinking about it while you’ve been out, Talon.  Those magicians, Oceana and Morphus…they were really unusual people…magic like that is the kind of stuff I don’t think we should be messing with.  I only saw Morphus in passing, but the one conversation I had with Oceana after I did Bruno in was more then enough to assure me that she wasn’t the kind of sorceress I wanted anything to do with…magic like that is best left alone.”

The archer was about to call his friend a sniveling coward.  He was about to laugh at his Willard with the his usual cocky and condescending laugh.  But there was something in Willard’s expression, something in his eyes, that allowed Talon the will not to laugh.  When Talon was honest with himself, he knew that his blue armored comrade was not a coward.  Willard did not turn down a fight easily, and it took a lot to steer him away.  It took even more to get Willardto propose an opinion different to what Talon’s was.  The mercenary knew that Willard wasn’t suggesting this idea to him.  The blue knight was practically begging Talon to leave his experiences with these mystic Ancients.

“Whatever.” Talon shrugged and walked towards the room’s door.  “I didn’t really want to go back to Silverthrone anyway; it’d be a long walk.  Where the heck are we anyway?  Did you actually save enough money to get a room like this for us?”

“We’re in a town called Pelmridge.” Willard spoke as he followed behind Taon, “And actually…I had to borrow some money out of your wallet to pay for this place...mine was kind of stolen by this broad back in Silverthrone…I’ll pay you back eventually!”

“I don’t know what it is with you, women, and you losing your money to them.” Talon said with a smile to his friend, “Sometimes I think there is a woman sized hole in your pocket that will never be fixed.  Whatever, let’s get out of this Inn, I’m getting bored here.”

Talon put up the front that he was bored, but deep down he knew that he was very shaken from his nightmare.  Most dreams have that “somewhat real, but you know they are just a dream” feeling, but this dream had a completely unusual, and somewhat mystical feel to it.  Talon chose not to think about the dream, and walked out the door.

“Great!” Willard said cheerfully, relieved to have his friend back awake and barking orders again. “I’m right behind you, buddy!”