HOW I WISH...
Trees surrounded her on all sides. Crouching behind a boulder she took a deep breath before steadying her heartbeat.
‘This wouldn’t do.’ She thought to herself.
She knew it was only a matter of time before it sensed her presence and blew her cover up if she continued like that. So she took another deep breath and closed her eyes.
‘I’m not going to mess this up.’ Her eyes opened in determination and she leapt from behind the boulder starting on a run.
She maneuvered the trees and continued tracking her target. A drop of water slid on her face forcing her to look up and watch as grey clouds drifted in the sky.
Somehow, this made her apprehensive. Shaking her head from such negative thoughts, she steeled her resolve and looked ahead. She wasn’t going to mess up this time. She was going to succeed with her mission and show her Lord that she was capable of taking on such responsibilities.
She heard a growl coming from ahead of her and sucked in a breath. The beast was facing away from her and for once, she liked the fact that it was raining because it masked the sound of her footsteps.
It was unaware of her presence as she readied a lightning spell in her hand and fired it at his back. It screeched in horror as it spun towards her, its glowing red eyes narrowing at her tiny figure.
Facing him, she could see just what the locals have described to be a mixture of a wolf and lion. The beast had a long snout with its canines showing as it growled at her, his eyes red and blazing with rage as it neared her. His long tail was erect as it crouched, readying himself to lunge at her while his black mane flowed with the harsh wind.
It leapt at her and she sidestepped him, jumping away from his big build and preparing another spell. His black and red fur glistened under the rain as it tried to take a swing at her with its giant claws. She ducked and threw another lightning bolt only for the beast to jump over it.
Cursing her luck, she ran behind a tree and jumped on a branch to catch her breath. It was definitely harder than she imagined it to be but she promised her Lord that she was capable and begged him to trust in her abilities. He did, which was why she was here alone on this dangerous mission that she was sure she could handle on her own. After all, it was only a low level beast.
She looked down and saw it was trying to claw its way towards her. She held out her hands and vines sprung forth from the dirt encircling the beast, trying to tame its slashes. Once she was sure it was tight enough she jumped from the branch and free-fell his way as she readied a punch infused with rock.
The beast looked her in the eyes before it erupted in flames, burning the vines that held him down. He leapt her way causing her to widen her eyes. There was nowhere in any report or book she had read that said that this beast could erupt in flames. For some reason, the rain didn’t extinguish its flames.
With the way she was falling, there wasn’t time for her to adjust her trajectory to evade his flaming claws. One slash and she came tumbling down the dirt pathway, her side bleeding badly and burning. From her peripheral vision she could see the beast sauntering her way, almost smug.
It towered her. She could see it lifting his claws and preparing to strike at her. The rain falling heavily on her body as she looked at the claw descending upon her, thinking that this was how she was going to go.
“How I wish…” she breathed out in relief, closing her eyes waiting for the inevitable pain to come. But it never did.
She opened her eyes and looked to her left to see the beast was on its side, an arrow plunged in its skull, dead.
The beast was dead.
