Prologue
The night was dark, illuminated only by glimmers of moonlight breaking through the leaves. There was a deceptive calm in the air, an atmosphere of tranquillity in a place it did not belong. For in the middle of the clearing, a battle raged.
“Get her!” A hooded man shouted. Drawing his oozing spear, tainted with a hideous black colour.
“Don’t let her escape!” Another yelled, as she motioned for their companions to close in on the green-cloaked figure in from of them. A putrid stench oozed from them as they used whatever means they could find to attack her.
Amber eyes shone in the moonlight, narrowing as they focused on the attackers. She drew her bow and shot an arrow towards the spear. The arrow shone with a light blue colour as it found its target, shattering it to dust. She moved with feline grace, dodging the oncoming attacks as she shot more arrows, a self-satisfied grin spreading as they met their target. The enchantment on her quiver replacing them with ease.
“Witch!”
“Demon!”
“How dare you shatter our weapons!”
Her eyes narrowed to slits at their audacity. She attached her bow back to the quiver and spread her arms in front of her, cracking her fingers through the leather gloves. An attacker approached her, hoping to catch her off guard. A scoff escaped as she stepped to the side, before using his outstretched arm to throw him back into the approaching crowd.
“How dare I?” Her voice was muffled by the mask around her lower face. “How dare you!”
She sidestepped another attacker, knocking her unconscious. “Pathetic. The lot of you.” The mocking tone was unmistakeable, despite the mask muffling her voice.
Enraged, they all rushed towards her, their remaining weapons pointed at her head. She used her foot to kick the hand of the first to reach her, catching the spear before it fell. She swept his feet from under him, before using it to springboard herself into the oncoming group. One hand held the spear to clash with the dark metal, while the other struck their nerve points, before she used them to catapult herself onto her next victim.
It did not take long before her pursuers were groaning on the ground. Their bodies aching with pain, as they struggled to look up at her, their eyes set in a glare. She tsked. She’d only hit a simple nerve point. She hadn’t even been aiming to kill them for their act of violence. After all, as annoying as they were, she couldn’t give up her morals to enact vengeance.
“Like I said,” She clicked her tongue, “Pathetic. The lot of you.”
“We’ll kill you eventually!” One of them groaned, before keeling over.
“Doubtful. None of you are a match for me.”
A cackle from one of them made her wonder whether they’d finally gone and lost what little was left of their sanity. She cocked her head, taking in the mad woman on the floor. Strange. She hoped she would just spit out whatever had caused this bout of hysteria quickly. Her time was best spent elsewhere.
“We may not be,” Another cackle, “but they are!”
She didn’t have enough time before, another vein of dark magic shot from the trees. Ah. So, they hadn’t come alone after all. The air seemed to whirl, as a large circle formed behind her, sucking her in.
