Chapter 1: The Bloody Moon Festival

I just completed this chapter and have begun the second chapter, again this is raw and unedited or revised so there's probably a lot of mistakes. I plan to go back and edit and probably revise it.

Chapter 1: The Bloody Moon Festival

 

The next day started out as any other day. I awoke early to the rising sun warming my body filling me with energy for the day. I crawled out from under the fur blanket and towards the clay pots in the corner of the room. I opened one of the brown colorfully painted pots and removed a giant sparkling red apple from it. As I began to consume the delicious fruit I grabbed my bow and arrows along with my sack filled with my other hunting supplies. On the sack I had attached a leather strap which I put around my neck and over one shoulder allowing the bag to hang diagonally across my body and loosely to one side. This made my hands free and kept the bag accessible when needed. Before heading out I turned around to make sure that Lilith, the ginger headed girl, was still asleep soundly in her bed protected from the chill of the morning air by her fur blanket. She appeared to be sleeping undisturbed as usual in the morning I was quiet enough to not disturb her sleep. Feeling satisfied by my stealth I headed out the door pausing only to make sure all the plants were well and did not need attending. All of the plants seemed perky and full of life they appeared satisfied for the moment and didn't look like they need any attention, so I continued onward and descended down the tree. Upon reaching the bottom I noticed a few more people up and moving around. It was the hunters, as expected they were up and ready to go off on their daily hunt for food for the village. Today I was going with them as well, because we will need more food than usual, for today is the day of the festival to celebrate the passing of the harvest moon. On this day we always hunt an extreme amount of animals out of fear something bad may happen and we will need the surplus supply. We celebrate that the bloody moon passed by hosting a festival and consuming these animals that we hunt, and what we do not eat tonight we shall dry and store, so that we may let the forest replenish itself for future hunting.

 

I descended down the long climb from my house to the lush forest floor and was immediately greeted by happy faces. The faces did not seem to suit such serious and slim built men as the hunters, but none the less it was welcoming.

 

“Are you ready to play who’s the better hunter today Tear?” said a younger man dressed in a fur vest and leather pants and gloves. He was not as old as the other men, but had a few years on me still. He had short shaggy brown hair and a few scars running across his face. He was always up for a challenge and hated to be beaten at anything, but he could accept when he had lost. Every time I go hunting we play a little game, to see who the better hunter is. Whoever racks in the most kills by sunset is the winner you get double points if you kill something especially large or deadly. For this game we tend to make several trips from the village and back into the depths of the woods, this allows us to catch more game that way because we do not have to haul it around for the full time period then.

 

I grinned at him to show my enthusiasm, “But of course Nicholas, the real question is, are you ready to lose again?” I chimed gloat fully.

 

“Hey, I’ll beat you one of these days, so don’t get so cocky, that will be your down fall.” He said with a wink.

 

With that and a roaring laugh from the group we split up and branched out into the lush forest. We don’t stick in a group for hunts like this unless we are purposefully going for larger pray, such as a bear or mountain lion. Instead for this particular hunt it’s a kill as many as you can; quantity is what we want not size.

 

I hurried through the forest in a half crouched position firing my arrows at any squirrel or rabbit that I saw. By the time it started to near sunset I had killed fifteen squirrels, twenty-nine rabbits, a pack of seven wolves, one young grizzly bear, and a mature mountain lion. Out of those the mountain lion was the trickiest it caught me by surprise. It had snuck up on me from behind after I had killed off the wolves and leaped at me. I was lucky enough to hear it at the last second and dodged its attack firing an arrow straight into its stomach.

 

After I killed too many to carry I would take them back to camp or to a half way point depending on how far out I was. This made it easier to kill a larger amount. (If I didn't know where these creatures liked to roam though it would have been impossible to collect so many.).  I always felt some remorse for the animals I slayed during events such as this, however everything eventually died it was simply the way of life, at least that’s what the elder elf who raised me would always say. I knew at least after a giant hunt like this we would have enough meat to dry and store for a whole year. This time would allow the animals in the forest to replenish. I had brought in more animals than I ever had that night it was almost too easy. It was as if something had enticed them to emerge from their hiding places

 

I already had a very large haul for the day however I wanted to take one more trip out into the forest, I am not sure why I had no reason to go back , there was no way anyone collected more animals than me, however the forest seemed to be calling me almost. It was strange; my whole body seemed to be drawn to the large trees and unknown content beyond them. I knew I shouldn't go back in, that the festival would be starting soon. It was almost dark as well and even though the harvest moons time had passed it is not highly recommended to travel anywhere at night for a while after its passing. Despite every cell in my brain telling me not to go my body’s lust for the mysterious force luring me into the forest was too much. I took off in a sprint for the dark forest before anyone noticed my return to the village. No one saw my return so they will probably assume that I am still trying to catch more, so it was safe to sneak back into the forest. After I got far enough in I slowed down from my sprint and began to go back into my half crouch, still keeping a fast pace. It was odd something seemed to be drawing me in the direction of my favorite spot, underneath the old oak tree at the opening in the heart of the forest, the spot where I met the vampire. I was not planning on returning to this spot until a few more moons passed, however I found myself heading straight there. I tried telling myself to stop, to turn around, but a part of me questioned why? Why, what am I so worried will be there? Or am I worried about what won’t be there? I shook my head vigorously.

 

“Stop that kind of thought!” I yelled at myself out loud.

 

Before I could stop myself from going any further I found myself standing in the open area. I closed my eyes, and opened them again to try and adjust my vision to the now moonlight area. I was stunned a bit at first to see nothing there under the tree, the tree that once sheltered a blood soaked vampire from view. Then just as soon as the shock came it left, and was replaced by relief. Some part of me wondered why this was even shocking in the first place. Why would he stick around? He had no reason to come back to this tree or to stay. And yet a more curious side of me wondered why it was so important to see if he was here or not. Letting out a satisfying sigh of frustration and relief I turned to head back to the village. There wasn't a point in hanging around here any longer, and I didn't want to worry the others either.

 

As I turned to head back to the village though I stopped abruptly as I heard a very light, very soothing voice call out in barely a whisper “What a strange girl…”

 

I spun around quickly on my heels to be face to face with none other than that of the face of the vampire from last night.

 

“Huh!” I caught my breath loudly not knowing what to say or do next. I wasn't’t truly expecting to find him here still nor was I wanting to, was I?

 

He smiled to himself pleased with the shock he caused. Then just as quickly as that smile rose up it faded. “Why did you come back here?”

 

Gaining my composer I calmly looked the vampire in the eyes and spoke, “I come to this place all the time, it is the center of the forest and that tree” I pointed at the tree behind him, “is my favorite spot to relax.” I explained. I was unsure if he would buy my lame excuse, however it sounded better than saying “some unknown force drew me into the forest to this very spot.”

 

He held his poker face not showing any sort of reaction and responded in the same calm manner that I had used, “Really? Well, my apologize for interrupting your relaxation time.” He studied me for a moment then continued. “Though by the way you’re dressed and covered in sweat it doesn't look like you came here to relax exactly. It looks more like… you have been out hunting…”

 

I quickly flushed bright red, I do not know why what he said bothered me so much it shouldn't he is a vampire full of deception and disseat, but now that he had pointed it out I felt embarrassed and very unfeminine.

 

“That’s because I was hunting” I declared clearly “For the elves we celebrate the passing of the harvest moon with a feast in order to celebrate the passing of the day where evil roams freely and chaos knows no end.”

 

He looked at me with a thoughtful expression now, “Don’t most elven women wear traditional clothing to such events and don’t the men usually do the hunting?”

 

“Well, yes that’s all true, however for the most part I’m a special case, and I always go out with the hunters, especially for large events such as this.” I paused feeling more embarrassment I decided to turn the tables, “And what are you doing here?” I asked with a small amused smile now on my face.

 

The vampire stood there silently for a few moments thinking about what to say “I came here in hopes of seeing you again.” He said flatly in a matter of fact way.

 

I was taken aback a little at his statement, but I made sure not to skip a beat. I mentally reminded myself that vampires were lying scheming creatures who could not be trusted. “Why on earth would you be waiting to see if I showed up? Shouldn't you be staking out some poor innocent victim in the city?” I pointed out.

 

He shrugged his shoulders in a nonchalant kind of way and replied coolly “I suppose I could be doing that, but humans are all the same naive and useless beings, you however… you are interesting.”

 

“… Why on earth am I so interesting?” I shouted now feeling irritated at his laze fair attitude. “Do you intend on… attacking me?” I asked suddenly concerned.

 

He laughed a genuine sounding deep laugh “Well no, I do not plan on eating you, and you’re so interesting because you seem so unafraid, so caring, so unique… most would run away or try to fight me once they found out I was one of the creatures of the night. You however not being a naive human, but an educated elf, did not do such a thing even after realizing my true identity. You even came back to see if I was still around.”

 

“First, off I did not come here to see if you were still around!” I retorted feeling the need to defend myself. “Secondly, I thought you were injured when I first met you, and well you haven’t given me a real reason to be scared or aggressive.”

 

“I am sure you have heard stories of my kind though, and surely you are not naive enough to think those stories are wrong are you?” He asked coyly.

 

Now irritated and feeling bashed on I balled my fists up and grabbed the vampire by the collar of his shirt. “I am not naive! I have heard the stories, but I am not afraid! You won’t hurt me and even if you tried I would be able to defend myself perfectly!”

 

He smiled amused with my outburst, a typical vampire behavior, “Well if that’s the case then at least tell me your name, so that I can remember such an interesting elf such as yourself.”

 

Calming down a bit I loosened my grip on his collar not yet letting go though, “Tear, Tear Rivers…and you?”

 

“Tear huh, well Tear my name is Damien Crow.” He said not concerned with my remaining grip on his shirt collar. “Now, if you don’t mind with that I should be going and so should you. People will start to wonder where you've been if you don’t get back to your precious village soon.” He stated in an almost knowing way.

 

He was right though I needed to return I was already gone for much longer than I had planned. If I didn't get back soon then the festival would be over with by the time I arrived. I sighed then released my grip on his shirt and stepped back defeated. I turned to leave and as I left I heard him say one final parting phrase.

 

“Be careful, Tear demonic creatures like to crush joyous moments in the lives of the living and good souled...”

 

With those parting words I left without looking back not paying too much mind to the ominous words that the vampire, Damien, had spoken. The trip back as usual was long, not really tiresome just long. However along the way I noticed something strange. Not a single woodland creature was out and about. By this time it was typical to see dear in the Flower meadow area I noted as I trudged through the flowery fields. However, I did not see a single deer, nor any other creature for that matter not even a bat catching bugs in the night’s sky. This unease in the forest instinctually set an unease in myself, I quickened my pace despite knowing I was only a few minutes away from the village now. I reached the hidden entrance behind the waterfall in what had to be minutes, but felt like ages to get to. I began to enter it when I started to hear the screams.

 

I rushed through the rest of the dark damp tunnel and emerged to a nightmare… There was blood staining the grass and trees everywhere, and fire, fire on the trees and in the fields, and on the people. People were running a mock in a panic screaming in horror. My world was shattered, my home was destroyed, no being destroyed before my eyes, the festival was officially canceled… So many bodies already lied motionless on the ground and several others were following suite. What, or who could have done such a thing? Who would even know where our village was? It couldn't have been one of the villagers…no none of them would do such a heinous act.

 

“Tear!” Shrieked a tiny voice snapping me out of my own shock and back to the world around me, the voice came from a none other than Lilith the small red headed girl that I have lived with for years now. She ran up to me with a tear stricken face and panic in her eyes. I wrapped her tiny body in the safety of my arms immediately. I comforted the crying girl for a few minutes before crouching down to her eye level.

 

“Lilith, what’s going on? What happened here?” I asked in the calmest, most soothing voice I could muster.

 

            “It’s horrible,” she exclaimed with fright, “Blood Orcs came into the village and began destroying it along with everyone!”

 

            “Blood Orcs?” I asked a bit skeptical.

 

            “YES!” She shouted now more urgent “The hunters tried to slay them, but the blood orcs over powered them… they killed off all the hunters and thousands of villagers…”She muttered barely believing herself what she had said.

 

            “We need to evacuate everyone that is still alive.” I said in a calm commanding tone. “You should go ahead and find somewhere safe to hide until I can get everyone safe…go to the center of the forest under the old oak tree and wait for me there.”

 

            I could tell that the girl hated the idea of separation, but she nodded in consent any way and took off through the passage leading to safety beyond the falls. Once satisfied with knowing she had made it far enough out I hurried into the fray.

 

            The village was in complete chaos most of everyone was already dead and if not dead dying. I wanted to help them, I wanted to bring them back, but something deep within told me it was not a good idea. When I brought Lilith back from the dead I was completely drained of energy after it, and to repeat that over and over again…It was well impossible…maybe if I had more training in it I could, but the thought of bringing back random things from the dead just for practice seemed, well immoral. There was simply nothing I could do here for the ones who passed and I could not heal all the ones dying either. I had to settle with trying my best to get as many survivors out as I could.

 

            I began kicking down doors after doors of houses and checking for any sign of life, sadly most were only grim sites of bodies lying eerily still on the floor motionless and brutally torn apart still dressed in their festive clothing. As my hunt grew began to grow more and more grim something occurred to me, where were the blood orcs?

 

            I rant to the next house, this house was the house of the elf who raised me until I was sixteen and declared I could live on my own. He was a sweet elder elf whom was well known in the village. I hesitated imagining the horrid scene that would lye behind the door and with only a few more seconds delay I caught my breath and opened the door. Just as I had feared his body lyed still on the ground in a pool of blood. He was wearing the traditional festive clothing all the villagers were wearing, he had tan skin and brown hair. He was always a nice guy to everyone and couldn't hurt a fly, he was even a vegetarian. Why,no, how could this happen to someone like him? Right then and there I lost all sense of composer. I broke down and fell to my knees beside his corps. I began to reach out with shaking hands unaware of what I was doing. I  peered into his slack face with eyes still open and wide stricken with fear, right then I felt the need to see his smiling face again, I touched him, his body was already growing cold, so cold, too cold. I felt the need to warm it, I needed to bring the warmth back to his body. Before I knew it I began to feel an extreme warmth flow through my body and a radiant light began to shine from my tattoos. It was just like before when I had brought Lilith back. I was doing it, I was bringing him back to life. The warmth and light surged from me and flowed into his still cold body, slowly I began to feel the warmth grow in him. It took a while, but slowly the wounds began to reverse as if they never had happened and his body began to stir. A few more minutes passed and the man sat up, feeling groggy and confused. I hugged him feeling over joyed that he was ok, but back in my mind I couldn't help, but chastise myself some for playing god.

 

            “T-T- Tear?” He asked confused then the confusion vanished from his face as realization had hit him, “Tear, what have you done my dear?” He asked in a sad tone.

 

            I pulled back feeling a bit sadden I knew why he was upset, he always believed the circle of life was created for a reason and that death was an important part of it, but I couldn't stand seeing him like that, he had to understand that, he just had too. “I had to Elder Grand, I absolutely had too, I… I.. I’m sorry…”

 

            He raised his hand to silence my babbling. “Tear, I know you couldn't help it, and I am grateful, however those who die, die for a reason…” He band to lecture, but then stopped seeing the hurt and worry in my eyes. He reached for me and hugged me this time. “I’m glad you are ok Tear, but though this is your magical ability, you must use it wisely, there are people that would like to take advantage of it out there so be sure to keep it hidden, ok?” He asked concerned.

 

            I nodded my head vigorously letting the tears fall from my face that I tried so hard to hold back. I was too exhausted at the moment to argue anything more. He seemed pleased enough with this silent agreement, and stood up to leave. “There might be some other survivors, I am too old to be out in the fray of battle, it’s up to you Tear.” He claimed in a superior matter.

 

            I nodded again and then hugged him once more before we parted ways. “Be careful ok?” I asked before he left

 

            “I will.” He said then headed for the entrance of the village.

 

            I watched him until he was safely out of sight then continued with my resque mission. I began the same procedure, busting down door after door, only to arrive to the same bloody scenes. I was about to give up on my search when I heard something.

 

            “Ahhhhh!!!!!” Came a voice from the next house over, it was the mayors house. I tore off to it as fast as I could and kicked through the door. Behind the door I was shocked at the scene.

 

            “Tear! Help, me!” Yelled the mayor and a few villagers huddled in a defensive ball behind him. There were only three of them left in total, and five blood orcs between me and them. I had never seen a blood orc in person and had only heard gorish stories of them. Looking at them now I could see what was so terrifying about them, they were ten times our elven height I would guess around 6 or 7 feet tall for each of them and had a dark red, almost black color skin. They were all very muscular, had short brown hair on their heads and down their spine almost like a main, their faces were blockish with lower jaws protruding farther out than their tops adding to their intimidation, and tusk like teeth that curled around the side of the face. The orcs were indeed a giant threat and had to be dealt with, but could I do it alone? I was strong, but I even doubted my ability to take one two let alone five blood orcs especially since I was still tired from the revival of Elder Grand. The orcs had size and strength on me, not to mention weapons of their own. They all had a sword, knife, or club of sorts with them, and clearly knew how to use them. I could not do nothing though I had to at least try to save the other villagers, I owed them that much.

 

            “Hey uglies!” I shouted at the blood orcs while drawing out my bow and arrow. At first their attention remained on the cowering crowd and they paid me no mind. Feeling the pressure of getting their attention fast I drew my bow back and launched five different arrows one after another into the backs of the orcs. The blow did not do much, due to their thick skin however it did enough to gain their attention and that was all I needed.

 

            “Grrraawwwrrrrr!”

 

            Yep I definitely got their attention, I sprinted out the door giving the elder mayor a quick nod as I left and told him one final thing “The old oak.” I knew he would know what I was talking about and just as I predicted received a nod back in agreance. Not delaying any longer than that I rushed out the door and began to make my way up higher into the trees knowing that my smaller stature would give me leverage in that area.

 

             The blood orcs did not take long in perusing me, their attention was fully on me now. They could careless that the villagers were escaping they only saw me the one who annoyingly shot them with arrows. For their large size the surprisingly caught up fast to me and where only a little more than a few feet behind me in my climb, they unlike me had abandoned their weapons at the bottom of the tree and had been able to climb with less difficulty because of it. I was still faster thankfully. I climbed the oak tree with all my might digging my nails and fingers deep into the bark and hauling myself up, it was not an easy climb the tree was large without a lot of low hanging branches and the ones that were low where thin and unstable. I had to reach a spot that was stable enough for myself, but not the orcs, I had to climb higher.

 

            I had almost reached a branch that shot out far over the village that was thin but looked strong enough to support my weight when I felt a tight grip around my ankle. One of the orcs had been able to shoot out farther than the rest and reach me. I struggled to try and kick his giant hands off of my petite ankles, but had no luck. The orc seemed amused with my struggles and laughed a deep bone chilling laugh. He began to yank me down closer to him, and I blanched realizing that this was the end. I had been caught and had no doubt in my mind that the blood orcs were going to rip my body apart with their bare hands and decorate the tree with pieces of my corps.

 

Shhhhhheeeeeewwww, an arrow shot from somewhere around us had struck the big red hand of the blood orc. The orc yelped in pain and quickly let go of my ankle and looked around furiously. I took no delay in taking this opening to reach the delicate branch I had been climbing too. Once I reached the branch I to began to search the area for the source of the arrow. I found it in moments, it was Nicholas Stallan, he and I were fairly close friends, we always competed with one another in hunting, eating, racing, and well anything else you could think of really. I was relieved that he wasn't hurt or worse dead, and I was even happier to see him now. I could not let him have all the glory of course, I would never hear the end of it, I drew my own bow back and readied an arrow straight for the blood orcs eye. I pulled the arrow back as far as I could and released it. I hit the mark, at first it seem to have caused any real damage just more irritation, but then slowly the orc began to lose his grip on the tree’s trunk and plummet to the forest floor below. After seeing this both Nicholas and I shared a quick knowing glance between each other and proceeded to imitate the same thing with the other orcs. I lost track of how many arrows I had shot by the time we finished all of them off, but I knew I had to have shot a lot of them based on the spew of them covering the ground below. Both Nicholas and I studied the ground for a while and our work then simultaneously looked up at each other with victorious faces. We were both grinning at both our success and the fact that we had made it through the lethal night. Without having to say anything to one another we headed down from our tall perches and proceeded to leave the village to rendezvous with the rest of the survivors.

Author's Note

I just completed this chapter and have begun the second chapter, again this is raw and unedited or revised so theres probably a lot of mistakes. I plan to go back and edit and probably revise it. ( I realized I neglected to state Nicholas name in the prologue, I went back and fixed that, he is the one whom Tear played "who's the better hunter" with.